Race and Racism as Technologies of Affect: The Transformative Power of Critical Love

• In Event: Emotions as Radical and Racially Just Pedagogy: Reasserting Our Hearts During Times of Undemocratic Educational Duress

Abstract

This presentation employs two concepts that have emerged in recent antiracist education: first, the notion of race and racism as technologies of affect (Lim, 2010; Swanton, 2010; Author, 2015), and second, the concept of ‘critical love’ (Freire, 1997; Daniels, 2012; Darder, 2002, 2003; Keith, 2010; Liston, 2000). The first concept enables the theorization of race and racism as affective modes of being, recognizing the historically specific assemblages, which are practiced in schools and the society. This implies that antiracist education needs to pay careful attention to the affective production of pedagogical spaces and practices, that is, how learning and teaching spaces repeat expected (i.e. normalized) racialized affects. To create different spaces in classrooms—that are subversive of these normalized racialized affects—it is suggested the second concept can play an important role—that is, critical love may be pedagogically valuable.

Pedagogies of critical love are pedagogies, which conceptualize and practice love as a transformative and revolutionary force. As Chabot (2008) writes, “While we can never be certain about the whole truth or ultimate ends, we can make sure that the actual means we use to contribute to social justice are as moral, non-violent, and loving as possible”(p. 817). In other words, “if we wish to contribute to a loving revolution,” as Chabot explains further, “we need to focus on the long-term process of transforming power in our institutions and everyday lives, not primarily on taking power and overthrowing the current government in the short run” (p. 824, added emphasis). The notion of critical love as a pedagogical tool suggests the pursuit of transformation through critical education because the concept of love acts “as a doing, a call for a labor of the self, an appeal for transcending the self, a strategy for remaking the public sphere, a plea to unleash the radical imagination” (Nash, 2013, p. 19). Pedagogies of critical love, therefore, offer the potential of transforming (normalized) racialized affects in educational spaces. But under what conditions may this take place?

In this paper, I propose that thinking of race as affective technology creates theoretical and practical openings to problematize how certain affect-positions (e.g. fear, anger, resentment, love) function as pedagogies of inclusions/exclusions. Pedagogies of critical love may serve as pedagogies of inclusions and transformation, yet for this to happen there are two conditions that need to be met: first, the idea that critical love needs to be distinguished from naïve or sentimental love (like the distinction between naïve hope and critical hope); and second, cracking into normalized racialized affects requires a patient, knowledgeable and disciplined effort that intentionally prioritizes critical love as sustained response, rather than succumbing to affects such as fear, shame, hatred, despair and anger (Lanas & Author, 2015). It is for this purpose that Ahmed (2004) urges us not to forget: “[…] who has the right to declare themselves as acting out of love? What does it mean to stand for love by standing alongside some others and against other others?” (p. 122).

Author

• Michalinos Zembylas, The Open University of Cyprus