Contesting Isolation, Individualism, and Shame: An Ecology of Community College Learning

• In Event: Critical and Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Historical Research

Abstract

An ongoing challenge in critical educational research is how to situate emotions in the context of educational practices that exacerbates the struggles with learning. Despite recent theoretical advancements, revealing how emotions are implicated in oppressive educational practices in community college requires more attention. Through a feminist approach, this paper presents an exploratory qualitative inquiry on the learning-related emotions among community college students. The initial goal of this study was to better understand how students emotionally experience learning. However, findings reveal that various intersecting oppressive educational practices were implicated in how participants emotionally engaged with learning. Stemming from these findings, an ecology model of community college learning that entails contesting isolation, individualism, and shame in learning will be discussed.

Author

• Michael Rifino, The City University of New York