Authored/Posted by: Katherine Knowles & Nicole Macon-McKendree
This discussion of Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks (published by Routledge in 1994) was held on April 16, 2024. Should you wish to read and reflect on your own (or in the comments) this title is available in print at the MSU Main Library (Call Number: LC196 .H66 1994) or as an eBook (via Taylor & Francis eBooks). This book was a selection of the CTLI Graduate Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year and has been a regular source of pedagogical discussion for our cohort.
If you missed the discussion or want to continue your reflection, in addition to the great reflection questions incorporated in each chapter of the book, here are the prompts we used for our discussion:
- In what ways does bell hooks advocate for the integration of personal experiences and emotions into the learning process? How might this approach impact the dynamics of the classroom?
- What are your thoughts about the way bell hooks addresses the intersection of race, gender, class, and other identities in the classroom? How can educators facilitate meaningful discussions and collaboration within diverse classroom settings?
- What could we take from bell hooks’ approach to teaching and learning to respond to current anti-DEI trends?
- Discuss bell hooks’ perspective on the relationship between education and social change. How does she argue that education can be a tool for liberation and resistance?
- What role does courage play in bell hooks’ approach to teaching? How can educators foster courage for themselves and among students and create inclusive learning environments?
- Reflect on your own experiences as a student or educator. How might bell hooks’ insights and strategies in “Teaching to Transgress” inform your approach to teaching and learning?
Additional resources shared:
- Addy, T. M., Dube, D., Mitchell, K. A., SoRelle, M. E., Longmire-Avital, B., & Felten, P. (2021). What inclusive instructors do: Principles and practices for excellence in college teaching. Routledge.
- Collins, H. P., & Bilge, S. (2016). Intersectionality. Polity Press.
- King, R. (2018). Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out. Sounds True.
Ideas from the discussion:
- There are ways to acknowledge and express humanity through pedagogical design.
- Engaged pedagogy that is inclusive of all learners’ bodies and knowledge can help move the liberation needle, but only when it is authentic and not performatively.
- Engaged pedagogical design weaves inclusivity and care into the fabric of the course through learning outcomes, instructor facilitated inquiry, and the subsequent alignment of materials, assignments, and assessments.
- A “culture of care” doesn’t have to be rhetorical; educators can be trained to embody that work / do that work in the classroom. Resources like the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation can help!
- Building opportunities for learners to share their experience and knowledge with the classroom community is essential.
- “It is important to think critically about who counts as knowers and what counts as knowledge.” How might educators frame or norm what is considered “knowledge” in the classroom?
- When we think about engaged pedagogy and the commitments (and labor!) of doing this work, we call upon courage. How can educators courageously build a community that promotes solidarity and facilitates the dismantling of unsafe spaces in higher education?
“The academy is not paradise. But learning is a place where paradise can be created. The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility we have the opportunity to labor for freedom, to demand of ourselves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom” (hooks, 1994, p.207).
If you’d like to nominate a title for a future CTLI book discussion and/or volunteer to co-facilitate a discussion, please reach out to Makena Neal at mneal@msu.edu