[Xmca-l] Re: What is a Pedagogy of the Oppressors?

[Larry Purss]

Returning to Raymond Williams and his notion of "structures of feeling"
that are factual and shared *sense* that is felt.  The comments from Greg
and others are asking if they are *unknowingly* participating in pedagogies
of oppressor(s) I read as an ethical question, in the spirit of Levinas.
His exploration asking
"am I *over* others, or am I *equal* to others* or must I *answer the face
of the other* who will not release me from my obligation to the other.

Why is Levinas read today when his writings were unread for many years. Is
it because we are *involved* in a *structure of feeling* that we sense as
ambivalence.

The terms *oppressors* is indicating a possible *felt* structure that is a
social phenomena experienced by some in positions of power and that feeling
*calls* them to action prior to clear articulation of why in language.

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 3:16 AM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu> wrote:

> Surely there's more to world society than the binary of oppressed and
> oppressors, usually presented as mutually exclusive categories?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:
> xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of FRANCIS J. SULLIVAN
> Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2015 8:16 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: What is a Pedagogy of the Oppressors?
>
> Wow, this is a great thread, one I think about all the time, as one of the
> oppressors. Not by choice, as I see this as a structural, or rather a
> "positional" category, akin to the workings of power in terms of one's
> relationship to the means of production. I can still recall Horkheimer and
> Adorno's anecdote in *Dialectic of Enlightenment*, one the ways that the
> songs of the Sirens went unheard by Odysseus' crew--as he had stoppered
> their ears--yet remained useless to Odysseus as he was lashed to the mast.
> So, I certainly agree that we need a pedagogy of the oppressors as a
> complement to that of the oppressed. I always thought that was the major
> effort of the Frankfurt School.
> As someone who teaches secondary school pre-service teachers, I am quite
> aware of my structural position as an "officer of the State." I was in the
> middle of revising my syllabi for the upcoming semester when I saw this
> thread emerge. The advent of the corporate reform of schooling called
> Common Core poses a fundamental threat to the democratic roots of education
> in the US, yet I can neither ignore it nor simply trash it. The students I
> prepare must be able to address the Core if they are to have a career at
> all. So, for better or worse, I find the best resistance to be the tightest
> embrace of the "principles" embedded in the Core, an embrace that, I hope,
> lets me transform them into a useful and useable critique of the Core
> itself. So, this semester, we examine "speaking" and "writing" standards in
> terms of dialect, code, and register differences. We develop lessons and
> units in which high school students grapple with the reality of
> "code-switching," and the choices one can make to successfully navigate
> speech and writing situations defined by conflicting purposes and
> relational hierarchies.
>
> Of course, all this is news to my students, almost all of whom are white
> and middle-class, and most of whom are male. So, I approach these topics by
> emphasizing that learners develop best when teaching meets them where they
> are and builds on what they know. I choose texts that de-emphasize the
> kinds of oppression that plays out in the lives of urban students. So,
> where does someone like me fit in this mosaic? Are we "leading the
> resistance from behind; or allowing ourselves to be co-opted?" My answer to
> that changes at least weekly, sometimes daily. I can only say that I'm
> doing what I can.
>
> Francis J. Sullivan, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor
> Department of Teaching and Learning
> College of Education
> Temple University
> Philadelphia, PA 19122
>
>
> Find out what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact
> measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.
>
>  Frederick Douglass
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 3:46 PM, Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> >
> > I am peeling off from the old thread to begin a new thread!
> >
> >
> > Our inquiry hear appears to be: What is a Pedagogy of the Oppressors?
> >
> >
> > I suggest "a" and not "the" because there could be more than one, surely?
> >
> >
> > For new arrivers to this thread, it commenced from this thread here:
> >
> > http://xmca.ucsd.edu/yarns/15848
> >
> >
> > With its genesis here, thanks to Greg!
> >
> > http://xmca.ucsd.edu/yarns/15848?keywords=#52332?
> >
> >
> > Kind regards,
> >
> >
> > Annalisa
> >
> >
>
>