From “Figure-ground” to “Figure-in-ground”: Relevance and Outcomes of Critical Service-learning for the Design Field_ the Detroit Case Study

Abstract

The recognition of pressing complex societal, environmental and ethical issues calls for the creation of new types of knowledge that encompass the ability to involve people affected by design and planning decisions, to protect the built heritage and the environment, and to deal with problems associated with under-represented populations (Salama 2005). Within this framework, what is the relevance of critical service-learning? A thorough analysis of overarching themes from critical service-learning theories, current transformative pedagogical approaches, and findings from a recurring service-learning project in Detroit will be presented to delineate outcomes of a pedagogical approach that centers on the intimate personal growth of students, and gradually enables them to see themselves as part of a larger context, in which critical issues become a personal call for action. This paper will discuss traits of critical service-learning that ensure the promotion of core abilities, including the ability to understand social contexts and broad patterns, i.e. sociological imagination (Astin et al. 2000), to acknowledge the continuum in which one thinks and operates, to recognize needs as systemic versus individual, to question teaching and learning roles, and to overcome the framing of service-learning as a transaction between those serving and those being served (Mitchell and Humpries 2007), towards an authentic embracement of social justice aims and a more accurate interpretation of learning outcomes. A discussion of outcomes from a service-learning graduate course will be presented, through the use of selected quotes from students. Research methods included qualitative analysis conducted on students’ written reflections and essays. Notes on in-class discussions and field notes from the service-learning activities were also used to contextualize data. This paper argues that students involved in critical service-learning, not only gain a deeper sense of self and being, but become capable of expanded conceptualizations of interpersonal identities, such as self+other and self+society. Through the course students overcame what could be defined as a figure-ground paradigm in education, a decontextualized self-centered learning model, and shifted towards a holistic “figure-in- ground” relationship, a self+XXX paradigm, in consistency with the philosophical foundations of service-learning.