Mobilizing ‘implicit activisms’ in schools through practices of critical emotional reflexivity

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of emotions in mobilizing implicit activisms – that is, small-scale, personal, and modest activisms – in schools. For this purpose, the discussion evokes the notion of critical emotional reflexivity to illuminate how creating spaces for critical reflection on emotions may contribute to making implicit activisms more visible, plausible, and perhaps sustainable in schools. Although an empirical example is used to show how critical emotional reflexivity can instigate implicit activisms in schools, this paper is meant as a conceptual, rather than empirical, contribution. In particular, it is argued that critical emotional reflexivity can serve both as a pedagogical approach and space that provide opportunities for teachers and students to engage in modest acts, words, and gestures toward social justice. Therefore, it is suggested that it is valuable to pay more attention to how critical emotional reflexivity may contribute to the initiation and sustainability of implicit activisms in schools.