The Place of Emotion in Teacher Reflection: Elias, Foucault and ‘Critical Emotional Reflexivity’

Abstract

This article argues that recognizing the emotional aspects of reflexivity offers insights into the mechanisms with which teacher reflection occurs and becomes a disciplinary or subversive strategy. Particularly, the notion of ‘critical emotional reflexivity’ is theorized as a concept and praxis that not only acknowledges how reflexive processes are deeply emotional, but also interrogates how emotions are entangled with power relations and reflexive processes to legitimize or delegitimize certain teaching practices. A theoretical framework to ground the concept of critical emotional reflexivity in teaching is proposed; this framework is based on the theories of Norbert Elias and Michel Foucault, and involves a more complex understanding of emotion as an integral part of professional experience constituted in the interplay of personal, cultural, social and political aspects. The article concludes with a discussion about the potential contribution of critical emotional reflexivity as a theoretical and pedagogical ‘tool’ in teaching and teacher professional development.