Toward a critical pedagogy of crisis

Saskia Eschenbacher,Ted Fleming

doi:10.3384/rela.2000-7426.3337

Abstract

Crises in our society – climate, covid-19 and mass migration – seem to define not only the experience of learning but also the experience of living and even surviving that in turn have implications for adult learning. We explore the concept of experience and examine whether it plays a role in addressing the need for transformative learning. Our allies in this task are Oskar Negt from the Frankfurt School tradition, L. A. Paul from a philosophical tradition and René Arcilla. Negt is useful for rethinking the role of experience in pedagogy. Paul helps identify the not-knowing aspect of our current experience and our inability to imagine how decisions translate into one’s way of living and being in the world. Arcilla emphasises the importance of keeping conversations going. Jack Mezirow’s transformation theory (relying on Habermas) informs the understanding of adult learning and how we can transform our way of being and living while facing experiences of crises and disorientation.

Highlights

In Melville’s (1967) Moby Dick, Ishmael looks out over New York Harbour
To work through (Morissette, 2014) the current situation and search for a critical pedagogy of crisis, we focus on experience as the starting point for learning
A critical pedagogy of crises continues to evolve as does the task of making further links and connections, whether through Negt, Paul, Arcilla or others, so that a fuller and more satisfying iteration of a theory of learning might unfold to meet the increasingly challenging learning dilemmas faced by individuals, communities and society

Summary

Introduction

In Melville’s (1967) Moby Dick, Ishmael looks out over New York Harbour. He meets the moment, and ours, with what he famously calls a ‘damp, drizzly November in my soul’ (p. 12). Negt (1973) describes adult learning as an analysis that brings into awareness the historical development of how learners’ interests are defined for them and how relationships of power are experienced, such that they can discover through learning the roles they play in society and through study identify options, including actions, that will change their unjust reality This pushes learning theory into social and political arenas, and this Negt-inspired critical pedagogy of crises provides a framework for an historical and material interpretation of subjectivity as produced by the capitalist system as well as a source for a new social order that will be just and caring (Kluge & Negt, 2014). The concept of transformative edifications we suggest is redefined as transformative conversations (Eschenbacher, 2020)

Implications for teaching a critical pedagogy of crises

Conclusion