Difficult Conversations

Ideas

Idea #10: Leaning in to Social Justice Content

"An effective critical social justice course will unsettle mainstream perspectives and institutional discourses, challenge our views about ourselves, what we think we know about society, how it works, and our place in it."1

Learning Intention

Educators must resist conforming to neutral norms in society that claim everything is fair for everyone. One approach is to teach through a critical social justice perspective. This includes creating a space where students feel empowered to analyze society, how it works, and their positions within it.1 It may feel uncomfortable to consider one’s own privileges and biases, so educators should strive to create safer spaces in which students feel empowered to take on these critical lenses. The guidelines below describe specific ways to maximize learning of social justice content for both educators and students.

Guidelines and Practices1

  1. Strive for intellectual humility.1,2

    • Practice careful reading with note-taking, re-reading, and practicing new terms.

    • Strive to make connections to prior knowledge.

    • Focus on understanding rather than agreement.

    • Practice posing questions, even if you don’t know the answers.

    • Be patient and willing to grapple with new and difficult ideas.

  2. Recognize the difference between opinions and informed knowledge.1,3

    • Let go of the idea that you must agree with a concept in order for it to be valid or worth learning.

    • Understand that knowledge is socially constructed and thus never outside of human values and subjectivity.

  3. Let go of personal anecdotal evidence and look at broader societal patterns.

    • Build on familiar concepts with new techniques and ideas.

  4. Notice your own defensive reactions, and attempt to use these reactions as entry points for gaining deeper self-knowledge.

    • Consider the ways in which course content challenges or expands the way you view the world.

  5. Recognize how your own social positionality (such as your race, class, gender, sexuality, ability-status) informs your perspectives and reactions to your instructor and those whose work you study in the course.

    • Positionality is the idea that our perspectives are based on our positions within society. Consider using positionality to better understand where you stand in relation to others.

    • See Idea #4.