“There's always people in the room for whom this is not merely theory”: emergent pedagogies

Author

Casey McCulloughFollow

Graduation Date

Summer 2022

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Master of Arts degree with a major in Sociology

Committee Chair Name

Michihiro Sugata

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Second Committee Member Name

Elizabeth Rienzi

Second Committee Member Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Trauma; Grief; Higher education; Humanities; Haunting

Subject Categories

Sociology

Abstract

Colleges and universities are generally regarded as a place for students to expand their skill sets and knowledge in preparation for specific fields of work. Many academic institutions and disciplines are also focused on recruiting and retaining students from socially marginalized communities in the name of equity, inclusion, and diversity. Despite this, some institutions in practice prioritize image, status, and wealth while deprioritizing resources, care, and support for students and their learning conditions. Often within these institutions are educators who challenge these systems in their courses, on campus, and across the country, encouraging and empowering students to directly confront those systems, alongside their ongoing efforts to make meaning of their lives. These faculty offer an entry point into the evolving pedagogies (methods of teaching and learning) that emerge from the confines of capitalist institutions. These pedagogies hold space for grief, joy, celebration, and rage; they are concerned with addressing violence and trauma caused by these systems, institutions, and practices. This research project, situated at two state universities on the west coast, studies 14 faculty across humanities and social science disciplines and how they address these issues within their pedagogies, which emerge from these realities. These interviews and analyses offer a deeper understanding into the limitations of capitalist-driven learning, and the possibilities of education as a practice for liberation.

Citation Style

ASA

Recommended Citation

McCullough, Casey, "“There's always people in the room for whom this is not merely theory”: emergent pedagogies" (2022). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 576.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/576