Reconceptualizing Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy: A Lesson from the Other

• Main Author: Rebeca Heringer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Alberta 2020-12-01
• Series: Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education
• Online Access: https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/jcie/index.php/JCIE/article/view/29426

Two decades after Kumashiro’s (2000) groundbreaking work, the postulates of anti-oppressive pedagogy are still in urgent need. Despite the contributions made by Kumashiro, this paper outlines how even attempts of anti-oppressive pedagogies can fall short of welcoming the Other–which can be clearly observed when focusing on Black refugee students in Canada. In the pursuit of an anti-racism pedagogy, I revisit Kumashiro’s revision of anti-oppressive tenets through the lenses of post-structural philosophy and psychoanalytical input and propose the ethics of hospitality, as articulated by Derrida (2000a, 2000b) and Ruitenberg (2016), not only as a necessary complement to that earlier work but also a pressing reconceptualization of modern education.