Hahn Tappers article explores a theoretical and practical understanding of social justice education, through the examination of a US based intergroup educational organisation.
Although focused on one organisation based in the US, there are parallels to the UK education system. Both the US and UK have blatant systemic and institutional issues surrounding race, class, religion, gender and disability. Although the specific intergroups in this study may vary to those here in the UK or even within my own classroom, the key premise of taking students social identities and positionalities into consideration in education is relevant wherever you are, irrespective of geographic location.
SIT (Social Identity Theory) and Social Justice Education are new terms for me although the concept itself is not. It was interesting to learn the difference between contact hypothesis and SIT. You can’t just put a diverse cohort of students into one room and expect that to be the solution, there needs to be empathetic and considered conversations exploring students’ individual identities and social identities.; an exchanging of knowledge and understanding of positionality and intersectionality. These conversations need to be facilitated from a position of equal and not power – the teacher is not the leader in that dynamic – as a teacher you don’t have authority over someone else’s story.
‘Teachers and facilitators are understood to be guiding, rather than leading, students through this process, assisting in steering the experience while not actually piloting it in a top-down, dictatorial manner, always using and reinforcing academic methods of critical thinking along the way.’ (Hahn Tapper, 2013)
I feel as though I am already starting to explore Social Justice Education as a pedagogy in my teaching practice and am keen to embed more workshops into the curriculum to enact this change.
I have just finished teaching a YR1 unit which I led called ‘Your Uniform’. Asking the students to take an introspective look into the clothing they wear everyday and to critically evaluate these garments; to research and understand their cultural, social and fashion significance. Through the exploration of their own identity, they needed to design a collection of clothing that appeals both to themselves but an identified wider market. I found that for most students this gave them the green light to really delve into themselves and begin to find their design voice, communicating what was important to them and their identity. This resulted in really personal work that explored themes of religion, gender, sexuality, heritage and subcultures. A key part of this unit was a teamworking element where weekly we got students to speak about themselves and their projects to each other on small groups, focussing on peer to peer learning and feedback.
The theme of social justice also was prevalent in a workshop I recently took part in called ‘Roots and Routes: Climate, Cultural and Social justice in Fashion’ co developed by Gabrielle Miller and Adam Ramejkis of UAL. The workshop aims to raise awareness of biases and injustices within the fashion industry, and contribute to inclusive, responsible and accountable practices.
The name of the workshop is directly influenced by the following quote by Jamaican-British sociologist Stuart Hall…
“If you think of culture always as a return to roots — R-O-O-T-S — you’re missing the point. I think of culture as routes — R-O-U-T-E-S — the various routes by which people travel, culture travels, culture moves, culture, develops, culture changes, cultures migrate, etc.” – Stuart Hall
We were tasked discuss what this quote meant to us and how that translated into our teaching practice, and then to make a zine that explores Climate, Social and Racial Justice and reflects on our values and positions in our work, daily lives, and connections to nature and history.
Below you can see the mind map I and several colleagues created that we felt embodied FDD’s (BA(Hons) Fashion Design and Development) journey to social justice.
It was such a nice and relaxed atmosphere, and almost mindful just to be chatting and creating without pressure, and focussing on sharing experiences with each other. This would be a great workshop to hold at the beginning of our students starting the course. To get to know each other in an informal setting and explore and share the different routes each person took to get to the same place, fully embracing an expansive notion of culture.
Perhaps it could even be an activity that starts off each project they do? To almost reassess their identity and what is important to them on their ever changing journey, to share this journey with peers, and how that can be brought into their design work? Keeping these conversations that explore identity (both individual and social) and intersectionality consistent throughout their educational journey.
Hahn Tapper reflects on the words of Paul Freire in his article stating ‘one way to move students toward freedom is to create an educational structure whereby both teachers and students engage in habitual, critical reflection, a model that takes into account their identities.’ Perhaps the intervention above would be a step in the right direction in sustaining intersectional social justice for my students.
Bibliography
Hahn Tapper, A.J (2013). A Pedagogy of Social Justice Education: Social Identity Theory, Intersectionality and Empowerment. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 30(4).