An Introduction to a Cluster on Teaching Theory in Global Context

Gurfinkel, Helena, Dr.

Thakur, Gautam Basu

English

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville SPARK SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Fall 10-2021 Guest Editors' Introduction: Toward Decolonized and Student-Centered Teaching of Critical Theory Helena Gurfinkel Dr. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, hgurfin@siue.edu Gautam Basu Thakur Boise State University, gautambasuthakur@boisestate.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://spark.siue.edu/siue_fac Recommended Citation MLA This Article is brought to you for free and open access by SPARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity by an authorized administrator of SPARK. For more information, please contact magrase@siue.edu,tdvorak@siue.edu. ....iership. thc: :herrvise. ,rhcr. I['r: iirstance: rr,:r'casecl:,. rariercecl;e: Cambridgee -\re Actuallyral-comment59-62.il but Distinctcetv and: \IA: Harvard:dia.org/listso,fie Pursuitrnell University11 September.hpathy."d b.v Robynr Press.r AJournalmitory.tque of'InterpretingCiuster orr TeachingGrrest erlited ll, CatrtaurTheory in Global ContextsBasu 'fhakur aud llclena LltrrfinkelIlntroductionToward Decolonized and Student-Centered Teachingof Critical TheoryGauta'm Bavt T'hahur o.nd Heleua GurfinkelLike no other. an introdrrctciry critical-theory course tencls to tlivide itothundergraduate ancl gracluate sttidents into two calnps" Sorne corrsicler it etteye-opening. professionailv defiriing. arrtl personaily transftrrmative erpcli-ence. wirile otirers struggie through it. intellectuall-v and emcltionallv. anclvow to lbrget its unpalatable arrd unreadable corrtent the tninute the firralpaper hits the prol'essor's mailbox or Blackboard shell. Who, or what, is toblanle for such divergent responses? Is it our pedagog,v, or the contellt a11clstructure of the courses that, {rankl,t', go unchanged or unchallengecl {br,vears? Is it the very llresence o1'abstract critical theory in universit,v curriculaat the time when higher eclucation is uncler siege bv grou.ing stuclent clebt, apublicJrealth crisis" and staggering racial ancl other irrequalities? Is it tinre toreinvent critical-theory courses or tti drop them altogether?In this ciuster. our ans\r'er is that criticai theorv is still use{ul. but "theway \\,e teach noltl' (to paraphrase a Victorian novel title) is in urgent need olretliinking. In our opinion. the traclitional theorv course (and tlie w{)rl tllrcrlin this pirrase is articulatecl. cleperrcling ott one's iroirrt of'r.ien', either w'ith abreathlessiy respectful inflection or"rvith a mixture of boreclom an<l fear) isan archaic rituai of initiatiorr irrto tlie plol'ession. con{)are(I. perhaps. to thebestovying of knighthoocl in a \l-esterll tltorrarchv. Such a conrse is usualh'.in our exiterience as both one-tinre striclertts ancl currettt teachel's, a chrolro-Iogical survev of various clitical rirrr()aches. startirrg son)etimes r.vith Plato.Petl,agop: Critical Approaches to Teadting Literature, Language, Camposition, and CultureVolume zr, Number 3 Dor ro.r215 r53r4zoo-9r3r879 @ eozr by Duke University Press501-other times rvith Piril\t Sydnel'. or. at the latest. u.itli Cleanth Brooks. Ittakes the stuclerits througir decacles of competing approaches (Freud, I-acan.N{arx. Creenblatt. Gilbert and Gubar" or Harawa},, iI'one is in the rnootl lbrsome experimentation). The semester is often ainrost oyer rvhen 1ve get todiscuss tlie issnes of race, gender, sexuality', and clisability it the *.a_v that ispressirlg attd reievant to the increasirrglv diverse cias$roorns in rvhich u,e firidourselves. B-v that point. such discussions, ofien the most productive of tireerrtire semester. seer1. paradoxicalil', like an afierthought. or an appenclage"In their gracluate iterations, tiieory courses mav not be broad survcyribut. insteacl. jtirirnevs tlrrough a selection ol texts tliat reflects the instruc-tLrr"s esirertise or pref'erred theoretical altproach. In all cases, abstractitu.cii*icultr'. ancl a certain respect{ul remove li"om "rea1 litb" are presumably thelttpiirecl clralacteristir:s of a thec,ry course. It is, alier all. theorr,-, rrot practice .-\ssignrnents tend to be either: meta-theoretical or literary-critical. involvingan application o{'a theory o{'choice to a literarv text. As teac}rers. rve 1>raiseourseives lbr our insistence on abstractiorr ancl clifficuity fcrr clifficultv's sake.as if tlie nostrurns of New- Criticisrn and its love for tlie pe rpetual paracloxrl,ere stiil lresh. Tlie online articles that rve post on our clepartmental u.ebsitesto attract majors often argue that our gracluates r,vill get.jobs lbr their ability tothirik cr:itically and tolerate arnbiguitl,. Such marketing is of no use il'studentsrn,alk arvay from theory colu'ses ciisaffected ancl alierrated.It is time lirr a change, and change is happening. 'fheory courses arebeginning to prioritize contenl that directlr:, reflects stuclents' experiences anclstruggles: nloreover" these experierrces replace a theoretical reading as thestarting piace lbr theorizing. Likervise, Iiterary vi,orks or cultural documenrsbecorne the cmcibles of theory'" instead of remaining mere objects o1'applica-tion exercises. If a classroom is located outside a Western context (and er.en i{'it is not). stuclents have the opportunitv to decolonize lVestern theories. Thearticles in this ciuster represent the efiirrts on the part olacademics across theglobe (from Noru.av to Singapore) to make tlieorv peclagogv studcrrt cenreredancl decolonization mincled.'fhe two essays describe a range of pedagogical challenges ancl theirlnovative teaching strategies employed iri resPonse to these challe.ges bvthe authors. The ar-rthors share experiences ol'teachirrg "theory" in uniyer-sity classroorns sPread across tvr() cotrtinents--Asia and Europe -and theirinr-errtive r,r,avs of u1;clating the teaching of'theriry- in orcier to meet tlre needsoi'the gloltal present. Though teaching in classroons tliat are geographicailr'clistanced and irr diffelent sociocrtitural spaces" both authors simriltaneouslystake tire urgency of reirlagining tire practice of teaching theory in global502 Pedagogyclassrooms, specifically the instessays collected here show that thgraduate classrooms must conneand offer students the opporrunitinterrogate the unjversity classroo,,Hopes for Reading in thtof developing new habits of readirdiversity of worthwhile reading prcism's repeated circulation ofp*i6'studying globalized English lirernate the ,'university curricula- (;cand with the intention of avoirlingoutlines how globalized English Iicurrent fascination with idenrin_b,;of theory and culture, offer a wavappropriate flor the global presenr-"Teaching eueer Theon- b.the challenges of teaching queer rhtrcerned about exporting a ,,\ltstera.and motivated by a desire to helpr _r1experiences can add new perspecrirtheorists, this class was designed r,iown as,sumptions and anxieries a-hdiscussions to bear on their readingsern Iiterarure and theory. ThLs appdeveloping a decolonial q,r.., p.i-oand unlearning through direct ene_4;adequate attention to local .oo,._p_,,This cluster makes a prorli:ethe relevance and practicalin- of :;.itwenty-fi rst-century social realirier" L .ing the best practices for teaching 1:1.;,1must continue to develop. groo-.-arc _continually changing modalities oj -i,.:. 1l.-ili.-- I!)1'.: :(l,r: is: rtcl::iLel.r"' -)-s, :hel i a..-, -llql;LieI':l'C.:.-,-lX:-iC5.."'l0-:litS: ife: :f1d: -ilc:lri5--tl-::, il- :t.', ::r;::::ti- .-,aclassrooms, specificalh. tire institutionallr' nranclatecl survey course. :fheessavs collected here sirou, that the learning and teaching o{ tireory in uncler-graduate classrooms lnust connect to our contemporarv claili, exlleriencesalld offer students the oirportunitv to urilearrl their clesires in order tci li.eelyinterrogate the university classrooill itsei{'as a site for subject proclucti()li."Hopes fbr Reading in the Era of Globalization" ac{vances t}re icleaol'developing ner.v habits of reading irr recognition of the ,,entirrnous globalclive rsitv of wortlrrvhile reading practices that irave been obscure c-l by criti-cisrn's repeated circulation of particular critical ,lo'es and moo.ls-", (5o6) via"stridving globaiizecl Engiish literarure clifferlent] from those,, tirat domi-nate the "universitv curricula" (5o8). Preferring to teach theorv u,ith l-ropeand vvith the intention ofavoiding the "schools approaclit (5o6)" tLis essai,outlines hou' globalizecl English literatures. distinct from Anglo-America,scurrent fhscinatiort rt'ith identity-basecl ap.proaches to teaching antl learningof theorv arrd culture. o{I'er a way to clecolonize the curricula ancl make itappropriate fbr the global preserrt."Teaching Queer Theory ber.-oncl the Western Classroom,, clescribesthe challenges r-,f'teaching queer theory to rindergracluates in Singapore. Con-cerled about exporting a tt\Vestern" theorv into the norr-trVestern classr6grnancl rnoti'r,ated b,v a clesire to iielp striclents understand horv their particularex1;erierices can ackl new 1)erspectives to canonical *,orks of'1\,estcr1 qLleertheorists, this class was clesigrred to encourage stuclerris to interrogate tfueirowrl assumptions anci anxieties about queerrress arcl then to bring tliesecliscussions to bear orr their reaclings and anaiyses of serninai works of'West-ern literature ancl theorl'. This approach. the author posits. is critical firrcle'elopi.g a decolo,ial queer pedagogv. a selirrellexive praxis tif learnirrgand unlearning tlirough direct engagement with lVesterrr texts brrt also q,ithaciequate atte.tion t. iocal co,ter,Porar-v debates arou.d sexualit_v.Tliis cluster makes a pro'isional effbrt lbr restariing diaiogues aborrtthe relevance arirl practicalitr. of teachirrq- theorv iii the context(s) o{ ciurtu'entv-first-centllry social realities. It is proi-iso because the task o{ cleterrlil-ing the best practices for teaching theorr-is {hr Ii'oni certairr. ;ls echrcators" r.l,emust continrie to rlevelop: gron'. anrl r.eimagine our praxis rvith an eye on thecontinualiv changing nrrclalities,-,t' this cenrurr,.r and. Gurftnhel : Introductio.rz 508

Guest Editors\u27 Introduction: Toward Decolonized and Student-Centered Teaching of Critical Theory

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Guest Editors\u27 Introduction: Toward Decolonized and Student-Centered Teaching of Critical Theory

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