Humanizing Collectivist Critical Pedagogy: Teaching the Humanities in Community College and Beyond - Paperback

by Sujung Kim (Editor), Leigh Garrison-Fletcher (Editor), Kaysi Holman (Editor)

This book provides concrete examples of humanizing collectivist critical pedagogy, which creates a learning space with students, values their mutual-agency, and invites them to play a leading role in remaking higher education. It redefines student success to include an understanding of positionality, macro social structures, and agency. Each class activity shared in this book is grounded in deep interdisciplinary theory and has been tested in community college-some of the most diverse humanities classrooms in the U.S. The contributing authors present their teaching praxis with examples of program administration, extracurricular programs, and pedagogical professional development that further extend their pedagogy beyond the classroom. We hope to help administrators, staff, faculty, and students of all levels in higher education take what the authors have learnt, build upon it, and adapt pieces of it to fi t their institutional environment and structures.

Given the manner in which the debilitating structures of schooling continue to reinforce the dehumanization and alienation of students worldwide, Humanizing, Community-Based, Critical Pedagogy offers educators powerful insights into how they can enact a praxis of empowerment and transformation. The volume is truly an outstanding addition to the critical pedagogy literature.

-Antonia Darder, Professor Emerita of Ethics and Moral Leadership, Loyola Marymount University

This invaluable book offers a range of essays in support of an engaged pedagogy designed to help students, and especially students of color, have the tools they need for agency, critical thinking, and empowerment in a world where those are necessary life skills. The combination of theory and practical advice will be invaluable to any instructor and especially those in community colleges.

-Cathy N. Davidson, Author of The New Education and, with Christina Katopodis, The New College Classroom

Author Biography

Sujung Kim is an interdisciplinary scholar and Project Director at the Center for Advanced Study in Education at the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her focus is critical pedagogy in higher education for the empowerment of its constituents and social justice. Her research interests are located at the intersection of class, race, power, and subjectivity.

Leigh Garrison-Fletcher is a professor of linguistics in the Education and Language Acquisition Department at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. Her research focuses on the education of multilingual students in the U.S., with special emphasis on inclusive pedagogies and linguistic social justice.

Kaysi L. Holman is an intentional community builder dedicated to equity and social justice. She was a political advocate and community organizer before returning to academia. She served as the Director of CUNY Humanities Alliance from 2016 to 2021, and has since returned to nonprofits to lead Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging initiatives.