I have recently discovered the excellent publications of Rebecca Solnit who as a feminist, journalist and political writer deeply strengthens my courage because of her hope in future openness and through her discussions on world changing narratives and stories. Alongside Solnit’s recent book ‘Who’s Story Is This? Old Conflicts, New Chapters’ (2019) I have been delving back into the work of Hannah Arendt’s ‘The Human Condition’ (1998), re/exploring Donna Haraway’s (1997) SecondMillennium.FemaleMan_Meets_OncoMouse whilst also soaking up Mary Beard’s ‘Women and Power’ (2017). All have brought very poignant themes into stark relationship with my own observations of the current political climate in the UK. There are growing populist narratives creating chaos, distrust, ‘meaning’ distortion with divisive ‘information relativism’ and the ever present relationship between hegemonic ‘capitalist’ agendas and authoritarianism.
As a teacher of Citizenship Education, Global Education, political literacy, media literacy and sustainability the dominant narratives have and continue to chip away at exceptionally vital inherent characteristics of civic society. Trust, credibility and integrity seem now to be subversively obtained for only a handful of individuals attached to lofty positions of hegemonic power, whilst others of difference are denied access to having a voice amongst the public and private sphere, even to the point where they are returning to being forbidden and invisible. It is an insidious provocation of events, situations, past influences, present circumstances and strategic agendas that have been involved in trying to dominate and define civic society. It is evidently disregarding the ethos of social justice and the hard fought democratic and political morality many citizens are accustomed to and that many continue to protest and fight for across the world. It is fair to argue that ‘democracy’ as it stands is fallible and arguably it is a system designed historically through the perspectives and structures of colonialism, capitalism and imperialism. Over the course of time these have become more an more entangled and are no longer suitable for our present predicament of a global community facing unprecedented planetary level future climate change, nor is it suitable for fair, just and meaningful community building that meets the basic needs of all citizens. But is an authoritarian and totalitarian dystopia really the direction most desired either? I think not!
As an educator the three fundamental and profoundly vital actions I can take in a learning environment are to uphold the characteristics of mutual trust, credibility and integrity across all of my interactions, practice and ontology. Political, social and economic systems are capable of substantial change as they are social constructs and to effectively, meaningfully and creatively change such systems communities and groups still require the holding of space for trust, credibility and integrity. Margaret Canovan, in her Introduction to Arendt’s The Human Condition (1998) speaks endearingly of the underlying importance of plurality in Arendt’s political analysis and the powerful realisation that as human beings there is always the possibility of collaboratively creating something new that can transform the future in unpredictable ways. To achieve this ‘openness’ and create together with agential affect requires trust, which asks for vulnerability and exposing ourselves to each other in a faith and hope that we do care deeply about what happens to each other and to future generations. Entire geo-political treaties, pacts and agreements, as well as, local non-profit voluntary groups are all fundamentally based on an act of trust that your word, your commitment and your morality aligns with a greater narrative of shared destiny. Even our friendships and intimate relationships are built from this principle of trust. Poetically I would say trust is believing that my living and dying as a member of a community, nation and planet is just as important to you as it is to me and that our individual choices, participation and actions take that into consideration. Donna Harway (1997) refers to this as ‘response-ability’, our ability to act and practice living in ways that consider and care for others, which are in response ethically to others and the environments we share.
Credibility thus becomes essential to trust as our individual reliability, authenticity and the very quality of being believed is established through relationships with others over time and space. Under systems of authoritarian power and influence credibility is quickly attacked when knowledge, narratives and opinions get shared that counter those in hegemonic power. The ‘orchestrating of narratives’ through power and control goes hand-in-hand with systematically finding ways to undermine the credibility and integrity of other ‘thinkers’ and other ‘knowledges’, which generates an ‘epistemic injustice’ (Fricker, 2007). This injustice perpetuates the controlling of stories, opinions and narratives from minority and oppressed groups, and will often inhibit organisations from actively seeking to exemplify inequalities and injustices through activism. As a teacher in any classroom the most fundamental way to counter and challenge epistemic injustice is to create a safe and mutually respectful space where difference is encountered and social norms of inequalities get critically questioned in constructive ways. The promoting of ‘student voice’ through learnt and developed skills of creative, critical and compassionate dialogue is of paramount importance. If we are not teaching our students how to communicate and have discussions in a plural world then we are disadvantaging future generations and undermining the trust necessary for future civic collaboration.
Lastly I return to integrity and the quality of honesty and moral principles that upholds the very fabric of how our institutions and social world functions. In the absence of integrity there is an absence of seeking truth, knowledge, morality and peace. Integrity, like credibility and trust is based on how one conducts oneself or how a group organises itself around a set of principles that commits to social justice, democracy and a care for humankind. Again, it is connected to caring about how we live and die together in community and integrity is part of the very abstract philosophical presence and material doing of living together. A school, in my opinion, upholds the integrity of the practice and process of learning. This is achieved by how schools engage with knowledge; how schools live as community; and how schools establish and facilitate respectful relationships. As a practitioner of teaching I have made my own discernments of pedagogical practice and of the very organisational infrastructures of schools and I don’t always agree with our existing approaches and systems. But using the educational model currently adopted by the majority of nations integrity remains fundamental to every school, every classroom and every relationship between student and teacher. Any institution responsible for the care, well-being and aspirations of children and young people is, in my opinion, required to function from a morally principled and just belief system and it is this integrity that builds the trust of students, parents, exam boards, community members and future employers or further educational providers. Schools and teachers are response-able for the learning and community they are creating and without trust, credibility and integrity a school becomes simply a space of ‘knowledge transfer’ or ‘knowledge transmission’ where the project of education and society is no longer considered, explored or discussed, nor the richness of human relationships and learning experienced.
To hold space for trust, credibility and integrity in an educational setting is to hold space for what is possible between human beings as they relate and create community, be it for one lesson of discussion or for someone’s entire career as a teacher. Making difference visible in the classroom ensures students encounter plurality and learn that no one person or group can possess or own the future of our communities, nor define each students singular and unique potential. Solnit argues that “our largest problems won’t be solved by heroes. They’ll be solved, if they are, by movements, coalitions, civil society” (Solnit 2019, p. 149). Therefore, the classroom as a place and space of community building is itself a microcosm of civic and civil society, where the fabric of that creative collaborative potential and courage of participation can take root and be fostered. To finish, I want to add that to really face the fast looming challenges of the climate and biodiversity emergency there is an additional response-ability to ensure children and young people can collaborate as communities across philosophical, organisational and agential inquiry. Local communities, nations and the global community require huge trust in one another to achieve planetary level commitments. Trust, credibility and integrity must be the grounding from which solidarity and unity can grow.
References:
Arendt, H, (1998) The Human Condition. (2nd Edition)
Beard, M. (2018) Women & Power: A Manifesto Update.
Canovan, M. (1998) Introduction - The Human Condition. (2nd Edition)
Fricker, M. (2007) Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing.
Haraway, D. (1997) SecondMillennium.FemaleMan_Meets_OncoMouse.
Solnit, R. (2019) Whose story is this? Old Conflicts, New Chapters.