Schools of Recognition: Identity Politics and Classroom Practices PDF
Preview Schools of Recognition: Identity Politics and Classroom Practices
306,43 BS13 2001 Schools of Recognition Identity Politics and Classroom Practices Schools of Recognition Schools of Recognition Identity Politics and Classroom Practices Charles Bingham ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham Boulder • New York • Oxford • ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowmanlittlefield.com 12 Hid's Copse Road, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9JJ, England Copyright © 2001 by Rowman & Littlefield All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloging in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bingham, Charles W. (Charles Wayne) Schools of recognition : identity politics and classroom practices / Charles Bingham. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7425-0195-7 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-7425-0196-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Educational sociology. 2. Social psychology. 3. Recognition (Philosophy). 4. Identity (Psychology). 5. Social perception. I. Title. LC192.3 .B56 2001 306.43—dc21 00-066467 Printed in the United States of America © ™The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Contents Acknowledgments vi 1 Introduction: Toward a Framework of Recognition 1 2 Encounters in the Public Sphere: Mirroring 29 3 The Other Whom I Don't Understand: Confirmation 57 4 On the Discursive Limits of the Encounter: Subjection 87 5 Recognizing as Being Recognized: Reciprocity 117 6 Thinking through the Encounter: Minding Our Educational Discourses of Recognition 141 Bibliography 159 Index 165 About the Author 169 v Acknowledgments I would like to especially thank Donna Kerr for her intellectual guidance, assuring presence, and philosophical insight during the writing of this work. I am also grateful for the expert readers who gave feedback and insightful criticism on the drafts of these chapters: David Allen, John Stewart, Ed Taylor, Kate Evans, Nick Burbules, and Chris Mayo. I would like to acknowledge the support and teachings of the following cohort of students and professors, who formed an inspiring intellectual community of educators during the time this work was in progress: Remie Calalang, Ellen Timothy, Yoon Pak, Kelly Edwards, Ross Ikawa, Tim Calahan, Sasha Sidorkin, Jaylynne Hutchinson, Kate Evans, and Rosalie Romano. Thanks, too, go to Dean Birkenkamp at Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, whose professionalism and encouragement made the task of bringing this work to published form a pleasure. vi 1 Introduction: Toward a Framework of Recognition A CLASSROOM SCENARIO I begin this work on school recognition with an example from my own life, or maybe I should say from my daughter's life. Being the father of a small child, I often feel that her experience is my own. On Tuesday eve¬ ning, after Olivia has eaten dinner, she is taken by her mother and me to her first day of Kidsmusic. Olivia is two years old and this is her first classroom experience. We have told Olivia about Kidsmusic beforehand. "Kidsmusic is where there's a teacher, and all sorts of kids, and you get to play music and learn," we explain before class. At class, Olivia is surrounded by children she does not know. There are parents who speak with their children in ways she is not used to. Some have different accents than Olivia's parents. Some speak more harshly with their children. Some speak with their children very little, some in hushed tones. And there are other new experiences. She uses instruments—cymbals, sticks, bells, gourds—that are new to her. She is asked to follow the in¬ structions of a teacher she has just met. As these new experiences unfold, Olivia looks more and more at the teacher. The teacher already knows the name of each child, and she calls to Olivia. The teacher asks Olivia if she wants to sing into a small microphone. Olivia does not go to the microphone to sing. She seems especially shy at this moment. Instead of going to the microphone, she turns to her mother and asks, "Who's dat?" She is pointing toward her teacher. Her mother and I are surprised by these words. To begin with, we have never 1 2 Chapter 1 heard our daughter ask "Who's dat?" before. It seems like a sophisticated phrase, a phrase that strays from her usual ways of talking. Olivia usually speaks only of needs and demands: "I want . . ." this or that. "Give me .. ." this or that. It also seems to be a question that is a bit out of context in this situation. We have already told Olivia about listening to the teacher, about doing what the teacher asks. In fact, before the class began, we introduced Olivia to her new teacher. "Olivia," I said, "this is your music teacher, Mrs. Halpern." The answer to "Who's dat?” should be obvious to Olivia—it's the teacher we have been preparing her for. In a sense, the problem of this entire work will be to answer Olivia's question, "Who's dat?” Let me explain what I mean. Olivia's question, "Who's dat?” can be interpreted in a number of ways. First, it might be said that Olivia is in search of new information. One might say she has arrived at her first day of school and she needs to know some things. She needs to know who this person called her teacher is. She needs to know this to feel at ease. By knowing who this teacher is, she can be more com¬ fortable in her new classroom surroundings. Another way of interpreting Olivia's question, perhaps a more subtle explanation, might be that she is not actually trying to find out who the teacher is (she has already been told that by her parents, after all), but that she is trying, with her limited vocabulary, to get at something deeper about who dat is. Following this second interpretation, we can say she wants to know, in a more general sense, what sort of people teachers are. Perhaps "Who's dat?" is a simple way of asking what the role of a person like dat is in this new place called a classroom. There is yet another way of interpreting Olivia's question. This other way explains what I mean when I say that the work of this text is to dis¬ cuss the implications of Olivia's question. Olivia's question can be inter¬ preted as a matter of recognition: she may want to know how she is going to be recognized in this school situation and who she will be in this class¬ room space. Interpreted as a question of recognition, Olivia may be ask¬ ing "Who does dat teacher make me?" Understood in this other way, her question is a matter of what happens to a student's identity when she is in this place called a classroom. Flow does the presence of this new teacher change the way that Olivia looks at herself? This entire book will, in a sense, look into Olivia's question according to this latter interpretation. This work will examine education through the optic of recognition. It will examine how student self-recognition is af-
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