Containing classroom discussions of current social and political issues. Issue 3 (3rd May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Garrett, H. James
• Is Part Of: Journal of curriculum studies. Volume 52:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 337
• Page End: 355
• Publication Date: 2020-05-03
• Subjects: Discussion -- controversy -- emotion -- social Studies -- psychoanalysis; Education -- Curricula -- Periodicals; 375.001
• DOI: 10.1080/00220272.2020.1727020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0272

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper attends to the emotional and affective relations that manifest through political discussions in secondary classrooms. In particular, the focus is on the dynamics of classrooms during discussions of political issues. Specific attention is given to interpretations of movements and manifestations of emotions as well as the ways that teachers work with, avoid, navigate and help students make meaning from such discussions. Two case examples are provided that took place in the US South in the Spring of 2018 in separate high school classrooms; the first a discussion about Confederate Memorialization and the second a conversation about gun violence that took place 1 week after the massacre in Parkland, Florida. The idea of containment, borrowed from psychoanalytic theory, is used to theorize how students and teachers engage with and work through difficult emotional content. The ways that emotional significance and political knowledge are linked become increasingly necessary to understand in the context of increasing political divisions across democratic countries.