Becky L. Noël Smith - Böcker

Collective Unravelings of the Hegemonic Web represents the culmination of work that emerged from 2013 Curriculum & Pedagogy annual conference. The notion of the hegemonic web is the defining theme of the volume. In this collection, authors struggle to unravel and take apart pieces of the complex web that are so deeply embedded into normative ways of thinking, being and making meaning. They also grapple with understanding the role that hegemony plays and the influence that it has on identity, curriculum, teaching and learning. Finally, scholars included in this volume describe their efforts to engage and undergo counter-hegemonic movements by sharing their stories and struggles.

Collective Unravelings of the Hegemonic Web represents the culmination of work that emerged from 2013 Curriculum & Pedagogy annual conference. The notion of the hegemonic web is the defining theme of the volume. In this collection, authors struggle to unravel and take apart pieces of the complex web that are so deeply embedded into normative ways of thinking, being and making meaning. They also grapple with understanding the role that hegemony plays and the influence that it has on identity, curriculum, teaching and learning. Finally, scholars included in this volume describe their efforts to engage and undergo counter-hegemonic movements by sharing their stories and struggles.

It is common for teachers and students of education to feel disheartened about the profession and their own aims and purposes once they become conscious of the dehumanizing tendencies of the schooling institution. As teacher educators, we have also known many students who, after studying critical perspectives aimed at exposing the power and privilege flowing through the public schools, then look to us with the question, “Where’s the hope?” Our attempt to answer our students’ questions has led us to consider what beauty and love in education look like. Where can it be seen, and how can we bring this forward so it can be instructive to those who are faced with similar questions about the incredibly important craft of teaching?This collection of narratives, essays, and poetic expressions includes the perspectives of students and educators who, in varying ways, express gratitude toward those who came before them and a deep desire to keep the faith alive. The authors share narrative accounts of someone or something in the public schools or learning experiences in general that inspired and nurtured the passionate desire to achieve goods internal to some shared practice – that is, some art at living – such that there was a transformative readjustment to the very nature of experience itself. We share with readers the stories and intellectual habits that have fueled us, inspired us, and that continue to push us to engage in the practice of cultivating educational dynamics that are meaningful and transformative for ourselves, our students, and our communities. The book concludes with an exploration into how teachers might not only root their craft, but the habit of love in general, in a sense of freedom.