Call for Papers – special issue on Social Pedagogy and Transgression
Edited by Lotte Harbo (VIA University College Aarhus, Denmark)
and Robyn Kemp (Social Pedagogy Professional Association, UK)
For publication winter 2023/spring 2024
Expressions of interest accepted until: 28 February 2023
Deadline for draft papers: 31 July 2023
The International Journal of Social Pedagogy is inviting authors to link the thoughts of bell hooks and others who transgress or disrupt received ways of thinking, to social pedagogy, social education, and social work in its broadest sense.
The International Journal of Social Pedagogy (IJSP) is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishing articles on social pedagogy in the broadest sense This forthcoming special issue is shaped by bell hooks’ understanding of transgression and education through her 1994 book ‘Teaching to Transgress’. bell hooks was an American author, educationalist and social activist who understood transgressive education as the practice of freedom, characterised by an integral experience without dissociation between body, mind and spirit. In this sense, education unites the will to learn with freedom of movement. Here, theory is seen as a possibility to initiate a process of transformation in consciousness, where students and teachers mutually name and expose the oppressive structures that shape their everyday lives. While she speaks to formal educators, her work reaches beyond education and into empowerment practice.
In this special issue our aim is to link bell hooks’ thoughts on transgression to social pedagogy. Social pedagogy can be understood as a science, education and practice that aims to support the empowerment and participation possibilities for children/young people/adults in current and future communities, with an ongoing dialogue and reflection on how the individual and their communities wish their future to be. This has an implicit call for transgressing existing understandings and perceptions of society ‘as it is’, which in turn calls for transgression in social pedagogical practice and thinking.
bell hooks was inspired by Paolo Freire and Thich Nhat Hanh. Freire is known for his work on developing awareness through linking words to the world. He sees life-long learning with a focus on praxis as action and reflection that should not be dissociated from the other. bell hooks links this to Thich Nhat Hanh’s thoughts on interbeing in the sense that we are truly ourselves when we understand all the relationships that link us with others, the material world and all living beings. bell hooks’ work was undertaken in loving kindness, emphasising that all critique should be enlightened by love.
Perhaps the most dominant way we understand the word transgression is as ‘the action of transgressing or passing beyond the bounds of legality or right; a violation of law, duty, or command; disobedience, trespass, sin’ (OED). By this definition we are encouraged or conditioned to not transgress, as breaking rules and laws is bad, but rather it is about a social contract. However, transgressions can also be about how societies develop boundaries, norms and rules that are more meaningful and relevant for the modern age, and so are vital for democracy.
Responses to this call for papers might consider:
- How can we relate social pedagogy, and its focus on relationships in the everyday, to transgression?
- How do social pedagogues see theory and practice as offering a critique of oppressing structures?
- How can educators and practitioners rethink and adjust their professionalism to practice care and solidarity?
- What is participation, is it by nature transgressive?
- How can ‘mattering’ work against marginality and discrimination, for example by transgressing negative experiences and creating trust?
- How can educators transgress the usual systems and structures of education to engage the whole learner?
We suggest a few areas of possible focus above, but the call is open to all manuscripts that address social pedagogy and transgression including research papers, reflective practice papers, book reviews etc.
| Submission to this special series: Early expressions of interest should be sent to the series editors Lotte Harbo LJH@via.dk and Robyn Kemp robyn.kemp@sppa-uk.org by February 28, 2023 in the form of an abstract of 300-500 words, up to six references, and a 50-word biographical statement. Successful authors will be invited by March 15, 2023 to submit a full draft for editorial review by July 31, 2023 through the journals online submission system. Please consult the notes for authors on the journal’s webpage at https://uclpress.co.uk/ijsp. For enquiries about your ideas please email the guest editors of this special issue, Lotte Harbo (ljh@via.dk) and Robyn Kemp (robyn.kemp@sppa-uk.org), who will be happy to provide further guidance. IJSP is keen to encourage new and existing writers and as such we can offer support in a variety of ways, e.g. for new writers, or for writers who are less confident about writing in English. |
