WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.770 --> 00:00:11.849 Mary Triece: hello, my name is Mary Triece i'm a professor in the School of Communication and the Director of the Women's Studies Program at the University of Akron. 2 00:00:12.450 --> 00:00:21.570 Mary Triece: I find the writings of the feminist black scholar and activist bell hooks enlightening when it comes to reflecting on the ways my teaching intersects with activism. 3 00:00:22.470 --> 00:00:28.140 Mary Triece: bell hooks envisions teaching as transgression and she views education as a form of resistance. 4 00:00:28.770 --> 00:00:36.810 Mary Triece: hooks suggests the importance of making the classroom a space where both students and teachers are engaged to create and apply critical tools. 5 00:00:37.080 --> 00:00:47.640 Mary Triece: For deconstructing the dominant narratives that kept marginalized voices and bodies segregated and silent and she emphasizes the importance of making the classroom a space for resistance. 6 00:00:48.330 --> 00:00:55.290 Mary Triece: When i'm in the classroom I incorporate the teaching philosophy of hooks which includes two aspects first. 7 00:00:56.160 --> 00:01:03.120 Mary Triece: I introduced to students, the critical concepts needed for interrogating the ways capitalism racism sexism homophobia. 8 00:01:03.510 --> 00:01:10.530 Mary Triece: and other narratives of domination and violence shape and colonize our minds or kind of take over and cloud our thinking. 9 00:01:11.070 --> 00:01:18.180 Mary Triece: bell hooks explains that critical thinking is the quote primary element, allowing the possibility of change, unquote. 10 00:01:19.050 --> 00:01:24.690 Mary Triece: Dominant narratives and images are the ones that were subjected to the most frequently and political and popular discourses. 11 00:01:25.080 --> 00:01:37.230 Mary Triece: often go unnoticed and unquestioned so in the spirit of bell hooks i create teaching plan that equip students with frameworks for attending these taken for granted assumptions and proceed with new eyes. 12 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:50.400 Mary Triece: So, how does this intersect with activism well, a key component of any social justice project is raising awareness of an issue of bringing the issue front and Center and gaining support for the cause. 13 00:01:50.910 --> 00:02:00.600 Mary Triece: Teaching to transgress, as bell hooks suggests, means teaching students to recognize how commonplace images and narratives that shape our self concepts and worldviews. 14 00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:17.760 Mary Triece: contribute to marginalization segregation and violence so regardless of the class i'm teaching whether it's an introductory class on communication or upper level class on rhetorical criticism I try to bring in and invite dialogue about concepts like intersectionality white privilege. 15 00:02:18.780 --> 00:02:26.040 Mary Triece: And the history of US imperialism in an effort to show the continuity between past and present day struggles for justice. 16 00:02:27.210 --> 00:02:36.030 Mary Triece: Second, like bell hooks bell hooks I view the classroom as a location of possibility as a potential force for radical change. 17 00:02:36.660 --> 00:02:40.380 Mary Triece: I try to make the classroom is space for students can find their voice. 18 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:54.510 Mary Triece: bell hooks uses the term enactment to describe the quote "lived practice of interaction in a non dominating context, so that one's life is a living example of one's politics" unquote. 19 00:02:55.410 --> 00:03:07.050 Mary Triece: So I see the College classroom as a starting point for practicing enactment and a place for students to develop self awareness and self concept self confidence. 20 00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:14.940 Mary Triece: For white students This entails learning about their own white privilege what it looks like and how they benefit from systemic racism. 21 00:03:15.750 --> 00:03:20.730 Mary Triece: It also involves it also involves teaching them the practice of what I call radical listening. 22 00:03:21.390 --> 00:03:35.070 Mary Triece: Being an ally and supporting movements for progressive change for students of color This means ensuring that the classroom is a safe space that their voices and experiences are centered, valued, and heard. 23 00:03:36.210 --> 00:03:45.120 Mary Triece: Creating a space for radical possibilities and envisioning social change also entails for me, bringing in the voices of historical figures. 24 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:52.140 Mary Triece: Especially Women of color that students might not have been exposed to in other more traditional classroom settings. 25 00:03:52.650 --> 00:04:04.590 Mary Triece: So in all the classes, I teach we read and take inspiration from people like shirley chisholm, who was the first black woman to serve in the House of Representatives in the early 1970s. 26 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:13.860 Mary Triece: Maria Stewart, who was a 19th century African American woman who addressed both racism and sexism well ahead of her time. 27 00:04:14.340 --> 00:04:34.350 Mary Triece: So reviving this radical history, then serves at least two purposes. First it gives light to the false narrative that white people have been the primary builders of the nation and, secondly, it provides examples for students of spokespersons for radical change to whom they can aspire. 28 00:04:36.030 --> 00:04:40.530 Mary Triece: Seeing the classroom as a space for radical potential is also linked to activism. 29 00:04:41.580 --> 00:04:49.080 Mary Triece: A key element of any social justice project is speaking out or speaking truth to power and public speaking can be daunting. 30 00:04:49.980 --> 00:05:07.020 Mary Triece: As a teacher of communication, then my goal is to equip students with confidence to speak out and also with the ability to organize their thoughts in a way that's compelling so that, when they do feel called to be involved, they are competent woken ready. 31 00:05:08.520 --> 00:05:21.300 Mary Triece: So i've drawn great inspiration from bell hooks her view on engaged liberatory education as someone who has been involved in a host of on the ground, active his efforts and since the early 1990s. 32 00:05:22.050 --> 00:05:31.980 Mary Triece: I continually try to create a classroom were radical transformation of the mind and the heart is possible and they work hand in glove. 33 00:05:32.250 --> 00:05:45.120 Mary Triece: With the ongoing efforts of people dedicated to the very hard work of organizing, marching, raising awareness, speaking out against injustice, and envisioning a more democratic society for all.