Learning As a Disruptive Act
By Janeen Manuel, PhD and Nora F. Murphy Johnson, PhD
For this month’s edition of our blog series, “Topics That Matter,” we’ll be discussing “learn” as part of our align, learn, adapt, and embody approach to transformative change.
For many people, the word “learn” conjures up the image of sitting at a desk within a row of other desks, memorizing “facts” for a test. Or listening to a lecture and furiously scribbling notes. As adults, we often recognize that this type of learning is not optimal. But because we’re taught to see it as “normal” or “neutral,” this “standard” learning process can easily be subverted as a tool of the oppressor. Thus, as changemakers, we need to go further in our understanding of how and what we learn–reflecting not only on our own experiences, but gaining a meta-understanding of how traditional learning methods can lead to passivity, create destructive cultural norms and biases, and interfere with positive transformative change. As noted by Paulo Freire in his well-known book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, first published in 1968:
The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them.
But learning can also be disruptive–the catalyst for radical change. This calls on us to take responsibility for our learning–what we learn, how we learn, and who we learn from.
So how do we take responsibility for our own learning?
We have three strategies that we use at Inspire to Change. These aren’t everything we do, of course, but they are a great and foundational place to start.
Cultivate Critical Consciousness About Our Own Learning Process
Reflecting on our own learning, including the ways we individually learn best, is a great first step in developing critical consciousness. It helps us understand why, how, and what we have learned over our lives. Most adults, if they consider it for a while, can tell you how they best acquire knowledge. Whether it be through reading and writing, independent research, experiential activities, or listening to podcasts, they can usually say, “Yes, I learn best that way.” For example, one of the changemakers we interviewed reflected, “The first and best way for me to learn is experiencing the learning. Being in a space with people, sharing practices, having meals and seeing how people are impacted. So experiential learning is very powerful for me.” This kind of thinking about personal learning can help us understand how our past learning experiences were or were not ideal, and how our current and future efforts to take in knowledge can be best accomplished in our work toward transformative change.
Cultivate Critical Consciousness About What We’re Taught and How
But we must go further than this type of self-reflection as we work to understand how what we’ve learned and the way we’ve learned it can impact our worldview, create conscious and unconscious biases, and shut down our ability to act to create thoughtful change. We must also consider how pedagogy itself reflects the will of those in power. Giroux makes this clear in his book, America at War with Itself (2016) when he states:
Pedagogy is always about power, because it cannot be separated from how subjectives are formed, desires mobilized, how some experiences are legitimized and others are not, or how some knowledge is considered acceptable while other forms are excluded from the curriculum.
Continually Develop a Fuller, More Three-Dimensional View of Reality
As changemakers, we are challenged to be constantly learning. As one of our company’s principles, “Learn and Unlearn,” lays it out: We need to probe, question, explore, and engage in dialogue and reflection, and develop a fuller, more three-dimensional view of reality in the process. As you take on your changemaker work, we encourage you to gain a deeper understanding of your learning processes as they are embedded in your personal beliefs, culture, and world. Is your learning as objective as it is often made out to be? How can you move toward a fuller understanding of the world that allows for multiple perspectives? How can you learn about and explore the challenges you face in your work that might offer clues on how to move forward?
As Alicia Garza stated:
Every successful social movement in this country’s history has used disruption as a strategy to fight for social change. Whether it was the Boston Tea Party to the sit-ins at lunch counters throughout the South, no change has been won without disruptive action.
Taking responsibility for our learning is one small but mighty disruptive act.
What do you think? Please let us know in the comments.
