I wonder how humans develop the concept of identity. I am sure the environment in which we live, thrive, and die greatly effects what identities we have. I am curious to what extend the environment plays a role in this development; my guess is our developmental environment completely determines identity. I am white, which I suppose was decided before my existence, but the socially derived concept of being ‘white’ and its effects on my behavior certainly came from the environment.
I cannot help but think of culture and society. I do not know the difference between culture and society. I define culture as repeated patterns of human behavior, but where does society differ? I do not know.
I have pride for the western scientific enterprise. I, over last three years, have interrogated my identities as a scientist, educator, and science educator. I only began this investigation after being supported to critically engage in such work by two graduate students in my teacher preparation program. I previously did not think of how my environment shaped my epistemologies; furthermore, how my culture effects the values I have, which further impact what knowledge I find valid (i.e. what counts as justification for any belief).
I yet again find myself in an existential crisis; my identity as a practitioner of Western science conflicting with my ongoing attempts to engage in critical pedagogy. I have encountered many similar concepts in the education literature, all somehow different, although connected. I first was informed of critical pedagogy by Paulo Freire, in the seminal text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968). Freire called it conscientização; I believe this is where being ‘critical’ originated from, but I may be wrong. Conscientização refers to “learning to perceive social, political and economic contradictions, and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality” (1968). Freire develops this idea by looking at classism. His solution, problem posing education and the praxis it supports.
Critical pedagogy seems to be developed into other ideas. Glora Ladson-Billings introduced me to culturally relevant pedagogy (1995). I have heard this concept described as justice-centered science pedagogy by Daniel Morales-Doyle (2017). Maulucci and Fann describe this critical pedagogy as teaching for social justice. In the context of science education, they say it involves sociocultural awareness, meaning specific awareness of the effect Western science can of “concealing important social and historical issues and circumstances that framed the development of scientific knowledge” (Maulucci & Fann, 2016).
How does identity relate to critical pedagogy? Well, from my experience, it is difficult for the oppressers to recognize the oppressive elements of society. It is difficult because it requires the oppressers to reflect on their positionality in the world, their status, their power. This reflection must be followed by action, motivated by the reflection, in which the foundations of social thought have change.
As I reflect, I began to see the world holestically; I question my pride of western science as I uncover more about the histories of the people science has been used to oppress, more about epiestomology, and more about educations purpose. Am I oppressing people in higher education as I teach chemistry? This is my existential crisis; my values are at stake, I feel torn in two.
References
Freire, Paulo. (1968). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Seabury Press.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465
Morales-Doyle, D. (2017). Justice-centered science pedagogy: A catalyst for academic achievement and social transformation. Science Education, 101(6), 1034–1060. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21305
Maulucci, M. S. R., & Fann, K. T. (2016). Teaching for Social Justice in Science Education. In L. Avraamidou (Ed.), Studying Science Teacher Identity: Theoretical, Methodological and Empirical Explorations (pp. 111–128). SensePublishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-528-9_6