A pedagogical luminary, bell hooks not only believed that teaching is "the practice of freedom," but that "anyone can learn" to teach to transgress. Through critical commentary reflection pieces, this collection explores how to teach about intersecting systems of oppression in meaningful, radical ways.

bell hooks—feminist scholar, teacher, activist—implored instructors to see the classroom as a “radical space of possibility” where students and teachers work as partners in the pursuit of education as “collective liberation” from structures of domination. hooks’ call takes on more urgency today, as oppressive and dominant ideologies continue to perpetuate racial, economic, gender, and other social inequities both within the classroom and society at large. Through critical commentary reflections on classroom experiences and original teaching activities, the authors in bell hooks' Engaged Pedagogy for the 21st Century Classroom: Radical Spaces of Possibility provide inspiration for teachers with the will to learn and the courage to teach about intersecting systems of oppression in meaningful, radical ways. The goal of this collection is to carry forth hooks’ legacy of education as freedom and to serve as a guide that renews faith that “teaching to transgress” racist, sexist, and classist systems of oppression is not only possible, but is a first step in transforming the world.

List of Figures

Preface: Love as a Transformative Force, Kristin Comeforo and Mala L. Matacin

Introduction: Naming our Practice: Honoring bell hooks’ Pedagogical Legacy, Kristin Comeforo

Section I: The Courage to Transgress/Renewing our Minds

Chapter One: Teaching to Transgress Across Cultures: Reflections From a Black Male Educator of Latinx Students and a Latinx Female Educator of Black Students, Alejandra Torres and Marcel Williams

Chapter Two: A Multivocal Faculty-Student Exploration of bell hooks, Teaching, and Mentorship, Leandra Hernández, Stevie M. Munz, Agustin (Tino) Diaz, Elizabeht Hernandez and Duxiana Ruiz

Chapter Three: Learning From hooks’ Yearning: Becoming a Feminist Academic in a Neoliberal Campus, Siti Muflichah

Chapter Four: Picturing Possibility: Photovoice as Liberatory Pedagogy, Mala L. Matacin

Chapter Five: Extending Embodiment: bell hooks’ Engaged Pedagogy in the Virtual Postsecondary Classroom, Sydney Curtis and Amy M. Wilkinson

Section II: The Courage to Teach/Activities as Sites of Resistance

Chapter Six: Bridging Disciplinary Divides: Facilitating Participatory Feminist Community in Interdisciplinary Classes, Lori Baralt

Chapter Seven: Lectio Divina: Feeling With Words in Engaged Community, Kelsey Evans-Amalu and Becky Beucher

Chapter Eight: Teaching Supervision Experientially as a Gesture of Love, Ellen Balis and Becky Pizer

Chapter Nine: Creative Expressions as Knowledge in Feminist Pedagogy: Voices of Community College Students in a Space of Radical Openness, Sheryl D. Fairchild

About the Contributors