Resisting Resistors: Resistance in Critical Pedagogy Classrooms

Abstract

It is my contention that resistance is not adequately problematised in the critical pedagogy literature. Even while many writing about critical pedagogy support a Foucauldian understanding of power, resistance to power is often cast in terms which contradict this. Nowhere is this more evident than in discussions about resistances of students to teachers. Situating resistance with students assumes that resistance to social inequality is only initiated by teachers; that students may not already be resistors to social inequality prior to coming to the classroom; and that teachers may not also resist social inequality. By positing resistance with students, teachers, including critical pedagogues, never have to examine their own resistances.