Negotiated space: a reframing of safety and collaboration in the classroom

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ideally, the classroom serves as a space where students feel comfortable voicing their opinions and asking questions without fear of judgment or hostility. Historically, this conscious placemaking is referred to as a “safe-space,” a term which some scholars suggest has become insufficient in its aims. Seeking to reframe the classroom as a place of collaboratively navigating multiple values and viewpoints, I posit a new term, “negotiated space” as an alternative approach. Events like school shootings and the pandemic of COVID-19 have demonstrated the limited control a teacher has in their ability to assure the safety of their students. Further, the recent call for police reform and dismantling institutional racism raise questions as to the merit of claiming the classroom as a “safe-space” – safe for whom? Through critical analysis of pedagogy, I reflect on the role a classroom plays in creating a collaborative environment, and the tools necessary in negotiating its creation. Part I contextualizes negotiated space within the conversation of “safe-space” rhetoric and the shortcomings identified by its critics. Part II outlines methods for implementing the groundwork of a negotiated space in the theatre classroom using various embodied strategies of inclusivity.