Critical Border Praxis: Choosing the Path of Critical Border Dialogism

Abstract

This work examines the intersection of place-based and border pedagogies, including the concepts of heteroglossia, meliorism, critical cosmopolitanism, nepantla, dialogic feminism, and pragmatic hope that form the basis of a new critical border dialogic . Critical border dialogic (Cashman, 2015, in press) resituates teachers, students, cultural workers, decision makers, policymakers, and the larger community. A critical border dialogic draws upon a critical pedagogy of place and border pedagogy. Gruenewald’s (2003) critical, place-based pedagogy influences assumptions, practices, and outcomes. Border pedagogy (Giroux, 2005), in turn, engages a critical pedagogy of place and involves a recognition and understanding of margins as affected by history, power, and difference. A critical border dialogic positions us, as educators, students, cultural workers, and members of the larger community, on the course to critical border praxis . Critical border praxis actively engages us as cross borders in a contemplation of historically and socially constructed limitations.