Things to consider:
- How do the sources relate to each other?
- How do they relate to your own teaching context?
- Summarise the content’s take-home points.
Bell Hooks, All about love:
Bell Hooks states that a Love ethic is born out of the scarcity of love in the world. In the context of the world today, where social media and the internet mediate the bulk of communication between people. The context of today, where we are emerging out from a global pandemic, which has seen a rise in loneliness, anomie, and mental health crises on a global scale, it can be argued that love is in short supply, therefore the need for people to embody a love ethic is more crucial now.
Hooks is interested in the metaphysical meaning of love in everyday life. How is it embodied in our daily intentions, interactions with people? What does this look like within the context of a global pandemic?
I think for me in general and my teaching praxis in particular, a love ethic has been a force of transformation. When providing wellness checks before staring a tutorial, I aim to break down the stuffiness of the learning environment (especially within the context of online learning) I aim to create a safe environment where the identities of the students I teach are respected and there is a sensitivity towards difference. Where differences are acknowledged instead of assuming that everyone is coming from the same circumstances.
Cynicism is the great mask of the disappointed and betrayed heart. With the rise in polarity of opinion and politics in our society, a love ethic moves from a space of kindly interrogating what it is I consider to be true and the positionality I embody as a teacher and researcher. A love ethic looks like an openness and willingness to learn from the student as well as facilitating learning.
What are we, the agents of love, up against?
Nihilism, Apathy, anomie, bitterness, indifference, depression, isolation, intimacy without risk (dating apps), humans as expendable/ dispensable resource (social media), symptomatic of capitalism, hyper individualism, insularity, selfishness, laziness, fragmentation.
What does a love ethic look like in the current climate of lovelessness? Willing to move from a place of care as much as wanting to receive it.
What does a love ethic look like in an educational context? Nettiquette: establishing a code of conduct where respect grounds the conversation. Taking time for respite and grounding as an educator. Checking in with students, not putting too much pressure on them to be exceptional but to gently guide them to improve the quality of their research and their work. Making sure that the intersecting needs of the students are prioritised.
I ironically think about love more when witnessing the deaths of friends and loved ones. CONFRONTING own mortality as a motivator to find the meaning of love and its place in life. On an existential level love grounds me in purpose and is something I am constantly trying to harness.
“Profound changes in the way we think and act must take place if we are to create a loving culture.”
What changes need to be made? Changes in policy which take into consideration the multiversal needs of students. Closing the attainment gap between students of colour and their white counterparts. Highlighting racist institutional policies.
How do we create a loving culture, broadly speaking and more specifically within an educational context? Transparency and confidentiality, confronting implicit bias, willingness to lead by example, holding space for others, inclusivity, respect for student’s race, faith, ability status and further intersections.
How is love as a transformative force?
Love as “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” M Scott peck
“Love is as love does. Love is an act of will-namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.” M Scott peck
This definition brings in volition, agency, free will, choice, intentional, pro active, embodied, transformative, a doing, put into motion/ in practice.
Laura D’Olimpio, Ethics of Care:
Previous ethical theories purported by white men emphasised morals virtues and justice, i.e Kantian ethics.
Care ethics emphasises connection to others. Where women’s nurturing relationships are taken as a model for care. Care ethics stems from the idea that everyone has a responsibility and obligation to care for others. This in turn helps people meet their basic needs, develop and sustain basic capabilities and alleviate pain and suffering in an attentive, responsive and respectful manner. An ethics of care calls out the presumption of universality of current codes of ethics.
Crits:
X Are values inherently feminine or masculine?
X Feminist ethics are biased towards females, they focus on the social and bilogical differences between men and women rather than on a universal human being.
In order to be ethical we must take the perspective of someone with a different gender, race, nationality, educational background, being open to feedback, be self reflective and critical of our own biases, listening attentively to seek an understanding with students.