Critical Conversations in CEL: Bridging Theory and Practice I – What Kind of University Do We Want? Interrogating Community, Crisis and Hope through CEL

Presented by: Centre for Community Partnerships

Guests in Conversation:

– Michael Classens, PhD, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Undergraduate Associate Director, School of the Environment, University of Toronto

– Kari Grain, PhD, Lecturer & Coordinator, Adult Learning and Global Change, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia

– Am Johal, PhD, former Director, Vancity Office of Community Engagement & Co-Director of Community Engaged Research Initiative, Simon Fraser University; Executive Artistic Director, Indian Summer Festival, Chair, Vancouver International Film Festival

Each of our invited speakers brings deep expertise at the nexus of community engagement, climate crisis, and critical pedagogy. As scholar-practitioners, they will collectively interrogate, reframe, and mobilize three key concepts resonant for our community-engaged learning pedagogy and practice in this moment: “community,” “hope,” and “crisis.” Our guests will be in dialogue with one another and our audience on the following:

– In what ways might critically unsettling the notion of “community” inform and transform our pedagogical practices in CEL, deepen student engagement with complexity, and reimagine the ethics and praxis of relationship-building?

– What is the role of hope in CEL pedagogies in a context of evidence-oriented helplessness—a condition shaped by the convergence of global and local crises and the stark inequities of their impacts?

– Can hope serve as a generative force in our teaching, and if so, how might it be ethically and critically enacted?

Other Relevant Information: 

This event is open to the public. Please encourage your colleagues from other educational institutions to join us.

Event Website