Loyola University Chicago

Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy

hooks-Freire Pedagogy of Justice Series

 

 graphic with photos of bell hooks and paulo freire and the words

 

The annual hooks-Freire Pedagogy of Justice Series exists to celebrate the lives and works of pedagogical visionaries bell hooks (1952-2021) and Paulo Freire (1921-1997), and their inspired contributions to many fields, including justice-oriented and values-based teaching. This series highlights core principles of humility, empathy, love, hope and dialogue and contributes to the on-going, global work to inspire the next 100 years of pedagogical innovation in the direction of equity, justice, and freedom. 

FCIP’s work is reflective of hooks’ and Freire’s commitment to a liberatory education imbued with the wisdom and experience of everyone involved in the educational endeavor, particularly those on the margins who are often left out of and erased from academia. We seek to honor their legacies, which aligns with FCIP’s own mission, to support Loyola instructors in delivering an honest, accessible, and mutually transformative education for our students.  

To commemorate hooks’ and Freire’s inspired contribution to many fields, including justice-oriented and values-based teaching, each year, Loyola scholars, educators and learners are invited to share their experiences with and knowledge of justice-oriented and values-based teaching and learning, with emphasis on the lenses of humility, empathy, love, hope and dialogue

 

The Series format is as follows

  • Abolitionist Pedagogy Reading Series
    • This series extends throughout each semester, with separate engagements for each, Fall, Spring, & Summer
  • Pedagogy of Justice Film 
    • The Pedagogy of Justice Film offering is co-sponsored by our Anti-Oppressive Film series, and highlights a film that in some way discusses and engages with pedagogies of Justice, educational freedom, and/or liberatory education.
  • Keynote Lecture and Presentation

For more information on each component of the series, visit their specific drop-downs below.

For more content about the series as a whole, please join and peruse our open Sakai site! There you will find specific imformation, articles, interviews, and other resources on our Abolitionist Reading Series and Pedagogy of Justice Film offerings. Join our Sakai here!

 

Spring 2023 Pedagogy of Justice Film:

 

Description: Pipeline is a 2017 play written by Dominique Morisseau. It originally opened off-Broadway on July 10, 2017, and closed on August 27, 2017. Nya, an inner-city public high school teacher, is committed to her students but desperate to give her only son Omari opportunities they’ll never have. When a controversial incident at his upstate private school threatens to get him expelled, Nya must confront his rage and her own choices as a parent. But will she be able to reach him before a world beyond her control pulls him away? Watch the trailer at this clickable link!

Why this film? Beyond inequitable funding in inner city and majority minority schools, Pipeline works to expose the subtle ways institutional racism manifests and its daily resonance for minoritarian communities. Dominique Morisseau works to capture the helplessness and severity of the plot and the tendrils that tightly enclose the characters' lives. The play gives a practical, realistic look into the real concerns, judgements and obstacles BIPOC educators, students, and their families face as they fight to attain a fair education.

For more info on the Pedagogy of Justice Film and the hooks-Freire POJ Series, join our open Sakai site here!

2023 hooks-Freire Keynote Speaker named:   
   Dr. Dana K. Harmon, PhD 
(Loyola's School of Social Work)   

bell hooks' and Paulo Freire's work uplifted critical themes of social justice in education, with emphasis on the lenses of humility, empathy, love, hope and dialogue. These resonate deeply with Loyola's own Jesuit heritage. FCIP's second annual hooks-Freire Pedagogy of Justice Series features a keynote address and conversation. 

Keynote Address with Dr. Dana K. Harmon, PhD

 "Superwoman: Black Women’s Resilience, Perseverance, and Being Intellectual Giants"

This Keynote Address took place on March 29th, from 4:00pm - 5:30pm and centers on the genius of bell hooks and her lasting impact on pedagogy and education writ-large, with an emphasis on Black women in academia. Dr. Harmon engages with her own intersectional experiences and dives into the particulars of what it means for Black women to persist and resist in predominantly White institutions and spaces, all the while gesturing toward the greater cultural responsiveness and pedagogical freedom that comes with the intentional and necessary care, compassion, grace, and love for the self. 

This event took place on Wednesday, March 29th


You can find the recorded introductory remarks by Dr. Mark Anthony Torrez and the subsequent Keynote Address by Dr. Dana K. Harmon at this link!

 

A for Angicos (2016, dir. Catherine Murphy), courtesy of HotHouse Global

The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, courtesy of the Environmental Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz

 

View past keynote addresses