Emotional Labor: Re/membering Juan

Authors

Randall Wright, California State University San Bernardino
Kathryn Schofield, California State University San Bernardino

Keywords

social justice, critical theory, discourse, narrative, re-membering

Abstract

This paper finds its home in a graduate student’s essay which led to the realization that teaching for social justice in a foundations course cannot ignore the emotional labor of teachers. Critical concepts such as ideology, hegemony and domination must be considered as cognitive frameworks and emotional management systems that delimit and prescribe proper “feelings” for teachers as well. Current educational discourses serve a similar emotional management function. Schools are thus considered battlegrounds for dominance and control of teachers’ emotional lives. Recovering the emotional world of teachers thus serves as a counter-discourse to the current technical-rationalist educational discourse. We conclude with suggestions for eliciting and nurturing teacher narratives that speak to their emotional labor.

Author Statement

Dr Randall Wright is a professor in the College of Education at California State University San Bernardino. Kathryn Schofield is a graduate student in the College of Education at California State University San Bernardino.

Recommended Citation

Wright, Randall and Schofield, Kathryn (2008) "Emotional Labor: Re/membering Juan," Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice: Vol. 4: No. 1, Article 1.
Available at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/wie/vol4/iss1/1