Social Justice Pedagogy Roundtable

The Lydia Maria Child Society seeks participants for a roundtable on pedagogy, social justice, and American literature. Considering contemporary social justice concerns ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement to climate disasters, persistent gender inequities, xenophobia, access to healthcare, and income gaps made all too apparent by the impacts of the pandemic, the Child Society feels strongly that many of the issues for which Child fought so passionately remain deeply relevant today. To honor her lifelong commitment to both education and writing as ways to attain social change, we ask that our selected panelists prepare presentations on how they address the above issues and/or others within the literature classroom, before engaging in what we hope will be a fruitful and wide-ranging open discussion on social justice pedagogies and American literature. What texts and social issues have proved particularly pertinent to your students’ lived experiences of activism, marginalization, etc.? How do you productively draw parallels between the concerns of the literary works you teach and those we are facing in the world outside the classroom? What specific lesson plans, textual pairings/groupings, and/or pedagogical approaches might you recommend to colleagues striving to make their syllabi and classrooms more socially conscious and engaged?

Please send 200-word abstracts of your proposed presentation, as Word documents, to lydiamariachildsociety@gmail.com by 5pm EST on January 29. Please note that while we, of course, welcome proposals that engage with Child’s work, Child need not be included for your proposal to be considered.

LMC Society
Karen L. Kilcup, President
Sandy Burr, VP of ProgramsGia Coturri Sorenson, VP of Membership & Records
Sarah Olivier, VP of Communications
Lucy Sirianni, VP of Inclusive Excellence & Social Action