Making Space for Critical Pedagogy in the Neoliberal University: Struggles and Possibilities

Abstract

The neoliberalization of university education requires transformative approaches to teaching and learning. This article, which emerged out of a panel on critical pedagogy at the 2013 Association of American Geographers annual meeting in Los Angeles, brings together four contributed ‘tales’ that demonstrate how pedagogy-as-resistance opens up political possibilities both inside and outside of the higher education classroom. Drawing upon key themes within the tales, we explore possible strategies to intervene in and disrupt various forms of oppression that play out through the neoliberalization of higher education. We suggest that geographers should contest, rather than accommodate, the encroachment of neoliberalism into our classrooms. This article concludes with a discussion of the benefits of incorporating a caring and critical pedagogy into higher education.