Acknowledging The Knowledge That Exists

I have spent a lot of this week thinking about how one acquires knowledge and how that knowledge stays with you in different ways. Many folk have had different routes to getting to where they are today. Different degrees in different disciplines, different work experiences, different life experiences, all of this creates knowledge and skills that are built upon or used in different ways and in different contexts. 

I find myself having this kind of conversation in different places too; with the student I am mentoring when they are prepping for interviews and we are reflecting on past education, and work experience; with graduate students thinking about next steps in academe or industry; with instructors wanting to try different authentic connection activities or assessments. Interdisciplinarity or transferable skills are often seen with some hesitancy in certain spaces, often in spaces where disciplinary norms work to gatekeep in order to recreate the same kind of learners, the same exclusionary models. 

I have mentioned this before because this is something I study and have studied for years (it was my dissertation focus), but tactile residue is an embodied thing, so even if you have not done a thing in a while, or thought of a thing in some time, it still lives with you, inside you, somewhere. People often use the simile, "it's like riding a bike" to state when something can be readily retrieved, however we do need to be careful of such similes, as they tend to be ableist, because some folk may not be able to readily retrieve something from long term or short term memory. What I am emphasizing here is that the knowledge still does live in you somewhere, and it can be demonstrated and applied in different ways, and not necessarily in the ways that disciplinary norms want to force folk to demonstrate that knowledge. High stakes multiple choice exams, which is often googleable knowledge, can be a disciplinary norm, but a portfolio or a case study where that knowledge is put into practice goes beyond retrieval to authentic connection.

If you are lucky, some of the things you know and care about become things others want to know and care about. For example, when I taught in the Assaulted Women and Children Counsellor Advocate program, we used anti-oppressive, feminist and trauma-aware pedagogy. This sort of pedagogical framing may seem to have a specific home in a program like this, however the pandemic has demonstrated how important trauma-aware and anti-oppressive pedagogy is to supporting learners across disciplines. Folk have been using these principles, along with harm-reduction, in community and social-support spaces for years, however, this is often ignored, and folk act like this is "new." It isn't new; that knowledge is well framed and practiced in those spaces, and this is one of many reasons why we should be in dialogue with community to support the work we do in education. 

By acknowledging the knowledge that exists in different places, from the learners, from the community, from the practitioners, a more ethical, reflective, and honest educational space can be created. Constructivist and connectivist approaches have reinforced the importance of these holistic spaces where authentic experiences guide the discussion. As this pandemic continues, acknowledging the knowledge that exists, and where it exists, allows equity-deserving folk, including multimarginalized learners, to guide the learning experience to where it needs to go. 

I acknowledge that we are all so exhausted, that the end of the semester cannot come fast enough, and yet we do not want it to come too quickly because there's not enough time to finish all the things that need to be finished. In the toxic push toward productivity that many spaces reinforce, we have lost the possibility to stop, to reflect, to listen deeply, to empathize, to acknowledge the knowledge that surrounds us. I have been citing the 7 Grandfather Teachings so much lately, but honestly, it's all there. It's all there. Read the teachings please. There is so much knowledge around you, there is so much knowledge inside you, by acknowledging this we can support and care for each other, and make our learning spaces more inclusive.