Resistance to Learning

I wrote the majority of this blog in the middle of the week before, well, before everything went even more to shite. But it made me realize the topic is just as relevant. If collectively there is a resistance to learning or reflecting on the moments in history that got us to where we are today, we are really ensuring a future where equity deserving folk will no longer be in classrooms, because the systems are set up exactly to make sure access to education is removed for folk who would most benefit from access to education.

Resistance is an important concept and it is used in both positive and negative ways and it is important to reflect on how resistance comes up in the pedagogical work we do. The etymology of resistance is from the Old French, and is rooted in moral or physical opposition. I am usually a big fan of resistance as someone who believes in ethics and social justice. Resistance is how you can get things to stop, or to move forward in a more ethical way. That kind of resistance is important to undoing the systems that are harmful and exclude folk within educational frameworks. We should all be reflecting on what kinds of this resistance we can put in place in our course designs and any advocacy work that you happen to do (and there is a lot to do so please do some, it can't always be the same people saying and doing the same things all the time). 

However, resistance can work the other way as well which is when folk just refuse to engage with anything that would advance equity or progressive thought and this is how we get to the societal space we are in at this particular socio-cultural and socio-historical moment. As a queer woman with dynamic disabilities who grew up in a remote-ish geographic space speaking a minority language to what was spoken around me, I know a whole bunch about how framing and resistance to equitable structures causes harm and violence. I note here that this is also important because last week someone flagged my blog as spam on Twitter for "spreading misinformation" which is kinda hilarious (I fixed it with the help of friends). So I wanted to acknowledge that this will always be a place that will feel uncomfortable for folk who are resistant to equity or progressive thought. I will also never apologize for that. 

I keep thinking about a particular thing in relation to resistance though, which is the particular thing that is pretty much my "brand" on Twitter and that is this real resistance to alt-text images and gifs on Twitter from folk who have been educated on how to do it, and know why it would be important to do in terms of inclusion. Often the reason why they don't is framed as being too used to a particular work flow and so they forget to do it. And I get it, folk forget stuff all the time. I am never one to advocate for everything to be from memory because well that is ableist. Some say it is because the tech is broken and it should happen automatically. And well, that seems to suggest that the ethical responsibility of engagement should be put on the machine instead of the human and that feels very icky to me. But I do spend a lot of time thinking about what I see as resistance to learning when this happens. Maybe it is not really a resistance to learning though, but rather a lack of prioritizing a particular inclusive thing in the way they engage. 

I feel as though a resistance to learning or putting a particular thing in place, also speaks to values and ethics of our practices. This is where I have a harder time understanding why this is happening, because for the most part a lot of these people have inclusive values and ethics in their research and pedagogy, but in this one place where that continually doesn't seem to happen. I guess this week I am looking for the why? Why is this happening? What can be done differently to make it stop happening?

Again speaking of resistance, I want to acknowledge that it is Pride weekend in a lot of places this weekend, so I want to wish everyone a Happy Pride, and for folk to never forget the history that created Pride celebrations in the first place as part of inclusive framing of the equity work one does. Try to find the place of resistance that feels right for you, because there are many things we need to push back on (but alt text isn't one of them).