Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto [Hardcover]

Higher education has seen better days. Harsh budget cuts, the precarious nature of employment in college teaching, and political hostility to the entire enterprise of education have made for an increasingly fraught landscape. Radical Hope is an ambitious response to this state of affairs, at once political and practical—the work of an activist, teacher, and public intellectual grappling with some of the most pressing topics at the intersection of higher education and social justice.

Kevin Gannon asks that the contemporary university’s manifold problems be approached as opportunities for critical engagement, arguing that, when done effectively, teaching is by definition emancipatory and hopeful. Considering individual pedagogical practice, the students who are the primary audience and beneficiaries of teaching, and the institutions and systems within which teaching occurs, Radical Hope surveys the field, tackling everything from impostor syndrome to cell phones in class to allegations of a campus “free speech crisis.” Throughout, Gannon translates ideals into tangible strategies and practices (including key takeaways at the conclusion of each chapter), with the goal of reclaiming teachers’ essential role in the discourse of higher education.

Kevin M. Gannon is director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and professor of history at Grand View University. He writes for the Chronicle of Higher Education, gives frequent talks and workshops, and appeared in the Oscar-nominated documentary 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay.
 Introduction
It has never been more difficult to teach in higher education than in our current moment. Nearly all of our postsecondary institutions, two- and four-year colleges and universities, are reeling from decades’ worth of financial strangulation, the fruit of a neoliberal, market-driven ideology with littlƒ(