Book Presentation and Discussion
Critical Hope
How to Grapple with Complexity, Lead with Purpose, and Cultivate Transformative Social Change
Dr. Kari Grain
Date: Tuesday, October 03, 2023
Time: 12 pm to 1:30 pm
Location: PCN Multipurpose room 2012
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Synopsis
How do we lovingly grapple with hope and nourish relationships, while also remaining committed to the messy and complex work of social justice? Does the chaos of a changing world allow for both and the colourful spectrum in between? This book is for people who recognize in themselves shifting tensions between a passionate hopefulness for a better future, and a deep frustration over historical and ongoing systemic injustices. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s notion of “critical hope” and the work of feminist thinkers and artists, author and global educator Dr. Kari Grain, delves into the politics, pitfalls, and promises embedded in conceptions of hope. Her writing interweaves the narratives of activists, educators, leaders, and survivors, with vulnerable personal reflections and interdisciplinary research across education, neuroscience, and critical pedagogy. Ultimately, she paints a picture of critical hope that embraces political and historical dimensions, and also holds space for anger, grief, trauma, and restfulness as vital encounters in the bigger picture of catalyzing change. This book encourages leaders of all kinds – educators, workplace leaders, parents, and citizens – to nurture “an education in hope” for those around them. To cultivate critical hope is not to remain hopeful all the time; it is to leverage the vibrant spectrum of human experience to generate change – in self, community, and society.
Bio
Dr. Kari Grain is the author of Critical Hope (2022) and teaches at the University of British Columbia in the Faculty of Education, where she leads the Master’s of Education program in Adult Learning and Global Change (ALGC). She is also a research associate at the Community Engaged Research Initiative in Simon Fraser University’s office in the heart of the Downtown Eastside at 312 Main. Her research in experiential learning, critical pedagogy, adult education, anti-racism, and global/local community engagement has been featured in peer reviewed journals, books, blogs, and podcasts. At the nucleus of Grain’s body of work is the belief that education has the potential to be a vibrant pathway toward systemic change and the honouring of multiple ways of knowing and being. Vital to that process of systemic transformation is an attunement to emotional, critical, and creative ways of knowing oneself and being in the world with others. As a consultant, Grain uses educational frameworks to help organizations and professional teams reimagine their goals and actions so that they are more communicative and relationship-centred. Foundational to Grain’s understanding of research and teaching is the joy she derives from traveling, music, nature, and spending time with the people and animals she loves. Kari lives in Vancouver, Canada on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
Discussants
- Xiaoming Cui
- Chijioke Nwadike
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