Fostering critical consciousness: Critical service learning and intersectional reflexivity in the first-year classroom

Abstract

Building on two common practices in higher education, the first-year seminar and service learning, this project uses a critical service-learning model guided by intersectional reflexivity to foster critical consciousness among first-year students. Working in small groups, students participate in a four-part critical service-learning project by engaging in reflexivity, conducting an intersectional analysis, and imagining new futures for social justice on their university campus. This project develops skills in reflexive thinking and introduces intersectionality as an analytical framework for students to understand their positionalities and how interlocking system of oppression shape and impact the world around them.

Courses

First-Year Seminar, Introduction to Communication, Communication and Civic Engagement.

Objectives

The main objective of the project is to foster critical consciousness in first-year students. To do this, students will (1) demonstrate awareness of current social issues through critical service learning, (2) engage in reflexive writing to identify connections between themselves and systemic inequality, (3) apply intersectionality as an analytical framework for understanding interlocking systems of oppression, and (4) imagine possibilities for creating social change on their university campus.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Mahuya Pal and Aubrey A. Huber for reading earlier drafts of this manuscript and providing generous and insightful feedback. I am also grateful to Alisha L. Menzies for providing the space for me to first use this project in the classroom.