RHETORICAL LISTENING AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL IN HIGHER EDUCATION: EXPLORING THE BLACK PETE DEBATE IN FLANDERS

ABSTRACT

Discussing issues around race and racism often leads to unproductive stances such as defensiveness, denial, guilt, blame, or dysfunctional silence. Effectively addressing these stances is crucial for productive debate and action toward racial understanding and the undoing of racism. While numerous scholarship and professional development programs focus on critical and anti-racist pedagogies in higher education to tackle these unproductive stances, overcoming dichotomous thinking (i.e., “us” versus “them”) and shifting the focus from individual stances to more systemic perspectives remains a challenge. To address this challenge, this article proposes the implementation of “rhetorical listening” as a powerful pedagogical tool that generates new vocabularies and facilitates personal and social transformation. The article explores how rhetorical listening can be conceptualized and operationalized as a pedagogical tool in a cultural studies course, specifically encouraging students to reposition themselves when engaging with societal issues related to race, such as the Black Pete debate in Flanders.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The teaching materials and data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [A.D.C.], upon reasonable request.