Connections, Engagements, and Troubles: A Response to Remy Low

Remy Low’s piece is a theoretical contribution to the teaching of social (in)justice as space for reflecting on students’ past and present positions in social structures and as a way to draft different futures for them as teachers. The first section connected me with a discussion on the implications of raising issues of social (in)justice in the classroom. Part of my teaching and research work is about political conflict and peacebuilding and Low’s chronicle of a classroom discussion resonates with my own experiences. The second section invited me to engage with the main argument of the chapter about the possibilities and limitations of understanding politics in terms of agonism rather than antagonism. Since how to deal with protracted conflicts is a matter of ongoing discussion in my academic and activist work, I read that section as exchange of theoretical perspectives. The third section troubles me. Due to my work on gender and sexual politics, biological arguments cause me suspicion and extreme caution on how and for which purposes such data are raised. Low’s piece is an example of how to use theory to create possible dialogues amid difficult topics and an invitation to maintain hope for change and social transformation.