Overview

An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy: Using Critical Theory, Critical Pedagogy and Complexity in Performance and Literature offers readers an introduction to the basic concepts of complexity science and how they might be applied in the teaching of composition, creative writing, performance, and literature. The book builds on Critical Theory (defined as Frankfurt Theory) and border theory, serving as a critique of neoliberalism in higher education and the teaching of critical thinking as a set of skills. Individual chapters are devoted to the following artists and writers: - the Choctaw people - author LeAnne Howe - Chicana lesbian author Gloria Anzaldua - performance artist Karen Finley - the performance duo Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose The strength of this book is that it concentrates on the teaching of interrelated topics: borders (including the border between the able/disabled), complexity, mixed ancestry, ability/disability, texts, and performance, using the Mexico-U.S. border as the working example of a complexity system. The work of the five aforementioned artists and authors are used to focus on political resistance within the context of decolonialism, but there are also references to mixed ancestry populations (including Redbones) and disability issues. This complexity frame of reference allows the reader to see and understand both the artists' narratives and viewpoints in the dynamic relations of shorter and longer time frames. No prior knowledge of complexity science is required and ample examples of complexity-related topics-- from coral reefs to zebra stripes--are provided. The focus is on students in state universities and community college transfer students, especially first generation students and students of color, with policy implications pointing to a critique of both elite small liberal arts colleges (SLACs) and research institutions. An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy: Using Critical Theory, Critical Pedagogy and Complexity in Performance and Literature is the perfect text for assignment in a variety of classrooms, including courses in Complexity Science, Composition and Rhetoric, Performance Arts, Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Ethnic Studies, and many others. Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Creative Writing Advanced Composition Introduction to Border Art Introduction to Complexity in the Arts and the Humanities Introduction to Multicultural Literature Introduction to Chicanx and Native American Literature Introduction to Performance Art and Social Justice Special Topics: Complexity, the Environment, Literature and the Arts Special Topics: Disability Studies and Performance Special Topics: Critical Family Histories, Mixed Ancestry and Pedagogy

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9781975504397

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If the world is non-linear why should we teach it linearly? At some point those who teach critical and complexity theory realize that their pedagogical methods are not consistent with the material they are teaching. And this undercuts our efforts and our students. Dr. Hicks has written a well-researched field guide to help those of us struggling to teach radical, critical, and complex theory in a neoliberal academy. --Thomas Nail, Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Philosophy, University of Denver D. Emily Hicks' new book, An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy, makes important contributions to Education/multicultural education and literary studies. She presents a view of how complexity theory and what she calls the new materialism can be used to combat neoliberalism in higher education and dominant modes of teaching and assessing critical thinking. She demonstrates new ways to engage important issues such as climate crisis, immigration, and a wide range of other current issues, central to contemporary education and the teaching of critical thinking. --Douglas Kellner, UCLA, Distinguished Research Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA Performance artist, author, and teacher D. Emily Hicks crosses geophysical, gender, cultural, linguistic, and post-digital borders, shifts established academic boundaries and discovers new pathways to teaching and learning in her new work, An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy. Join her as she embarks on a pedagogical journey that takes us into the hinterlands of meaning-making and the metropolises of theory. At a time in which teaching has come under vicious assault by forces on the right, D. Emily Hicks has created a politics of refusal and possibility that teachers can embrace with intellectual verve and creative hope. --Peter McLaren, Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies, Chapman University

If the world is non-linear why should we teach it linearly? At some point those who teach critical and complexity theory realize that their pedagogical methods are not consistent with the material they are teaching. And this undercuts our efforts and our students. Dr. Hicks has written a well-researched field guide to help those of us struggling to teach radical, critical, and complex theory in a neoliberal academy. --Thomas Nail, Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Philosophy, University of Denver D. Emily Hicks' new book, An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy, makes important contributions to Education/multicultural education and literary studies. She presents a view of how complexity theory and what she calls the new materialism can be used to combat neoliberalism in higher education and dominant modes of teaching and assessing critical thinking. She demonstrates new ways to engage important issues such as climate crisis, immigration, and a wide range of other current issues, central to contemporary education and the teaching of critical thinking. Performance artist, author, and teacher D. Emily Hicks crosses geophysical, gender, cultural, linguistic, and post-digital borders, shifts established academic boundaries and discovers new pathways to teaching and learning in her new work, An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy. Join her as she embarks on a pedagogical journey that takes us into the hinterlands of meaning-making and the metropolises of theory. At a time in which teaching has come under vicious assault by forces on the right, D. Emily Hicks has created a politics of refusal and possibility that teachers can embrace with intellectual verve and creative hope. --Peter McLaren, Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies, Chapman University

If the world is non-linear why should we teach it linearly? At some point those who teach critical and complexity theory realize that their pedagogical methods are not consistent with the material they are teaching. And this undercuts our efforts and our students. Dr. Hicks has written a well-researched field guide to help those of us struggling to teach radical, critical, and complex theory in a neoliberal academy. --Thomas Nail, Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Philosophy, University of Denver D. Emily Hicks' new book, An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy, makes important contributions to Education/multicultural education and literary studies. She presents a view of how complexity theory and what she calls the new materialism can be used to combat neoliberalism in higher education and dominant modes of teaching and assessing critical thinking. She demonstrates new ways to engage important issues such as climate crisis, immigration, and a wide range of other current issues, central to contemporary education and the teaching of critical thinking. --Douglas Kellner, UCLA, Distinguished Research Professor of Education Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA Performance artist, author, and teacher D. Emily Hicks crosses geophysical, gender, cultural, linguistic, and post-digital borders, shifts established academic boundaries and discovers new pathways to teaching and learning in her new work, An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy. Join her as she embarks on a pedagogical journey that takes us into the hinterlands of meaning-making and the metropolises of theory. At a time in which teaching has come under vicious assault by forces on the right, D. Emily Hicks has created a politics of refusal and possibility that teachers can embrace with intellectual verve and creative hope. --Peter McLaren, Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies, Chapman University

""If the world is non-linear why should we teach it linearly? At some point those who teach critical and complexity theory realize that their pedagogical methods are not consistent with the material they are teaching. And this undercuts our efforts and our students. Dr. Hicks has written a well-researched field guide to help those of us struggling to teach radical, critical, and complex theory in a neoliberal academy.""--Thomas Nail, Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Philosophy, University of Denver ""Throughout An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy, Hicks's commitment to empowering relationships--between faculty and the university, students and faculty, students and texts, and humans and the environment--is steadfast. Complexity Pedagogy, she writes, ""can help readers to gain a deeper understanding of the nonlinear, two-way interactions involving faculty, students, curriculum, individual artists and writers, and university administrators"" (p. 33). I hope it will."" (Click HERE to read full Teachers College Record review.)--Review for Teachers College Record by Emily S. Meixner, PhD, English professor and coordinator of the Secondary English Education Program at The College of New Jersey ""D. Emily Hicks' new book, An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy, makes important contributions to Education/multicultural education and literary studies. She presents a view of how complexity theory and what she calls the ""new materialism"" can be used to combat neoliberalism in higher education and dominant modes of teaching and assessing critical thinking. She demonstrates new ways to engage important issues such as climate crisis, immigration, and a wide range of other current issues, central to contemporary education and the teaching of critical thinking.""--Douglas Kellner, UCLA, Distinguished Research Professor of Education Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, UCLA ""Performance artist, author, and teacher D. Emily Hicks crosses geophysical, gender, cultural, linguistic, and post-digital borders, shifts established academic boundaries and discovers new pathways to teaching and learning in her new work, An Introduction to Complexity Pedagogy. Join her as she embarks on a pedagogical journey that takes us into the hinterlands of meaning-making and the metropolises of theory. At a time in which teaching has come under vicious assault by forces on the right, D. Emily Hicks has created a politics of refusal and possibility that teachers can embrace with intellectual verve and creative hope.""--Peter McLaren, Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies, Chapman University

Author Information

Emily Hicks attended the San Francisco Art Institute, UC Berkeley, the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris), and UC San Diego. She received her Ph.D. in 1979 and is a professor emeritus who has taught at San Diego State University in Chicana/o Studies and English and Comparative Literature; she has also taught at UC Irvine, USC and the UABC in Tijuana, Mexico. Hicks is the author of two books, Border Writing, the Multidimensional Text, and Ninety-five Languages and Seven Forms of Intelligence: Multicultural Education in the Twenty-first Century, as well as a variety of academic articles and art reviews.

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