You’re Not the Only One with Mixed Emotions: Affective Teaching Strategies

• In Event: TLC at APSA: Pedagogy Café

Abstract

"Our current political environment in the United States requires us to reconsider how traditional content and delivery methods are meeting the moment. One aspect is clear, teaching politics is increasingly emotional. In recent years, many of our students in American politics and government classes are disaffected, disillusioned, and likely to identify politics as a source of stress, poor mental health, and strained personal relationships. Instructors themselves are not immune from the psychological and social health effects of politics, especially in an era characterized by declining trust in and allegations of bias in higher education. We think it is safe to say that political science instructors harbor a great deal of mixed emotions and uncertainty about if, when, and how to respond to these challenges in their American politics and government courses.

It is tempting to downplay the affective aspects of politics in our classrooms, opting instead for a clinical approach that evades students’ (and our own) feelings and emotions. But this approach comes at a cost. Ignoring the affective dimensions of politics limits the potential of our classroom pedagogies to cultivate student political engagement and spur more normatively positive attitudes about American democracy. Indeed, our students’ affective relationships to politics shape the learning environment and their receptiveness to course material. Moreover, it is undeniable that partisan radicalism, emotionally charged forms of political behavior, and their cultivation by political elites is among the greatest threats facing American democracy.

To cite just a couple obvious examples: classroom discussions about topics such as asymmetrical polarization, transformations in the Republican Party, the Capitol insurrection on January 6–these cannot be understood in the absence of attention to the ways that feelings interact with cognitive and motivational dimensions of contemporary citizenship. On one hand, inviting our students to share their feelings about, say, party transformations, potentially invites deep disagreement and discomfort into learning spaces, and this cannot be overcome with basic appeals to “both sides” or finding common ground. On the other hand, ignoring feelings limits the extent to which students can gain a deeper understanding about what is happening in contemporary politics and what might be required to address these threats.

We have begun to develop pedagogical strategies that aim to foster students’ capacities to recognize, think about, and productively respond to feelings that they and others hold about politics. We center these strategies around the concept of “emotional competency.” In our conceptualization, hallmarks of the emotionally competent student include the capacity to: recognize one’s own process of political socialization, see politics as an extension of personal and collective values, connect political behavior to differential access to resources and varied identities, and understand how, when, and why emotional cues shape and constrain political action.

Wrestling with the affective dimensions of politics is both an individual and collective enterprise in our teaching. At the Café, we will share resources we have created to engage students in learning about the role of emotion in politics; to encourage reflection about processes political socialization; to help students identify emotional cues in politics and understand the ways they shape and constrain political action; and to encourage students to compassionately recognize others’ feelings. Ultimately, our goal is to provide collaborative support to each other–from graduate students just embarking on teaching careers to veterans who recognize the needs of the current political environment—in considering ways to foster students’ emotional awareness as citizens. We welcome feedback on the resources and hope the Café will provide opportunity to collaboratively generate and compile additional strategies for fostering students’ emotional competency."

Authors

• Lanethea Mathews-Schultz, Muhlenberg College

• Jennie Sweet-Cushman, Chatham University