Abstract
Hoping is an integral part of what it is to be human, and its significance for education has been widely noted. Hope is, however, a contested category of human experience and getting to grips with its characteristics and dynamics is a difficult task. The paper argues that hope is not a singular undifferentiated experience and is best understood as a socially mediated human capacity with varying affective, cognitive and behavioural dimensions. Drawing on the philosophy, theology and psychology of hope, five modes of hoping are outlined: patient, critical, sound, resolute and transformative. The key aim of the paper is to illustrate how different modes of hoping are associated with different pedagogical strategies. Phrased differently, the paper seeks to delineate a range of pedagogies of hope. The phrase ‘pedagogy of hope’ is very much associated with critical theory—one thinks instantly of, for example, Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux or bell hooks. There are many pedagogies of hope, however, and an explicitly conservative text such as William Bennett’s Book of Virtues has as strong a claim to the title as Freire’s radical and utopian ideas. A broader argument, therefore, is that there is nothing inherently radical or subversive about a pedagogy of hope. Pedagogies of hope can serve to reproduce social relations as well as to transform them.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrews, P. (2010). Hope and the many discourses of education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 40(4), 323–326.
Apple, M. (2004). Doing things the ‘right’ way: Legitimizing educational inequalities in conservative times. In J. Satherthwaite, et al. (Eds.), Educational counter-cultures. Staffs, UK: Trentham Books.
Aquinas, T. (1927). The Summa Theologica. London: Burns Oates and Washbourne.
Arthur, L., & Sawyer, W. (2009). Robust hope, democracy and early childhood education. Early Years, 29(2), 163–175.
Averill, J., Catlin, G., & Chon, K. (1990). Rules of hope. New York: Springer.
Bar-Tal, D. (2001). Why does fear override hope in societies engulfed by intractable conflict? Political Psychology, 22(3), 601–627.
Bennett, W. (1993). The book of virtues. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Benzein, E., & Saveman, B.-I. (1998). One step towards the understanding of hope: A concept analysis. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 35, 322–329.
Bloch, E. (1995). The principle of hope. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bovens, L. (1999). The value of hope. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 59, 667–681.
Braithwaite, J. (2004). Emancipation and hope. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 592, 79–98.
Bullough, R., & Hall-Kenyon, K. (2011). The call to teach and teacher hopefulness. Teacher Development, 15(2), 127–140.
Carlson, D. (2003) Troubling heroes: Of Rosa Parks, multicultural education, and critical pedagogy. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 3(1), 44–61.
Carlson, D. (2005). Hope without illusion: Telling the story of democratic educational renewal. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 18(1), 21–45.
Coben, D. (1998). Radical heroes: Gramsci, Freire and the politics of adult education. New York: Garland.
Coté, M., Day, R., & de Peuter, G. (2007a). Utopian pedagogy: Creating radical alternatives in the neoliberal age. The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 29, 317–336.
Coté, M., Day, R., & de Peuter, G. (2007b). What is Utopian pedagogy? In M. Coté, R. Day, & G. de Peuter (Eds.), Utopian pedagogy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Crapanzano, V. (2003). Reflections on hope as a category of social and psychological analysis. Cultural Anthropology, 18, 3–32.
Dauenhauer, B. (1984). Hope and its ramifications for politics. Man and World, 17, 453–476.
Dauenhauer, B. (1986). The politics of hope. London: Routledge.
Dauenhauer, B. (2005). The place of hope in responsible political practice. In J. Eliot (Ed.), Interdisciplinary perspectives on hope. New York: Nova Science.
Day, J. P. (1969). Hope. American Philosophical Quarterly, 6, 89–102.
Day, J. P. (1991). Hope: A philosophical inquiry. Helsinki: Philosophical Society of Finland.
Dufault, K., & Martocchio, B. (1985). Hope: Its spheres and dimensions. Nursing Clinics of North America, 20(9), 379–391.
Duncan-Andrade, J. (2009). Note to educators: Hope required when growing roses in concrete. Harvard Educational Review, 79(2), 181–194.
Eliot, J. (2005). What have we done with hope? In J. Eliot (Ed.), Interdisciplinary perspectives on hope. New York: Nova Science.
Farran, C., et al. (1995). Hope and hopelessness: Critical clinical constructs. London: Sage.
Freire, P. (1972a). Cultural action for freedom. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Freire, P. (1972b). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Freire, P. (1978). Pedagogy in process. London: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.
Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the city. New York: Continuum.
Freire, P. (1994). Pedagogy of hope. London: Continuum.
Freire, P. (1996). Letters to Cristina. New York: Routledge.
Freire, P. (2007a). Daring to dream. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
Freire, P. (2007b). Pedagogy of the heart. New York: Continuum.
Freire, P., & Rossatto, C. (2005). An interview with Paulo Freire. In C. Rassatto (Ed.), Engaging Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of possibility. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
Freire, P., & Shor, I. (1987). A pedagogy for liberation. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Freire, P., et al. (1994). Paulo Freire on higher education. Albany: SUNY Press.
Fromm, E. (1968). The revolution of hope: Toward a humanized technology. New York: Harper and Row.
Giroux, H. (2000). Stealing innocence: Corporate culture’s war on children. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Giroux, H. (2001). ‘Something’s missing’: Cultural studies, neoliberalism, and the politics of educated hope. Strategies, 14(2), 227–252.
Giroux, H. (2004). When hope is subversive. Tikkun, 19(6), 38–39.
Giroux, H. (2007). Utopian thinking in dangerous times: Critical pedagogy and the project of educated hope. In M. Coté, R. Day, & G. de Peuter (Eds.), Utopian pedagogy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Giroux, H., & McLaren, P. (1991). Radical pedagogy as cultural politics: Beyond the discourse of critique and anti-utopianism. In D. Morton & M. Zavarzadeh (Eds.), Theory/pedagogy/politics. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Giroux, H., & Simon, R. (1992). Schooling, popular culture, and a pedagogy of possibility. In K. Weiler & C. Mitchell (Eds.), What schools can do. New York: SUNY Press.
Godfrey, J. (1987). A philosophy of human hope. Dortrecht: Martinus Nijhoff.
Grace, G. (1994). Urban education and the culture of contentment: The politics, culture and economics of inner-city schooling. In N. Stromquist (Ed.), Education in urban areas: Cross-national dimensions. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Gutiérrez, G. (2001). A theology of liberation. London: SCM Press.
Halpin, D. (2001). The nature of hope and its significance for education. British Journal of Educational Studies, 49(4), 392–410.
Halpin, D. (2003). Hope and education: The role of the utopian imagination. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Halpin, D. (2007). Utopian spaces of ‘robust hope’: The architecture and nature of progressive learning environments. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(3), 243–255.
Harman, G. (1999). Moral philosophy meets social psychology: Virtue ethics and the fundamental attribution error. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 99, 315–331.
Harvey, D. (2000). Spaces of hope. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Kast, V. (1994). Joy, inspiration and hope. New York: Fromm International Publishing Corporation.
Lambert, C., & Parker, A. (2006). Imagination, hope and the positive face of feminism. Studies in Higher Education, 31(4), 469–482.
Lazarus, R. (1999). Hope: An emotion and a vital coping resource against despair. Social Research, 66, 653–678.
Leming, J. (2000). Tell me a story: An evaluation of a literature-based character education programme. Journal of Moral Education, 29(4), 413–427.
Li, Y., et al. (2008). Keeping hope alive: Reflecting upon learning to teach in cross-cultural contexts. Reflective Practice, 9(3), 245–256.
Lopez, S., et al. (2003). Hope: Many definitions, many measures. In S. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Ludema, J., et al. (1997). Organizational hope: Reaffirming the constructive task of social and organizational inquiry. Human Relations, 50, 1015–1052.
Macquarrie, J. (1978). Christian Hope. London: Mowbrays.
Maier, S., & Watkins, L. (2000). The neurobiology of stressor controllability. In J. Gillham (Ed.), The science of optimism and hope. Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press.
Mandel, E. (2002). Anticipation and hope as categories of historical materialism. Historical Materialism, 10, 245–259.
Marcel, G. (1962). Homo viator: Introduction to a metaphysics of hope. New York: Harper and Row.
Marcel, G. (1965). Being and having. London: Collins.
Marcel, G. (1967). Desire and hope. In N. Lawrence & D. O’Connor (Eds.), Readings in existential phenomenology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Marcel, G. (1978). Man against mass society. South Bend, IN: Gateway Press.
McDermott, D., & Snyder, C. R. (2000). The great big book of hope. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
McGreer, V. (2004). The art of good hope. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 592, 100–127.
Moltmann, J. (1967). Theology of hope. London: SCM Press.
Moltmann, J. (1970). Religion, revolution, and the future. In W. H. Capps (Ed.), The future of hope. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four. London: Secker and Warburg.
Péguy, C. (1996). The portal of the mystery of hope. London: Continuum.
Pettit, P. (2004). Hope and its place in mind. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 592, 152–165.
Polivy, J., & Herman, C. (2000). The false-hope syndrome. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 128–131.
Polkinghorne, J. (2002). The God of hope and the end of the world. London: Yale University Press.
Ricoeur, P. (1970). Hope and the structure of philosophical systems. Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 44, 55–69.
Rorty, R. (1998). Achieving our country. London: Harvard University Press.
Rorty, R. (1999). Philosophy and social hope. London: Penguin.
Sacks, J. (2000). The politics of hope. London: Vintage.
Sawyer, W., et al. (2007). Robust hope and teacher education policy. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(3), 227–242.
Schumacher, B. (2003). A philosophy of hope. New York: Fordham University Press.
Shade, P. (2006). Educating hopes. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 25, 191–225.
Singh, M. (2007). A sound research base for beginning teacher education: Robust hope, action policy analysis and top of the class. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(4), 333–349.
Snyder, C. R. (2000). The past and possible futures of hope. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19, 11–28.
Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 249–275.
Snyder, C. R., & Feldman, D. (2000). Hope for the many: An empowering social agenda. In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Handbook of hope. San Diego: Academic Press.
Snyder, C. R., et al. (1997). Hope for the journey. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Sutherland, S. (1989). Hope. In G. Vesey (Ed.), The philosophy in christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taussig, M. (2002). Carnival of the senses: A conversation with Michael Taussig. In M. Zournazi (Ed.), Hope: New philosophies for change. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Thrupp, M., & Tomlinson, S. (2005). Introduction: Education policy, social justice and ‘complex hope’. British Educational Research Journal, 31(5), 549–556.
Tiger, L. (1979). Optimism: The biology of hope. London: Secker and Warburg.
Toews, R., & Harris-Martin, K. (2007). An enigma in the education system: Simon Fraser University and the Secwepemc cultural education society. In M. Coté, R. Day, & G. de Peuter (Eds.), Utopian pedagogy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Toynbee, P. (2010). Coalition government: A regeneration of politics? In Political studies association (Ed.), 60 years of political studies. Newcastle UK: PSA.
Waterworth, J. (2004). A philosophical analysis of hope. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Webb, D. Pedagogies of Hope. Stud Philos Educ 32, 397–414 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-012-9336-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-012-9336-1