Abstract
Attention to aesthetics in educational leadership literature and organizational leadership has increased over the last two decades. However, this attention has seldom included grace. We highlight emerging contemplations of grace to bring attention to conceptions of injustice and justice (i.e., transitional justice, global justice) through micro and macro-lenses (i.e., affective economy). This pairing of ethics and aesthetics provides an entry point for developing ways of being and doing educational leadership to enter the struggles against social injustices in and beyond schools and school districts. We first trace grace as a philosophical construct of European discourse up to the eighteenth century, including how it has become more broadly conceived as physical movement and within political movements and how some conceptions of it can undermine leadership intending to advance (social) justice. We then illustrate shifts away from conceptions of grace as a singularly intellectual or physical process to conceptions of grace as an affective and ethical process. These shifts are exemplified in historical and contemporary events including the Black Art Movements, Indigenous perspectives, and public mourning over the loss of children or grandchildren. Given the increasing examples of hostilities in schools that include mass shootings and confrontations between students and staff over politically and racially charged discourse, those preparing to engage in educational leadership are challenged to enter the field poised to “act ugly” in confrontation with monsters, monstrosities, atrocities, and their own Shadow-Beast. This chapter aims to encourage educational leadership, as a field of performances, to perceive and practice grace informed by conceptions of it that support struggles for social justice.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abrams, M. H. (1953). The mirror and the lamp: Romantic theory and the critical tradition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Adorno, T. W. (1997). Aesthetic theory. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Agosto. (2018). Molding curriculum leadership theory. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision, 36(4), 6–31.
Agosto, V., & Roland, E. (2018). Intersectionality and educational leadership: A critical review. Review of Research in Education, 42(1), 255–285.
Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands: La Frontera. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute.
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, M. (2003). Ugliness. In R. S. Nelson & R. Schiff (Eds.), Critical terms for art history (2nd ed., pp. 281–295). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, N. (2018). Ugliness. In S. Rodrigues & E. Przybylo (Eds.), On the politics of ugliness (pp. 31–49). Cham, CH: Palgrave Macmillan.
Batchelor, J. (2004). Conduct book. In R. Clark & J. Todd (Eds.), Literary encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.literarydictionary.com
Baldwin, J. (1963). A talk to teachers. In W. C. Johnson (Ed.), Child development and learning (pp. 7–12). New York, NY: MSS Information Corporation.
Bennett, J. (1996). How is it, then, that we still remain barbarians? Foucault, Schiller, and the aestheticization of ethics. Political theory, 24(4), 653–672.
Bogue, R. L. (1979). The meaning of “grace” in Pope’s aesthetic. Publications of the Modern Language Association, 94(3), 434–448.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (1991). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Brissenden, R. F. (1974). Virtue in distress: Studies in the novel of sentiment from Richardson to Sade. London, England: Macmillan.
Burgdorf, M. P., & Burgdorf, R., Jr. (1974). A history of unequal treatment: The qualifications of handicapped persons as a suspect class under the equal protection clause. Santa Clara Lawyer, 15(4), 855–910.
Callinicos, A. (1989). Against postmodernism. Cambridge, MA: Polity.
Cole, E. A. (2007). Transitional justice and the reform of history education. The International Journal of Transitional Justice, 1(1), 115–115.
Cooper, A. J. (1892). A voice from the South. Xenia, OH: The Aldine Printing House.
Csengei, I. (2011). Sympathy, sensibility, and the literature of feeling in the eighteenth century. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Daniels, L., Addica, M., Rokos, W., Forster, M., Thornton, B. B., Ledger, H., Berry, H., Diddy, Mos, D., Calhoun, C., Boyle, P., Schaefer. R., Cheesé, M., Fleming, F., & Monroe, K. (2002). Lions Gate Home Entertainment. Monster’s ball.
Deligiorgi, K. (2006). Grace as a guide to morals? Schiller’s aesthetic turn in ethics. History of Philosophy Quarterly, 23(1), 1–20.
Denzin, N. K. (2000). Aesthetics and the practices of qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry, 6(2), 256–265.
Duke, D. L. (1986). The aesthetics of leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 22(1), 7–27.
Eagleton, T. (1990). The ideology of the aesthetic. New York, NY: Basil Blackwell.
Ehrich, L. C., & English, F. W. (2012). Leadership as dance: A consideration of the applicability of the ‘mother’ of all arts as the basis for establishing connoisseurship. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 16(4), 454–481.
English, F. W. (2007). Anatomy of professional practice: Promising research perspectives on educational leadership. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.
Ellison, R. (1952). Invisible man. New York, NY: Random House.
Gandsman, A. E. (2012). Retributive justice, public intimacies and the micropolitics of the restitution of kidnapped children of the disappeared in Argentina. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 6(3), 423–443.
Gaudelli, W., & Hewitt, R. (2010). The aesthetic potential of global issues curriculum. The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 44(2), 83–99.
Grant, J. (2018). Layers of rotting wood: A meditation on the curricular value of the ugly. Cogent Education, 5, 1–14.
Grosfoguel, R. (2013). The structure of knowledge in westernized universities: Epistemic racism/sexism and the four genocides/epistemicides of the long 16th century. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge, 11(1), 73–90.
Hansen, H., Ropo, A., & Sauer, E. (2007). Aesthetic leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(6), 544–560.
Hartzell, S. (2017). An (in) visible universe of grief: Performative disidentifications with white motherhood in the ‘we are not Trayvon Martin’ blog. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 10(1), 62–79.
Hohr, H. (2002). Does beauty matter in education? Friedrich Schiller’s neohumanistic approach. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 34(1), 59–75.
Horsford, S. D., Scott, J. T., & Anderson, G. L. (2018). The politics of education policy in an era of inequality: Possibilities for democratic schooling. New York, NY: Routledge.
James, R. (2013). Oppression, privilege, & aesthetics: The use of the aesthetic in theories of race, gender, and sexuality, and the role of race, gender, and sexuality in philosophical aesthetics. Philosophy Compass, 8(2), 101–116.
Jay, M. (1992). Force fields. London, England: Routledge.
Jenlink, P. M. (2006). Aesthetics in education: Definitions and issues. In F. W. English (Ed.), Encyclopedia of educational leadership and administration (pp. 32–34). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412939584
Johnson, L. (2014). Culturally responsive leadership for community empowerment. Multicultural Education Review, 6(2), 145–170.
Krečic, J., & Žižek, S. (2016). Ugly, creepy, disgusting, and other modes of abjection. Critical Inquiry, 43, 60–83.
Kumashiro, K. K. (2000). Toward a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of Educational Research, 70(1), 25–53.
Lashway, L. (2006). Ethical leadership. In S. C. Smith & P. K. Piele (Eds.), School leadership: Handbook for excellence in student learning (pp. 130–152). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Lopez, A. E. (2015). Navigating cultural borders in diverse contexts: Building capacity through culturally responsive leadership and critical praxis. Multicultural Education Review, 7(3), 171–184.
Mackey, H. J. (2018a). Conceptualizing indigeneity and gender in educational leadership inquiry: Applying a framework for systemic critique to problems of practice. In E. T. Murakami & H. J. Mackey (Eds.), Beyond marginality: Understanding the Intersection of race, ethnicity, gender and difference in educational leadership research (pp. 53–61). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Mackey, H. J. (2018b). Contemporary decononloziation [sic]: Dismantling policy barriers to systemic equity and self-determination. In R. Papa & S. W. J. Armfield (Eds.), The Wiley handbook of educational policy (pp. 267–287). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Male, J. (2005, October). Wheels welcome. Dance Magazine, pp. 42–46.
Miller, D. (1999). Principles of social justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Monk, S. H. (1944). A “grace beyond the reach of art”. Journal of the History of Ideas, 5(2), 131–150.
Muñoz, J. E. (1999). Disidentifications: Queers of color and the performance of politics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Murphy, J. (2003). Reculturing educational leadership: The ISLLC standards ten years out. Fairfax, VA: National Policy Board for Educational Administration.
National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2015). Professional standards for educational leaders. Reston, VA: Author.
Neal, L. (1968). The black arts movement. The Drama Review, 12(4), 29–39.
Ngai, S. (2005). Ugly feelings. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Okimoto, T. G., Wenzel, M., & Feather, N. T. (2009). Beyond retribution: Conceptualizing restorative justice and exploring its determinants. Social Justice Research, 22(1), 157–180.
Phillips-Fein, J. (2007). Dance and activism. In G. Anderson & K. G. Herr (Eds.), Encyclopedia of activism and social justice (pp. 419–421). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Pitts, A. J. (2014). Toward an aesthetics of race: Bridging the writings of Gloria Anzaldúa and José Vasconcelos. Inter-American Journal of Philosophy, 5(1), 80–100.
Pope, A. (1711/1903). Essay on criticism. London, England: JM Dent.
Rancière, J. (2007). The emancipated spectator. Artforum International, 45(7), 270–281.
Rishol, K. C., & Tingley, S. (1995). Lessons in grace. Executive Educator, 17(4), 25–26.
Rivera-Santana, C. (2017). Monstrous anthropology: The appearance of colonisation. Third Text, 31(4), 567–580.
Rosenkranz, K. (1983/2015). Aesthetik des Hässlichen/Aesthetics of the ugly (D. Kliche, Ed.). Leipzig, Germany: Reclam.
Rosenkranz, K. (1996). Ästhetik des Häβlichen (1853). Reclam: Leipzig.
Samier, E. A., & Bates, R. (Eds.). (2006). The aesthetic dimensions of educational administration & leadership. New York, NY: Routledge.
Schiller, F. (1793/2005). On grace and dignity (J. V. Curran, Trans.). In J. V. Curran & C. Fricker (Eds.), Schiller’s ‘on grace and dignity’ in its cultural context: Essays and a new translation (pp. 123–170). Rochester, NY: Camden House.
Schiller, F. (1795/1967). On the aesthetic education of man (E. Wilkinson & L. A. Willoughby, Ed. and Trans.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Schweik, S. M. (2009). The ugly laws: Disability in public. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Shaw, B. (1994). The ragged edge: The disability experience from the pages of the first fifteen years of the disability rag. Louisville, KY: Avocado Press.
Strati, A. (2000). Aesthetic theory. In S. Linstead & H. Höpfl (Eds.), The aesthetics of organization (pp. 13–34). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Teitel, R. G. (2000). Transitional justice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press on Demand.
Teitel, R. G. (2003). Transitional justice genealogy. Harvard Human Rights Journal, 16, 69–94.
West, G. P. (1973) Affective economy (Paper 2765). Master’s theses.
Young, I. M. (2006). Responsibility and global justice: A social connection model. Social Philosophy and Policy, 23(1), 102–130.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Agosto, V., Westberry, G. (2020). The Aesthetic Pursuit of Educational Leadership for Social Justice: Grace in the Struggle. In: Papa, R. (eds) Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74078-2_126-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74078-2_126-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74078-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74078-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education