Teaching Working Class (Paperback)

Since the 1970s, working-class individuals have made up an increasing proportion of students enrolled in institutions of higher education. At the same time, working-class studies has emerged as an academic discipline, updating a long tradition of scholarship on labour history and proletarian literature to include discussions of working-class culture, intersections of class with ethnicity, and studies of the representation of the working class in popular culture. These developments have generated ideas about teaching that incorporate both a sensitivity to the working-class roots of many students and the inclusion of course content informed by an awareness of class culture. This volume brings together 19 essays that offer approaches to a class-conscious pedagogy. Although the contributors represent several fields - including English, history, labour studies, literature, speech communication and American studies - they are united by the conviction that class matters in all kinds of courses. Their essays offer models for interdisciplinary teaching as well as guidance, encouragement and insight for those wishing to incorporate class into their courses.