Responsibility as the Welcoming of Difference: Thoughts on Levinas and a Teacher’s Experience
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37119/ojs2012.v18i1.24Keywords:
Levinas, responsibility, difference, social justice, anti-racismAbstract
This work interweaves a discussion of the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas and the experience of an educator working in a cross-cultural context, to provide an opportunity for the reader to reconceive the idea of responsibility. Through this article, I develop the idea that responsibility can be understood as a welcoming of difference where a “language” of interruption, vulnerability, hospitality, and learning from the other exists. The notion of welcoming is offered as complimentary approach to other arguments advocating the necessity for educators to attend to anti-racist and social justice issues and perhaps offers another answer to doubts concerning the involvement of educators.
Keywords: Levinas; responsibility; difference; social justice; anti-racism
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