‘How did it feel for you?‘ – Teaching and Learning (by) Emotional Reflexivity in Undergraduate Fieldwork Training

Strauss, Annika

Abstract

How can emotional reflexivity be incorporated into teaching fieldwork? This chapter addresses this question by discussing teaching experiences in the context of fieldwork training that was embedded in an engaged anthropology project. It focuses on the discussion of two students’ emotional experiences in the field that took place during a class session. It shows how students’ processes of understanding can benefit from a group-based collective reflection of field episodes among peers. The expression and discussion of emotions in classrooms, though, are inevitably determined by the university context. The chapter investigates such socio-political dimensions of ‘classroom emotions’. In order to challenge persistent academic ‘emotional regimes’, learning and practicing emotional reflexivity requires a protected space and a self-reflexive, empathic teacher. Firstly, the teacher becoming aware of his/her own emotions in a university teaching environment and decoding their meaning helps her/him to become more sensitive towards students and to address emphatically their concerns, fears, and insecurities. Secondly, bringing socio-political reflexivity from the anthropological field into the classroom helps to critically evaluate teaching practices and situations. It further supports students in becoming ‘politically reflexive practitioners’ who are able to critically reflect on, engage with, and transform their learning and work surroundings.