Events

Speaker: Dr Paula Hollstein Barria, University of Warwick Law School

Title: 'Radical Hope in the Classroom: A Teacher-Mother's Perspective in Uncertain Times'

We live in difficult times marked by the threats of AI, the crisis in higher education, climate change, genocide, the rise of far-right movements that threaten the rights of disadvantaged groups, and much, much more. Yes, it can be overwhelming! Some even see these times as dystopian or apocalyptic, a sense of alarm often shared by critical scholars. As teachers, many of us are unwilling to remain silent in the face of injustice, especially when we teach through a law in context approach. Yet, we stand before young people who are eager to learn, imagine and build different futures. Many are already feeling, in their own bodies, the anxiety of being constantly exposed to bad news on their mobile phones.

How can we be critical educators while helping our students find their own paths? How can we foreground injustice without taking away their hope? And how can we offer hope when we ourselves feel uncertain—or even frightened—about the future? No ‘silver bullet’ here, but I would like to open up a conversation and share a few reflections on hope, particularly through the Spanish word esperanza, which comes from esperar, meaning 'to wait'. I would also like to connect this with Cornelius Castoriadis's idea of radical imagination: our capacity to create new meanings, forms and institutions from 'nothing' (yes, a controversial idea!).

Thinking about hope alongside radical imagination might help us ask how we can make space in our teaching, not only to question injustice but also to imagine better ways of living in a world that does not yet exist.