Ethics of care and ethics of discomfort: Towards an Ambedkarite dialogical pedagogy

Abstract

Dialogical pedagogy, a species of 'constructivist pedagogy', has been in vogue in recent decades in many countries, including India. One may trace the use of the phrase 'Dialogical Pedagogy' in Paulo Freire's writings that emphasise the significance of active engagement of the learners in the dialogical mode of teaching and learning. However, in a diverse classroom, especially in the Indian context where higher educational institutions are often fraught with caste discriminations and economic inequalities, the dialogical model of learning quite often breaks down due to the antagonistic attitude among peers who come from diverse backgrounds and also the privileged position enjoyed by the teacher that amounts to the silencing of the marginalised, thereby nullifying the fruitfulness of dialogical pedagogy. In what follows, we argue that a Social Justice Pedagogy rooted in Ambedkar's ethical outlook has the potential to restore the dialogical model grounded in an ethics of care.