ABSTRACT
As hooks states ‘the classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy’. Times of ‘radical’ social and ecological change require ‘radical thinking’ and perhaps a ‘radically minded pedagogy’. This chapter discusses perspectives within educational philosophy and focuses on three dimensions of radicality for a teaching practice, for global public health, that these times require. The terms radical and radicality are engaged provocatively, and in the spirit imbued within the writing, of hooks (1994). A radical pedagogy engenders a safe, supported, and challenging space for conscientisation or raising of critical consciousness. Drawing on an anthropological sensibility and critical pedagogy through the voices of, for example, hooks, Freire, Palmer, and Giroux, this work does not propose a methodology. Instead, it poses a series of questions, and a new concept for learners and teachers of global health, to consider when creating education spaces. This is a learning and teaching practice that engages with emotion, intimacy, and identity transformation, rather than information transmission. This chapter discusses three key concepts: ‘identity’, ‘risk’, and ‘power’.
