The pervasive whiteness of service-learning: The case for pedagogies of humility

Abstract

Service-learning programs are a widely utilized pedagogical practice for social justice education. However, many service-learning programs are steeped in whiteness in terms of pedagogy and participants. While critical and justice-oriented approaches to service-learning seek to redistribute power and cultivate collaborative and authentic relationships through critical pedagogies, we argue critical whiteness pedagogy's focus on identity development is an insufficient practice to address these goals. Thus, we offer pedagogies of humility as one possibility for both disrupting whiteness and building a path toward carrying out the practices critical and justice-oriented approaches to service-learning envision.