Proposed intervention
I am interested in contributing to the Pedagogy of Discomfort framework by intersecting it with Object-Based Learning (OBL), exploring how tactile knowledge can evoke emotion in the classroom and support its use as a collective critical tool.
Leah Cox’s talk, “Utilising Discomfort Pedagogies as a Decolonisation Tool in Teaching and Learning Practice” (2025), serves as my entry point into pedagogies of discomfort, and I am currently working through her reference list to deepen my understanding. The foregrounding of emotion resonates with my own pedagogic practice, and I am particularly interested in the potential of emotion as a shared, critical resource in learning environments.
OBL is another framework I encountered through the PgCert, and it too resonates with me. Rooted in tactile engagement and, by extension, the body, OBL offers a way to centre sensory and embodied experiences in learning. As Judy Willcocks et al (2023, 2024) demonstrate, it can also be employed effectively as a tool for critical engagement. I believe that the inherent criticality and corporeality of OBL make it well-suited to be used as a strategy for bringing emotion into the classroom in purposeful and transformative ways.
My proposed intervention is a workshop framework that engages students in a layered encounter with objects, beginning with their material qualities and progressing toward critical reflection. Students start by exploring how an object feels, then consider how it relates to their body, followed by emotional responses, before contextualising the object within broader frameworks. This structure acknowledges affect as a generative source of knowledge and seeks to activate bodily and emotional awareness as tools for critical inquiry.
I am interested in designing a framework that can be shared and adapted across contexts in response to shifting groups and needs, with the aim of foregrounding emotive and affective knowledges to challenge hegemonic frameworks and practices.
Bibliography (loosely categorised although many sources intersect)
Understanding pedagogies of discomfort:
Ahmed, S. (2004). The Cultural Politics of Emotion. Edinburgh University Press.
Ahmed, S. (2004a). Affective economics. Social Text, 22(2), 117-139.
Ahmed, S. (2004b). Collective feelings: Or, the impressions left by others. Theory, Culture & Society, 21(2), 25-42.
Boler, M. (1999) Feeling Power. Emotions and Education. Abingdon: Routledge.
Connelly, L., Jospeh-Salisbury, R. (2019) Teaching Grenfell: The Role of Emotions in Teaching and Learning for Social Change. Sociology
Cox, L. (2025), Pedagogies of Discomfort, [Recorded lecture]. Inclusive Practices. University of the Arts London. 14 May. Available at: https://moodle.arts.ac.uk/mod/folder/view.php?id=1401553 (Accessed 15 May 2025).
Understanding the affective and emotive potential of OBL:
Ahmed, S. (2019). What’s the Use?: On the Uses of Use. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Hardie, K. (2015) Innovative pedagogies series: Wow: The power of objects in object-based learning and teaching, Higher Education Academy. Available at: https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.creode.advancehe-document-manager/documents/hea/private/kirsten_hardie_final_1568037367.pdf (Accessed: 10 March 2025)
Mahon, K. and Willcocks, J. (2023) The potential of online object-based learning activities to support the teaching of intersectional environmentalism in art and design higher education in Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, Vol 22 / Issue 2, (October 2023), pp. 187 – 207
Orgill, G. and Willcocks, J. (2024), How to . . . use objects to support learning and teaching, [Recorded Lecture]. TPP. University of the Arts London. January. Available at: https://ual.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Sessions/List.aspx#folderID=%2261e304ce-5498-4672-a72b-b10600e460e4%22 (Accessed: 17 March 2024).
Understanding how emotion can help students, staff and insitutions engage with and challenge hegemony:
Ahmed, S. (2007). A phenomenology of Whiteness. Feminist Theory, 8(2), 149-168.
Arao, B. and Clemens, K. (2013) ‘From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces: A New Way to Frame Dialogue Around Diversity and Social Justice’, in Landreman, L.M. (ed.) The Art of Effective Facilitation: Reflections from Social Justice Educators. New York: Routledge, pp. 135-150
Crippa, E. ‘From “Crit” to “Lecture Performance”’. In The London Art Schools: Reforming the Art World, 1960 to Now. London: Tate Publishing, 2015 Fernandez, D. et al (2024) ‘Gender and social class inequalities in higher education: intersectional reflections on a workshop experience’, Frontiers in Psychology, pp. 1 – 10
Haraway, D. (1988), ‘Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective’, Feminist Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3. pp. 575-599
Hooks, B. (1994) Teaching to Transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.
Hu, X. (2024) ‘International Students’ Feeling of Shame in the Higher Education: An Intersectional Analysis of Their Racialised, Gendered and Classed Experiences in the UK Universities’, Sociology Study, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 69 – 89
Lin, J.C.P. (2023), Exposing the chameleon-like nature of racism: a multidisciplinary look at critical race theory in higher education. High Education 85, pp. 1085–1100. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-00879-9
Hi Emily,
Thank you for this thoughtful and resonant proposal. Your intersection of Pedagogies of Discomfort and Object-Based Learning (OBL) is compelling, especially in how you frame tactile and emotional engagement as generative modes of critical inquiry. I’m particularly drawn to your layered structure that begins with material encounter and moves toward contextual analysis—this feels like a grounded yet expansive method for supporting diverse learners.
I wonder if there’s an opportunity to extend the affective dimension of the workshop by embedding reflexive writing or audio reflection between each layer of the encounter. For students who may be less confident verbalising emotion in a group, these quieter modes might offer a parallel pathway into discomfort that feels safer, especially for neurodivergent or international students navigating language and cultural nuance.
You might also consider how this framework could be adapted for asynchronous learning or low-resource settings—perhaps using found objects or domestic materials—to support greater accessibility. I’m curious, too, whether you’ve thought about incorporating any references from student voices, like those from the Tell Us About It Archive. These might offer useful context or even serve as objects of study themselves, further challenging what counts as ‘academic’ or ‘critical’ material.
I look forward to seeing how the workshop evolves—particularly how you’ll share and adapt it across contexts. Please keep us updated on any pilot sessions or feedback you gather!
Warmly,
Can
This is so helpful! Thank you, Can.
The nuances and practicalities of my proposal definitely need more careful consideration. Reading your comment, I realise I’ve been focusing heavily on theoretical and conceptual frameworks—reflective of where I currently am with my research and reading—without enough attention to how these ideas can be translated into engaging and affective learning experiences. Foregrounding student voices, such as those from the Tell Us About It Archive, is a great suggestion and feels like a natural and important next step to meaningfully develop this proposal.
I also really appreciate your recommendation to incorporate reflexive writing or audio reflections between each layer of the encounter. The first time I facilitated OBL was during my TTP micro-teaching. Feedback from that session cautioned me against relying too much on a Socratic teaching method and expecting verbal engagement from all students. Taking that on board, I adapted my approach for my next OBL workshop with BAIVM Year 1 students by introducing task sheets where students could write about their experience handling different objects. They were free to write in any language and had the option to provide verbal feedback as well. This was much more inclusive and aligns with what you are encouraging.
As I move forward with my intervention, I will definitely take your comments and the lessons from my past teaching into account.
I haven’t yet considered low-resource settings, and this is something I will take time to reflect on. Working with found or domestic objects presents a valuable opportunity to facilitate conversations around invisible and gendered labour, gendered objects, value, waste, circular economies, and access. Exciting! This is exactly why I’m keen to develop a framework—OBL, when paired with pedagogies of discomfort, has real potential to be meaningfully applied across diverse teaching contexts.