Pedagogy of Life takes its readers through the echoing stories of the half-century, historical Cultural Revolution of China to the literate lifeworld today. Rosa Hong Chen offers a gripping array of personal and kindred stories woven into the power of words and empathy of art through the volutes of writing and dancing for life, expressing genera of warm melancholy, weighty sensations, compulsive sobs, and refrained elation. It is for the existential history of individual lives and communal sharing that life creates a pedagogical condition of possible experiences. Life itself forms a historical and social path of human growth and maturation. In a philosophical and educational autoethnographical inquiry, the author examines the nature of literacy for those marginalized and oppressed; Chen explores how one's name and the ways in which that name is used affect a person's self-knowing and knowing of the world. This book exemplifies the idea that individuals' autobiographical stories are importantly connected to wider cultural, political, and social meaning and understanding. Pedagogy of Life echoes readers' musings, affects, relations, imagination, choice, learning, teaching, and much more, because we, each and all, have our own names, ways of uttering, writing, and dancing, and, ultimately, our own ways of living, knowing, and becoming.
"I recommend this book to anyone interested in literacy and how our lives shape our uses of literacy, as well as the many values it has. This book is a moving document of one person's experience, a fascinating exploration of others' experiences, and a scholarly account of the uses and values of literacy, all wrapped in a clear and coherent description of curriculum ideas and practices. The reader will gain an understanding of literacy's uses in repressive social and political contexts and the ways these can be resisted and overcome. A heartfelt book about vivid events and ideas that will engage anyone interested in literacy and education." Kieran Egan, Emeritus Professor of Education, Simon Fraser University