Cruising the Classroom:
Contact and Desire in MLIS
Lightning Talk | Monday, May 17, 2021 | 2:45pm – 4:00pm EST
This lightning talk will look at the beginnings of a project on pedagogy and socialization in MLIS. Expanding upon Ursula Kelly’s “pedagogy of desire”, I attempt to map a framework from Samuel Delany’s Times Square Red, Times Square Blue onto the MLIS classroom. I argue that the act of seeking other students in the classroom allows for a manifestation of Delany’s contact versus networking principle, and that by choosing to center contact we can move closer to a pedagogy that refuses a mind/body split. Looking to MLIS classrooms as sites of potential transformation, how can we encourage pleasure and seeking as facets of learning and connection?
Presenter: Gretchen Alexander
Gretchen Alexander is a graduate student at Pratt’s Information School. She lives in New York City.