Abstract:
The Clemente Course in the Humanities is an anti-poverty intervention for adults
who self-identity as "poor" and humanities instructors. The course was created in 1995
by journalist Earl Shorris, who based the curriculum on a Socratic method of pedagogy
and the "great books" canon of Robert Hutchins. It began as a community-based initiative
in urban US settings, but since 1997 Mayan, Yup'ik and Cherokee iterations have been
created, as well as on-campus bridge courses for non-traditional students to explore
college-level education in Canada and the USA.
The course potentially conflicts with critical pedagogy because the critical
theories of Paulo Freire and contemporary cultural studies reject traditional notions of
both the canon and teaching. However, a comparison between Shorris' and bell hooks'
theories of oppression reveals significant similarities between his "surround of force" and
her "capitalist imperialist white supremacist patriarchy," with implications for liberal
studies and critical pedagogy.
