Joe Curnow

My research focuses on learning in social movements. I am interested in how people come to understand social problems systemically and how they learn about issues of race and colonialism, gender and patriarchy, and class and capitalism through their activism. I take a sociocultural view of learning that focuses on the ways groups of people construct meaning together, rather than an individual or cognitive approach.

My research also focuses on the trajectories of youth-led social movements. I examine at how youth engage in social movements and how their participation changes across time, space, and place. Looking at shifts in repertoires of action, frames, and motivations, I question how politics are shaped by the NGOization of movements and problematize the de-politicizing tendencies of campaigns that target youth participation on campus.

I believe that the way we teach, not just the content we teach, matters. How we teach shapes the ways that students engage, not only in the classroom, but also in their communities. I strive to build and sustain democratic, equitable classrooms that encourage co-development of critical knowledge that students are able to mobilize in their own lives.

I currently teach Contested Spaces in Education, Cross-cultural Education, Philosophy of Education, and Educational Thought at the University of Manitoba. In recent years, I have taught Introduction to Equity Studies and Community Development in Local and Global Contexts.