In envisioning literacy at a crossroads, we ask what may be the potential of a different, intense, possible love, a love we may scarcely know and may yet discern--what we think of as a cosmic love, an explosive love. Such stance-taking in literacy research provokes new possibilities for research, teaching, and learning. We share brief narrative…

This paper ties the concept of translanguaging to that of Mignolo (2000) on bilanguaging love. It presents how one teacher of Lao descent works with recently arrived adolescent immigrants in New York City by leveraging their translanguaging and centering understandings of love and relationships. By focusing on two texts written by African American…

This article traces the transnational circulation of socialist reforms in the field of sex education through the work of Monika Krause, a citizen of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) who migrated to Cuba and became the "Cuban Queen of Condoms." For Krause, the overarching goal of sex education was to "teach tenderness" to…

The Department for Education recently administered new Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) guidance, one of the aims of which is to foster students' ability to develop and maintain healthy romantic relationships in adulthood. However, while an education aimed at developing this capacity in young people is welcomed, the RSE guidance does not…

In this paper, I explore how pláticas allowed for my former high school students and I to conceptualize love. This work is a response to overwhelming statistics regarding child trauma and literature that named loving relationships as a pivotal but under-conceptualized intervention. Specifically, we participated in three different iterations of…

Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) programs such as ChatGPT and other large language models are designed to engage in complex, responsive dialogues that feel like human interactions. The dialogic and responsive nature of GAI signals the potential for users to form relationships with GAI platforms or digital personalities created on these…

Love is the essence of humanity, the power that allows humans to come into being, as well as the power that allows humans to continue on and develop; it is a profound spiritual need for humans, and it is their epitome in the ontological sense. Education itself is a means by which people of the preceding generation love the people of the succeeding…

Capitalism and its offspring, neoliberalism, are omnipresent in modern and postmodern societies. Illich, Giroux, and McLaren, among others, point to the futility and inequity of current models of education that focus on standardization, vocationalism, and conformity. Running counter to these powerful hegemonic systems, critical pedagogues and…

Movement can be a powerful force for sensory connection and expression in young children who sometimes don't speak. Their kinaesthetic curiosity naturally experiments with--and forms spontaneous relationships through--touching, sensing, and moving-with the world around them. This article wonders what might happen if children's connective movements…

Caring in education is a reassessment of the false rationality in classroom teaching that has taken shape due to the neglect of emotions, and a practical pathway for returning to effective, people-oriented teaching. The caring approach to classroom teaching emphasizes attention to the emotional experiences and impressions of the teachers and…

The lack of a sense of responsibility and compassion among faculty members and teaching styles that do not foster student interaction are common failings in talent development at Chinese institutions of higher education. Faculty identity and cognitive biases, as well as the weakening of caring in education, are the principal factors leading to…

Graphic elicitation and diagramming are useful for qualitative researchers. Diagrams of families have been used in clinical, education, and other applied settings as tools for description and analysis of family relationships since the 1950s. Despite the potential utility of family diagrams to qualitative researchers who seek to understand and…

In writings on humanizing pedagogy, the concept of love is often presented as the core principle grounding all action. However, love, as it is currently conceptualized, leaves much room for interpretation (hooks, 2000; Levinas, 1998; Matias & Allen, 2013). Therefore, it is critical as educators and Student Affairs professionals we challenge…

What might femme pedagogy offer to sexuality education? Inspired by Jessica Fields's (2023) observation that femme pedagogies create intellectual, powerful, and intimate possibilities marked by love and care, we theorize how a femme pedagogy might be used to disrupt the cis-heteronormative, deficit spaces of conventional sexuality education.…

In the last half-century the primary aim of sex education has centred on sexual health and reducing the number of sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies. However, this focus on the biological aspects of sex under the premise of the 'value neutral' transfer of knowledge has been criticised. Scholars have instead suggested…