Cristina Cammarano | Salisbury University (original) (raw)

Papers by Cristina Cammarano

Philosophy of Education

A few years into my career as a high school teacher of philosophy and history, I felt at home, co... more A few years into my career as a high school teacher of philosophy and history, I felt at home, comfortable enough in my classroom. I was in my place. My journey, a teacher's journey, moved me from beginner to experienced and brought about a sense of being at home in school and in the classroom. I felt safe: over the years I had honed my routines and perfected my wall decoration. I was fluent with the curriculum; my pedagogical hand was steady. It is safe to say that some teachers might resonate with this description of my journey: being at home, experiencing the classroom as a familiar and safe environment is a worthy and desirable goal. Lately though, I have come to see that seeking out a sense of familiarity with the classroom environment might also yield undesirable consequences. The COVID-19 pandemic upended most of what I knew of teaching. My colleagues and I were scrambling, improvising, and experimenting with remote teaching. Students, and we, were just trying to survive. Some did not. Others did, but dropped out of school, at times discouraged by a certain inflexibility on the part of their instructors to understand and accommodate our shared new circumstances. I realized that it was difficult to

Gareth B. Matthews, The Child’s Philosopher brings together groundbreaking essays by renowned Ame... more Gareth B. Matthews, The Child’s Philosopher brings together groundbreaking essays by renowned American philosopher Gareth B. Matthews in three fields he helped to initiate: philosophy in children’s literature, philosophy for children, and philosophy of childhood. In addition, contemporary scholars critically assess Matthews’ pioneering efforts and his legacy. Gareth B. Matthews (1929-2011) was a specialist in ancient and medieval philosophy who had conversations with young children, discovering that they delight in philosophical puzzlement and that their philosophical thinking often enriched his own understanding. Those conversations became the impetus for a substantial component of Matthews’ scholarship, from which this book features essays spanning the length of his career. Contemporary contributors to the book critically evaluate Matthews’ scholarship, showing where he broke new ground and identifying developments and debates in the fields he helped to initiate. They take up pressing challenges, including biased idealizations of childhood in children’s literature; the tensions between teaching philosophy to, and doing philosophy with young people; the merits of theorizing childhood without theorizing children; and how professional philosophy at once desires and resists a return to childhood. This second volume in the Philosophy for Children Founders series is an important resource for philosophers, educators, and anyone interested in children’s philosophical thinking, developmental psychology, what it means to philosophize with children, the nature of childhood, and how children’s literature goes philosophical. It will guide and inspire those who share Matthews’ conviction that the impulse to philosophize begins in early childhood. Contributors (in addition to Gareth B. Matthews): Stephanie Burdick-Shepherd, Cristina Cammarano, Claire Cassidy, Stanley Cavell, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Jennifer Glaser, Walter Omar Kohan, Megan Jane Laverty, Jana Mohr Lone, Karin Murris, Peter Shea, Susan M. Turner, Susannah Sheffer. "Gareth Matthews's work is important, both for philosophers and for anyone interested in children and childhood. Subtle and profoundly insightful, it displays the capacity of children for philosophical thinking, probes the philosophical aspects of children's literature, articulates practices of Socratic teaching, and meditates about the concept of childhood. Now, in this superbly edited volume, his work, too little known, will assume its just place in the middle of important philosophical achievements of the twentieth century.The volume's introductory and critical essays add greatly to its value. Congratulations are due to all involved." Martha C. Nussbaum, Law School and Philosophy Department, The University of Chicago

Gareth B. Matthews, The Child's Philosopher, 2021

In my article I offer an argument in favor of philosophy as a practical activity that is intrinsi... more In my article I offer an argument in favor of philosophy as a practical activity that is intrinsically educative. In responding to the crisis of our discipline, I make a case for a beneficial relationship between philosophy and the community, especially from the point of view of the discipline itself. I propose that the practicality of philosophy needs to be experienced in concrete activities involving others, therefore recasting the relation of theory to practice in the modality of translation as a never-completed task to take on. I suggest that philosophizing could be characterized by a position of vulnerability, which complicates notions of inside/outside, belonging, home, and dialogue. I offer examples drawn from my experience of integrating philosophical discussion with children (inspired by P4C pedagogy) in my college courses to suggest that philosophizing with others in varied contexts should be an integral part of education. By emphasizing the benefits accruing to undergradu...

Philosophy of Education Archive, 2016

IntroductIon Contemporary discourses about schooling and teachers are marked by a severe reductio... more IntroductIon Contemporary discourses about schooling and teachers are marked by a severe reductionism. Teaching has been operationalized and reduced to, in the best cases, a collection of indicators on checklists for principals, or even to merely a set of digits that should measure students’ learning and thus teachers’ effectiveness. Lorraine Code individuates an “instituted imaginary”1 according to which, in Clarence Joldersma’s words, teachers are viewed as “universal, interchangeable rational atoms, measurable against an impersonal standard, including guaranteed results.”2 A major consequence of this way of considering teachers is that individual differences are considered “deviations from the standard” and “blameworthy deficits.”3 The flattening brought about by this instituted imaginary is the necessary outcome of a reductionist mistake in conceiving what it is to teach and to be a teacher.

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2020

Background/Context This paper is part of the special issue “Reimagining Research and Practice at ... more Background/Context This paper is part of the special issue “Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education.” We propose that there is a vital connection in teaching between curriculum and memories that should be fostered in our classrooms. Because memories are alive and bring meaning to our lives, they need to be handled with care. Unfortunately, however, much of teaching risks to simply embalm what is already dead. We examine how the living work of teachers might reposition curriculum as a body of dynamic memories: a constellation of struggles and belongings, failures and accomplishments. The role of the teacher, in this context, is as a handler of those memories. Research Design Our approach derives from sustained interaction as we have sought to bring our scholarly backgrounds in philosophy of education and English teacher education, respectively, into dynamic contact. The methodology of the inquiry is mixed in that it combines ...

childhood & philosophy, 2017

OMNES, 2016

The article examines the role that personal and collective memories play in the development of on... more The article examines the role that personal and collective memories play in the development of one’s sense of identity in the context of a multicultural society. Our way of remembering should be made object of an aware choice and should be exercised on morally relevant issues, like our personal or historical identities, with the aim of reaching an intentional, reflective, and acquired capacity to forget and remember in a cosmopolitan spirit. How should we educate ourselves about our own past, tradition and memory while living with others whose traditions and inheritances differ from ours? In the cosmopolitan orientation, a person or community juxtaposes reflective openness to new influences with reflective loyalty toward the tried and the known. Today the survival of personal and community integrity seems to necessitate the work of memory. Work is needed to retain beloved traditions in a dynamic manner, if those very traditions are not to be swallowed up in the tide of globalization. In the work of memory there is an interplay between “unlearning” the past—becoming mindful of its singularity and its interpretability—and reconstructing it.

Philosophy of Education, 2017

It is a real pleasure to response to Kathy Hytten's essay, but not easy to do so critically. I fi... more It is a real pleasure to response to Kathy Hytten's essay, but not easy to do so critically. I find myself in almost complete agreement. Kathy Hytten makes a strong case for why we, as philosophers of education, should take time to slow down.

The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2015

Precollege Philosophy and Public Practice, 2021

In my article I offer an argument in favor of philosophy as a practical activity that is intrinsi... more In my article I offer an argument in favor of philosophy as a practical activity that is intrinsically educative. In responding to the crisis of our discipline, I make a case for a beneficial relationship between philosophy and the community , especially from the point of view of the discipline itself. I propose that the practicality of philosophy needs to be experienced in concrete activities involving others, therefore recasting the relation of theory to practice in the modality of translation as a never-completed task to take on. I suggest that philosophizing could be characterized by a position of vulnerability, which complicates notions of inside/outside, belonging, home, and dialogue. I offer examples drawn from my experience of integrating philosophical discussion with children (inspired by P4C pedagogy) in my college courses, to suggest that philosophizing with others in varied contexts should be an integral part of education. By emphasizing the benefits accruing to undergraduate students and to the discipline itself from the practice, I do not intend to downplay or marginalize the voices and experiences of the children and teachers who are such an essential part of the practice. Rather than being a zero-sum game, the engagement of philosophy with the world expands and lifts the experience of everybody involved.

Teachers College Record Volume 122, 2020

Background/Context: This paper is part of the special issue "Reimagining Research and Practice at... more Background/Context: This paper is part of the special issue "Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education." We propose that there is a vital connection in teaching between curriculum and memories that should be fostered in our classrooms. Because memories are alive and bring meaning to our lives, they need to be handled with care. Unfortunately, however, much of teaching risks to simply embalm what is already dead. We examine how the living work of teachers might reposition curriculum as a body of dynamic memories: a constellation of struggles and belongings, failures and accomplishments. The role of the teacher, in this context, is as a handler of those memories.

OMNES : The Journal of Multicultural Society, 2016

The article examines the role that personal and collective memories play in the development of on... more The article examines the role that personal and collective memories play in the development of one's sense of identity in the context of a multicultural society. Our way of remembering should be made object of an aware choice and should be exercised on morally relevant issues, like our personal or historical identities, with the aim of reaching an intentional, reflective, and acquired capacity to forget and remember in a cosmopolitan spirit. How should we educate ourselves about our own past, tradition and memory while living with others whose traditions and inheritances differ from ours? In the cosmopolitan orientation, a person or community juxtaposes reflective openness to new influences with reflective loyalty toward the tried and the known. Today the survival of personal and community integrity seems to necessitate the work of memory. Work is needed to retain beloved traditions in a dynamic manner, if those very traditions are not to be swallowed up in the tide of globalization. In the work of memory there is an interplay between "unlearning" the past-becoming mindful of its singularity and its interpretability-and reconstructing it.

A major aim of a college-level philosophy of education course is not only to inform but also to e... more A major aim of a college-level philosophy of education course is not only to inform but also to engage transformation of how one thinks. Students are being introduced to the array of philosophical positions in education, but more importantly, they are also learning ways of thinking philosophically about issues in education. The question is how to best foster the growth of philosophical thinking in the limited weeks of a college semester with a diverse group of students.

The aesthetic experience leading to recognition is an educational experience. I understand recogn... more The aesthetic experience leading to recognition is an educational experience.
I understand recognition as an expressive and interpersonal act of affirming
the other. In this sense, recognition “makes the best of what we are.”1 Reflecting
on recognition, and on its absence, can open up spaces for personal and
perhaps also collective transformation. In this article, I consider the work
of artist Kara Walker because, by viewing it, I gained an understanding of
a people’s struggle for recognition. It was at the Whitney Museum in New
York that, in front of her wall installations, I realized once and for all with
clarity the feeling of being imprisoned in a collective misrepresentation. The
experience of being called on for recognition is where one can take on a difficult
task: the self-educative work of considering how the past one shares
with others can be remembered in ethically generative ways.

Curriculum Inquiry, 2009

In this article we describe a cosmopolitan orientation toward the place of values in human life. ... more In this article we describe a cosmopolitan orientation toward the place of values in human life. We argue that a cosmopolitan outlook can assist people in engaging the challenges of being thrown together with others whose roots, traditions, and inheritances differ. We show that cosmopolitanism implies neither an elite nor an aloof posture toward human affairs. On the contrary, the concept illuminates how people everywhere can retain individual and cultural integrity while also keeping themselves open to the larger world. A cosmopolitan outlook positions people to consider not just the specific values they subscribe to, but also their ways of holding and enacting them. This move provides people valuable distance from values although not a break with them. It helps people consider the value of valuing as well as the value of reflecting upon values. We examine three arts, or artful methods, that can fuel this orientation. They are hope, memory, and dialogue: three familiar concepts that we accent in a distinctive way in light of the idea of cosmopolitanism. We show how these arts can be cultivated continuously through education.

Philosophy of Education

A few years into my career as a high school teacher of philosophy and history, I felt at home, co... more A few years into my career as a high school teacher of philosophy and history, I felt at home, comfortable enough in my classroom. I was in my place. My journey, a teacher's journey, moved me from beginner to experienced and brought about a sense of being at home in school and in the classroom. I felt safe: over the years I had honed my routines and perfected my wall decoration. I was fluent with the curriculum; my pedagogical hand was steady. It is safe to say that some teachers might resonate with this description of my journey: being at home, experiencing the classroom as a familiar and safe environment is a worthy and desirable goal. Lately though, I have come to see that seeking out a sense of familiarity with the classroom environment might also yield undesirable consequences. The COVID-19 pandemic upended most of what I knew of teaching. My colleagues and I were scrambling, improvising, and experimenting with remote teaching. Students, and we, were just trying to survive. Some did not. Others did, but dropped out of school, at times discouraged by a certain inflexibility on the part of their instructors to understand and accommodate our shared new circumstances. I realized that it was difficult to

Gareth B. Matthews, The Child’s Philosopher brings together groundbreaking essays by renowned Ame... more Gareth B. Matthews, The Child’s Philosopher brings together groundbreaking essays by renowned American philosopher Gareth B. Matthews in three fields he helped to initiate: philosophy in children’s literature, philosophy for children, and philosophy of childhood. In addition, contemporary scholars critically assess Matthews’ pioneering efforts and his legacy. Gareth B. Matthews (1929-2011) was a specialist in ancient and medieval philosophy who had conversations with young children, discovering that they delight in philosophical puzzlement and that their philosophical thinking often enriched his own understanding. Those conversations became the impetus for a substantial component of Matthews’ scholarship, from which this book features essays spanning the length of his career. Contemporary contributors to the book critically evaluate Matthews’ scholarship, showing where he broke new ground and identifying developments and debates in the fields he helped to initiate. They take up pressing challenges, including biased idealizations of childhood in children’s literature; the tensions between teaching philosophy to, and doing philosophy with young people; the merits of theorizing childhood without theorizing children; and how professional philosophy at once desires and resists a return to childhood. This second volume in the Philosophy for Children Founders series is an important resource for philosophers, educators, and anyone interested in children’s philosophical thinking, developmental psychology, what it means to philosophize with children, the nature of childhood, and how children’s literature goes philosophical. It will guide and inspire those who share Matthews’ conviction that the impulse to philosophize begins in early childhood. Contributors (in addition to Gareth B. Matthews): Stephanie Burdick-Shepherd, Cristina Cammarano, Claire Cassidy, Stanley Cavell, Maughn Rollins Gregory, Jennifer Glaser, Walter Omar Kohan, Megan Jane Laverty, Jana Mohr Lone, Karin Murris, Peter Shea, Susan M. Turner, Susannah Sheffer. "Gareth Matthews's work is important, both for philosophers and for anyone interested in children and childhood. Subtle and profoundly insightful, it displays the capacity of children for philosophical thinking, probes the philosophical aspects of children's literature, articulates practices of Socratic teaching, and meditates about the concept of childhood. Now, in this superbly edited volume, his work, too little known, will assume its just place in the middle of important philosophical achievements of the twentieth century.The volume's introductory and critical essays add greatly to its value. Congratulations are due to all involved." Martha C. Nussbaum, Law School and Philosophy Department, The University of Chicago

Gareth B. Matthews, The Child's Philosopher, 2021

In my article I offer an argument in favor of philosophy as a practical activity that is intrinsi... more In my article I offer an argument in favor of philosophy as a practical activity that is intrinsically educative. In responding to the crisis of our discipline, I make a case for a beneficial relationship between philosophy and the community, especially from the point of view of the discipline itself. I propose that the practicality of philosophy needs to be experienced in concrete activities involving others, therefore recasting the relation of theory to practice in the modality of translation as a never-completed task to take on. I suggest that philosophizing could be characterized by a position of vulnerability, which complicates notions of inside/outside, belonging, home, and dialogue. I offer examples drawn from my experience of integrating philosophical discussion with children (inspired by P4C pedagogy) in my college courses to suggest that philosophizing with others in varied contexts should be an integral part of education. By emphasizing the benefits accruing to undergradu...

Philosophy of Education Archive, 2016

IntroductIon Contemporary discourses about schooling and teachers are marked by a severe reductio... more IntroductIon Contemporary discourses about schooling and teachers are marked by a severe reductionism. Teaching has been operationalized and reduced to, in the best cases, a collection of indicators on checklists for principals, or even to merely a set of digits that should measure students’ learning and thus teachers’ effectiveness. Lorraine Code individuates an “instituted imaginary”1 according to which, in Clarence Joldersma’s words, teachers are viewed as “universal, interchangeable rational atoms, measurable against an impersonal standard, including guaranteed results.”2 A major consequence of this way of considering teachers is that individual differences are considered “deviations from the standard” and “blameworthy deficits.”3 The flattening brought about by this instituted imaginary is the necessary outcome of a reductionist mistake in conceiving what it is to teach and to be a teacher.

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2020

Background/Context This paper is part of the special issue “Reimagining Research and Practice at ... more Background/Context This paper is part of the special issue “Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education.” We propose that there is a vital connection in teaching between curriculum and memories that should be fostered in our classrooms. Because memories are alive and bring meaning to our lives, they need to be handled with care. Unfortunately, however, much of teaching risks to simply embalm what is already dead. We examine how the living work of teachers might reposition curriculum as a body of dynamic memories: a constellation of struggles and belongings, failures and accomplishments. The role of the teacher, in this context, is as a handler of those memories. Research Design Our approach derives from sustained interaction as we have sought to bring our scholarly backgrounds in philosophy of education and English teacher education, respectively, into dynamic contact. The methodology of the inquiry is mixed in that it combines ...

childhood & philosophy, 2017

OMNES, 2016

The article examines the role that personal and collective memories play in the development of on... more The article examines the role that personal and collective memories play in the development of one’s sense of identity in the context of a multicultural society. Our way of remembering should be made object of an aware choice and should be exercised on morally relevant issues, like our personal or historical identities, with the aim of reaching an intentional, reflective, and acquired capacity to forget and remember in a cosmopolitan spirit. How should we educate ourselves about our own past, tradition and memory while living with others whose traditions and inheritances differ from ours? In the cosmopolitan orientation, a person or community juxtaposes reflective openness to new influences with reflective loyalty toward the tried and the known. Today the survival of personal and community integrity seems to necessitate the work of memory. Work is needed to retain beloved traditions in a dynamic manner, if those very traditions are not to be swallowed up in the tide of globalization. In the work of memory there is an interplay between “unlearning” the past—becoming mindful of its singularity and its interpretability—and reconstructing it.

Philosophy of Education, 2017

It is a real pleasure to response to Kathy Hytten's essay, but not easy to do so critically. I fi... more It is a real pleasure to response to Kathy Hytten's essay, but not easy to do so critically. I find myself in almost complete agreement. Kathy Hytten makes a strong case for why we, as philosophers of education, should take time to slow down.

The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2015

Precollege Philosophy and Public Practice, 2021

In my article I offer an argument in favor of philosophy as a practical activity that is intrinsi... more In my article I offer an argument in favor of philosophy as a practical activity that is intrinsically educative. In responding to the crisis of our discipline, I make a case for a beneficial relationship between philosophy and the community , especially from the point of view of the discipline itself. I propose that the practicality of philosophy needs to be experienced in concrete activities involving others, therefore recasting the relation of theory to practice in the modality of translation as a never-completed task to take on. I suggest that philosophizing could be characterized by a position of vulnerability, which complicates notions of inside/outside, belonging, home, and dialogue. I offer examples drawn from my experience of integrating philosophical discussion with children (inspired by P4C pedagogy) in my college courses, to suggest that philosophizing with others in varied contexts should be an integral part of education. By emphasizing the benefits accruing to undergraduate students and to the discipline itself from the practice, I do not intend to downplay or marginalize the voices and experiences of the children and teachers who are such an essential part of the practice. Rather than being a zero-sum game, the engagement of philosophy with the world expands and lifts the experience of everybody involved.

Teachers College Record Volume 122, 2020

Background/Context: This paper is part of the special issue "Reimagining Research and Practice at... more Background/Context: This paper is part of the special issue "Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education." We propose that there is a vital connection in teaching between curriculum and memories that should be fostered in our classrooms. Because memories are alive and bring meaning to our lives, they need to be handled with care. Unfortunately, however, much of teaching risks to simply embalm what is already dead. We examine how the living work of teachers might reposition curriculum as a body of dynamic memories: a constellation of struggles and belongings, failures and accomplishments. The role of the teacher, in this context, is as a handler of those memories.

OMNES : The Journal of Multicultural Society, 2016

The article examines the role that personal and collective memories play in the development of on... more The article examines the role that personal and collective memories play in the development of one's sense of identity in the context of a multicultural society. Our way of remembering should be made object of an aware choice and should be exercised on morally relevant issues, like our personal or historical identities, with the aim of reaching an intentional, reflective, and acquired capacity to forget and remember in a cosmopolitan spirit. How should we educate ourselves about our own past, tradition and memory while living with others whose traditions and inheritances differ from ours? In the cosmopolitan orientation, a person or community juxtaposes reflective openness to new influences with reflective loyalty toward the tried and the known. Today the survival of personal and community integrity seems to necessitate the work of memory. Work is needed to retain beloved traditions in a dynamic manner, if those very traditions are not to be swallowed up in the tide of globalization. In the work of memory there is an interplay between "unlearning" the past-becoming mindful of its singularity and its interpretability-and reconstructing it.

A major aim of a college-level philosophy of education course is not only to inform but also to e... more A major aim of a college-level philosophy of education course is not only to inform but also to engage transformation of how one thinks. Students are being introduced to the array of philosophical positions in education, but more importantly, they are also learning ways of thinking philosophically about issues in education. The question is how to best foster the growth of philosophical thinking in the limited weeks of a college semester with a diverse group of students.

The aesthetic experience leading to recognition is an educational experience. I understand recogn... more The aesthetic experience leading to recognition is an educational experience.
I understand recognition as an expressive and interpersonal act of affirming
the other. In this sense, recognition “makes the best of what we are.”1 Reflecting
on recognition, and on its absence, can open up spaces for personal and
perhaps also collective transformation. In this article, I consider the work
of artist Kara Walker because, by viewing it, I gained an understanding of
a people’s struggle for recognition. It was at the Whitney Museum in New
York that, in front of her wall installations, I realized once and for all with
clarity the feeling of being imprisoned in a collective misrepresentation. The
experience of being called on for recognition is where one can take on a difficult
task: the self-educative work of considering how the past one shares
with others can be remembered in ethically generative ways.

Curriculum Inquiry, 2009

In this article we describe a cosmopolitan orientation toward the place of values in human life. ... more In this article we describe a cosmopolitan orientation toward the place of values in human life. We argue that a cosmopolitan outlook can assist people in engaging the challenges of being thrown together with others whose roots, traditions, and inheritances differ. We show that cosmopolitanism implies neither an elite nor an aloof posture toward human affairs. On the contrary, the concept illuminates how people everywhere can retain individual and cultural integrity while also keeping themselves open to the larger world. A cosmopolitan outlook positions people to consider not just the specific values they subscribe to, but also their ways of holding and enacting them. This move provides people valuable distance from values although not a break with them. It helps people consider the value of valuing as well as the value of reflecting upon values. We examine three arts, or artful methods, that can fuel this orientation. They are hope, memory, and dialogue: three familiar concepts that we accent in a distinctive way in light of the idea of cosmopolitanism. We show how these arts can be cultivated continuously through education.