Notes on a Late Jim Crow Life, Unredacted: Class and the Dignity of Teaching in Gaines and Resnick

In Ernest Gaines's novel A Lesson Before Dying, a dying man's salvation is contrasted with his education as a human being with dignity. Using Gaines's parable of a dying man's education while on death row to reflect on what mattered to Stephen Resnick in the classroom, this essay...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Rethinking Marxism 2018-01, Vol.30 (1), p.128-141
Main Author: Wilson, Lucas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capitalism
Classrooms
Death & dying
Death row
Education
Human dignity
Marxism
Racism
Right to die
Social classes
Students
Teaching
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:In Ernest Gaines's novel A Lesson Before Dying, a dying man's salvation is contrasted with his education as a human being with dignity. Using Gaines's parable of a dying man's education while on death row to reflect on what mattered to Stephen Resnick in the classroom, this essay explores what it is to imagine and then see the world differently than what we're accustomed to, examining what teaching is from the perspective of what is learned, what is produced in a classroom knowledge process. Resnick, in his reading of Marx's Capital, cultivated capacities in his students by questioning class and "naturalized" capitalism. His pedagogical insight points students toward the value of dignity and worth in human life and labor.
ISSN:0893-5696
1475-8059
DOI:10.1080/08935696.2018.1456756