Creating Empathy Through Service Learning: A Pedagogy for a Changing World

Abstract

Service learning is the catalyst for people to enter an oppressed or disenfranchised community, create bonds of understanding through dialogue, and learn to genuinely understand the behaviors and actions of that community. This paper explores the links among empathy creation, oppression, and different forms of consciousness that service learning is responsible for creating. The theories of Paulo Freire's engaged pedagogy, bell hooks critical consciousness, Novella Keith's theory of reciprocity, and Walter Fluker's theory of ethical leadership provide the context for my exploration. These authors demonstrate the importance of creating genuine empathetic bonds through action, practice, and reflection.