This issue of JCP opens with Jeremy Godwin’s Spoken word as public pedagogy: Conceptualizing a prophetic public. Examining the spoken word practice of one artist, Salvador, this article elaborates how this form of public pedagogy cultivates a prophetic public – “one that exhibits both critique and hope.” The article investigates “both theory and lived experience by pushing them toward each other” in the production of a spoken word poem that captures the findings. In pondering Salvador’s practice and his poetry Godwin remind us that, “the notion of the prophetic, with its balance of critique and hope, criticizing and energizing, denouncing and announcing, may help to remind us of a better way forward as scholars and as artists.”
The remainder of the issue, continuing the theme of cultivating the prophetic public, consists of a special issue of the journal curated and guest edited by Mario Suárez and Patrick Slattery. This is the first time JCP has published a special issue, so we hope you find the cluster of articles in generative dialog with one another and with your interests and concerns. In the spirit of prophetic thought, these articles are committed to a transformed and transformative society. These pieces address issues that play out in and exceed classrooms and schools, and so contribute to and enact both public curricula and public pedagogies. They offer both critique and hope – the hallmarks of a prophetic public.
The added gain of a special issue is that in addition to each piece offering its contribution, collectively the pieces also impact our understanding and our critical consciousness. We hope that the synergy created by these seven pieces excites, extends and incites you!