“You know Birds Aren’t Real isn’t real, right?” Working Through Communication and Media Studies Student Affect in the Critical Communication Classroom

Background: Increasing polarization around risk topics has required shifting pedagogical approaches to attend to affective responses of students. In this article, I reflect upon the ways in which anxiety, grief, uncertainty, science skepticism, and the circulation of misinformation are manifest as pedagogical challenges when teaching risk and communication. Analysis: Grounded in 25 years’ experience working with students in classes addressing affectively charged risk topics, this article examines why and how directly engaging with the anxiety/grief/misinformation nexus is central to communication pedagogy in times of increasing polarization. Doing so works to centre student affect in pedagogy, responding to uncertainty, skepticism, alienation, and the erosion of trust by making explicit the links between critical thinking, emotional reflexivity, critical media literacy, and affects in the classroom. Conclusions and implications: Acknowledging affect in critical communication and media studies classrooms is central to a pedagogy that strives to promote community building, encourage dialogue, model empathy and care, and challenge misinformation as means to counter polarization.