It is not difficult to argue that the social sciences are in a period of
transition. Our day-to-day lives have been marked by uncertainty as our
social lives have vacillated wildly between highs and lows, tensions
between fellow citizens have heightened along ideological fault lines,
and educators have been placed squarely at the center of public
discourses about what-and how-we should be teaching. By any measure, we
are living in a time where every moment seems to be rife with high
stakes realities that must be navigated.
Ladson-Billings (2020) called on educators to reimagine education and
contest the notion of a "return to normal." In the current highly
polarized context where we see multiple competing narratives, rather
than promoting a "return to normal" or "business as usual" approach, we
argue that educators must use the lessons of the last two years, as well
as draw on what we have learned from history and the social sciences. By
asking ourselves how we might interrogate and inform current social
landscapes and the challenges that arise from them, we have the
opportunity to take leadership in fostering innovation, building
solidarity, and re-imagining the teaching and learning of history and
the social sciences.
We recognize that humans live in multiple complex communities that
include intersectional identities; relationships with power, agency, and
discourses; and lived realities that are as unique as they are
divergent. Consequently, the task of educators, and the goal of this
volume, is to provide a clarion voice to a dynamic, relational, and
undeniably human social world.
