James Cresswell’s research interests range from critical/cultural psychology to cognitive science and literary theory. All of it focuses on linking critical/cultural theory and community-based advocacy research. Specific content areas of research include poverty, language, immigration, and technology. He serves as editor for the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. He is a research affiliate with the Canadian Poverty Institute (https://www.povertyinstitute.ca/) and is a member of the Newcomer Research Network (https://www.ucalgary.ca/network/newcomer-research/home).
Publications
Melnyk, J., & Cresswell, J. Giesbrecht, B. (in press). Psychosocial Explanations of Spiritual Experiences: A Taylorian Critique. European Legacy.
Cresswell, J. (online pre-print). From Latin America to Refugees from Myanmar: Dialogue and Disclosing Subjectivities of Domination, Fetish, and Care. Journal of Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/teo0000231
- Cresswell, J., Melnyk, J., & Diaz, R. (2023). On the problem of generalization in cultural
- psychology: Aesthetics, generalizability, and dialogical research. Culture & Psychology, 29(2), 260–279. DOI: 10.1177/1354067X221135048
- Finney, C., & Cresswell, J. (2021). When do arts-based methodologies work?: a case illustration
- involving newcomer experiences and knowledge-production in community-based research. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 19(4) 1013-1034. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2021.1996663
- Tamlin, H., Cresswell, J., & Hoppe, A. (2021). Experiencing Visions of Canadian Church Workers:
- Exploring the Mentality Fueling Systems Involved in Poverty Reduction. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(6), 1748-1766.
- Cresswell, J. (2021). On the Aesthetics of Self Creation: Technological Milieu and the Future of Theoretical Psychology. International Review of Theoretical Psychologies, 1(1), 110-124.
- Cresswell, J., Janzen, R., & Ochoka, J. (2020). Illustrating the Outcomes of Community-Based
- Research: A Case Study on Institutional Transformation to Support Newcomers to Canada. Engaged Scholar, 6(2), 69-87.
- Cresswell, J. (2020). Theories as modern myths: Giving up the pursuit of good theory to focus on good theorizing. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 50, 429–434.
Teaching
Paulo Freire’s (2000) Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Matusov’s (2009) Dialogic Pedagogy have been significant influences on my teaching philosophy. One model of Education that Freire discusses is what he calls the “Banking” model of education. The metaphor of a bank account is used to illustrate how students can be treated as passive receptacles for information. Under this model, an instructor’s role is to “deposit” information into students who are expected to produce the information in an examination – i.e. the same information is “withdrawn.” The banking model contrasts a “dialogical” model of education.
The dialogical model involves the assumption that all parties involved are part of the educational process. Education that prepares students for both the applied workplace and the academy is education that makes room for their own experience – enabling them to reflect upon it in light of what is presented to them. As an instructor I expect myself to bring skills and knowledge to the pedagogical situation, but I also have the expectation that students have different skills and experience to bring to bear. I thereby endeavor to create a climate of mutual respect and cooperation that facilitates students’ willingness to allow their own skills and experience to manifest. My approach also enables students to participate in community-based research that builds bridges between theory, their own skills, and the community.
The banking model of education is problematic on the grounds that information is ubiquitous in our “information age.” Whatever information I give students is dwarfed by the mass diversity of complementary and contradictory information that is available through mass media. Consequently, I argue that pedagogy needs to be about something other than the mere “deposit” of information into students for “withdrawal” at exam time. The dialogical model of education sees instruction as necessarily coming into contact with the students’ world of experience. The dialogical model of education advocates showing students different ways of looking at these experiences. Students can come to see that the knowledge they hold about their own experiences is not exhaustive because different interpretations of these experiences are always possible.