The Pursuit of [Un]happiness

A Study of Critical Perspectives of Living and Constraints of Social Stratification

Authors

  • Cesar Rossatto University of Texas, El Paso
  • Roxanne Rodriguez The University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP)
  • Gerardo Rodriguez The University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v11i7.186482

Abstract

This paper presents the pursuit of [un]happiness from a critical standpoint, and it examines how [un]happiness is influenced by social, political, historical, and economic systems. A mix-methods pilot study was conducted to find out how U.S. southwestern borderland community feel about happiness. The research participants included students and persons from the local border region. [Un]happiness is a byproduct of social justice or lack thereof; hence, this theoretical study analyzes the implications of sustainable socioeconomic and unequal structures that produce it. It inquires how the fulfillment of basic existential needs and access to quality education can guarantee critical, authentic, and hopeful opportunities for a happier and healthier life. We question whether social justice opportunities for happiness and how the constitutional pursuit of happiness guarantee its effectiveness and applicability. How should education promote curricular and pedagogical programs that facilitate the foundational means of happiness and how to live healthier lives? The overall findings indicate that countries that distribute resources more equitably have fewer social problems. The paper discusses eastern and western paradigms and recommends educational programs that can influence happiness.

Author Biographies

Cesar Rossatto, University of Texas, El Paso

César Augusto Rossatto, Ph.D. is Associate Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is the author of numerous publications including Engaging Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Possibility: From Blind to Transformative Optimism.  He is the founder of Paulo Freire SIG at AERA (American Education Research Association) and founder and chair of the International Conference on Education, Labor and Emancipation (http://academics.utep.edu/confele). A UCLA graduate with specializations in critical pedagogy, critical multiculturalism, education for justice, and the sociology of education, Rossatto is committed to dialectic and dialogical education and praxis for the liberation of disenfranchised groups. Rossatto extends and reinvents Paulo Freire's work; critical temporal theory; the social context of education; organizational politics; international and urban education; and has a deep familiarity with U.S. and Latin American cross-cultural issues. His main research interests are Ethics; religious influences and immigration; the U.S. and Mexican border within the context of Globalization and Neo-Liberalism, social relations; and Brazilian identity formation in the United States and its implications to schooling.  Rossatto specializes in the phenomenon of fatalism and optimism in contrast with social class differences, as well as the effects of global racism.  He is an international spokesperson and a senior publishing editor.

Roxanne R. Rodriguez is a Ph. D candidate in the Teaching, Learning, and Culture program at The University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP). She is a professor of Linguistics at El Paso Community College. She earned her BA and MA in Linguistics. She is an expert economics of schooling, bilingualism, and critical pedagogy. Her research agenda focuses on understanding teaching and learning in a borderland context, particularly with disenfranchised populations.  She has presented her research on A Pedagogy of Happiness at a national and international professional conference.  She is also a co-author of an ongoing book on Happiness Matters within a Postmodern World.

Gerardo Rodriguez is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at El Paso. After graduating as a journalist in 2004 from UTEP, Mr. Rodriguez co-founded El Diario de El Paso newspaper and worked there as a Publisher and Editor in Chief. In recent years Mr. Rodriguez continued his graduate studies in education and has conducted and presented research publicly in the US, Mexico, South America, and Europe on multicultural subjects as varied as the violence in Juarez, borderland conflicts, shamanism in the Amazon jungle, Native American epistemology, Media and Education.

 


Roxanne Rodriguez, The University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP)

Roxanne R. Rodriguez is a Ph. D candidate in the Teaching, Learning, and Culture program at The University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP). She is a professor of Linguistics at El Paso Community College. She earned her BA and MA in Linguistics. She is an expert economics of schooling, bilingualism, and critical pedagogy. Her research agenda focuses on understanding teaching and learning in a borderland context, particularly with disenfranchised populations.  She has presented her research on A Pedagogy of Happiness at a national and international professional conference.  She is also a co-author of an ongoing book on Happiness Matters within a Postmodern World.

Gerardo Rodriguez, The University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP)

Gerardo Rodriguez is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at El Paso. After graduating as a journalist in 2004 from UTEP, Mr. Rodriguez co-founded El Diario de El Paso newspaper and worked there as a Publisher and Editor in Chief. In recent years Mr. Rodriguez continued his graduate studies in education and has conducted and presented research publicly in the US, Mexico, South America, and Europe on multicultural subjects as varied as the violence in Juarez, borderland conflicts, shamanism in the Amazon jungle, Native American epistemology, Media and Education.

 

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Published

2020-01-07

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 7 (2020)

Section

Articles

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