Inviting Students into the Impasse: Using the Case Method to Teach Trigger Warnings

In this article I share a strategy I have employed in the classroom to invite students into uncertainty, following the premise—or at least a strong hunch—that uncertainty can be generative. I first provide some context for my own understanding of trigger warnings as it has emerged amidst earnest student requests and the attendant intellectual and popular conversations, which have been characterized as a two-sided “stand-off.” Following a discussion of the larger conversation around trigger warnings in higher education, I share how I have used the case method to complicate what appears to be a two-sided conversation. AnaLouise Keating’s “invitational pedagogy” is paired with John Foran’s case method to frame an exploration of trigger warnings and contribute to a larger conversation about how we teach social justice issues and critical thinking at a moment that—itself a threshold—seems fraught with “stand-offs” and an equally palpable collective desire to find ways past them.