The #SHEAR2020 plenary debacle yesterday raised an issue I've been thinking abt a lot lately: shouldn't our professional presence as scholars be guided by an ethos of kindness? /

Academics who write about pedagogy like @CathyNDavidson @TheTattooedProf @Jessifer @cjdenial have been advocating for kinder, more compassionate and collaborative approaches to teaching our students. Shouldn't this also guide how we treat other scholars? /

"A pedagogy of kindness asks us to apply compassion in every situation we can, and not to default to suspicion or anger."-- @cjdenial https://hybridpedagogy.org/pedagogy-of-kindness/

How about taking this approach when responding to work by other scholars that we disagree with or dislike? /

Let me be clear that I do NOT mean that we should countenance scholarship that contributes to racism, sexism, etc.
And I still believe we should be critical of each other's work; that's part of our job. But it never needs to be done with animus or cruelty /

There's no reason--whether in a seminar, a paper, a book review, or even a tweet--to aggressively attack another scholar or their work. It's possible to engage and disagree with, even try to disprove, other scholars' analysis without being nasty. /

It can be tough to be compassionately critical; we won't always get it right. But we should at least try. Academia--and life--are both tough enough without gratuitous snark and meanness.
Let's work on a scholarly ethos of kindness. /fin

P.S.--I should add that I have been fortunate to benefit from the kind and supportive criticism of many fellow scholars I got to know @SHEARites conferences, esp. senior female scholars.