Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy
27 May 2010-Interactions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies (California Digital Library (CDL))-Vol. 6, Iss: 2
TL;DR: Ebert and Zavarzadeh as mentioned in this paper argued that poststructuralism constitutes a totalizing pressuring of meaning into semiotic foreclosure, placing an overlay of determinism on the free interplay of cultural discourses with their free-floating auto-intelligibilities, their aleatory and indeterminable play of the sign, and turning the jazz of signification into a military march of pre-ordained procrustean meanings.
Abstract: Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy Since the mid-1990s, the focus of my work has shifted discernibly, if not dramatically, from a preoccupation with poststructuralist analyses of popular culture, in which I attempted to deploy contrapuntally critical pedagogy, neo- Marxist critique and cultural analysis, to a revolutionary Marxist humanist perspective. My focus shifted away from the politics of representation and its affiliative liaison with identity production and turned towards the role of finance capital and the social relations of production. Against a utopian theory of entrepreneurial individuality and agency backed by a voluntarism unburdened by history, I came to see the necessity of transforming the very structures of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy by means of a pedagogical praxis guided by the revolutionary knowledges of historical materialism. In so doing, questions of patriarchal and sexist ideology are connected to their material origins—of social labor—that emphasize the relations between the sexes and how the distribution of labor in capitalist economies have generated the alienating conditions in which men and women relate to themselves and to one another (Ebert & Zavarzadeh, I locate my work within what I take to be the fundamental condition of late modernity—a brutal and systematic extraction of surplus value from proletarianized regions of the world (usually decaying in a climate of bourgeois- comprador nationalism) culminating in a condition of substantive inequality and an egregiously unequal division of labor—a condition that is structurally inescapable under the regime of capital. Through the generalization of exchange- values mediated by the machinations of capital accumulation on a global scale, this regressive situation has spawned alienated lifeworlds festering in the swamp of reification and the commodification of everyday life. Since my shift in focus, I have come to view the assertion of many poststructuralists—that Marxism constitutes a totalizing pressuring of meaning into semiotic foreclosure, placing an overlay of determinism on the free interplay of cultural discourses with their free-floating auto-intelligibilities, their aleatory and indeterminable play of the sign, and turning the jazz of signification into a military march of pre-ordained procrustean meanings—as an exclusion of causality from the domain of history by replacing it with difference and play. In effect, by situating the social as a contingent totality, the avant-garde politics of representation articulated by the poststructuralists become part of a larger ensemble of textual reading practices that obscure the production practices of capitalism (Ebert & Zavarzadeh, 2008). I also had serious problems with what progressive educators were describing as the struggle for democracy in the public sphere because so much of this discourse involved pedagogically fostering a respect for the values of democratic citizenship and appealing to moral sentiments and critical reasoning.
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Journal Article•
134 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider challenges that can arise with an introductory social work course in the current context of neoliberalism, especially when open to both social work and non-social work students, with a particular focus on larger class sizes, the use of precarious labour and the depoliticization of the classroom.
Abstract: Teaching and learning in the neoliberal academy means that educators in non-market-oriented departments, such as social work, face several constraints and challenges when trying to implement an anti-oppressive, social justice focused curriculum. This article considers challenges that can arise with an introductory social work course in the current context of neoliberalism, especially when open to both social work and non-social work students. With a particular focus on larger class sizes, the use of precarious labour and the depoliticization of the classroom, the authors use an inductive, reflective approach to analyse observations made about shifts in the behaviour and engagement of students in the course. The authors surmise possible explanations for these shifts, considering changes made to the substantive content and pedagogical practices of the course. Through this process the authors propose that these changes represent an ‘activist pedagogy’ which may offer potential for anti-oppressive education w...
63 citations
Additional excerpts
...Drawing on a ‘pedagogy of critique’ (McLaren, 2010, p. 8), activist pedagogy situates collectively....
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TL;DR: This work works with Szostak's approach to interdisciplinary research and model an analysis strategy that integrates and applies the methodological features of interdisciplinarity, adapted physical activity, and critical pedagogy.
Abstract: Critical pedagogy owes much of its emergence, development, and ongoing relevance to the work of Paulo Freire whose legacy remains relevant for a next generation of scholars who seek to explore issues of inclusion, oppression, social justice, and authentic expression. An interdisciplinary dialogue between critical pedagogy and adapted physical activity is timely, appropriate, and should focus on complex profiles of neurodiversity, mental illness, and mental health, with emphasis on pedagogic practices of practitioners in service delivery and teacher educators who prepare them for professional practice. A case-based scenario approach is used to present practitioner and teacher educator practices. Concrete examples are provided for analyzing and understanding deeper issues and challenges related to neurodiversity in a variety of embodied dimensions in educational and activity contexts. We work with Szostak's approach to interdisciplinary research and model an analysis strategy that integrates and applies the methodological features of interdisciplinarity, adapted physical activity, and critical pedagogy.
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors highlight four qualitative studies that examine young diverse populations (i.e. middle-class African-American learners, Latinx immigrant children, emergent bilingual writers, and teachers of low-socioeconomic African-Americans learners) using culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogies as their theoretical lens.
Abstract: This article highlights four qualitative studies that examine young diverse populations (i.e. middle-class African-American learners, Latinx immigrant children, emergent bilingual writers, and teachers of low-socioeconomic African-American learners) using culturally relevant and culturally sustaining pedagogies as our theoretical lens. The research questions are (1) What are the features of classrooms that support culturally sustaining learning for young children? (2) What social, cultural, and linguistic resources do learners draw upon when engaging in culturally sustaining spaces? Findings in this paper indicate that (a) children need critical safe spaces to foster CSP (b) children draw knowledge from varied resources and (c) teachers’ must be able to navigate policies to implement practices that utilize students’ cultural referents.
31 citations
Cites background from "Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy"
...Inequities in society are often reproduced in schools (Apple 1992; McLaren 2010), making the case that #BlackLivesMatter is just as important to consider in school contexts....
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TL;DR: In this article, actor-network theory is used as a resource of critique to counter the ways regimes of power are materially entrenched, by drawing on Butler's notion of performativity, the agential realism of Barad and the ontological politics of Mol.
Abstract: In order to extend its scope, depth and effectiveness, critique should shift from its reliance on humanistic assumptions and be reconceptualised as a sociomaterial practice through which realities are enacted differently as multiple and tensional. This kind of critique counters the ways regimes of power are materially entrenched. This article explores such an alternative conception of critique by drawing on Butler’s notion of performativity, the agential realism of Barad and the ontological politics of Mol. It explores the particular ways in which actor-network theory could be understood as a resource of critique. Because of its central role in the enactment of reality, Education is an important field within which critique is developed further in relation to ontological and epistemological assumptions behind different learning spaces and the incoherences and tensions of different ontics.
26 citations
Cites background from "Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy"
...(McLaren 2010, 10, my emphasis) Far from being disinterested or ideologically frozen, critical pedagogy is concerned about the articulation of knowledge to social effects and succeeds to the degree in which educators encourage critical reflection and moral and civic agency rather than simply mold…...
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...(McLaren 2010, 10, my emphasis) Although McLaren (2005, 59) emphasises, in true Marxist fashion, the materialism of the production processes and the need for alternative material conditions, praxis is rather seen as the consequence of discursive and theoretical critique....
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References
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Journal Article•
134 citations
"Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy" refers background in this paper
...Robinson (2008) has characterized as capital's ferocious quest to break free of nation-state constraints to accumulation and 20 th century regulated capital-labor relations based on a limited number of reciprocal commitments and rights....
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...…by what has been taking place on a global basis since capital began responding to the 1970s crisis of Fordist-Keynesian capitalism— which William I. Robinson (2008) has characterized as capital's ferocious quest to break free of nation-state constraints to accumulation and 20 th century regulated…...
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Book•
26 Mar 2002
TL;DR: San Juan as mentioned in this paper argues that U.S. nationalism is where racist ideas and practices are formed, refined, and reproduced as common sense and consensus and proposes a future of politically equal and economically empowered citizens through the democratization of power and the socialization of property.
Abstract: In Racism and Cultural Studies E. San Juan Jr. offers a historical-materialist critique of practices in multiculturalism and cultural studies. Rejecting contemporary theories of inclusion as affirmations of the capitalist status quo, San Juan envisions a future of politically equal and economically empowered citizens through the democratization of power and the socialization of property. Calling U.S. nationalism the new “opium of the masses,” he argues that U.S. nationalism is where racist ideas and practices are formed, refined, and reproduced as common sense and consensus.
Individual chapters engage the themes of ethnicity versus racism, gender inequality, sexuality, and the politics of identity configured with the discourse of postcoloniality and postmodernism. Questions of institutional racism, social justice, democratization, and international power relations between the center and the periphery are explored and analyzed. San Juan fashions a critique of dominant disciplinary approaches in the humanities and social sciences and contends that “the racism question” functions as a catalyst and point of departure for cultural critiques based on a radical democratic vision. He also asks urgent questions regarding globalization and the future of socialist transformation of “third world” peoples and others who face oppression.
As one of the most notable cultural theorists in the United States today, San Juan presents a provocative challenge to the academy and other disciplinary institutions. His intervention will surely compel the attention of all engaged in intellectual exchanges where race/ethnicity serves as an urgent focus of concern.
90 citations
Book•
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15 Jun 2007
TL;DR: The Public Theorist Acknowledgments: A "Potlatch of Signs"--Burning, Consuming, Wasting.
Abstract: The Public Theorist Acknowledgments PART I: All That Is Cultural Is Real-All That Is Real Is Cultural Chapter 1: Getting Class Out of Culture Chapter 2: Class Binaries and the Rise of Private Property PART II: Tracing Class Chapter 3: Class Is Chapter 4: Abu Ghraib and Class Erotics Chapter 5: Class and 9/11 Chapter 6: Eating Class Chapter 7: The Class Politics of "Values" and Stem-Cell Funding Chapter 8: Abortion Is a Class Matter Chapter 9: E-Education as a Class Technology Chapter 10: Gender after Class Chapter 11: The Class Logic of A Beautiful Mind PART III: Class Ecstasies of the Culture of Capitol Chapter 12: A "Potlatch of Signs"--Burning, Consuming, Wasting
38 citations
"Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy" refers background in this paper
...…us to explain how social differences—gender, race, sexuality, and class—have been systematically produced and continue to operate within regimes of exploitation – namely within the international division of labor in global capitalism, so that we can fight to change them (Ebert & Zavarzadeh, 2008)....
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...A pedagogy of desire works against the creation of revolutionary love by celebrating the unknowable, the endless deferral of meaning and the impossibility of certainty (Ebert & Zavarzadeh, 2008)....
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...Pedagogies of desire are those developed by teachers whose fundamental needs have already been met (Ebert & Zavarzadeh, 2008)....
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...…the dominant structures of class rule protect their practices from being publicly scrutinized as they appropriate resources to serve the interests of the few at the expense of the many (Ebert & Zavarzadeh, 2008). critical pedagogy, conservative critical pedagogy, and variants of each of these....
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...In effect, by situating the social as a contingent totality, the avant-garde politics of representation articulated by the poststructuralists become part of a larger ensemble of textual reading practices that obscure the production practices of capitalism (Ebert & Zavarzadeh, 2008)....
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Book•
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The Challenge and Burden of Historical Time by Meszaros as discussed by the authors explores the preconditions of Latin America's historic Bolivarian journey, which is producing new revolutionary transformations in Venezuela, Bolivia, and elsewhere.
Abstract: An extraordinary new work by the leading Marxian philosopher of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, "The Challenge and Burden of Historical Time" represents a breakthrough in the development of socialist thought. It can be seen both as a companion volume to his earlier pathbreaking "Beyond Capital" and a major theoretical contribution in its own right. Its focus is on the "decapitation of historical time" in today's capitalism and the necessity of a new "socialist time accountancy" as a revolutionary response to the debilitating present.Extending Meszaros' earlier analysis of capitalism as a social-metabolic system caught in an irreversible structural crisis, it represents a crushing refutation of the view that "there is no alternative" to the current social order. Meszaros' wide-ranging analysis explores the forces behind the expansion of world inequality, the return of imperial interventionism, the growing structural crisis of the capitalist state, and the widening planetary ecological crisis - along with the new hope offered by the reemergence of concrete socialist alternatives.At the heart of his book is an examination of the preconditions of Latin America's historic Bolivarian journey, which is producing new revolutionary transformations in Venezuela, Bolivia, and elsewhere. "The Challenge and Burden of Historical Time" is a work of great political and philosophical importance, one that defines the challenges and burdens facing all those who are committed to a more rational, more egalitarian future.
30 citations
"Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy" refers background in this paper
...As Istvan Meszaros (2008) notes, an appeal to individual consciousness ultimately remains insufficient because “it avoids the social causes of the denounced negative symptoms” (p. 341)....
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...As Istvan Meszaros (2008) notes, an appeal to individual consciousness ultimately remains insufficient because “it avoids the social causes of the denounced negative symptoms” (p....
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...The overall agenda I have been trying to develop since the mid-1990s is captured in the description of what Meszaros (2008) calls socialist education: “the social organ through which the mutually beneficial reciprocity between the individuals and their society becomes real” (p. 347)....
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...captured in the description of what Meszaros (2008) calls socialist education: “the...
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Book•
01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: The dream of the whole man creative labour division of labour and alienation the fetish character of the commodity classes and the class struggle historical materialism value and surplus value profit and capital the problem of increasing misery the theory of revolution dictatorship of the proletariat, socialism, communism labour movement and international the philosophy of practice Marxism today as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The dream of the whole man creative labour division of labour and alienation the fetish character of the commodity classes and the class struggle historical materialism value and surplus value profit and capital the problem of increasing misery the theory of revolution dictatorship of the proletariat, socialism, communism labour movement and international the philosophy of practice Marxism today.
26 citations