Qualitative Inquiry in an Age of Educationalese

In this introduction we reflect on two key questions that initiated this special issue on qualitative inquiry: What can qualitative researchers do to regain their post-paradigm-wars cache? How do we avoid distracting “science wars” in the future? We suggest that the strong tendency to narrow the research methods accepted as “scientific” – because they adopt quantitative perspectives and are presumed a priori to be more rigorous – has created an educationalese, a narrative of rigid categories that has not necessarily contributed to more effective or persuasive educational research. The article ends by suggesting that the use of “knowledge mobilization” strategies would help to strengthen qualitative research and educational research in general

The Dumbing Down of Statutory Interpretation

Article published in the B. U. Law Review

Rhetoric Reframed: “Obamacare,” “Obamacore,” and the Failure/Future of Political Discourse in the United States

This thesis utilizes metaphor theory and, in particular, the work of cognitive linguist George Lakoff to explore contemporary political discourse surrounding the Affordable Care Act ( Obamacare ) and the Common Core State Standards ( Obamacore ) in the United States. I investigate the different moral frameworks, grounded in metaphorical notions of the ideal family, that underlie both liberal and conservative ideology in the US. After demonstrating that liberals and conservatives have coherent positions toward both the Affordable Care Act and Common Core, I argue that conservatives have been more successful at framing political issues in terms favorable to their own views. I conclude by offering suggestions for how we might promote public debate over values instead of over-relying upon preexisting cognitive frames that polarize political discourse

Do crying citizens make good citizens?

The present paper is framed within current debates about the need to rethink citizenship, especially with respect to the question of whether there is a legitimate place for emotion in the public sphere. Emotion has not traditionally been seen as a key to good citizenship, and there has been a fair amount of aversion among media critics towards the ‘‘emotionalization’’ of the public sphere and spectacular outbursts of public emotion. This paper looks at the coverage of the murders of Dutch filmmaker and journalist Theo van Gogh in 2004 and Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn in 2002, and shows that the issue is not simply whether emotions should be allowed in the public sphere or not, but rather how they are articulated and how they achieve different understandings of citizenship.Peer reviewe

‘Pulling the Monster Down’: Interview with William K. Carroll

William K. Carroll is one of Canada’s foremost sociologists. His research and teaching focus on the contemporary capitalist political economy and transformative social movements, as well as Marxist and post-Marxist theories, particularly those informed by Gramsci. His empirical work investigates central actors within the Canadian and world political economy, including social democratic governments, right wing think-tanks and the for-profit and alternative media. He is the author of more than a hundred books, articles, chapters and reports, making important contributions on many subjects, including globalization, neoliberalism and critical research methods

Education for Authentic Democracy: Capatilism, Oppression, and Freire's Critical Pedagogy for Liberation

Within the parameters of western ideology the concept of democracy is frequently upheld as a corner stone to which our moral, social, political and educational practices are anchored. The term has become a powerful instrument of persuasion in the public forums as the innate goodness of democracy has become more unquestionably ingrained in the historical imaginations of its citizens. As the logic surrounding the value placed on democracy is entwined with the virtues of freedom and self-determination for all, this is hardly surprising. What remains often unexplored in these public forums, however, is whether this logic is in fact justified. To situate the investigation into the current political arena is to acknowledge the dichotomy by which the philosophies of democracy and capitalism are publicly claimed to exist side by side. Such an acknowledgement forcefully yields one to the questions of to what extent our current ideologies of democracy, and the perpetuation of this dogma through our education system, can successfully result in producing an authentic democratic society within capitalist constructs. This thesis has been written in an attempt to expose the contradiction present between our current political claims of democracy and our capitalist directed practices of education through the critical philosophy of Paulo Freire. Freire has firmly established himself as a respected democratic educator, however, my intention has not been to reduce his educational pedagogy by adapting it to attempt to improve the current system of schooling, as I argue is frequently found within educational literature, but rather to differentiate his democratic philosophy of education as the practice of freedom from the capitalist concept of education as a tool of domination and domestication. I argue that the logic of transnational capitalism, which dictates the policies and practices of our education system, is detrimental to the development of the peoples' critical thinking facilities and thus negates their individual and collective empowerment. Such a system of banking education actively denies people the right to participate in history as subjects and inhibits the possibility of an authentic democracy. In this way the capitalist education system is in fact a system of oppression. Through Freire's critical pedagogy I argue that the transference ofknowledge through an authoritarian system does not constitute as education but is instead a training ground for workers set up in the interests of capitalist employers. Social class divisions are maintained and enforced by means of a paternalistic apparatus of hierarchy. In supporting Freire's philosophy, and acknowledging the entirely political nature of education, I argue that an education system that would support an authentic democracy would have to practice authentic democracy. Through the concepts of 'promblematization', dialogue, critical transitivity and praxis I have attempted to refute the fatalistic assumptions that such an education system is unconceivable or unexplainable. Indeed, I argue that if our goal is to live in a democracy then such concepts are unavoidable. The historical case study from the history of the New Zealand education system is included to illustrate the theory in practice. Here I argue that the intentions, practices and policies of the legislators were anti-democratic and anti-educational in that they constructed a compulsory system that is detrimental to the development of critical thought, self determination and dialogical knowing that is necessary to allow each member of society to be part of the governing system. By examining the consequences and legacy of this system it is possible to expose its influences in the larger educational realm in society. It is not my intention to simply present New Zealand education as an isolated case which requires examination but rather as a prominent example of how Freire's philosophy applies to traditional education in the west. This thesis is therefore aimed at re-defining the concepts of democracy and education through critically examining the socio-economic conditions necessary for effective and equal participation in democratic forums. By critiquing the current system via the vehicle of Freire's philosophy, a prominent democratic educator, the divide between democracy as an illusion and as a reality becomes clearer

Keeping Up with New Legal Titles: The Legal Research Manual with Video Modules, 2nd Ed.

The Legal Research Survival Manual with Video Modules, by Robert Berring and Michael Levy, is an eighty-seven-page book written in a conversational, informal tone, packed with all the information new legal researchers need to survive their early days in the law library. The book\u27s intended audience are novice legal researchers, in particular first-year law students. The authors have filled the pages with sage advice but left out material novices are not likely to encounter during the first year of law school. The authors, with the help of two additional experts, have added twelve online videos readers can access for expanded explanations of the material in the book