3,043 research outputs found
Antonio Gramsciâs impact on critical pedagogy
This paper provides an account of Antonio Gramsciâs impact on the area of critical pedagogy. It indicates the Gramscian influence on the thinking of major exponents of the field. It foregrounds Gramsci's ideas and then indicates how they have been taken up by a selection of critical pedagogy exponents who were chosen on the strength of their identification and engagement with Gramsci's ideas, some of them even having written entire essays on Gramsci. The essay concludes with a discussion concerning an aspect of Gramsci's concerns, the question of powerful knowledge, which, in the present author's view, provides a formidable challenge to critical pedagogues.peer-reviewe
Challenging the orthodoxy: union learning representatives as organic intellectuals
Teacher education and continuing professional development have become a key areas of controversy in England since the period of school sector restructuring following the 1988 Education Reform Act. More recently teacher training and professional development have often been used to promote and reinforce a narrow focus on the governmentâs âstandards agendaâ. However, the emerging discourse of ânew professionalismâ has raised the profile of professional development in schools, and together with union learning representatives, there are opportunities to secure real improvements in teachersâ access to continuing professional development. This paper argues however that union learning representatives must go beyond advocating for better access to professional development and should raise more fundamental questions about the nature of professional development and the education system it serves. Drawing on Gramsciâs notion of the âorganic intellectualâ, the paper argues that union learning representatives have a key role as organisers of ideas â creating spaces in which the ideological dominance of current policy orthodoxy might be challenged
Education and articulation: Laclau and Mouffeâs radical democracy in school
This paper outlines a theory of radical democratic education by addressing a key concept in Laclau and Mouffeâs Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: articulation. Through their concept of articulation, Laclau and Mouffe attempt to liberate Gramsciâs theory of hegemony from Marxist economism, and adapt it to a political sphere inhabited by a plurality of struggles and agents none of which is predominant. However, while for Gramsci the political process of hegemony formation has an explicit educational dimension, Laclau and Mouffe ignore this dimension altogether. My discussion starts with elaborating the concept of articulation and analysing it in terms of three dimensions: performance, connection and transformation. I then address the role of education in Gramsciâs politics, in which the figure of the intellectual is central, and argue that radical democratic education requires renouncing that figure. In the final section, I offer a theory of such education, in which both teacher and students articulate their political differences and identities
From Passive to Radical Revolution in Venezuelaâs Populist Project
In December 2001, Hugo ChĂĄvez and others changed Venezuelaâs Bolivarian revolutionary project, which consisted of replacing a corrupt and elitist constitution with a fair and popular one, into a radical one. In its early stages the project corresponded to what Gramsci called a âpassive revolution.â Attempts by opposition forces to crush the construction of a new populist hegemony (a coup in April 2002 and an indefinite strike in December 2002) were met with popular mobilization that reaffirmed ChĂĄvezâs hegemonic project. The radical revolution consisted of social programs designed to alleviate the suffering of the poor and consolidated a new hegemonic structure among Venezuelaâs lower classes. The concept of âradical revolutionâ provides a theoretical alternative for assessing the extent to which a political project can be described as populist
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A Climate for Change? Critical Reflections on the Durban United Nations Climate Change Conference
Despite more than 15 years of high level efforts led by the United Nations to broker a binding agreement on emissions reduction, negotiations at every annual meeting have failed to establish a global agreement mainly due to significant disagreements between industrialized and developing countries over differentiated responsibilities in reducing emissions. In this paper I describe my experiences as a participant-observer at the 17th United Nations Climate Change summit held in Durban, South Africa during December 2011. I provide a critical analysis of the political economy of climate change and discuss power dynamics between market, state and civil society sectors as well as the shifting geopolitics that marks the emergence of China and India as major players in the climate change arena
Research ethics in an unethical world: the politics and morality of engaged research
This article explores ethical dilemmas in researching the world of work. Recent contributions to WES have highlighted challenges for engaged research. Based on the emancipatory epistemologies of Bourdieu, Gramsci and Burawoy, the authors examine moral challenges in workplace fieldwork, question the assumptions of mainstream ethics discourses and seek to identify an alternative approach. Instead of an ethics premised on a priori, universal precepts that treasures academic neutrality, this article recognises a morality that responds to the social context of research with participation and commitment. The reflection in this study is based on fieldwork conducted in the former Soviet Union. Transformation societies present challenges to participatory ethnography but simultaneously provide considerable opportunities for developing an ethics of truth. An approach that can guide engaged researchers through social conflictâs âmessyâ reality should hinge on loyalty to the emancipation struggles of those engaged in it
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