Women and Revolution: Marx and the Dialectic

This article argues that Marxism is inherently anti-sexist, anti-racist, and against all forms of exploitation and oppression. As a philosophy of revolution, Marxism is more than about economic restructuring but rather argues for the development of a new humanity based upon a class-less mode of production. Dialectically, these changes must come simultaneously from changing relations of production, changes in the material conditions of families, and the development of values and ideologies related to freedom and equality. Women\u27s liberation and anti-racism play a central role in this revolution. Working class women and women of color are especially roused to action due to the hyper exploitation and oppression they face around the world. Their voices, energy and commitment are necessary to class struggle and class struggle is necessary for women\u27s liberation movements

The Dialectics of English Dominance

A review of Anna Odrowaz-Coates\u27 Socio-educational Factors, and Soft Power of Language. The Deluge of English in Poland and Portugal. The Hegemony of English across the world cannot be overstated (Macedo, Dendrinos & Gounari 2016). More and more nations are encouraging, if not mandating through compulsory education requirements, that their citizens learn English (Xue & Zuo 2013). This demand for English is rising even among countries who have few native speakers of English. Importantly, making any language learning a national project carries a critical message about that language and its power. Robert Philipson (2011) points out that this growing demand and compulsory establishment of English (through schooling) can be nothing less than linguistic imperialism, with the World Bank re-introducing the historical colonial order. Nations are clamoring to learn English as quickly as possible in the hopes that doing so will boost their competitive edge on the global market (McCormick 2013). Indeed, there is evidence that English proficiency elevates the status and power of specific nations and provides individuals greater access to jobs and resources, but as Anna Odrowaz-Coates shows, in the case of Portugal and Poland, this will not happen without a significant cost to the national identity and to the identities of the people and their families and communities

A Wink or a Nod, Mr. President? A Call for the President’s Consideration of Race

Dear Mr. President... We ask now that you pour some attention to race and racism in America, and we submit that your leadership in this area is critically important for people of all colors

A Wink or a Nod, Mr. President? A Call for the President’s Consideration of Race

Dear Mr. President... We ask now that you pour some attention to race and racism in America, and we submit that your leadership in this area is critically important for people of all colors

Growing the Revolutionary Intellectual, Creating the Counterpublic Sphere

Here we seek to illuminate some important nuances and articulations surrounding the challenges that face us as dissident intellectuals at this particular historical conjuncture and to explore ways in which the public· intellectual can be reconceptualized and revitalized in revolutionary terms. This fits well with our goal for this essay-which intends to serve as a countervailing riposte to the role of the free-market intellectual and to insist on a materialist and indigenist recentering of the role of the intellectual in today\u27s social order.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/education_books/1140/thumbnail.jp

Literacies of the Heart and Antiracist Pedagogy

Challenging structural violence is a major project of our time. The massive Black Lives Matter (BLM) uprisings of Summer 2020 brought greater awareness of the systemic racism of universities and a commitment to challenge it. A Marxist-humanist lens recognizes racism as foundational to the racial-colonial capitalist patriarchy and the university as deeply implicated in the development and maintenance of these structures. While all these interlocking oppressions must be eradicated, in the US, racism has historically galvanized more people to action. For this we need a populace with critical literacy to connect their daily oppressions to structural forces. Critical literacy also encourages us to listen to the Oppressed whose “Reason and force” may prove useful toward our liberation. A critical literacy of the heart, drawing of Paulo Freire, is one that challenges us to transform structures of oppression through humanizing antiracist pedagogy. The bulk of the paper is drawn from a duoethnography of two Latina instructors. The stories shared offer insights into the deep-seeded racist policies and practices in education and the complexity of challenging these. We argue that such complexity calls for an intentional antiracist pedagogy of “other doing” that goes against the “commonsense” of our society

Women and Violence in the Age of Migration

Women from across Latin America are migrating north at great peril to their lives – their intended destination is, as expected, the US – that giant powerhouse that in spite of its well documented historical and continued imperialist violence and exploitation against Latin America is still able to create the ideological haze that encourages hope for that illusive “American dream.” Pushed to the brink of desperation resulting from unimaginable poverty, privation, and fear, these women muster the courage that only women of color know that they have (it is imbued in their flesh and in their hearts as a result of their histories of oppression) and begin a journey that forever changes their lives

Revolution and Education

Denied the right to recognize patterns of violence and their relationship to class and specifically to the capitalist mode of production through an institutionalized historical amnesia, we live our lives as mere passengers on a train that stops at death’s door. In the self-proclaimed greatest super power, the United States, the mythical alliance to democracy serves to obfuscate its systematic plundering of life and earth in service to the transnational capitalist class. We have been brainwashed through state and corporate-sponsored lies, myth, and a national zealotry to forget and continue to repeat the atrocities of our past. We have been plucked out of history by design and have developed a narcissism that ensures our primary concern is to ourselves and a willingness always to blame the Other and accept world suffering, so long as it ‘protects our way of life.

Critical Pedagogy and Participatory Democracy: Creating Classroom Contexts that Challenge Common Sense. A Response to The Political Nuances of Narratives and an Urban Educator\u27s Response

In this response to “The Political Nuances of Narratives and an Urban Educator’s Response,” the authors applaud Pearman’s critical approach to deconstructing and challenging narratives of heroic figures who single-handedly change the world and agree with him that these narratives restrict the sense of agency that may propel citizens to become actively involved in social change efforts. We argue that it is important to question why these narratives exist and to understand them in light of the hegemonic capitalist structure that exploits the masses in service to the capitalist class. Although we agree with Pearman that democracy is best served by the participation of every individual in society, we question that common sense coupling of democracy and capitalism and argue that this coupling is integral to the success of the ruling class to maintain the status quo. We find his work of critical importance such that teachers may create classroom contexts that enable students not only to desire to take part in civic responsibilities but also to feel capable of making important contributions that shape society, including challenging the relations of domination across antagonisms: poverty, racism, sexism, heterosexism, et cetera