Popular Education for Social Change

The “Reasonable Accommodation” Commission and Debate: Statement by No One Is Illegal-Montreal

2007-12-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

i recommend people to read the below statement responding to the "reasonable accomadation" (which is no more than the renaming racism with a funky academic title) debate happening in Quebec right now, it is a brilliant statement that highlights Indigenous struggles for self-determination, immigrant rights, and is unveils racist discourse and manifestations.

- kat the anti-blogger

[The No One Is Illegal-Montreal collective is publishing and distributing the following statement in opposition to the racist “reasonable accommodation” debate in Quebec, and the related Bouchard-Taylor Commission. We encourage groups and individuals who agree with this statement to endorse it by contacting noii-montreal@resist.ca. We also encourage allies who would like to help organize against the hearings, or support the organizing of No One Is Illegal, to get in touch as well.]

November 12, 2007

The “reasonable accommodation” debate in Quebec, and the related “Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences” (the so-called “Bouchard-Taylor Commission”), are fundamentally rooted in xenophobia, racism and sexism.

From the outset, the “debate” fails to recognize that Quebec and Canada are built on stolen Indigenous land, and constituted through the dispossession and genocide of Indigenous peoples who have been forced into “accommodating” colonization. Moreover, it completely ignores the fact that racism and white supremacy were intrinsically tied to the creation of both Canada and Quebec, and throughout their histories, have been instrumental in defining who “belongs” and who does not.

The Bouchard-Taylor Commission was created in the context of xenophobia during an election campaign and has provided an uncontested platform for racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Opportunistic politicians and corporate media have appealed to public fears and prejudices, and manipulated false controversies over religious practices and cultural differences to create a generalized hysteria, with little to no basis in fact. In its very framework it creates a binary of ‘us’ vs. ‘them’; the ‘us’ being made up of white people of European descent, and the ‘them’ being whichever non-white immigrant group is currently under the spotlight.

The supposed "debate" has made open bigotry publicly acceptable, using simplistic caricatures that render our communities homogenous, uncontested and monolithic. While we reject this offensive portrayal of our communities, we assert the diversity of our cultures and traditions as well as our multiple identities.

Insidiously, so-called progressives and feminists have used the Commission platform to promote their own sophisticated brand of racism, one that refuses to acknowledge the oppressions within Western society, and unquestioningly considers Quebec to be “pluralistic, democratic and egalitarian”.

While using rhetoric rooted in Islamophobia and sexism to justify war abroad, as is the case in the on-going military occupation of Afghanistan, Quebec has embraced the framework around the “rights of women” and the systematic dehumanization of Muslim cultures to justify intolerance chez nous. We reject the notion that women of faith need to be saved from their inherently oppressive and backward cultures, and instead we support the women who are on the frontlines of their own struggles for liberation, and subjects, not objects or victims, of their own transformation.

As the Bouchard-Taylor Commission begins its public hearings in Montreal, we are organizing to openly and publicly reject the commission process and framework. To engage the Commission process is to validate its fundamentally racist premise, which is to stand judgment of immigrant communities. This Commission, sanctioned by the state, is a process of submission, whereby minority populations are forced to justify their very existence in Quebec. The way this debate is framed ignores all the current intolerance and injustice faced by many migrant communities in Quebec, while forcing them to defend themselves as “good Quebecois”.

We declare: Ni patrie, ni état; ni Québec, ni Canada! We refuse to submit to any form of nationalism.

Instead, we organize by uncompromisingly putting forward a vision of social justice, rooted in day-to-day grassroots struggles. We acknowledge and support the self-determination and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples all over the Americas -- struggles that have once again been rendered invisible in the skewed “reasonable accommodation” debate.

We organize actively against poverty, precarity, racial profiling, police brutality, war, capitalism and gender oppression. We organize against borders, for free movement and status for all. We actively fight against state oppression and violence targeted at the most marginalized, while struggling against all forms of oppression, whatever their source.

In contrast to the faulty framework of “reasonable accommodation”, we assert “solidarity across borders”, in the spirit of mutual aid and support.

We call for a collective rejection of the entire Commission. The process of genuine dialogue and debate, and real pluralism, comes from our shared struggles against all forms of oppression. The “reasonable accommodation” debate has clouded and confused the unity and solidarity we share -- as workers, poor, women, queer and trans people, migrants, and others -- fighting together to achieve real justice.

We re-assert those struggles, by refusing the fundamentally racist and sexist premises of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission, and by refusing to be submissive or fearful as we continue to practice self-determination and strive for collective liberation.

-- No One Is Illegal-Montreal (November 2007)
noii-montreal@resist.ca - 514-848-7583
http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com

Deschooling Society

2007-12-08T11:45:00.000-08:00

A link to the full text of Illich's "Deschooling Society"

Carolyn

Ivan Illich

2007-12-08T11:31:00.000-08:00

Chris posted "Ivan Illich" in response to the 'helping' challenge of our matrix. Illich has written loads of critiques of Institutionalized education and medicine but I wanted, just quickly, to post something positive and practical that he writes:

The operation of a peer-matching network would be simple. The user would identify himself by name and address and describe the activity for which he sought a peer. A computer would send him back the names and addresses of all those who had inserted the same description. It is amazing that such a simple utility has never been used on a broad scale for publicly valued activity.
—Ivan Illich

This is currently being done in a number of areas such as organic farming and strawbale building etc. Imagine if such a centralized apprenticeship network existed? Imagine, also, if such apprenticeship were valued for its real educational value? How might this be seen as popular education?

Carolyn

One-room schoolhouse part of Prussian model?

2007-12-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

This is the Knowlesville one-room schoolhouse in the 1950s...

Sanford Kwinter

2007-12-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

here is a little something to have a look at . Sanford Kwinter is his name. I'm not sure what I think about it yet, it might drive me crazy, but it could also be brilliant. it is worth having a look. the site is like a choose your own adventure book. He studied with Foucault and Derrida back in the day but now does more work in urbanism and the city.
http://culturemachine.tees.ac.uk/Cmach/Backissues/j002/Articles/art_kolb/Kwinter_s_Essay_989.html

scott

poetic procrastination

2007-12-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

So, as i was reading through this little blog of ours (as an informative means of procrastinating on the larger body of work that still needs to be accomplished over the next week), I realized that i had not yest posted the poem that i read in the combined class a few weeks ago in response to Robin Cavanaugh. I can not take credit for these words, as they stem from a group brainstorming process, and individual word associations. I am merely a conduit for collective brilliance of my cohort.

do not buy in to the fallacy
of objective history, for those
who see the invisible
can do the impossible.

perceptions
of other reflected back to
self.
illuminating boundaries of individualization
destroy to
create and elevate
growing
up
up
up
out of the
earth
roots to soil
soil to trunk
branches, reaching up
possible parameters of probability
spaces to spin spontaneity
and freedom dreams

wedging open the door
stuck my foot in
sunlight is streaming
into the room
pushing and pulling
in a power-play

respiring, expiring
inspiring our dreams
what we could be
potential

free from the power of
others and liberated with
the power of the self.
are we asleep or
awake and while we
create in our minds
what are we
destroying?
populate the landscape of
our minds with love and
vision.
do not buy in to the fallacy
of objective history

I hope you all are doing fine on this rainly, white night.
bright blessings
karen

On the subject of taxes...

2007-12-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

In an earlier discussion, we were discussing taxation as a way of making corporate influence more democratic or, at least, obfuscating it. Chris mentioned the unjustness of the tax system.... recently, I came across this:

TORONTO – More than a decade’s worth of tax cuts have disproportionately lined the pockets of Canada’s most affluent families, says a new tax study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). The study finds the top 1 percent of families in 2005 paid a lower total tax rate than the bottom 10 percent of families. “Canada’s tax system now fails a basic test of fairness,” says Marc Lee, senior economist with the CCPA’s B.C. office and author of the study. “Tax cuts have contributed to a slow and steady shift to a less progressive tax system in Canada.” The study, which is the first comprehensive review of tax changes at all levels of government in Canada within the past 15 years, finds the system is delivering larger tax savings for high income families. This reinforces the growing gap in market incomes between high income families and the rest of Canadians. “Most Canadians will be surprised by these findings because they believe we have a progressive tax system – but looking at all taxes combined, that’s no longer the case.” The study, Eroding Tax Fairness: Tax Incidence in Canada, 1990 to 2005, is available at www.growinggap.ca and www.policyalternatives.ca. Its key findings include: Provincial tax cuts are the key culprit for the increasingly regressive nature of Canada’s tax system but the problem has been exacerbated at the federal level with billions of dollars worth of post-2000 tax cuts. The richest one percent of taxpayers saw their tax rate drop by four percentage points between 1990 and 2005. Most Canadians saw their tax rate fall by two percentage points of income, but not so for the poorest 20 percent of taxpayers, who pay three to five percentage points more in taxes. Middle-income families pay about six percentage points more in total taxes than a family in the top 1 percent. -- Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 410-75 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5E7 tel: 613-563-1341 fax: 613-233-1458 http://www.policyalternatives.ca caw567

HENRY A. GIROUX*

2007-11-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

HENRY A. GIROUX*
Disposable Futures, Dirty Democracy, and the Politics of Higher Education

As of late, I have been reading Michele Foucault’s book, Discipline and Punish. I have been perplexed at how relevant Foucault’s writing is to modern society. I was so exhilarated to learn of someone who is applying this theory to the modern context and to critical pedagogy, so I will just highlight a few ways in which Giroux’s views are built on Foucault’s writing.

Giroux described Neoliberalism as representing a system of cruelty that reaches from educational policy to the practices of empire, rendering power invisible. The idea that power is everywhere but is nowhere to be found or that power is “removed from the public view” is referential to Foulcoult’s theory of panopticism. Foucoult’s ideas are referred to by Giroux further when he discussed that under neolibralism, punishment is favored over rehabilitation such as in zero tolerance programs where schools are modeled after prisons. For example Giroux stated that ‘schools are becoming militarized’ and ‘drug sniffing dogs, security, survaillence and police are employed to disclipline youth.

Giroux also discussed the idea that under neolibralism, the local community is being left in the wake due to such a strong emphasis being based on either the individual or state / corporate power. Giroux uses the example of the abolishment of community in the acknowledging the trend that public storytelling is being eroded. This notion is also rooted in Foucault who states in Disclipline and Punish, “the crowd, a compact mass, a locus of multiple exchanges, individualities merging together, a collective effect is abolished and replaced by a collection of separated individualities” (Foucault, 1979, p. 201).

On another note I will add to Carolyn’s words on “ in case there was any doubt….” about the corporatization of education in New Brunswick. The chancellor at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick also happens to be the CEO of a communications provider, East Link. Students at Mount Allison have no choice but to buy into a ‘bundle’ of phone, internet and cable TV. Students cannot buy into only one or two options of either phone, internet or TV and they can not buy from another provider. Talk about using media to maintain a power dynamic!

I have heard that UBC is taking away water fountains because Coca Cola is not making enough money at their vending machines.

See: http://www.insidethebottle.org/student-action-bottled-water-industry-marketing-ruse

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

If there was any doubt....

2007-11-27T10:50:00.001-08:00

For those of you wondering about the corporatization of education, here is a recent example of corporations putting their big red-boot clad foot into the public education system.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2006/11/20/nb-noburgershere.html

Up until recently, MacDonald's mascot Ronald Mac was teaching kids about healthy living in NB classrooms in exchange for money for gym equipment etc. This just after the province had implemented policies regulating the kind of food being sold in schools to healthier options and banning fast foods.

Thankfully, there was much outrage over this. However, it looks like the schools still accept money from Mr. Mac but maybe this is what Henry Giroux is referring to when he says
"Corpora-tions can be enormously helpful by virtue of providing financial resources to universities in ways that expand the public face of the university, rather than control its curriculum, rather than set limits as to what kind of research can be done." Or, in this case, elementary schools?

Now, if the teachers and students in New Brunswick weren't all being given free laptops by HP Canada, I would maybe believe the Minister of Educations' indignation at corporate influence in schools.

Carolyn

Pedagogical Practices and the State of Higher Education

2007-11-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

By Krystina Faria

Henry Giroux’s discussion on the politics of disposability and the deteriorating condition of university education was illuminating and thought-provoking. I found that his discussion about education and its current trajectory to be disturbing. In Giroux’s perspective, education should and needs to be more than just preparing students for the workforce. Education, in Giroux’s articulation, should help students think critically about the institutions that shape their lives, relationships, political and moral practices. Giroux explains that as educators we must not only teach students to become critical, but teach them that they have the power to shape the society in which they live. Giroux’s vision of education involves the injection of critical pedagogy where students learn to become critical agents of change and have the knowledge and skills based on democratic principles. I think that Giroux’s discussion only reinforces and illuminates the inadequacies in current educational practices. Current pedagogy, in my opinion, does not emphasize critical thinking skills and does an inadequate job at helping students develop into intelligent, compassionate, and well-intentioned individuals. I think that Giroux’s perspective on education shows the audience that we cannot have social and economic equity when our educational institutions continue to present and perpetuate the very aspects of our culture that are socially and economically destructive.

Giroux’s discussion not only expanded my notion of education, but it also enhanced my understanding of myself as an educator. As an educator, I must help students become critically aware of themselves and their world by helping them develop a critical consciousness.

A Talk from Henry Giroux

2007-11-26T12:49:00.000-08:00

by Daniel Hoile

Whatever happened to the soul of the citizen subject?
to living a life of dignity
What is the meaning of democracy…itself?
Has it really come to systems of economic relations,
Bushs’ top-down class warfare.

What is this biopolitics of neoliberalism?
Where choice is defined by our ambitions to privatize
or else…perish.
A spectacle of commodification
Social Death

What might it mean to take the social contract seriously?
to listen to the invisible others
the ramblings of a deranged woman in a public library
Politics of disposability returns to New…Orleans
We might say
concern is on the public agenda.

Who is on this receiving end of a punishing society
is it the youth?
A subtle hint…
school infractions now mean criminal records.
It is no small matter
THESE are our future resources
It makes complete sense…shrug shoulders

Do we have so few choices?
Power must be confronted when it shuts down conversation
histories and experiences MATTER
ask embarrassing questions.
Take responsibility for our responsibility
and reclaim public education into the public sphere as sites of potential resistance

Democracy is more than…

more Giroux-speak

2007-11-25T21:32:00.000-08:00

So, Sunday night, as I step away from my presentation for nature and society to write a little note about Giroux, I must agree with Chris that words slip so quickly from my mind; I might struggle here to remember what Henri said, and have an even harder time trying to relate it to the bigger picture. I also think I have to agree with (was it Ian?) who commented on the need for better note taking skills….Giroux was a pleasure to listen to, but I realized early on, not easy to transcribe onto the page in front of me. While impassioned and eloquent, I found his presentation somewhat difficult to follow – no doubt this might be due in some small part to the fact that I sat at the very back, which certainly didn’t help him draw me in, but the rapidity of his quick-fire reading of a well written essay was a little off-putting. Every so often he would look up and tell a story…perhaps its Chris’ influence, but this seems to connect with me on a much deeper level. Thinking about it, the need to speak from the self is actually something I have been taught, and still struggle to embody, when giving presentations myself.

Some of Giroux’s facts shocked me – since when are students considered ‘customers’? or, as he mentioned later on, as ‘technicians and functionaries’? by whom? And in Canada too? I had not heard this before and it is disconcerting for one who believes in the power of language to create character. And does the US really spend $2billion/week to maintain their presence in Iraq?

A number of points Giroux made resonated strongly with me, mostly, I think because they supported my own less well formulated philosophy. Notably, the importance of connected practices between students and teachers; and closing the gap between daily life and university with a knowledge of place. He pointed out the need for collegial practices, not competitive, and the need for educators and students to redefine subjects to include both morality and rigor. I feel that FES is striving towards this – or at least I feel supported in using my time here attempting to do this though my transient nature has always challenged my belief in the importance of situated knowledge. The role of the University in readying people for participation in the larger world and not just preparing them for jobs, is something I feel should be brought forth more often. The university, historically, if I am not mistaken, was a place to discuss the philosophy of life and the morality of issues in the public sphere. It is not necessarily the place to go if ALL you are looking for is a piece of paper so you can get a job, which often seems to me to be the goal of so many students. For me it needs to be a place where I can learn to make some sense of the world, of current events and pop culture; as (hopefully) active members of society we can better serve our communities if we are conversant in the concepts of power relationships.

One of my scribbled notes – can anyone clarify, or fill in any blanks…”The space of the possible is much larger than the one on display”

Carol Adams speaks at Guelph - Nov. 26, 5:30pm

2007-11-25T15:57:00.000-08:00

Carol Adams will be speaking at the University of Guelph on Monday November 26th at 5:30pm (doors at 5pm) in Peter Clarke Hall. The talk will be followed by a vegan reception and book signing (tickets $5) . To reserve your spot for the talk or to buy reception tickets, contact caroladamsevent@gmail.com

Carol Adams is a pioneer in feminist-vegetarian critical theory, and has written books such as The Sexual Politics of Meat and Neither Man Nor Beast: Feminism and the Defense of Animals, among many others. Adams has been an activist on issues of violence since the 1970s, and her work continues to engage with this topic.

Adams will present a slideshow entitled The Sexual Politics of Meat, which explores the way popular culture presents images of race, gender and species to further oppressive attitudes. Adams highlights the interconnecting nature of different forms of oppression, such as the links between sexism, racism and speciesism. The slideshow also suggests forms of resistance against the construction of individuals (human and non-human) as "meat".

Popular Education and Critical Pedagogy

2007-11-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

I thought i would share a couple of thoughts in response to Giroux's talk. The first about the pedagogy of that type of lecture/talk; the second about the relationship between popular education and critical pedagogy.

I am always fascinated by the dynamics of talks such as these - given by charismatic or otherwise notable people. And, whatever one might think of Henry Giroux, he is one of the most famous names in the field of critical pedagogy and cultural studies (admittedly still somewhat limited to the academic world). Unlike some naive interpretations of popular education which exclude lectures as a legitimate means of learning, i believe lectures, though over-relied upon in education, have their place. It's more a question of appropriate technology. I was impressed by Giroux's oratory, critical thinking and passion - something we tend to see overused in the political realm and underused everywhere else. I think the world would be benefited greatly by seeing this combination of things performed more often in more walks of life. But i do wonder about it's effectiveness when countless listeners are sitting there checking their e-mail, their Facebook website, text-messages, YouTube, etc. The pedagogy of the lecture/Q&A is limited at best. I usually prefer to see them as performances than as education or information-sharing events. And Giroux is a good performer. But one thing i found intriguing was how, when he went off script (often stepping away from the podium a bit), his tone changed. He would become less strident, more intimate (even self-deprecating), more humourous. His tone seemed more human. He would do this to share anecdotes, small accounts to serve as examples of the theory he was orating. I wonder what people remember more - the lecture or the anecdotes.

As for popular education and critical pedagogy, these two fields of praxis are curious cousins. In 1986 i attended one of the first conferences on critical pedagogy at UMass-Amherst. Freire was there and, like many a fan, i did all i could to get to see him in person. It was an interesting conference in many respects though i was a tad disappointed in seeing Freire. Unfortunately he had a cold and could neither speak much nor stay that long. More notably, however, i was fascinated to see a whole group of academics surround Freire like an impenetrable cordon. My adolescent hopes of shaking the great man's hand were dashed. (I got over it ;-) ). What i recall is the parade of academics including Henry Giroux, Donaldo Macdeo, Ira Shor, Stanley Aronowitz and other boys each take the stage to associate themselves with Freire. It was a curious performance of power and reputation. The women, by contrast, made a quite difference impression on me. And to this day, Maxine Greene's talk on "Towards a Critical Pedagogy" remains a founding influence on my thinking about both popular education and critical pedagogy. I've gone on to read much critical pedagogy literature. And always, i have been curious about it's apparent ignorance about popular education, each having been profoundly inspired by the work of Paulo Freire.

While i could wax on at great length about the two fields i will limit myself to one proposition. Popular education and critical pedagogy have an urgent need for the strengths of the other. While critical pedagogy takes as its focus the realm of institutionalized education (primary/secondary education; vocational/college education; university education; adult education - in that order) it has much to offer about the regimes of power/knowledge of which these institutions are such an integral part, while being somewhat weak on the methodological side of things. Similarly, and conversely, popular education excels at theorizing in the realm of learning in the everyday (extra-institutionally, you could say), in adult and non-formal education settings, in civil society organizations, in grassroots/community settings. And popular education is very good on the methodological issues. Where it is weak (especially in North America) is on articulating its critique of dominant institutions, practices and policies of education such that it could alter them on that grand landscape. I imagine that if CritPed and PopEd could dance better together, that a praxis of transforming (even revolutionizing) education could be the result.

Post-Giroux Musing...

2007-11-24T15:54:00.001-08:00

After going through my scribblings from Henry Giroux’s talk, I realized two things: a) I need to learn how to take faster notes and b) the neoliberal ideologies that I have been railing against in city-building and urban “planning” (privatization of public spaces and community development) are just as insidious - if not more so - in the education system. With consumerism as “the principal organizer of every day life,” it doesn’t come as a surprise that the marketplace has crept into the education system as deeply as it has, but I found particularly interesting Giroux’s assertion that the “politics of disposability” has become entrenched in North American society.

For me, the idea of disposability, whether it be in the education system or in the urban development realm, is the anti-thesis of any kind of responsible environmentalism. An oft-quoted phrase reminds us that America’s greatest natural resource is its children, but Giroux’s discussion of the demonization of America’s youth makes an interesting statement about a relationship with “natural resources” that is as destructive socially as it is ecologically.

I also enjoyed his discussion of university as a training-ground for corporate culture. Having studied social sciences and arts as long as the option was available, I have witnessed the subtle and not-so-subtle pushback that encourages students to be “practical” and treat education as a means to an end rather than an end itself. It's always nice to be reminded of the fact that education is a worthy pursuit in-and-of-itself.

Finally, Giroux’s reminder that educators have the responsibility to provide students with the ability to be literate beyond print was one that struck home with me. It seems ironic to me that the visual pollution that encroaches on our (decreasingly) public spaces requires an ability to read text and images, but betrays an illiteracy to environmental and educational concerns that might treat people as more than omnivorous and insatiable consumers.

I also took from Giroux’s talk the desire to express passion when speaking in public; the impending implosion of our society never sounded so articulate!

(Above image is of the soon-to-be-opened Metropolis at Yonge and Dundas...)

2007-11-24T13:50:00.001-08:00

Henry Giroux's talk was interesting, and no one can accuse him of not being passionate about what he talks about! It seemed a little ironic to hear him talk about critical pedagogy and praxis when we were stuffed in a massive lecture hall. He pointed this out in the Q&A period, and I thought it was great that he recognized that as well.

I was interested in his claim that in the education system, critical pedagogy is being increasingly replaced by disciplinary pedagogy, as youth end up "on the receiving end of a punishing society" and are under almost constant surveillance. This certainly rang of Foucault for me, and ideas of social and normative control... Not to mention Giroux's statement that the relationship between knowledge and power can be emancipatory. Certainly an example of how Foucault's conceptualization of capillary power is more of a complex web than a top-down relationship.

Did anyone else find his committment to 'democratic rights' a bit problematic? I understand his reference to them in response to racism and ageism in the school system, but I am not entirely convinced that the university should be working towards becoming a "public sphere for democratic rights." Isn't the idea in itself a bit universalizing, or totalizing? Is democracy what we want? What kind of democracy do we envision when we use the word, anyhow? Cuba has incredible constituent representation compared to Canada or the USA, but they certainly aren't represented by the media/government as a 'democracy'...

It was great that he spoke so much about what this 'critical pedagogy' for higher education should include... involvement with 'everyday life' and communities, human agency, multiple literacies (a space for narrative and visuals, perhaps?), local knowledges, and learning together. It reminded me of Friere's belief that students are knowledgable and have much to teach, not just to learn. I think it's absolutely essential that in this idea of a more critical and praxical pedagogy, students feel they have agency and knowledge. I felt that Giroux could have spoken more to students' role (seeing as there were so many students in attendance) than just the role of the academic, but his words about getting involved with student government was certainly motivating.

Giroux quoted Bauman (sp?) to illustrate his point about how we can work towards a more critical pedagogy: by "taking responsibility for our responsibility."

Giroux and Global Television Network!?

2007-11-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

I did not attend the giroux talk. i know that henry giroux writes much about critical pedagogy, and i noticed from the blog postings his talk was a lot about the corporatization of higher education. BUT BUT but .... i am a bit curious how he can accept a position at McMasters titled the Global Television Network Chair in Communication Studies. WANTED: 1 tablespoon of critical analysis.

kat the anti-blogger

Henry A. Giroux

2007-11-23T16:52:00.000-08:00

While listening to Henry Giroux speak about education in the United States, I felt pretty lucky that I have been teaching in Canada. I couldn't believe that schools have surveillance straight to the police departments and a simple thing as having a temper tantrum got a 6 year old children arrested. What is the world coming too, when a child can't let out their emotions. It is sad that schools are becoming militarized – drug sniffing dogs, metal detectors etc. When he asked the question if 13 year olds should be tried in court, I would respond saying it completely depends on the situation. My feelings are that if a 13 year old can pick up a gun and murder someone, they should face the consequences, and they should be tried as an adult. I thought it was crazy that a University professor in Arizona would be fined 500 dollars if they were to advocate a particular political position. I can't imagine being in a classroom and not being able to speak my mind for fear of being fined.
My final thoughts deal with Hannah's question regarding higher education..(sorry if I spelt your name wrong). I really thought that Girouxs answer was interesting......
"Students need to have a bigger role in governance, no student should be in a room with 80 students, no student should be in a class with a prof, who only teaches 8 classes a semester, they should have the best resources possible, What do you want in your dream world education? Do you want teachers who are qualified or who can barely keep up? As soon as you become a consumer you have diminished your responsibility to become a global citizen"
It is definitely something interesting to think about!
Karen M

Reflections on Henry Giroux’s talk

2007-11-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

Alone on the stage,

Hand resting on the podium

He espouses academically and lyrically impassioned pleas

Head cast down to read the next charged statement

Hand moves to fist:

Shakes against the impervious and hegemonic entities.

We ask “How?”

I enjoyed hearing Giroux speak. I felt that he put to words notions, ideas, and feelings which I had perhaps realized, but had not connected so directly or poignantly. I also enjoyed hearing someone speak who invigorates language -who uses it to harness his passionate charges for a more socially-just and democratic society. Giroux affirmed several of my own personal philosophies about youth and the important roles they play in forming the society of our future. He referred to Derrida’s proposed democracy, “a democracy to come” one in which is under constant critique or reformation. This requires adult commitment as a vital public service to be active agents in advocating and articulating dissent against the structures of neoliberalism and maintaining education as a public sphere free of corporatization and militarism. He claimed that education has become separated from politics with the increase of lawsuits against teachers and professors who have given their political perspective in the classroom. Youth have been separated from the social contract and are viewed as a “disposable population.” There has been a shift from youth being seen “as troublesome” to them embodying the adjective: they “are troublesome.” He declared that youth and youth of colour are demonized by mass-media, and today treated in ways which were unthinkable twenty years ago. He referenced the use of psychiatric drugs for behavioural problems and the trend in school disciplinary codes for “Zero Policy.” With a deconstruction of public service to the wider-community in general, schools no longer claim responsibility to disciplinary problems. He stated that surveillance from the schools goes directly to the police so any infraction is dealt with often firstly, as a crime and not as a misbehaviour, which has led to students being criminally-charged for offences like temper tantrums or defying dress codes. According to Giroux, this is problematic because schools should be places that function as democratic public spaces. They should foster critically-minded and active citizens. They are the only public space for youth to engage with the potential reality and promise of resistance.

Giroux’s response to the “How?” question was adequate. He encouraged people to focus on what is important to them, to fight for what spoke to them. I often find students asking presenters for the answers but there is no single answer or route out of the maze – at least not in a democratic sense. However there is hope that if education is based on practices of critically-thinking, social & environmental responsibility, active participation, and fairly-distributed to all, then society may be able to navigate the rocky shoals we are currently encountering.

Ellen Field

In addressing the ‘politics of higher education...

2007-11-23T07:01:00.002-08:00

In addressing the ‘politics of higher education,’ Henry Giroux was able to highlight how (university) education is ultimately a political and moral practice, and is becoming increasingly commercial in nature. He discusses the corporatization of higher education, comparing university presidents to CEOs and students to customers/consumers in the current higher education system. There were many elements of Giroux’s lecture that really contested my attitude towards education and the higher education system in particular. I have always viewed education as a “safe place” where students are provided with the means to pursue their interests, realize their potential, while being guided by their professors and provided with the necessary resources and support by the university administration. I still value the higher education system, but after being a university student for the last 4-5 years, I have come to realize that universities are businesses, are really looking out for their best interests, to increase enrolment, gain prestige, etc. and are likely oblivious to the quality of education that they are providing to their “consumers”. I know many people, (myself included) who decided to pursue higher education to avoid going into the workforce. My view of academia (as a career) and being able to avoid labouring, researching, and producing work based on someone else’s agenda seems really naïve and idealistic now… despite all the negative criticism of higher education, I am glad that Giroux emphasized the role of students as agents of change and not merely passive consumers within the education system.

Helen T

My penny’s worth…

2007-11-23T07:01:00.001-08:00

During the question and answer period, Giroux said “The best kind of thinking happens when sensibilities get rattled”. I love this comment! He suggests not to have academic comfort zones. After all, how are we supposed to grow, learn and lend a compassionate ear, if we think that we’re right all the time? How are we to challenge our students and be challenged if we feel that our way of thinking is better than everyone else’s? Rattling sensibilities can rid educators and academics of power struggles that can ensue when one party refuses to consider another’s point of view. As we’ve learned, self-reflection and praxis are key to becoming great educators! Remember the words of Dian Marino, “be passionately aware that you could be completely wrong”.

My penny’s worth…tania

My thoughts on Henry Giroux's lecture...

2007-11-23T06:58:00.000-08:00

My thoughts on Henry Giroux's lecture were a mix of both inspiration and excitement. I particularly enjoyed hearing his ideas and motivation on keeping the young population engaged in the path to social change. Phrases like "Taking responsibility for our responsibility" and "Intellectual terrorism" really stood out to me. Further, our understanding of the issues that we need to resolve must begin with us actually thinking about the issues in depth. By sitting and talking about poverty, for example, we cannot change poverty. But, by understanding the issues through (as Freire would call it) 'praxis', we can at least take a side. From this, the larger public issues can be related to our own individual problems, which personalizes different issues in a way that may inspire us to feel as though change is needed. I particularly enjoyed his comment on "individual inconveniences must become public issues" so that collectively transformation can take place. Addressing racism, classism, sexism, with our own experiences does have its place in a wider social change. Finally, I was pleased to hear more motivation regarding how crucial it is for social activists or people wanting change in general, to not give up or leave the cause because social transformation is not going to take place by tomorrow. It is the seeds that we plant (or that we are), which will grow to be sources of nourishment and hope for the generations to come!

Tanmay Dave

Henry Giroux : "Disposable Futures, Dirty Democracy and the Politics of Higher Education"

2007-11-23T06:52:00.000-08:00

The section A participants attended the Henry Giroux talk "Disposable Futures, Dirty Democracy and the Politics of Higher Education" on Thursday, November 22. Those who attended were asked to contribute a 150-250 word blog post to share impressions, responses, feelings, reflections, etc. as a means of critically reflecting on the talk and in order to share with those of you who did not or could not attend.

Henry Giroux is a key contributor to the field of critical pedagogy. He's a famously prolific writer and passionate critic of the dominant education system.

chris

Henry Giroux

2007-11-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

On Henry Giroux's "Disposable Futures, Dirty Democracy and the Politics of Higher

Bombard us with bitterness about a Brave New Bureacracy
You are the paper we push.
Waken the world with your whittling words
You are the bed we betray.
With your Socratic soundbites and CNN slur
With your brandished bullets and the angst they incur
With your text you entwine us in accusatory blur
When does dialogue begin?

Henry Giroux' critiques of the American "Military-Industrial-Academic Complex", though accurate, fell short of inspirational. Like so many academics, it seems he has resolved himself to be the "public intellectual," as he puts it, who can point out the problems in society (or to those in society who understand his bang-for-your-buck esoteric sentences) with fierce indignation as if there is an evil elite who puppeteer the system to the detriment of the rest of us. It seems as if American activists feel the need to counteract the sensationalism of mainstream press with their own expose oriented, inflammatory language. I do appreciate that he answered questions with an open-heartedness and vulnerability that Ward Churchill would certainly not have suffered, but I don't understand why he must rely on the rapid-fire approach of rhetoric and key examples of extreme human behaviour without an analysis of how things can and must be changed. Maybe it is a male-ness in the warlike approach to fact that I mistrust. Either way, such talks are like juicy gossip and are no doubt riveting for the majority of academics who weren't too busy with MSN.

Sorry for the lack of description for those who weren't there. Giroux touched on three themes: Neoliberalism, Youth and Education in the post 9/11 context. He spoke of how the latter two were becoming commodities, how power is made invisible, how minorities are made invisible and how youth are criminalized as a result of our current political system and the production of fear (etc.). Interesting but I feel like I'm ready for less expose and more exploring options. Maybe that's just where I'm at.

Radical Black Imagination (canadian style)

2007-11-22T09:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks,

I have just found an amazing lecture by the great black nova scotian poet,
George Elliot Clark. It is the 2006 LaFontaine Baldwin symposium lecture
series titled "The City of Justice". With references to Foucault, Emile
Durkeim and others, Clark eloquently,humorously and poetically address
inequality, injustice, colonialism, fear of the other, absurdness of the
Canadian identity, and the inherent inequalities and imperialism in the design
and construction (social, political, and physical) Canadian cities that are
structured on class lines. He also address the black and aboriginal situation
in Canada, which is the theme of this evenings events by us, Robin Cavanah etc.
Appropriate? i think so! He does this through dreaming, humor, and poetry. He
also has one of the coolest voices I have ever heard.

here are some George Elliot Clark links:

http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol16/lane.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Elliott_Clarke

I will bring a CD of the lecture to school today so that people can borrow it.

cheers,

Scott McCormack

2007-11-15T07:11:00.001-08:00

The Community Arts Program
Faculty of Environmental Studies
York University

presents

Rites of Passage

Performances, music, activities and exhibits
inspired by E. Kamau Brathwaite’s trilogy The Arrivants

in memory of those who died
on the middle passage
and
those who died fighting slavery in the Americas

November 22, HNES Building, York University

This event is presented in celebration of the bicentennial of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic trade in Africans in the Anglophone world in 1807. Activities and exhibits will take place in the HNES building throughout the day with contributions focusing on the middle passage, Atlantic slavery, its legacies and anti-racism education from the Cultural Production Workshop on Performance and Popular Education for Social Change. The performance will begin at 5:30 pm in the lobby at HNES. Food will be served afterwards.

For more information contact Honor Ford-Smith, faculty of environmental studies, hoperoad@yorku.ca

RE-THINK RE-IMAGINE RE-MIX

2007-11-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

Commemorating Abolition

On Thursday, November 22, 2007, the Zig-Zag Gallery (FES Lounge - HNES), will be transformed into a space for re-imaging and re-defining “traditional” notions of slavery. While we celebrate the abolition we must still be aware of the ways in which slavery continues to proliferate to this day.

Using VJ technology we invite you to have a go at re-mixing and playing with moving images that relate to slavery. At the end of the workshop we will use the collected mixes and project them for a final dance performance by Sara Burgess at 2:15 in HNES 140.

Feel free to bring in your own media (audio and visual). Email qnp@yorku.ca for format and event information.

Drop in and play any time between 12:30-1:30pm!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies by Kathryn

2007-11-14T16:51:00.000-08:00

This is a family recipie passed down over the ages. It was given to me by my Grandmother who was a school teacher and mother of 7 kids. She was a "no-nonsense" woman with the patience of a saint. She tried to teach me how to sew when I was 12. At each sewing lesson I would hack my way through the process, and the result would be frightening. Yet, when I came to the next lesson, the work I had done last time seemed straight, perfect and highly professional. It took me a few weeks to realize she was pulling everything apart between our sessions and resewing it for me. As you can imagine - I feel that cookie baking is more rewarding and so I stick to that.

Cream together the following wet ingredients

1 cup of butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1.25 cups of brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together the following dry ingredients

1/2 tsp baking soda
1.25 cups of oats
1.25 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1.5 cups of raisins or chocolate chips
1 cup coconut (optional)

Bake at 350 F for 8 to 12 minutes.

Please don't see my use of "imperial" measures an endorsement of colonial oppression! This is just how my Grandmother gave it to me.

Cheers!

Kathryn

To blog or not to blog?

2007-11-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to create some room for discussion around the idea of the use of a blog. Kasim and Jaqui both raised concern in class over the use of a blogging environment in a class which was supposed to be modeling popular education practices.

Is a blog a form of popular education? I would argue yes and no. In many ways a blog is a tool for popular education as it is a decentralized news source. In this sense we are publicizing the knowledge gleaned from our classes, creating wider room for discussion. Much as Deb sends out her classroom summaries we can share our thoughts and interact with a larger community of educators who can also share their thoughts in the comment section. In this sense a blog is a popular means of distribute information, as it is free and very user friendly. To use a blog you must be familiar with a webmail like interface, as most users of Hotmail, Gmail, and other popular free email services rely on.

That being said, not everyone is technologically literate and thus the blogging environment excludes them. I think that we can use this forum, and help each other in finding complementary media which we can distribute in class, like a printed newsletter, or a listserve. We need to meet people where they are at. While some people might protest that they do not even want to be technologically literate, as computers are pollutive the the environment and humanity is overdependent on them. Should we be trying to decrease computer use, trying to rely more on print communication? In order to properly asses appropriate use of technology we must examine what it's negative and positive influences are. People can be addicted to computers, and we must examine the ways that they effect our lives seriously.

Looking forward to your comments,

Lisa

FORUM MAGAZINE: Hot off the press!

2007-11-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

Our newest issue of Youth Action Forum Magazine on Creative Resistance is hot off the press. Check out articles on Youth Video Projects, Spoken Word, French Rap, Electronic Resistance, Dancing Activism, Poetry and much more. While the new issue wont be available to the general public until October 12th, we have posted all 64 pages of glory online in PDF form for your special viewing.

To read the PDF it is best to use Adobe Acrobat Reader which is available for free download here. It works best to download the whole file onto your computer and then read it after as it is a huge file. We are currently working on getting the issue online article by article, so those of you with a slower internet connection need not fret. Stay tuned on October 12th when everything will be online, as well as printed for your reading pleasure.

Click the image below to start the download!

Re/Translation: Land & Language

2007-11-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting exhibition going on. I went there today, and found it really powerful... there are five native artists' work which talk about what we are really getting into in class.

FYI.....

A Space Gallery is pleased to present Re/translation: Land & Language. This exhibition is curated by Michelle LaVallee featuring new & recent work by artists Rebecca Baird, Peter Morin, Jude Norris and Arthur Renwick in the Main Space Gallery.

The artists in Re/translation: Land & Language contemplate language, narrative, history and translation. Informed by the past and engaged in the present, this cultural investigation, awareness and acceptance bring attention to contrasting cultural paradigms, worldviews and cultural teachings.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with Open Studio Gallery and the exhibit Re/translation: Block & Board. In this exhibition Luke Parnell, Angela Sterritt and Tania Willard examine history, myth and resistance in relation to daily existence while examining how we are influenced by worldview and cultural systems.

The importance and relevance of maintaining connection to language, land, culture and community is revealed through the work of these artists. They identify and affirm an indigenous presence that is in constant transition, and acknowledge the strength and resilience of First Peoples despite daily and historical realities. The exhibits and artists honour the history, stories and words of our ancestors. The work of these artists is grounded in this land that we now call Canada. Their work reflects a First Nations perspective and how this engages with the contemporary world. The exhibitions contemplate how these artists are establishing their connection to this place and acknowledging this collective history.

For furthre info, you can visit: http://www.aspacegallery.org/programming.html

- Jiha

2007-11-01T19:26:00.001-07:00

to piggyback on Helena's post, this is one of my favourite Dead Prez songs & videos - i saw M-1 (half of the duo) at a concert once with K'Naan and it was a great great show. i'd highly recommend downloading some of their stuff is possible...just thought I'd share.

- Mike

The Stop Community Food Centre is looking for committed volunteer educators

2007-11-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

Position: Food Security Education Facilitator (Volunteer Position – 6 positions available)

Name of Agency: The Stop Community Food Centre

Period: Winter 2008 (January – April) or Spring (April – June)

Hours: 4 – 6 hours per week (flexible)

Application Deadline: November 15, 2007

Key words: Social Justice, Poverty, Environment, Food/Health, & Sustainability.

The Stop Community Food Centre is currently accepting interested candidates for the position of Food Security Education Facilitator (Volunteer) for the 2008 Winter Semester.

The Food Security Education Facilitators will assist the Education Program Coordinator to develop, implement and evaluate activities that engage children and youth in three or more elementary schools in the Davenport West neighbourhood. The education facilitators will be trained and supported by the Education Coordinator to help carry out The Stop’s mission to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality.

Volunteer Position Requirements

ü Academic or practical experience in one or more of the following issues: food security, urban agriculture, environmental sustainability, social justice/diversity, community organizing, and/or nutritional health.

ü Self-starter with experience in planning or implementing workshops and have suggestions on educational activities

ü Be available a number of hours at least one day per week

ü Assist in training and facilitating workshops with other volunteers

ü Specific food skills such as cooking and gardening are not required but are assets

ü Other languages, such as Spanish, Portuguese and others are an asset

The Education facilitators are expected to function constructively within the staff team and abide by The Stop’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy. This volunteer position will likely involve working with a diversity of community members, and volunteers are expected to show some sensitivity to people who have experienced poverty and discrimination

Benefits:

ü Three day training session on: teaching skills and workshop facilitation, food security, urban gardening basics, and popular education methods.

ü Increased knowledge and experience in teaching or conducting workshops/seminars

ü First hand experience in social justice and food security education

ü Experience in the non-for profit sector & Ontario Curriculum infusion

* Lunch and/or snacks will be provided at training sessions and meetings. TTC tokens will always be provided.

General Description of Organization:

The Stop Community Food Centre strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality. Its work is based on the belief that food is a basic human right. The Stop runs a range of programs including community dining, kitchens and gardens, prenatal health, a food bank and drop-ins. The Stop is located in Davenport West, a community in Toronto that struggles with hunger, high unemployment and homelessness.

How to apply?

Please send a brief e-mail stating your interest and goals as a volunteer, some past relevant experience, and your availability in the winter semester, to:

Kamla Ross, Education & Volunteer Coordinator

E-mail: kamla@thestop.org

Web: www.thestop.org

Burntface - Fly Away (hip hop Exodus track)

2007-10-31T20:00:00.001-07:00

Funny, I stumbled upon this video almost right after reading "Dreams of the New Land" in Freedom Dreams by Kelly. This reading really resonated with me...

The notion of Exodus-of repatriation-of redemption-of relief-it still reigns within many hearts, including mine.

This artist is an Ethiopian-American who goes by the name Profit. He is part of a hip hop group called "Burntface." This name refers to the Greek roots of the name Ethiopia or Aitheopia-referring to the people living in ancient Ethiopia~the burned faced.

Check out the line: I know that this babylon is no place for a black man/that's why I'm on the mothership in a flash man...

Helena Shimeles
Deborah Barndt's section...

MESsage - from Blakka

2007-10-31T18:06:00.000-07:00

you can wash
in my river
and I’ll
shelter by your tree

mapping diverse
thoughts together
till I’m feeling
what you see

water finds space
in sandy assurance
narrow promises
packed tight

sand crave cracks
betwixt selfish stones
so we fill our rooms
with light

more than seeking words
to name our thoughts
we’ll work to know
when we have found it

we are here
we’ve shot our arrow
time to paint the target
around it

and just maybe
you feel immobile
in courses flowing fast

me too
but let’s just work
and know

this too shall pass

Section A: Connections/disjunctures between readings for Nov. 1 - from Deb

2007-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Colonialism by Glen Turner
AfricaTalks.org Art Gallery
http://192.38.86.252/gallery.htm

It’s interesting to me that both Graham Hingangaroa Smith, a Maori educator, and Robin Kelly, an African American educator, focus on the agency of their respective peoples within a colonial history and contributing to an anti-colonial movement. While Loomba seems to step back and offer an assessment of the meaning and possibility of agency, given the history of colonization. So there are several ways of engaging this material.

First, the question of voice. Smith and Kelly put themselves into the picture, speak of (and for) their ‘people,’ but, like Loomba, they recognize that there are differences within their communities and so resist homogenizing (Kelly especially acknowledges this); they also contend that any anti-colonial actions reflect a mixture of liberatory visions and values that contradict those visions, revealing the impact of colonialism and the internalization of oppression. Loomba doesn’t situate herself explicitly and tends to speak from a distance, in her survey of many struggles, thinkers and debates among them…while offering a genealogy of colonialism and postcolonialism; yet even in so doing, I think she reveals her location as perhaps one of those that Dirlik is referring to (p. 205) as a purveyor of postcolonial theory (even as she critiques it)..because of the “increased visibility of academic intellectuals of Third World origin as pacesetters in cultural criticism.” This was noted by Hisayo in our conversation on Oct. 18, noting that not only have these theories been shaped by Eurocentric thought, but they have also been developed by elites who have left their countries of origin, and who then, perhaps, no longer speak for those contexts, but rather from a place of hybrid, postcolonial identities.

Loomba seems to be wrestling with her own position around Marxism and poststructuralism, and proposes that they not be dichotomoized, that they need each other, that the cultural criticism that sometimes dominates postmodern and postcolonial theory must be coupled with an economic analysis, and anti-colonial struggles must be seen in dynamic relation with the development of capitalism in its newest configurations. Both Smith and Kelly seem to agree here: Smith names the impact of free market economics, privatization, and the commodification of Indigenous knowledge as obstacles to Maori’s development of their own educational system based on values of collective responsibility and cooperation (as opposed to individualism and capitalism associated with capitalism). Kelly also seems to question the ways that some African Americans who advocated emigrating and ‘civilizing’ ‘backward’ African natives also reflected how entrenched they had become in the capitalist system and values. The chapters we will read for next week take this up further by looking at black versions of socialism.

Besides sharing an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist sentiment, I think the three also offer a similar naming of and engagement of “contradictions” which is where popular education comes in. Loomba refers to Gramsci’s “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will” as a way out of the paralysis that some feel with poststructuralism, when it doesn’t seem to facilitate political action (because all action is based on partial knowledge…but what else is there?). Both Smith and Kelly are not hindered by such paralysis, though they do acknowledge contradictions, in particular Kelly. They also see the Indigenous struggle for self-determination and the black struggle for freedom as involving a reclaiming, in some ways, of the past, at least a recovery of values (oftentimes romanticized), that can feed visions of where they want to go. Kelly offers a critical analysis of the ways the UNIA, for example, reinforced gender oppression, but he also considers the ways that current artists, musicians, hip hop and spoken word artists are “reconstructing relationships between human beings across lines of color, gender, generation, and spirituality, and of reconnecting black people to the natural world.” (33) Thus he combines critique with creative engagement; similarly, Smith suggests that the Maori efforts to carve out alternative educational processes, even within the New Zealand school system, are “struggles” which “educate us.” Their words echo the Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda’s manta: “Out of struggle, hope.” It has been my contention that disengaged academics and theorists become cynical precisely because they are disengaged; praxis offers a space for naming, challenging and working within the contradictions, a space for creating in the midst of struggle, a never ending process hegemony and counter-hegemony, of “consent and resistance.”

This, for me, connects to our own pedagogical process within the course. As we start to engage more deeply, see contradictions within our own (and each other’s) positions and actions, we are unsettled...but the questions that emerge and the anger or discomfort from which they emerge are potential sources of new growth, new consciousness, new actions. Echoing Merlau Ponty: “never to consent to being completely comfortable with one’s own presuppositions,” and Foucault that “one must have a distant view, but also look at what is nearby and all around oneself. To be very mindful that everything one perceives is evident only against a familiar and little-known horizon, that every certainty is sure only through the support of a ground that is always unexplored. The most fragile instant has its roots.”

I hope we will be able to discuss this material, and then find our way into seeing how these dynamics play out within our own lives and conversations in the class.

Kids Lead Sustainability Initiatives!

2007-10-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended a 3 day conference with the Sustainability Education Academy at Schulich. Nearly 50 teachers, School Administrators and Board leaders were sharing stories of how the education system is being rebuilt from the grass roots through student and teacher led sustainability initiatives. From Eco-Schools, to "Character Matters" to Student Leadership training initiatives. Across Canada and around the world, the environmental, social and economic issues the make up sustainable development are percolating through the school systems. One of the more exciting initiatives is in Richmond, BC, where kids as young as 9 years old are going through leadership training and leading environmental and socially focused projects.

I picked up some great resources and here are some websites you might want to check out:

UK - Learning for Sustainability Together http://www.wwflearning.org.uk/
Australia's work - Shifting Toward Sustainability http://www.aries.mq.edu.au/

It is interesting to note, that a primary education system based on sustainability connects the entire curriculum to the earth and the people on it. It engages learners in understanding "why" they need to know "stuff", it is more dialogical and moves away from the "banking" notion of education. I think that we are more than learning about the "re-visioning" of education. I think we are on the cusp of seeing it emerge.

MY JOURNEY TO HERE

2007-10-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

Talia Wooldridge

A second year master’s student in ethnomusicology, I have chosen to focus on Cuban and Brazilian female rappers who are instigating change in their communities through their involvement in a traditionally male-dominated industry. In particular, I have interviewed lesbian and heterosexual women rappers who are denouncing machismo and sexism through their rap lyrics, and forging alliances throughout South and North America to propagate messages of hope, female solidarity and empowerment. I hope to discover, perhaps through this course: are these women educators? How so? How effectively?

This previous paragraph provides a perfect snapshot of my formal education: clear, succinct sentences; correct spelling and grammar; well-shaped ideas. The daughter of colonial-Trinidadian father and Nova Scotian “farmer” mother, my education has closely followed a patriarchal, colonial format. This spanned from public school classrooms to local dance schools and gymnastic clubs to learning piano.

Little did I know, when I signed up for the Liberal Arts College program at Concordia University in Montreal, that I was perpetuating this teacher-student mould; I believed, quite sincerely, that by choosing to study at the Liberal Arts College, I was pursuing a broad education. How ironic and funny. I soon learned my “broad education” theory was upside down, thanks to a supplementary “women in world religion” course taught by a fantastic professor; I was faced with patriarchal canons and we avoided major religions. My notions of education, what I had learned and how I was being taught were subtly rearranged.

When I discontinued the Liberal Arts program, I was beginning to challenge and question the canonical texts that we studied at “the College,” as well as looking to other disciplines such as linguistics, religion, women’s studies and communications to compliment my seemingly lopsided academic major. I decided the only way to exist and learn was to get away. I felt like I was on a roller-coaster ride that was shaping me with its ups and downs as I transitioned from adolescence to young adulthood – unfortunately, I felt that I was being shaped in to who I was not.

Bless that intuition.

Some excellent reading on heterosexism, gender and colonialism

2007-10-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

I am so loving the e-resources available through York Libraries. I just learned of a new articles by Maria Lugones titled Heterosexualism and the Colonial/Modern Gender System (Hypatia 22:1, Winter 2007). Here's the link to the journal issue but you might have to search it out yourself by logging in to the library - which you can do from home, incidentally. If you have trouble finding it, let me know. I highly recommend Maria's work. She is a brilliant philosopher and activist. She co-founded a US-based popular education group called Escuela Popular Norteña after Myles Horton (founder of Highlander Education Center) suggested to her that there needed to be a Highlander-type organization in the American southwest. Maria is currently the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture - CPIC. You can look at some of their other research groups here - one is "De-colonial Thinking."

In the same Hypatia issue mentioned above (the whole issue is on Writing Against Heterosexism) is also an article by Sarah Hoagland (a pioneer in lesbian feminist scholarship) titled Heterosexualism and White Supremacy. Both Sarah's and Maria's work has been deeply influential on my thinking and my own conception (and practice) of my self. I mentioned in class Maria's article Playfulness, "World"-Travelling, and Loving Perception, which I've long considered a virtual manifesto for working across difference. You'll find in in Hypatia 2:2 Summer 1987.

Some post-6150 thoughts - Thursday, October 18, 2007

2007-10-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

The following is a message i wrote to the participants of 6150 section B after the October 18th class. - chris cavanagh

There's something missing in our exploration of popular education and postcolonialism. And I'm not exactly sure how to build it in more. A few of you have reminded me why this work is so important. You have mentioned how emotionally difficult engaging this material is. Some of you have even mentioned tears. And so I'm reminded of some important truths of this work. Not the least of which is that it can take an emotional toll. Which is, of course, all part of learning and growing. Except that I find the classroom environment and even popular education pedagogy for that matter, rather poor at attending to our emotional needs. Better, perhaps, than dominant pedagogies. But even popular education theory and practice is still catching up with our actual experience of engaging the many hard and sorrowful truths of injustice, cruelty, waste.

I want to affirm that, for many of us, dealing with this material is emotionally very difficult. And this deserves respect and care. First of all from ourselves, of course. And I do hope that you each exercise what self-care you can. For my part, I wonder about the obligations of popular education praxis for the care of the self. Or, put another way, how do we theorize this care and how do we put it into practice?

While popular education is about love and suffering and compassion it is also about joy and humour (but more on these latter two items later). One of the themes running through Paulo Freire's work is love. Though there is yet an enormous amount of work in both theorizing and putting into practice this notion. Each year for the past few I have given a talk based on a 'zine article I wrote some time ago. It's called On Broken Hearts and you can find a version of it here.

It is, in part, inspired by a quote from that strange old testament book, Ecclesiastes (1:18): In much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

These words have been a kind of mantra for me for a long time. And still I forget. This is an obviously ancient piece of wisdom that all educators would do well to remember as we ask ourselves, "who am I to educate someone else?"

My thoughts for the moment turn to how we practice this wisdom in the classroom. Generally our emotional life is either put on hold or simply ignored altogether when we are in a classroom setting. We all abide by conventions (common sense) about regulating the emotional content of our communication. At its worst this is what Foucault, in Discipline and Punish, has called the "docile body." The challenge for popular education classroom practice is how we negotiate space for our emotional selves. Especially given the wide diversity of cultures usually represented and how emotion is variously structured and practiced. Do we simply abide by the hegemonic common sense that treats the greater part of our emotional selves as something to be dealt with in private? Or can we find and/or create ways that can give space and time to at least some of the emotional energies that we stir up? For sure, some of us need to turn to resources like friends, family, journals, therapists and counsellors. But, in addition to private means, what can we do in the public spheres/arenas such as the classroom? I know about one situation in which a friend who is aboriginal is studying law where the law program actually provides access to therapy for what is a predictable need for many people as they are obliged to contend with histories of abuse and loss. And there is the "despair" work of Buddhist Joanna Macy that you can read about in her book Coming Back to Life.

J'net, my partner, who is making breakfast while I type this, suggests that we can make rituals that can allow us to move our emotion – she explains that this comes from the teaching that ritual is a way of giving our prayers (our inner worlds) a physical form; for example, lighting a candle, burning our tissue paper when we cry, washing our face. As well as recognizing that there are numerous ways in which feeling is moved – not simply crying – such as sweating, getting cold, leg-twitching, yawning and more. These are common ways of releasing emotional energy. Each of these, I would say, is better than another common response: apathy.

Apathy, etymologically speaking, means "no pathos" where "pathos" means "emotion". But "pathos" is also ancient Greek for "suffering". And therein lies one of the answers to the vast amount of apathy that we live with in this world and in ourselves. As is all-too-human we do not want to suffer. We shy away from the flame, the knife, the cliff-edge. But a flame can fuel, a knife can cut away confusion and the cliff-edge can be a great place from which to fly.

It is so easy to get angry at the apathetic. Even at ourselves when being so. But how much harder is it to see that apathy is a shield against suffering as well as the fear of suffering. And who are any of us to tell people to give up their coping strategies? What if they do abandon apathy only to find themselves overwhelmed and rendered incapable of action as a result? Where will we be when they then ask for help? Thus the wisdom in the Ecclesiastes quote.

Despite reminding myself of Ecclesiates advice, I yet forget what an emotional storm can be stirred up in the processes of learning about racism, colonialism, genocide and, of course and always, the resistance to all that. Years ago, Deborah Barndt recommended Susan Griffin's A Chorus of Stones to me. In it Griffin is exploring her family history and what is allowed to be remembered and what has been made forgotten.

I am beginning to believe that we know everything, that all history, including the history of each family, is part of us, such that, when we hear any secret revealed, a secret about a grandfather, or an uncle, or a secret about the battle of Dresden in 1945, our lives are made suddenly clearer to us, as the unnatural heaviness of unspoken truth is dispersed. For perhaps we are like stones; our own history and the history of the world embedded in us, we hold a sorrow deep within and cannot weep until that history is sung.

What Griffin showed me with her exploration is that even histories of which we are unaware have a powerful effect on us. Perhaps this is not so hard to believe in the context of a family. It is a sad case for many children that they are made to answer for their parents' disappointments and losses – the "sins of the father" and all that. Though, of course, many people, by the same token, are inheritors of joy and love. It is typical, though, I would say, that the latter are celebrated while the former are disappeared and forgotten, though nonetheless passed on. This makes of them a pernicious influence on our lives. And we find ourselves reproducing behaviours that we have come to loathe without knowing why. It has often been touted that one day you will look into the mirror and discover that you have become your parent. This is usually bandied about as a cautionary tale about something that will horrify us. Of course, if one's parents were wonderful, loving, generous people, the warning is unnecessary.

I think it a fair sentiment when encountering and engaging this material to ask, "what has this got to do with me?" And to worry that in some way there is an implication that despite generations that may have passed, you are somehow "guilty" for crimes of one's ancestors. We see this expressed through the common sense behaviour of denial of having any responsibility for past deeds performed with such phrases as, "I had nothing to do with the slave trade? Why should I have to answer for that? It happened hundreds of years ago? And besides, my family suffered too. It wasn't all milk and honey for my grandparents who had to immigrate from [fill in the blank]…" And so on.

But power and privilege and history are not so simple. Sure you may not have been personally involved in the slave trade. But you live in a world that remains powerfully shaped by the history of slavery and the modern manifestations (ubiquitous and abundant) of racism. We each of us continue either to benefit or suffer from racism.

As we open our minds to new knowledge, we unavoidably expose our hearts as well. And not surprisingly that just might hurt.

To choose to embrace these histories, this knowledge, this power/knowledge, these new truth regimes is to necessitate having to reorient ourselves with our friends, family, life-world and so on. This can be very difficult for some of us. It can be painful and lonely. And there is no promise that once you have managed some of this reorientation that your relationship with your family and friends will be "better". While it may be more truthful, you may also find that bearing those truths creates greater distance between you and your loved ones. The risk of alienation and loneliness is real. Sometimes that is the trade off, the bargain – as you learn new truths, you become something different. More than simply learning new facts, new behaviours, you find that you are a different person altogether. And this can be scary.

I ramble on now. So will wrap up with a reiteration: what are the obligations of a postcolonial popular education praxis in all this? I don't mean to offer any certainties, but rather to share with you my ongoing, if at times meandering and always provisional, thinking.

Peace

chris

PS - what i haven't written of here is another important piece to this whole puzzle and that is joy and celebration and humour. Leroy Little Bear mentions humour ever-so-briefly. And the role of humour in aboriginal culture and pedagogy is something worth looking at closely and from which there is much to learn (from Coyote trickster tales to all the tricksters of all the many first nations to the practices of Hopi clowning to so much more). I quite accidentally came across this book: Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, and Sexuality in a Rio Shantytown by Donna M. Goldstein that is the next book i'm tracking down. If i can find the time i'd like to introduce yo to some of the thinking of Mikhail Bakhtin (the carnivalesque) and James Scottt ( Weapons of the Weak and Domination and the Arts of Resistance). And i did mention all-too-briefly, Maria Lugones' Playfull World-Travelling and Loving Perception that is a virtual manifesto for working across difference. - c

--
chris cavanagh
www.comeuppance.blogspot.com

I THINK THE OCEAN’S EMPTY WITHOUT ME

2007-10-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

“Blakka, how do you come up with these corny, cliché quotations?”
That was Honor Ford-Smith’s response when I told her I wanted to take a break from performing as an actor/comedian/dub-poet because I want to do more “arts for a cause instead of performing for applause”. Honor is an associate professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York, and she has known me for many years.
We were talking about my personal journey and why it might be a good idea to do York’s MES program. I considered replying with something like “Well you share much of the blame and deserve some of the credit, because my life’s a book that you’re helping to edit”, but even I had to admit that one would sound particularly cheesy. And I know she’d probably just throw up her hands in exasperation and remind me of how apt I am at being a creative idler.

So I tried to be serious. I told Honor about my desire to work on programs that offer young people opportunities to influence their socio-political environment through structured collective action. I told her of my “I&I GEAR” idea: Community intervention that employs art and performance in a process of social education for young urban males around issues of Image/Identity, Gender, Environmental Awareness and Reproductive health. And even if my little mental rhyme was more than a bit on the corny-cliché-quotation side; even if literarily it seemed a fragile tree, there was a firm root of truth in it.
Honor is indeed one many persons who have helped to influence the course of this river that is my life. But where and when did it all begin?

Kingston Jamaica, long ago:
I was like nameless, formless water; an aquifer being filled. There but not acknowledged, It started just two years before 1962; that watershed period in the colonial history of my country when Jamaica gained political independence from Britain. I was a baby barely weaned when I was delivered to Auntie Becca. That’s the name everyone used for Rebecca Williams, a case study in contradiction. Auntie Becca was a cantankerous fish monger with a violent temper, who was always eager to feed a stranger or help a neighbour, and equally disposed to causing shame and inflicting injury. She had no children of her own, but took in dozens belonging to her younger sister and cousins. I was one of the many she raised with her painfully confusing blend of tender heart and tough hand; her mixture of maternal affection and physical violence.

I was water waiting, anxious for surface until I met Phyllis Welsh. I met her when I was 9 years old, as my Grade 3 teacher at Trench Town Primary School. She was the first adult to affirm in me a feeling of worth and a sense of purpose. She laughed at my funny faces just like the children did and she praised my work. She also did the unthinkable. She visited my guardian at work to commend my behaviour and aptitude in school. Yes; the nice, decent teacher lady actually found her way to the crowded sidewalk in front of the Chinese shop at the corner of West Road and Third Street where Auntie Becca had her fish vending cart, to offer words of praise and recommendation. But Miss Welsh did a lot more. She organized field trips to the theatre and she put on tea parties at school. She taught me songs and choreographed dances and put me on a stage to perform. Miss Welsh was in her own small way, “decolonising” my personal education and shaping my life. She moved some heavy rocks and discovered a spring. I finally found surface.

The flow I became was strengthened by the other tributaries of me I discovered in high school. I became the school clown and resident comedian. There was, and still remains, a mango tree in the middle of the front yard at Excelsior High School. It was a place where students found shade from the sun and drank readily from a fountain of laughter. Many days I missed important classes as I poured myself daily into that pool, eliciting the loudest laughter with true stories about life with Auntie Becca; stories many classmates thought I made up. Those sessions provided a much needed catharsis that kept me balanced, and proved the ultimate training ground for my work as a stand-up comic.

I became president of the Drama Club and a member of the African Studies Club. I got elected into the very first Students Council and got into advocacy work. I started learning to challenge westernized Eurocentric notions of art, beauty, knowledge and divinity. I studied the philosophy of Marcus Garvey and embraced the Ras Tafarian doctrine.

By 1978, I was flowing positively with a sense of power, pride and purpose, and my personal course gushed forward freely. That was the year I entered the Jamaica School of Drama and washed upon ideas about the arts as a tool for empowerment and transformation.
There, my currents were quickened and my surges strengthened by my encounter with the concept of Popular Education through courses in Drama-in-Education and Community Drama. So between 1978 and 1981, I studied in an institution that took pride in a “unique tripartite programme”. One geared towards preparing graduates to:
- Practice theatre at the highest professional level,
- Teach theatre to students from kindergarten to secondary levels of the educational system
- Use theatre in formal and informal education for community development and social change.
Honor Ford-Smith was one my lecturers then. And I remember well, one of her classes. It was October 1978. As part of a street theatre experiment, she made the entire class gather at the Simon Bolivar statue at National Heroes Circle in Kingston, dressed only in black garbage bags. We beat old cans, made a raucous noise and quickly assembled a crowd. We then proceeded to create characters and situations and perform short scenes based on ideas suggested by the audience; and engaged them in a discussion to evaluate the experience. I also remember that it was during the processing discussion after an intense improvisational exercise in another of her classes that I was first made to grappled with the concept of staged performance as “acting in solidarity” with a community or a cause. Her introduction of what I considered a highly politicised concept into a discourse about characterization and theatrical improvisation, broke new ground in my thinking, and broadened my course.

Upon graduation I was invited to be a founding member of Graduate Theatre Company - the school’s Community Theatre and Popular Education outreach arm. Graduate Theatre Company was later renamed Groundwork Theatre Company and established an enviable reputation as a dynamic development NGO doing pioneering work with youth in schools and community settings around the Caribbean. I later left the company to teach Drama, English Language and English Literature in the secondary school system for a couple of years; before ending up teaching the Community Drama, course at the Drama school, from 1993 to 2004.

Community Drama 1 explores drama as a vehicle for highlighting, exposing and discussing social and political issues; and examines forms like street theatre and forum theatre. Community Drama 2 looks at arts intervention, group facilitation and community animation strategies for education/development.

Swirling around also, in that larger body of my moving stream, is my whirlpool of a career as an actor/comedian/writer/musician – a pulsing pond often gushing glamorous but increasingly becoming unfulfilling. At the most visible surface of this surging circle perhaps, is the comedy duo called Bello & Blakka.

I met Winston “Bello” Bell in the early 70s when we competed for our respective high schools in the annual secondary school’s drama festival. We first worked together at a workshop in 1976 and met again at the Drama school in 1978. We quickly discovered common artistic and spiritual affinities. We also developed a keen sense of creative compatibility working on many collaborative projects. Bello brought his guitar, an amazing voice and riveting stage presence. I offered metaphors and symbolism and comic sensibilities. And we both carried reservoirs of ideas from richly storied lives. We were a great team.
I embellished his songs and he gave nuance to my poetry. In 1985 were preparing to perform on a concert as a singer/dub-poet duo and a nice lady walked into the rehearsal and everything changed.

Always happy for an audience and anxious for some feedback, we performed our piece and turned to the lady for an opinion. She smiled and told us in soft, sweet voice that "it's really profound, and solemn; and boring!" She reminded us that Lorna Goodison and Dennis Scott were performing on that same show, so there'd be enough good poetry and "deep stuff" on the billing. She suggested that we employ our acting, improvisational and comic skills in the performance instead of bombarding people with more serious stuff. "People want to laugh," she said.

The lady was Honor Ford-Smith, our former acting instructor and an elder in the business whose opinion we valued. So Bello put a pause on his poignant song about world peace and I parked my poem about the real, raw reality and we created a comedic skit. The piece took a light-hearted look at the various definitions of 'culture'. It included a spoof on folk choirs and cliché island songs. It involved an impersonation of Professor Rex Nettleford, and it poked fun at fanatical Afro-centric pretensions. It worked. People roared with laughter and a comedy duo was born.

By gently placing boulders of creative challenge into our dual stream,
Honor Ford-Smith didn’t change our individual or joint course. She simply helped us to make our paths more accessible to more seekers of the water. As comedians, more folks could cross into our river and be enriched by our streams. Our careers flowed further. We touched new banks.
My entertainment career also included acting in various commercial productions, working as a percussionist/backing vocalist for pioneer dub poet Oku Onuora, and writing songs, poems and plays.

In between all of this, I meandered through myriad assignments touching many aligned fields of work. From arts-in-education projects for urban inner city youths in Jamaica to popular theatre training with community based NGOs from all over the Caribbean; including workshop stints in places as diverse as Saskatchewan in Canada, Gottingen in Germany and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe.

In workshop settings, via onstage performances, through motivational talks and in much of my writings – particularly “Blakka’s Box” a weekly column in the Jamaican STAR, I’ve been an instigator and participant in the continuation of a dialogue around the intersection of issues relating to masculinity, violence and art. This is where I’m feeling a deeper rush. I am at a delta now I think.

Maybe I’m doing this program, because I must keep coursing forward. There is an ocean somewhere close by. And that ocean’s empty without me.

Blakka Ellis - MES Candidate
Student # 209005638
September 2007

spanish 'platica'

2007-10-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

hey folks,

For all those who wish to practice speaking / learn some Spanish here is your chance. There will be an informal gathering to chat in Spanish at CERLAC on Wednesday at 3pm. All levels (beginner to advanced) welcome CERLAC is located in the York Lanes offices hall on the second floor. hope to see you there.

Scott

Frantz Fanon Videos

2007-10-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Why are am I here?

2007-10-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

Lisa Campbell

Remeber-
Recently coming to this new place I've had to introduce myself many times: Who am I? What am I studying? What do I do?
and of course-

What does that say on your wrist?
"זכור"
"zakhor"
"what?"
"remember- it means remember in hebrew"
"significa recordar en hebreo"
"¿en qué?"
"remember what?"

My tattoo has different meanings to different folks. Many find it offensive as in the Holocaust jews were forced to have their wrists tatooed with numbers. Remember is one of the most repeated words in the old testiment, derived from G-d constantly reminding us to reflect back on slavery; "And Moses said to the nation, Remember (Zakhor) this day when you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery, since with the force of power did the Lord take you out from that place" (Exodus 13:3,7,8).

To me it means remembering oppression- to not let it happen again to anyone, anywhere. I've taken to shortening my answer to the frequent questions but recently one repsonce suprised me;

"Do you know kabalah? Do you study it?"
"No, what does it mean in kabalah?"
"It means remember your purpose, the purpose that G-d gave you."

I am taking popular education because I am a big fan of education for the people by the people. I feel that we all have experienced oppression at some point in our lives, and that by examining these experiences critically we can deconstruct their roots and build solidarity.

My roots are the path that bring me here to this point. I trace their meandering path, tenderly reflecting on sharp curves, nodes, and new sprigs. I've gone over them so many times; defending them; watering; nurturing. I want to say something new; I want to challenge myself.

I hope to use this course as a tool in my own work, drawing on my strengths as a popular educator and learning from the experiences of others. I am also here to learn from my elders, the great voices and thinkers of our time. May the work continue to grow and inspire!

Critiques of Freire

2007-10-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a critique of Freire that I sent to Chris earlier this year. I haven't read the whole thing myself yet but I think it's always good to see both sides of the issue. I will let others who have opinions on the piece write their own thoughts!

http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/gustavo2ls3.htm. Chris mentioned that it was from a book called Rethinking Freire. Chris had a few things to say about the piece but I'll let him voice his own opinions.

One of the writers, Gustavo Esteva, has started a place in Oaxaca, Mexico, called Universidad de la Tierra. I had the privilege to meet him and listen to his thoughts on education. He is foremost an advocate of apprenticeship and learning through doing. In his talk he quoted someone as saying "Birds fly. Fish swim. People learn." The intentions of the place are awesome, a place to connect folks with mentors in law, medicinal herbs, media and a whole wack of other skills. De facto, however, the organization seems to have become yet another NGO where a lot of good things happen but a dependence on money from grants and foreigners gives the place a slightly different swing.

Deb Barndt mentioned to me that Gustavo Esteva may be coming to give one of the courses at FES so if you're interested, you should here some of the critiques of his work as well!

Carolyn

"Don't Just Do Something, Stand There"

2007-10-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Here is a space that we can share our critical reading assignments. For our first week we got to read the introductions of; “Reclaiming Indigenous Voices and Vision” (Battiste 2000), “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” (Freire 2000), “Popular Education and Social Change in Latin America” (Kane 2001), “Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination” (Robin 2002), and “Colonialism/Postcolonialism” (Loomba 2005). Please post your thoughts as comments below!

Thanks,

Lisa

Ruckus! Youth Activism and Anti-Racism Conference

2007-10-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

November 23 & 24, 2007

Call for Proposals:

Ruckus! Anti-Racism & Activism Conference is a free conference for high school-aged youth of Colour, their Allies and other concerned youth. Young activists, community leaders, students, youth groups and youth-led initiatives are invited to submit proposals for engaging anti-racism based workshops.

Popular education students should call Michelle by early next week with proposal ideas:
Michelle
Youth Action Network
ruckus07@gmail.com
416-368-2277
www.youthactionnetwork.org/ruckus

Welcome to the Pop Ed Blog!

2007-10-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is a site where we can continue our class conversations, post our critical reading assignments, and share opportunities, ideas and projects. Please feel free to post away!