[SSC] Maps and politics of 'radical education projects'

[Amsler, Sarah]

Dear all,

I came across the two texts below and would be interested in discussing them with anyone also interested. I think they offer a way into some pressing questions about major concepts (freeness and freedom, radicalism, anarchistic politics, etc.) that are being both materialised in practice and called into question. It might be an interesting exercise, for example, to try to formulate responses to some of the (perhaps rhetorically framed) questions in the second.

Sociological Imagination's working list of 'radical education projects' in the UK:
http://sociologicalimagination.org/a-work-in-progress

Andrew Taggart's critical questioning of the above forms, as particularly read:
http://andrewjtaggart.com/2011/09/19/on-the-other-side-of-radical-education-lies-wisdom-an-exhortation-or-on-the-question-whether-really-free-is-really-good/

After spending a second weekend working with the people of the Free University of Liverpool (to whom I will send a copy of this message), I am clearer that there is certainly a moment of emergence with these different projects, which have been developing for a little (or long) while, all coming into some serious material form but often autonomously from each other. I'd like to think about the place of this in history, the context of this historical moment and the forms of politics and pedagogies being developed -- and whether or not they really are all characterised by a 'shared ethos of anarchism' (an argument which I do not entirely agree with) it seems like a wider conversation to have on the radar. I have had some thoughts about at some point in the reasonably near future bringing people involved in these different projects/spaces together to share experiences and imaginaries?

Best,
Sarah

Dr Sarah S Amsler
Lecturer in Sociology
Aston University
Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK
+44 (0) 121 204 3072
s.s.amsler at aston.ac.uk

Campaign for the Public University: http://publicuniversity.org.uk