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

Wed Sep 28 09:18:50 UTC 2011

My comments below…

On 28 Sep 2011, at 09:31, Peter Somerville wrote:

> Goodness, I couldn't disagree more (except for the point about Blair).
> And yet, is that a reason why John and I can't work within the same
> group? I think not.
> 
> Pete 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: john andrews [mailto:john.andrews57 at ntlworld.com] 
> Sent: 28 September 2011 07:10
> To: Peter Somerville
> Subject: Re: [SSC] Maps and politics of 'radical education projects'
> 
> Surely the work done by a group of people must be informed by a commonly
> held belief? Otherwise the work done by some of the group will
> inevitably contradict and oppose the work of others in the same group.
> It isn't possible for LSSC to NOT have a political posture of some sort:
> education is a political issue. Peter Sommerville is wrong to suggest
> that 'the market', or anything else associated with existing government
> has anything to do with anarchism; and he's equally wrong to exclude
> 'new' labour from his criticism - much of today's problems were created
> by Blair. Existing government is about gangsterism, not anarchism, and
> has far more in common with Al Capone than Kropotkin, Goldman or
> Chomsky. Tories, 'new' labour... 
> they're all the same. I'm not sure what Peter is 'interested in doing',
> but I would be very surprised if it's entirely apolitical, and if it is,
> it's probably not of very much help.
> 
> John

In our very first meeting, we discussed this issue and then raised it again in subsequent meetings. The consensus at the time was that the SSC welcomed people of any political position and that the politics of the SSC was defined by its governance, not an explicit value statement.

We have constituted our method of governance as non-hierarchical and by consensus. We've defined our values in an intentionally brief Statement of Values, both of which are publicly available:

http://socialsciencecentre.org.uk/documents/

I think these align with what Pete referred to as 'mutual respect and democratic decision-making'.

My own personal belief is that this is sufficient and that we would do well at this early stage, to spend less time deliberating over the nature of the SSC and trying to problematise it and more time (which unfortunately is very scarce for many of us) constructing a sustainable Social Science Centre that runs classes in a year's time.  

I know there are at least three working groups meeting at the moment to try to take forward practical ideas about the curriculum, student membership and peer-review. Additionally, Mike's recent paper is open to all members who wish to edit/re-rewrite and contribute to a paper which discusses the SSC at length. Mike is also about to send out an invitation to 70+ academics, inviting them to join the SSC. If anybody wishes to contribute to this work or propose other practical steps that will help develop the SSC into a viable provision of higher education in Lincoln, please do tell us.

John recently sent around a discussion paper on defining the SSC's values, which he offered to do at our last meeting and it will be discussed at our next meeting. If a member wishes to make a contribution and open a discussion around any aspect of the SSC, I think we should welcome their initiative. In this case, I personally don't think a revised Statement of Values is needed and that attempts to constitute greater detail around our 'values' could stifle the SSC.

Thanks
Joss

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Somerville" <psomerville at lincoln.ac.uk>
> To: "Amsler, Sarah" <S.S.AMSLER at aston.ac.uk>
> Cc: <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 7:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [SSC] Maps and politics of 'radical education projects'
> 
> 
>> I sympathise with Andrew Taggart but I don't think the SSC is about
>> political posturing - at least, that's not what I'm interested in
> doing.
>> The 'real' anarchists these days are the Tories, with their 'Big
>> Society' and their unshakeable belief in the anarchy of the market.
> But
>> do we really need to have an agreed 'position' with respect to the
> state
>> and the market? I hope not. Do we even need to have a set of 'common
>> values', which we all sign up to? I think not, except in the broadest
>> possible terms, e.g. mutual respect and democratic decision-making. If
>> we must be judged at all (which I doubt) it should be by what we do
>> rather than by what we believe in.
>> 
>> Pete
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ssc-bounces at lists.aktivix.org
>> [mailto:ssc-bounces at lists.aktivix.org] On Behalf Of Amsler, Sarah
>> Sent: 25 September 2011 22:59
>> To: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
>> Subject: [SSC] Maps and politics of 'radical education projects'
>> 
>> 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-educat
>> 
> ion-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
>> 
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> The University of Lincoln - a top performer in student satisfaction, enjoying an unrivalled ascent through the University league tables, set in a dynamic, research rich and vibrant campus in the heart of a great historic student-friendly city.
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> The information in this e-mail and any attachments may be confidential. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender immediately and remove it from your system. Do not disclose the contents to another person or take copies.
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