Leaders In Critical Pedagogy

Critical pedagogy has variously inspired, mobilized, troubled, and frustrated teachers, activists, and educational scholars for several decades now. Since its inception the field has been animated by internal antagonism and conflict, and this reality has simultaneously spread the influence of the field in and out of education and seriously challenged its status as an integral body of work. The various debates that have categorized critical pedagogy have also made it difficult for younger scholars to enter into the literature. This is the first book to survey critical pedagogy through first-hand accounts of its established and emerging leaders. While the book does indeed provide a historical exploration and documentation of the development of critical pedagogy as a contested and dynamic educational intervention-as well as analyses of that development and directions toward possible futures-it is also intended to provide an accessible and comprehensive entry point for a new generation of activists, organizers, scholars, and educators who place questions of pedagogy and social justice at the heart of their thinking and doing. "Martin Heidegger once said that Aristotle's life could be summarized in one, short sentence 'He was born, he thought, he died.' Porfilio and Ford's brilliantly curated compilation of autobiographical sketches of leaders in critical pedagogy resolutely rejects Heidegger's reductive thesis, reminding us all that theory is grounded in the historical specificities and material contradictions of life. For those well acquainted with critical pedagogy, these theoretical memoirs grant us a unique and sometimes surprisingly intimate glimpse into the lives behind the words we know so well. But most importantly, the format of the book is an educational intervention into how critical pedagogy can be taught. While it is often the case that students find critical pedagogy dense, inaccessible, and seemingly detached from the everyday concerns of teachers, Porfilio and Ford's edited volume-like Marx's Capital-approaches theory through the memories, struggles, hopes, and dreams of those who live within yet against the nightmare of neoliberal capitalism." - Tyson E. Lewis, Full Professor, Department of Art Education and Art History, University of North Texas

Critical pedagogy has variously inspired, mobilized, troubled, and frustrated teachers, activists, and educational scholars for several decades now. Since its inception the field has been animated by internal antagonism and conflict, and this reality has simultaneously spread the influence of the field in and out of education and seriously challenged its status as an integral body of work.

Critical pedagogy has variously inspired, mobilized, troubled, and frustrated teachers, activists, and educational scholars for several decades now. Since its inception the field has been animated by internal antagonism and conflict, and this reality has simultaneously spread the influence of the field in and out of education and seriously challenged its status as an integral body of work. The various debates that have categorized critical pedagogy have also made it difficult for younger scholars to enter into the literature. This is the first book to survey critical pedagogy through first-hand accounts of its established and emerging leaders. While the book does indeed provide a historical exploration and documentation of the development of critical pedagogy as a contested and dynamic educational intervention as well as analyses of that development and directions toward possible futures it is also intended to provide an accessible and comprehensive entry point for a new generation of activists, organizers, scholars, and educators who place questions of pedagogy and social justice at the heart of their thinking and doing. Martin Heidegger once said that Aristotle s life could be summarized in one, short sentence He was born, he thought, he died. Porfilio and Ford s brilliantly curated compilation of autobiographical sketches of leaders in critical pedagogy resolutely rejects Heidegger s reductive thesis, reminding us all that theory is grounded in the historical specificities and material contradictions of life. For those well acquainted with critical pedagogy, these theoretical memoirs grant us a unique and sometimes surprisingly intimate glimpse into the lives behind the words we know so well. But most importantly, the format of the book is an educational intervention into how critical pedagogy can be taught. While it is often the case that students find critical pedagogy dense, inaccessible, and seemingly detached from the everyday concerns of teache

Premised on the need for democratic education and positive social change, this book is about being sensitive to, respecting, and honoring differences. It connects the professional lives of educators with critical democratic practices. Using concrete examples, the editors promote the assertion that every educator can become an agent of change. Moreover, the book presents the experiences of professionals involved in effecting positive change.

"In this edited volume, contributors draw on the work of Andrade and Morrell (2008) in articulating critical leadership praxis, as well as critical race theory and critical education leadership scholarship, in order to "offer new and generative theories of change; they make explicit power dynamics, social inequities, and taken-for-granted forms of stratification in educational organizations with the primary purpose of offering specific and useful frames, concepts, and practices to educational leaders that they can adopt in their own work. The goal is for educational leaders to develop their sense of agency and and their knowledge and professional competencies for taking an equity and inquiry stance in their work of transforming the organizations and people around them." The work is intended to provide a counter narrative to a broad literature in educational leadership that "reinscribe white middle-class male leadership styles, values, and priorities as an assumed and normative backdrop, both in terms of the frames used and the values and epistemologies promoted." The work is organized into four sections: Transforming Self; Transforming Educators; Transforming Organizations; and Transforming Systems. Contributors include practicing leaders, doctoral students with leadership experience, and leadership faculty and researchers"--

This book shows how critical theory can help school leaders and administrators to prepare students for the ever-changing political, cultural, economic, and societal conditions of the world. The contributors use ideas from critical theorists including Adorno, Fromm, Marcuse and Habermas and connect them with contemporary theories and debates in educational leadership from moral education to critical theories on race, to culturally relevant practice. Educational Leadership and Critical Theory challenges the misconceptions of many present-day educators about the analytical lens offered by the Frankfurt School theorists which is often dismissed by policymakers and practitioners. Written by leading scholars based in the UK, USA, and Canada, the contributors emphasize and explain the importance of educational aesthetics, dialectics, education and civilization, the structural transformation of education's place in the public sphere, and education as revolution and enlightenment.

The diverse range of critical pedagogues presented in this book comes from a variety of backgrounds with respect to race, gender, and ethnicity, from various geographic places and eras, and from an array of complex political, historical, religious, theological, social, cultural, and educational circumstances which necessitated their leadership and resistance. How each pedagogue uniquely lives in that tension of dealing with pain and struggle, while concurrently fostering a pedagogy that is humanizing, is deeply influenced by their individual autobiographical lens of reality, the conceptual thought that enlightened them, the circumstances that surrounded them, and the conviction that drove them. To be sure, people of justice, people who resist, are framed by a vision that embraces an inclusive, tolerant, more loving community that passionately calls for a more democratic citizenship. That is just what the 34 critical pedagogues represented in this text heroically do. Through the highlighting of their lives and work, this book is not only an excellent resource to serve as a springboard to engage us in dialogue about pivotal issues and concerns related to justice, equality, and opportunity, but also to prompt us to further explore deeper into the lives and thought of some extraordinary people. A Critical Pedagogy of Resistance: 34 Pedagogues We Need to Know is an ambitious undertaking. Kirylo’s narrative enterprise, which seeks to chronicle the lives of transformative pedagogues, is a project whose time has come. This text is an excellent resource for all those interested in the aesthetic that, as Kierkegaard believed, exercised power for the common good. Luis Mirón

First Published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.