Marxism and Education: Fragility, Crisis, Critique

Glenn Rikowski

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a new article out in Cadernos do GPOSSHE On-line, Vol.1 No.1 (2018): pp.142-170, Marxism and Education: Fragility, Crisis, Critique.

It now available at Academia, @ https://www.academia.edu/37616749/Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique

It is also available at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328428970_Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique

 

ABSTRACT

The article rests substantially on the work of John Holloway, especially his early articles in Common Sense: Journal of the Edinburgh Conference of Socialist Economists. On this foundation, it is argued, firstly, that the importance of Marxism resides in its capacity to pinpoint fragilities and weaknesses in the constitution, development and rule of capital in contemporary society. Understanding these fragilities sharpens the critical edge of any movements aimed at social transformation out of the madhouse of capital.

Glenn Rikowski

 

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Marxism and Education: Fragility, Crisis, Critique, Negativity, and Social Form(s)

Glenn Rikowski

MARXISM AND EDUCATION: FRAGILITY, CRISIS, CRITIQUE, NEGATIVITY, AND SOCIAL FORM(S)

 

 

 

This is a paper I prepared for the International Conference on Critical Education VIII, University of East London, Stratford Campus, 25 – 28 July 2018. The Abstract is below, and the paper itself can be viewed at Academia and at ResearchGate.

Glenn Rikowski

 

ABSTRACT

Why Marxism? Why Marxist educational theory? Through addressing these questions, this paper proclaims the importance of Marxism as a theory that intellectually disrupts and ruptures capitalist society and its educational forms. With reference to the work of John Holloway, it is argued that the significance of Marxism resides in its capacity to pinpoint fragilities and weaknesses in the constitution of capital. Grasping these fragilities in the rule of capital in contemporary social life sharpens the critical edge of any politics aimed at social transformation. Marxist educational theory plays an important role in this enterprise. These points are illustrated through consideration of the following ideas and phenomena: fragility, crisis, critique, negativity and social form(s). It is argued that fragility must be the starting point as Marxism is primarily a theory of capitalist weaknesses, and not the opposite: a theory of capitalist domination. Following Holloway, Marxism is a theory against society, rather than just another mainstream theory of society. Against Holloway, it is argued that the forms that fragilities for labour take also need to be understood. Paradoxically, our strength vis-à-vis capital is also the place for apprehending the fragilities and dependencies of labour. This vicious duality also exists in terms of crises in capitalism, and this flows into the phenomena of critique and negativity too. Finally, on the basis of this theorisation, the doors of capitalist hell are opened through a consideration of social forms in general and commodity forms in particular and their relations to educational processes and institutions. It is at this point that Marxist educational theory enters the stage, although in a transfigured form. In 1997, I wrote an article for the British Journal of Sociology of Education called ‘Scorched Earth: Prelude to Rebuilding Marxist Educational Theory’. Twenty-one years later, this paper can be viewed as my definitive first element in a programme of rebuilding Marxist educational theory.

 

Available from:

The full paper can be downloaded from Academia, at: https://www.academia.edu/37095004/Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique_Negativity_and_Social_Form_s_

The full paper can be downloaded from ResearchGate, at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326545788_Marxism_and_Education_Fragility_Crisis_Critique_Negativity_and_Social_Forms

 

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International Conference on Critical Education VIII

ICCE 8

University of East London, Stratford, London, England

25^th – 28^th July 2018

Critical Education and Activism Against Neoliberalism / Authoritarian Neoconservatism in Education, State and Society

The International Conference on Critical Education (ICCE), previously held in Athens (2011, 2012), Ankara (2013), Thessaloniki (2014), Wroclaw, Poland (2015), London (Middlesex University) (2016) and Athens (2017) is a forum for scholars, educators and activists committed to social and economic justice.  The 8th ICCE: Critical Education and Activism Against Neoliberalism/ Authoritarian Neoconservatism in Education, State and Society will take place at University of London (UEL), London, 25-28 July 2018.

At a time of economic crisis, when education is under siege by neoliberal capitalism and by neo-conservatism and aggressive nationalism, when teachers and academics are being proletarianized, youth criminalized, civilised and caring societies being stripped of welfare and benefits and rights, schools and universities turned into commodities, at such a time, critical education, as a theory and as a movement, as praxis, is clearly relevant. International communities of critical educators and activists are working together, and with other movements, to build active resistance to these processes and are engaged in fostering educational and social change leading to a more just, equal and fair society.

The current economic, social, and political crisis, that has been ongoing for 30 years, is manifesting more deeply in education on a global scale. The crisis- part of, and resulting from, dominant neoliberal and neoconservative politics that are implemented and promoted internationally as ‘the only solution’, under the slogan ‘there is no alternative’ (TINA), have substantially redefined the sociopolitical and ideological roles of education. Public education is shrinking. It loses its status as a social right. It is projected as a mere commodity for sale while it becomes less democratic, de-theorised, de-critiqued.

Understanding the causes of the crisis, the particular forms it takes in different countries and the multiple ways in which it influences education, constitute important questions for all those who do not limit their perspectives to the horizon of neoconservative, neoliberal and technocratic dogmas. Moreover, the critical education movement has the responsibility to rethink its views and practices in light of the crisis, and in the light of social, political and educational resistance in different countries – and the paths that this crisis opens for challenging and overthrowing capitalist domination worldwide.

The International Conference on Critical Education (ICCE) – regularly attended by between 300 and 400 participants, provides a vibrant and egalitarian, non-elitist, platform for scholars, educators, activists, students and others interested in critical education and in contesting the current neo-liberal/ neo-conservative/ nationalist hegemony, to come together and engage in a free, democratic and productive dialogue. At this time of crisis when public education is under siege by neoliberalism, neo-conservatism and nationalism, we invite you to submit a proposal and to attend the Conference. We especially welcome new and emerging scholars / scholar-activists.

 

Speakers invited include:

Grant Banfield (Australia)

Dennis Beach (Sweden)

Sara Carpenter (Canada)

Hana Cervinlova (Poland)

Polina Chrysochou (Greece /UK)

Christian Chun (USA)

Alessio d’Angelo (UK)

Sandra Delgado (Canada/ Colombia)

Mustafa Durmus (Turkey)

Agnieszka Dzieminowicz-Bak (Poland)

Gail Edwards (UK)

Ramin Farahmandpur (USA)

Derek Ford (USA)

Nathan Fretwell (UK)

Panayota Gounari (USA)

George Grollios (Greece)

Carly Guest (UK)

Julia Hall (USA)

Dave Hill (UK)

Lee Jerome (UK)

Wei Jin (Peoples Republic of China)

Gianna Katsiampoura (Greece)

Nurcan Korkmaz (Turkey)

Ravi Kumar (India)

Alpesh Mairsuira (UK)

Tristan McCowan (UK)

Gyuri Meszaros (Hungary)

Louise Prendergast (UK)

Lotar Rasinski (Poland)

John Rice (Australia)

Glenn Rikowski (UK)

Leena Robertson (UK)

Juan R. Rodriguez (Spain)

Wayne Ross (Canada)

Rachel Seoighe (UK)

Kostas Skordoulis (Greece)

Spyros Themelis (UK)

Tamas Toth (Hungary/Poland)

Paolo Vittoria (Italy)

Josefine Wagner (Poland)

Terry Wrigley (UK)

Ahmet Yidiz (Turkey)

 

Conference Organisers: Dave Hill (Institute for Education Policy Studies) and Alpesh Maisuria (University of East London)

Contact: dave.hill@ieps.org.uk

 

See the website: http://www.icce2018.wordpress.com/

 

UEL Stratford

 

 

 

 

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Critique of the Classical Theory of Education Crisis

Glenn Rikowski

 

 

Glenn Rikowski, Visiting Fellow, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK

 

 

 

 

This is a paper prepared for the International Centre for Public Pedagogies (ICPuP), International Seminar for Public Pedagogies at the University of East London for 21^st February 2018. See the post below for details.

The paper is now available on Academia, see: https://www.academia.edu/35164258/Critique_of_the_Classical_Theory_of_Education_Crisis

 

ABSTRACT

The Classical Theory of Education Crisis is the default theory utilised by educational theorists for understanding the constitution and explanation of education crises in contemporary society. Following a brief outline of the concept of crisis, and the histiography of the notion of education crisis from the Second World War to the neoliberal recession of 1980-82, there is a an outline of The Classical Theory of Education Crisis as most fully expressed in Madan Sarup’s classic Education, State and Crisis: A Marxist Perspective (1982). The key aspect of the Classical Theory is that education crises are derivative of economic crises. This is followed by the main event: critique of the Classical Theory. Its reliance on structuralist thought (with associated determinism, functionalism and reductionism) and the inflow of economics imperialism are some of its key deficiencies. The Conclusion outlines ground still to be covered and the need to move beyond the Classical Theory of Education Crisis.

 

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Glenn Rikowski

CRISIS AND EDUCATION

 

Glenn Rikowski Visiting Fellow, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK

 

 

International Centre for Public Pedagogies (ICPuP)

International Seminar for Public Pedagogies

UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON

Stratford Campus

Water Lane

London

E15 4LZ

 

21^st February 2018

5.00 – 6.00pm

Room: 4.02

 

ABSTRACT

There are two parts to the presentation. Following a brief examination of the concept of ‘crisis’ the first part provides a critique of the Classical Theory of education crisis. This is the default theory of education crisis utilised by the majority of educational theorists and education activists today. Its starting point is that education crises are basically derivative of economic crises. The works of Marxists Brian Simon and Madan Sarup are important in fixing and consolidating the Classical Theory of education crisis. These will be explored in some depth.

The second part of the paper is more speculative. It seeks to pinpoint education crises as crises for capital. Thus, it is concerned with working on the weaknesses in the rule of capital (in education and in terms of its development) rather than focusing on how crises originating in the economy have deleterious effects for state-financed, public education. Two forms of education crises for capital are located, based on the mode of existence of commodity forms in educational institutions: crises of labour-power production; and crises in the ‘general class’ of commodities in educational settings. The implications for an anti-capitalist, anti-affirmationist politics of education based on this analysis are provided in conclusion.

 

Note: Two papers will be produced for this seminar: Critique of the Classical Theory of Education Crisis, and Education Crises As Crises for Capital. In the meantime, the following paper is useful: Crises, Commodities and Education: Disruptions, Eruptions, Interruptions and Ruptions, which is available at Academia: https://www.academia.edu/18511424/Crises_Commodities_and_Education_Disruptions_Eruptions_Interruptions_and_Ruptions

 

ADDENDUM – 22nd January 2018

The two papers for this ICPuP Seminar are now online at Academia:

Critique of the Classical Theory of Education Crisis  https://www.academia.edu/35164258/Critique_of_the_Classical_Theory_of_Education_Crisis

Education Crises As Crises For Capital  http://www.academia.edu/35730140/Education_Crises_As_Crises_For_Capital

 

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Crisis

 

Marx & Philosophy Society Annual Conference 2017

Critique of Political Economy

MARX & PHILOSOPHY SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017

Marx and the Concept of Labour
24th June 2017
Room 822, University College London Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL
Conference poster (pdf)
Conference abstracts

 

Main speakers:
Mike Neary (Lincoln)
Critical theory as a critique of labour, featuring academic work; or, how do revolutionary teachers teach?
Sara Farris (Goldsmiths)
A Marxist-feminist approach to the theory of the reserve army of labour

Anselm Jappe (Sassari)
Marx and the ‘two-fold nature’ of labour: the ‘pivot’ of his critique of capitalism

Graduate panel:
Alastair Hemmens (Cardiff)
Labour, a ‘rational abstraction’? Robert Kurz’s substance of capital and resolving the labour aporia in Marx
Sean Winkler (Leuven)
The Hessen-Grossmann-Lukács Thesis: A Marxist Study of the emotions in early modern philosophy’
Michael Lazurus (Monash)
The standpoint of labour and Marx’s method

Directions: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/maps/ioe
Admission is free but please reserve a place in advance by emailing Eric John Russell at johndavid.correspondence@gmail.com

 

Marx & Philosophy Society: http://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/society

 

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Marx’s Grave

Autogenous Theories of Education Crisis

New College, Oxford

AUTOGENOUS THEORIES OF EDUCATION CRISIS

 

A paper prepared for the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB) Annual Conference, New College, Oxford, 31^st March – 2^nd April, 2017

Glenn Rikowski, Visiting Fellow, College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK

Abstract: ‘Crisis’ is a concept increasingly used in media reports on education. This paper argues that philosophers of education have a unique contribution to make regarding the nature and constitution of education crisis. Thus, they have a responsibility to take up the challenge of developing perspectives on education crises. Following examinations of the concept of crisis and The Marxist-oriented Classical Theory of Education Crisis (where education crises are derivative of economic ones), the paper forges an autogenous theory of education crisis through Robin Barrow’s (2011) précis of R.S. Peters’s concept of education. Some education crises are crises of education; not necessarily crises in education with origins elsewhere in society. For these forms of crisis, the concept of education itself should be the starting point for analysis. The paper opens up a new field of study for educational philosophers by indicating how education crises can emerge from within education institutions and settings.

 

My paper is now available at Academia: http://www.academia.edu/32222291/Autogenous_Theories_of_Education_Crisis and also at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315646975_Autogenous_Theories_of_Education_Crisis

 

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Glenn Rikowski at Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

PRESENTATIONS @ ACADEMIA

Dr. Glenn Rikowski

PRESENTATIONS @ ACADEMIA

 

I have recently uploaded a number of Presentations and Presentation Notes to Academia.

These are as follows:

 

 

 

 

Crises, Commodities and Education: Disruptions, Eruptions, Interruptions and Ruptions (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29675223/Crises_Commodities_and_Education_Disruptions_Eruptions_Interruptions_and_Ruptions_Presentation_

Crises in Education, Crises of Education (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29674786/Crises_in_Education_Crises_of_Education_Presentation_

Education and Crisis (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29681835/Education_and_Crisis_Presentation_

Crisis and Education (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29674444/Crisis_and_Education_Presentation_

The Seed: Critical Educators for Social Transformation (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29718073/The_Seed_Critical_Educators_for_Social_Transformation_Presentation_

Higher Education in Crises of Capital and Labour (Presentation Notes): https://www.academia.edu/29737945/Higher_Education_in_Crises_of_Capital_and_Labour_Presentation_Notes_

Value, Labour Power and Gender Inequality in the Capitalist Labour Market (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29675727/Value_Labour_Power_and_Gender_Inequality_in_the_Capitalist_Labour_Market_Presentation_

Rethinking Higher Education: Students As Producers Against the Culture Machine (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29717220/Rethinking_Higher_Education_Students_As_Producers_Against_the_Culture_Machine_Presentation_

Capitalisation by Stealth: The Business Takeover of Schools in England (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29673995/Capitalisation_by_Stealth_The_Business_Takeover_of_Schools_in_England_Presentation_

Ten Points on Marx, Class and Education (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29713518/Ten_Points_on_Marx_Class_and_Education_Presentation_

Adventures in Marxism and Education: An Autobiographical Report (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29696961/Adventures_in_Marxism_and_Education_An_Autobiographical_Report_Presentation_

The Business Takeover of Schools in England (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29696101/The_Business_Takeover_of_Schools_in_England_Presentation_

Karl Marx’s Social Time (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29674114/Karl_Marxs_Social_Time_Presentation_

The Evolution of Federations of Schools in England (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29695981/The_Evolution_of_Federations_of_Schools_in_England_Presentation_

Education Rights in Global Capitalism Today (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29695869/Education_Rights_in_Global_Capitalism_Today_Presentation_

Profits in Chains? The Capitalisation of Schools in England and the White Paper (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29694955/Profits_in_Chains_The_Capitalisation_of_Schools_in_England_and_the_White_Paper_Presentation_

Night Thoughts on the Education White Paper (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29694841/Night_Thoughts_on_the_Education_White_Paper_Presentation_

New Labour, the Knowledge Economy and Education (Presentation): https://www.academia.edu/29684663/New_Labour_the_Knowledge_Economy_and_Education_Presentation_

The Business Takeover of Schools: Exploring Explanations (Presentation Notes): https://www.academia.edu/29698427/The_Business_Takeover_of_Schools_Exploring_Explanations_Presentation_Notes_

 

To see the full list of Presentations and Presentation Notes, and further details, go to: https://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski/Presentations

 

To see all my postings to Academia, go to: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

 

To see my posting at ResearchGate, go to: http://www.researchgate.com/profile/GlennRikowski

 

 

6th International Conference on Critical Education – 2016: Extended Call for Papers

ICCE 6

6^th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CRITICAL EDUCATION – 2016

10 – 13 August 2016

Middlesex University

London

 

Extended Call for Papers: 31^st May 2016

The Deadline for Abstracts for the upcoming 6^th ICCE Conference has been extended to the end of May.

 

Plenary  Speakers include:
Peter McLaren (Chapman University, Orange, California, USA)
Hasan Hüseyin Aksoy (Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey)
Grant Banfield (Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia)
Joyce Canaan (Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK)
Hana Cervinkova (University of Lower Silesia, Wroclaw, Poland)
Polina Chrysochou (Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, UK)
Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk (University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland)
Cassie Earl (Manchester Metropolitan Univesity, Manchester, UK)
Gail Edwards (Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK)
Ramin Farahmandpur (Portland State University, Portland, USA)
Derek Ford (Syracuse University, New York, USA)
Panayota Gounari (University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA)
Tom Griffiths (Newcastle University, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia)
George Grollios (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,Thessaloniki, Greece)
Dave Hill (Institute for Education Policy Studies & National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece)
Gianna Katsampoura (National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece)
Leszek Koczanowicz (University of Sosial Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw, Poland)
Vicky Makris (University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada)
Curry Malott (West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA)
Alpesh Maisuria (University of East London, London, UK)
Lilia Monzo (Chapman University, California, USA)
Jayne Osgood (Middlesex University, London, UK)
Periklis Pavlidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece)
Leena Helavaara Robertson (Middlesex University, London, UK)
Fevziye Sayilan (Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey)
Kostas Skordoulis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece)
Juha Suoranta (University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland)
Spyros Themelis (University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK)
Meral Uysal (Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey)
Paolo Vittoria (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Ahmet Yildiz (Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey)
The conference website is http://icce-2016.weebly.com/

Speakers are listed at http://icce-2016.weebly.com/program-speakers.html

Abstract Submission Form is at: http://icce-2016.weebly.com/abstract-submission.html

 

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The Extreme Centre: How the Neoliberal Project has Reshaped the World

Fat Cat Food

THE EXTREME CENTRE: HOW THE NEOLIBERAL PROJECT HAS RESHAPED THE WORLD

Tuesday, 16 February 2016, 5-7PM

Tariq Ali (writer, filmmaker and editor of New Left Review)

The Extreme Centre: How the Neoliberal Project Has Reshaped the World  

BGLT (SOAS, Brunei Gallery), Bloomsbury, London

Discussant: Dr Feyzi Ismail (SOAS)

Abstract: Since 1989, politics has become a contest to see which politicians can best serve the needs of the market. The result is always the same: a victory for the Extreme Centre. The same catastrophe has taken place in the US, Britain, Continental Europe and Australia. In this urgent and wide-ranging case for the prosecution, Tariq Ali looks at the people and the events that have informed this moment of political suicide: corruption in Westminster; the failures of the EU and NATO; the soft power of the American Empire that dominates the world stage uncontested. Despite this inertia, Ali goes in search of alternative futures, finding promise in the Bolivarian revolutions of Latin America and the edges of Europe. Emerging parties in Scotland, Greece and Spain, formed out of the 2008 crisis, as well as Corbynism in Britain, are offering new hope for democracy.

Tariq Ali has been a leading figure on the international left since the 60s, having engaged in debates against the Vietnam War with leading politicians of the time. He has written extensively on world history and politics; his works include The Obama Syndrome, The Clash of Fundamentalisms and his most recent publication, The Extreme Centre: A Warning. Described by the Observer as an ‘intellectual bomb thrower’ his contributions extend to film and theatre scripts, novels and published conversations, such as with Edward Said. He is a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio and contributes to magazines and newspapers including The Guardian and the London Review of Books.

All welcome, no need to book. Seating is available on a first come, first served, basis so please arrive early to be sure of a seat.

On behalf of the seminar organising committee: Alfredo Saad-Filho, Feyzi Ismail, Jo Tomkinson, Carolina Alves, Lorenza Monaco and Jai Bhatia

Further details of all the seminars are available on the SOAS Development Studies Department website: https://www.soas.ac.uk/development/events/devstudseminars/

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/soas-ds-seminar-tariq-ali-on-the-extreme-centre-how-the-neoliberal-project-has-reshaped-the-world

***END***

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Where Are We? The Revolutionary Left and the Class Struggle in the World Today

Class Struggle

WHERE ARE WE? THE REVOLUTIONARY LEFT AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE IN THE WORLD TODAY

XI Congress of Historical and Social Research of CEICS – Center for Study and Research in Social Sciences
International Meeting of the Revolutionary Left
– Call for Papers –
Where are we? The Revolutionary Left and the class struggle in the world today
Buenos Aires, from September 1 to 3 of 2016

The world burns: Africa is affected by the violence product of a growing social decay that deepens from the crisis of the Arab Spring to Boko Haram.  In the extremely pauperized Asia new conflicts arise from the economic slowdown; Europe moves from recession to mass mobilizations and struggles against the capitalist adjustment. USA swings between post-Obama political apathy and the radicalization of the Republican right; Middle East is, today, a seething cauldron; Latin America undergoes the crisis of the Bonapartist regimes that formerly appeased the almost revolutionary crisis of the end of last century.
Everywhere are to be seen these multifaceted expressions of a general crisis of global political relations. However, nowhere are to be seen the formation and development of revolutionary parties, let alone international coordination. Why doesn’t the crisis beget its own gravedigger? Furthermore, how is the class struggle today? What’s the role of the revolutionary vanguard? Is it carrying out the political task of building a revolutionary party? Those are the questions that we want to pose on the eve of the anniversary of the Russian Revolution:
For this purpose, we call, in the frame of the XI Congress of Historical and Social Research, the International Meeting of the Revolutionary Left. Its aim is to foster the scientific study of reality to further advance in the construction of the strategy and development of the organizations necessary to change that reality.  As in previous editions we invite researchers and activists of all tendencies to forge the necessary unity between reason and revolution.

The conference will be organized around four themes:

1. The global crisis
a. The economy
b. The society
c. The politics

2. The political alternatives
a. The religious fundamentalism
b. The nationalist movements
c. The crisis of Latin American populism
d. The emergence of alternatives in Europe
e. The anti-systemic movements

3. The current situation of the revolutionary left
a. What remains of Maoism and Guevarism?
b. Trotskyism today
c. The non-marxist left
d. Many strategies or no strategies?
e. Do we need a new international?

4. Marxism in the XXI century
a. Is the crisis of Marxism gone?
b. Marxism and modern science
c. Balance and prospects

Closure meeting:  Debate and discussion with revolutionary organizations

The themes are suggested as a guide for participants. However, this list is not exhaustive. Proposals are expected to be focused on these issues, either in current or historical perspective; empirical analysis and theoretical reflections are both welcome.

Timetable and format:
1. Deadline proposals for symposiums, Panel discussions and book presentations:  30th April 2016 proposals.
2. Deadline Abstracts: 30th, June 30 abstracts.
3. Deadline for presentations: 20th August.
4. Papers should not exceed 20,000 characters with spaces.

For more information please contact   <mailto:jornadas@razonyrevolucion.org> jornadas@razonyrevolucion.org
Website: http://jornadasceics.com.ar

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/xi-congress-of-historical-and-social-research-of-ceics-.-i-international-meeting-of-the-revolutionary-left

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‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

The Arts of Logistics

THE ARTS OF LOGISTSICS

Call for Papers

3^rd and 4^th June 2016

Queen Mary University of London

Keynote Presentations: Deborah Cowen (University of Toronto) and Alberto Toscano (Goldsmiths, University of London)

The so-called “logistics revolution” and its attendant technologies have made possible capitalism’s reproduction and restructuring over the past half century. Among other things, logistics sped up the loading and unloading of ships and helped establish the “global factory,” thereby drastically reducing the labor time required to produce and circulate commodities. This allowed capitalism to expand its economies of scale and relocate manufacturing to wherever worker militancy and the costs of labor were lowest. While the logistics infrastructure has transformed social life the world over, it also has opened up new opportunities for resistance to exploitation. Since the onset of the financial crisis, an array of movements internationally have turned to logistics as a terrain of political struggle, from the work slowdowns of logistics employees to the port and highway blockades of social movements as various as Occupy, the “Boycott, Divest, and Sanction” campaign, and BlackL ivesMatter. Logistics is also increasingly material for art, from representations of global trade in photography and literature to the use of actual shipping containers as performance spaces and pop-up galleries.

“The Arts of Logistics” brings together scholars, activists, and artists from across the humanities and social sciences to interrogate how social movements and the arts respond to a world remade by logistics. Long an important topic for economists, management theorists, and sociologists, logistics is only recently emerging as an object of substantive study by artists and researchers in the humanities. Thus, this conference seeks to further define scholarly, political, and artistic conversations on the nexus of political economy, anti-capitalist struggle, and art.

 

Possible topics participants could engage include the following:

-The politics and aesthetics of mapping logistics or infrastructure – Container art and architecture

-Historical representations of empire, trade, and commodity flows

-The emergence of counter-logistics as an anti-capitalist strategy

-Cultures of surveillance and security

-Labour and consumer activism around the “global factory”

-Data and network visualisation

-Queering logistics

 

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers in a variety of formats. As an interdisciplinary conference, we also welcome practical demonstrations by artists, performances lectures, roundtables, and more.

Please submit an abstract of 300 words (max) and a short bio of 50 words (max) to both conference organisers: Shane Boyle (m.s.boyle@qmul.ac.uk) and Aylwyn Walsh (awalsh@lincoln.ac.uk) by February 22. Please make sure to include your preferred contact information and specify ‘The Arts of Logistics’ in your subject line. If you are interested in making a proposal that involves multiple contributions or lasts longer than 20 minutes (like a roundtable or screening) please be in touch with the organisers as soon as possible.

First Published in http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/cfp-the-arts-of-logistics

***END***

‘Human Herbs’ – a song by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski @ Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

Ruth Rikowski @ Academia: http://lsbu.academia.edu/RuthRikowski

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.co.uk/

Ruth Rikowski at Serendipitous Moments: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/