New York Collective of Radical Educators Conference 2014

NYCoRE

NEW YORK COLLECTIVE OF RADICAL EDUCATORS CONFERENCE 2014

5th Annual NYCoRE Conference

Radical Possibilities

Location: Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School (BCAM)

300 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY11205

Date: Saturday, March 15, 2014

 

Conference Overview:

Keynote Panel

Asean Johnson, 4th Grader and Education Activist Shoenice Reynolds, Education Activist and Asean’s mom

As those who spend time in schools well know, our schools do not function as bubbles. Both in individual interactions, and in large-scale policies, the inequities and injustices that permeate our society as a whole are keenly evident inside classrooms. To quote Jean Anyon, a scholar who has been an inspiration to many of us, an urban school “is an institution whose basic problems are caused by, and whose basic problems reveal, the other crises in cities: poverty, joblessness, and low-wages, and racial and class segregation” (2005, p. 177). In understanding the significant challenges faced by students, parents, and educators, these contextual factors cannot be ignored.

Even in the midst of these inequities, schools remain full of passion and potential. The joyful possibility of justice and liberation is at the heart of the work of teaching and learning, and is what sustains many educators in a policy climate that devalues and undermines their work. That possibility is called into being when a student takes a risk to express a dearly-held idea, when a parent-teacher conversation  transforms both participants, when a teacher realizes that maybe they didn’t have to hold on to control so tightly.  We are reminded that a flash of understanding can appear; that inspiration can strike; that tomorrow can be different from today.

When those moments of possibility and justice occur inside schools, they are beautiful and powerful.  But they are not enough.  Not enough to counter the school-to-prison pipeline. Not enough to counter profit-driven education “reforms.” Not enough to dismantle the barriers to opportunity that exist for undocumented students, students living in poverty, students who experience racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia, and other forms of structural oppression. The challenges and injustices that we face call us to draw upon all of our creativity, unity, and strength to imagine radically different schools in a radically different world.

The problems that our schools face will not be fixed by band-aids or by the lemon-juice-in-the-wound of teacher evaluation systems. They won’t be fixed by collecting more data, or by more testing, or by squeezing more phonics drills into a shorter time. As these pressures increase, we must become ever more creative in imagining radical possibilities and creating change, both within schools, and in the larger society of which they are a part. We must imagine ways for students to speak their experiences loudly and clearly, not just to classmates, but to their school, neighborhood, and global communities. We must imagine ways for parents and teachers to work together, not only during two nights of the year, but in lasting, sturdy coalitions that could revive the heart and soul of education. We must imagine ways in which each of us can move beyond our fears and our habits and reach out to others, building the passionate and powerful community connections that catalyze social change.

Anyon wrote of the power of such Radical Possibilities: “If those of us who are angry about injustice can recapture this revolutionary spirit of democracy, and if we can act on it together, then we may be able to create a force powerful enough to produce economic justice and real, long-term school reform in America’s cities (2005, P. 200).” Only by working as a people united can we imagine a different world; a world based in justice, equity, democracy, love and joy.

Reference: Anyon, J. (2005). Radical Possibilities:  Public Policy, Urban Education, and a New Social Movement, pp. 49, 177. Routledge:  New York, NY.

 

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

8:45-9:30    Registration and Breakfast
9:30-10:45    Opening and Keynote
11:00-12:30    Workshop #1
12:30-1:30    Lunch and Tabling
1:45- 3:15    Workshop #2
3:30-5:00    Workshop #3
5:00-5:30    Community Building
5:45-8:00    After party

 

About NYCoRE

New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) is a group of current and former public school educators and their allies committed to fighting for social justice in our school system and society at large, by organizing and mobilizing teachers, developing curriculum, and working with community, parent, and student organizations. We are educators who believe that education is an integral part of social change and that we must work both inside and outside the classroom because the struggle for justice does not end when the school bell rings.  NYCoRE members hold in common nine Points of Unity which can be found here:  http://www.nycore.org/nycore-info/points-of-unity/

Goals of the Conference

To share information and critical thinking around the conference theme, namely imagining possibilities for justice and liberation for education.

To provide rights-holders in the education system with information and new ideas that can strengthen our effectiveness as activists, both inside and outside of our classrooms (and other sites)

To forge connections between and among educators, researchers, parents, activists, and students, fostering new and innovative partnerships and collaborations

To develop structures for ongoing discussion and working groups about education and social justice

To organize a national voice in the ongoing debate over education reform

To plan actions, advocacy, future meetings

To bridge the gap between youth and educators by creating a space to make young voices heard

To develop and share ideas for inspiring practice, both inside classrooms and in communities

 

For questions: info@nycore.org

See more at: http://www.nycore.org/conference/#sthash.vbyCcLba.dpuf

 

**END**

 

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

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

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Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

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Research in Comparative and International Education – Volume 7 Number 2 (2012)

Bali

RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDCUATION – VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2 (2012)

Now available at: www.wwwords.co.uk/rcie/content/pdfs/7/issue7_2.asp

RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Volume 7 Number 2, 2012, ISSN 1745-4999

D. Brent Edwards Jr. Researching International Processes of Education Policy Formation: conceptual and methodological considerations

Taro Komatsu. Navigating a Divided Society: educational research strategies for post-conflictBosnia and Herzegovina

Gary W.J. Pluim. Multi-level Research on Youth Participation in the Haitian Reconstruction

Heidi Eschenbacher. The Research Process in a Multi-level Mixed-Methods Case Study: international organization headquarters and field employee perspectives of a program inSouthern Sudan

Henry Barmeier. Reciprocal Cross-school Attraction in Domestic Educational Policy Borrowing: an initial conceptualization

Rune Krumsvik. Action Research and ICT Implementation

Matthias Pilz & Jun Li. What Teachers in Pre-vocational Education Should Teach and What They Actually Teach: a comparison of curricula and teaching inGermany andChina

Kerry J. Kennedy. Asian Students’ Citizenship Values and their Relationship to Civic Understanding: an exploratory study comparing Thai andHong Kong students

Hugh Busher, Chris Wilkins & Tony Lawson. Fostering Critical Thinking about Citizenship Education in Particular Contexts: notes from an Anglo-Turkish student teachers’ exchange programme
Access to the full texts of articles is restricted to those who have a Personal subscription, or those whose institution has a Library subscription.

CALL FOR PAPERS: For all editorial matters, including articles offered for publication, please contact the Editor, Professor David Phillips (david.phillips@education.ox.ac.uk). Full details concerning the submission of articles can be found at www.wwwords.co.uk/RCIE/howtocontribute.asp

PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION Subscription to the 2012 issues (this includes access to ALL previous issues) is available to private individuals at a cost of US$50.00. If you wish to subscribe you may do so immediately at www.wwwords.co.uk/subscribeRCIE.asp

LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTION (institution-wide access) If you are working within an institution that maintains a Library, please urge your Librarian to take out a subscription so that we can provide unrestricted access throughout your institution; details of Library subscription rates and access control arrangements can be found at www.symposium-journals.co.uk/prices.html

In the event of problems concerning subscription, or difficulty in gaining access to the journal articles on the website, please email the publishers at support@symposium-journals.co.uk

**END**

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

‘The Lamb’ by William Blake – set to music by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Masters in Dialogue Studies

John Locke

MASTERS IN DIALOGUE STUDIES

MA in Dialogue Studies
School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy (SPIRE), Keele University, UK

The MA in Dialogue Studies is designed for graduates who wish to examine and understand theories of dialogue and their applications in peace-building and in developing intercultural understanding and social cohesion. While definitions of “dialogue” will be explored in the course of the year, it might be loosely defined here as “a range of activities, including but not confined to discussion, through which people of different social, cultural and religious groups deliberately come together for meaningful and constructive interaction.” The MA course explores the theory and practice of dialogue through a unique combination of taught subjects, research, skills-based training and a London-based internship.

The course fills a gap in postgraduate education provision by not only exploring the use of dialogue in conflict and post-conflict situations but also examining its use in combating discrimination, ghettoisation and extremism in countries such as the UK. The main core module accordingly both introduces dialogue for peace-building and explores theUK context for dialogue, drawing on the fields of sociology and history as well as politics.

The degree has a practical outlook and will equip students with knowledge, understanding and skills to effectively engage in and lead dialogue to advance intercultural interaction and understanding and social cohesion. It includes a work placement during which students will gain professional experience with the Dialogue Society. Practical elements will be supported by rigorous, reflective examination of the approaches of governmental and nongovernmental agencies to dialogue, social cohesion and reconciliation. The course’s broad scope and interdisciplinary nature will encourage students to bring broad perspectives to bear on any specific local issues with which they engage professionally.

Students will be able to pursue their particular interests within the degree’s broad remit through a wide choice of elective taught modules and through their dissertation. It will accordingly be possible for each student to choose whether to devote more attention to domestic or to international contexts for dialogue and whether to focus on its applications in peacebuilding or in the promotion of social cohesion.

The course consists of:
•Core module 1: Approaches in Dialogue
•Core module 2: Power, Knowledge and the World
•2 elective taught modules
•A work placement at the Dialogue Society, with practical experience, further training, meetings at relevant government departments and NGOs, and trips exploring multicultural London
•A 15,000 word dissertation

Who is it for?
•Students wishing to explore the theory and practice of intercultural dialogue in the UK context, and in conflict situations abroad
•Professionals and aspiring academics interested in core social issues such as intercultural dialogue, community relations and citizenship
•Activists and dialogue practitioners looking to develop their understanding of relevant social theory while enhancing essential dialogue skills

The MA offers:
•A cutting-edge combination of taught academic subjects, research, skills-based training and internship
•A postgraduate course designed and delivered in partnership by Keele University’s internationally renowned School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy, and the Dialogue Society, a dynamic London-based dialogue charity
•A broad range of elective modules allowing students to pursue their own particular academic interests
•A head start in professional experience through an internship at the Dialogue Society in the heart of multicultural London
•Cultivation of an unusually wide range of valuable transferable skills, comprising academic, professional and personal skills
•Bursaries available to overseas students through the Dialogue Society in addition to those bursaries offered by SPIRE to selected postgraduates
•Quality research training and support

Aims of the Course
The course aims to provide students with the conceptual and analytical skills and the factual knowledge to develop a critical understanding of theoretical and practical approaches to dialogue, peace-building and community cohesion. This understanding will be supported by understanding of key contexts for dialogue, in theUK and in selected conflict situations. The course also aims to equip students with practical skills to engage in and lead intercultural dialogue, chiefly through the professional experience and training provided through the Dialogue Society placement. Further, the course will prepare students for research and support them in producing a dissertation on their chosen topic.

Career Destination Information
The Dialogue Studies Masters is aimed at people who wish to pursue careers in a whole range of sectors. It is relevant to those wishing to gain employment in the civil or government service at the sub-national, national or global level, or to those looking to work with sub-national, national or international NGOs. The course will also be a good preparation for further postgraduate study and is ideally suited to those interested in pursuing study of the theory and practice of dialogue at PhD level and beyond.

In addition, students will graduate with a range of transferable skills beneficial in any number of contexts. These skills will include at least: cultural sensitivity, empathy, teamwork and leadership skills, project management skills, research skills, public speaking skills, ability to lead and chair discussions, dialogue facilitation skills, critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Course Structure and Content
All students will complete two core taught modules as follows:
1.    Approaches to Dialogue (30 credits)
This module will place the practice of dialogue in the context of key concepts, debates and positions relating to multiculturalism, political community and citizenship in Britain and other national contexts. It will explore social, demographic and political issues in the recent (1945-present) history of immigration in Britain including public and political debates about diversity during this period. It will critically review British national state policies for the management of diversity since 1945, focusing on their ideological underpinnings (including multiculturalism, integration and cohesion). Current political and theoretical debates about multiculturalism will inform analysis of the limits and possibilities for dialogue.
The module will focus primarily on the UK context for dialogue. However, select case studies from other national contexts (e.g. Yugoslavia, South Africa) will be drawn upon to critically explore opportunities for, and barriers to, conflict resolution and peace building.
2.    Power, Knowledge and the World (30 credits)
This module aims to provide a foundation in the philosophy of the social sciences and an examination of the core assumptions that underpin different approaches to knowledge generation. It also aims to provide an understanding of the politics and international relations of knowledge generation and circulation. In other words, it examines how social scientists have approached the questions of what to study, how to study, and the ways in which these issues are bound up with historical and current power structures in the world.
The module will prepare students to engage critically and reflectively with the content of the MA course and to undertake the research involved in writing their dissertation.

Elective Modules
Students will be able to pursue their own interests related to theories, practices and contexts for dialogue in choosing from an eclectic range of elective modules.
Elective modules will be chosen from a wide range of SPIRE modules. It may also be possible for students to take modules in Politics, Diplomatic Studies, Management, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Public Policy and History. The precise list of available modules may vary from year to year.
SPIRE modules:
•    Power, Knowledge and the World
•    Environmental Decision Making: the Case of Complex Technologies
•    Global Environmental Change
•    The Theory of Global Security
•    Contemporary Political Philosophy
•    Environmental Ethics
•    Contesting International Relations
•    Parties and Democracy
•    The Changing International Agenda
•    Comparative European Politics
•    Environmental Movements: North and South
•    Environmental Problems and Policies in the US
•    Diplomatic Law
•    Dimensions of Environmental Politics
•    Environmental Diplomacy
•    The Politics of Sin: Culture Wars in the US
•    Race and Justice: Civil Rights in the US

Relevant modules from other Schools:
NB not all these modules will be available every year and they will not always be compatible with Dialogue Studies students’ core commitments.
* Public Policy modules allowing students to expand their understanding of a key element of UK society which may significantly influence intercultural and interreligious relations and social cohesion. Relevant modules include:
* Politics, Political Economy and Public Policy: Explaining and Making Public Policy (MA Public Policy, School of Public Policy and Professional Practice)
* Policy Implementation and Governance: Policy in Action (30 credits, MA Public Policy, School of Public Policy and Professional Practice)
* Global Media and Culture modules giving students the opportunity to develop understanding of key factors shaping British and international contexts for dialogue: globalisation and media in contemporary culture. Relevant modules include:
* Globalisation, Culture, Society (MA Global Media and Culture, Humanities)
* Contemporary Cultural and Media Theory (MA Global Media and Culture, Humanities)
* Sociology modules, through which students may deepen their understanding of the UK context for dialogue. Relevant modules include:
* City Cultures (MA Urban Futures and Sustainable Communities, School of Sociology and Criminology)
* Urban Governance and Policy Making (MA Urban Futures and Sustainable Communities, School of Sociology and Criminology)
* History modules
* Imperialism (BA History, School of Humanities)
* Right-Wing Movements in Inter-War Europe (BA History, School of Humanities)
* Africa Since 1800 (BA History, School of Humanities)
* Management School skills modules, through which students may pursue valuable professional development to enhance their future career
* Leading People
* People, Processes and Operations
* Right-Wing Movements (20 credits, adapted from BA History, School of Humanities)
Students may also choose to study a modern foreign language (other than English).

Work Placement
10-week placement at the Dialogue Society during the Spring semester (30 credits). Students’ activities will include:
• Helping London-based community centres to branch out and run dialogue projects to bring local communities together, with the support of Dialogue Society staff and resources. Students will work in small teams and will each have the opportunity to manage a small-scale dialogue project. 2011 projects included a seminar on knife crime for local residents, Mothers’ Day visits to local care homes with children who use the community centres, and an official opening celebration for one community centre.
• Supporting ongoing Dialogue Society projects and events.
• Attending weekly sessions at the Dialogue Society’s Dialogue School. This will enable students to further explore and discuss different approaches to dialogue as well as providing training in a number of key skills for organised dialogue.
• Networking at external events.
• Exploring the cultural, religious and political landscape of multicultural London through visits to relevant government departments, other dialogue NGOs, places of worship and areas of particular historical/cultural interest. The 2011 placement included visits to the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, a historical tour of East London and visits to a Gurdwara, a Buddhist Centre and a Synagogue.
• Keeping records of the placement and producing a reflective diary.

Assessment
•    Examination of taught modules will be by written coursework and assessment of tutorial performance only (no written examinations)
The work placement will be assessed on:
•    Attendance
•    Performance and management of assigned tasks
•    The student’s written plans and records
•    The student’s placement diary
•    Students demonstrating an outstanding level of work will receive their degree with distinction.

Funding
SPIRE offers a limited number of bursaries to postgraduate students. Details are available on SPIRE’s website.

The Dialogue Society offers a limited number of bursaries for the Dialogue Studies MA postgraduate degree. The bursary only covers the difference between overseas and home fee rate. Effectively therefore, successful students will only pay University fee at home fee rate. To apply for a Dialogue Society bursary, students must first receive an offer from Keele University for this degree.

Further information
For further information please visit:
http://www.keele.ac.uk/pgapply/
http://www.keele.ac.uk/spire/postgraduatecourses/madialoguestudies/
http://www.dialoguesociety.org/master/dialogue-studies-ma.html

 

**END**

 

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

‘Stagnant’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo  

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s MySpace Blog: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski/blog

Crossroads: Critical Theories in an Uncertain World

Critique

CROSSROADS: CRITICAL THEORIES IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD

Society for Socialist Studies
Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences
May 30 – June 2, 2012, Waterloo, ON

You know the nearer your destination
The more you are slip sliding away
Paul Simon

There are always some people who think that their time has just begun while others fear that they have run the course of history. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, liberals lamented the decay of free market capitalism and social democrats were disappointed that the organized capitalism they had envisioned as an alternative to the unfettered rule of capital had not materialized. Communists saw the general crisis of capitalism as the perfect chance to advocate their Soviet alternative whereas the Nazis rebuilt the power of capital in the name of racial superiority. Reflecting on the economic and political conditions of the 1930s, Adorno and Horkheimer argued that the dialectic of enlightenment had transformed societies in such a way that the historical choices Rosa Luxemburg had seen – ‘socialism or barbarism’ – were replaced by different kinds of barbarism. Dissident intellectuals like Benjamin, Freud, and Arendt seconded such arguments. Keynes struck a more positive tone by suggesting to reinvent liberalism could by aligning it with reformist labour movements.

Without a doubt, Keynes embedded liberalism was much more human than Hitler’s and Stalin’s respective empires. Yet capitalism with a human face also had its costs: Democratic participation was subjugated to technocratic management processes, entire groups of people, notably women, ethnic minorities, and immigrants, were marginalized, the Global South was turned into a site of proxy-wars between capitalism and Soviet communism, and Mother Nature was misused in the name of never-ending prosperity. By the late 1960s, a new generation of protestors, inspired by theoreticians as Marcuse and Mills but also by poets and singers of a burgeoning counter-culture, rebelled against the one-dimensional men that the allegedly antagonistic systems of the East and the West had both produced. Critical thinking, it seemed, became a force of social change. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long  until the then New Left began to mimic Old Left party building, with each of the self-appointed vanguard organizations claiming exclusive possession of the eternal truth, or disintegrate into single-issue movements of all kinds. With hindsight, the respective insularities of those new proletarian vanguards and social movements look like a practical anticipation of postmodern thinking, which accompanied the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980s.

The collapse of the Soviet empire completed the complementary rise of neoliberalism on the right and postmodernism on the left. Ironically, even the small group of socialists who maintained that there are alternatives to capitalism and actually existing socialism abandoned their hopes after the latter ceased to exist. During the 1990s, neoliberals were as triumphant as Soviet propagandists had been in the 1930s, while the left was as scattered and disoriented as Great Depression liberals. Critical theories were as homeless as they were during that earlier period. The discontent with neoliberalism, which was growing over the 1990s, eventually produced a new generation of protestors who took to the streets without reading Marx, Marcuse or Mao. At a series of World Social Forums and similar events, each presenting a mix of protests and teach-ins, they sought to build a movement of movements – but couldn’t withstand the pressures of permanent warfare to which neoliberalism took refuge after the New Economy boom went bust. The Great Recession of recent years produced new kinds of discontent but, so far at least, nothing that amounts to a movement for progressive change. Ideas around which such movements could coalesce are also in short supply. Where they exist, they oscillate between abstract principles and small-scale experiments like in the days of Fourier and Owen. Unlike the utopian socialists of the early 19th century, though, we possess lots of experiences of failure that might contribute to a new socialist project.

In a world that has entirely changed since capitalism and socialist critique first developed old questions need to be answered in new ways. What is the relationship between our understandings of the world and visions of a new world? How much understanding of reality is possible in the first place? Where is the line between concrete utopias and eschatological beliefs? Who are the agents of progressive change? Which role can intellectuals play to support such change?

The Society of Socialist Studies invites proposals for papers, roundtables, and session addressing any aspect of the theme of “Crossroads: Critical Theories in an Uncertain World”.

Proposals for Roundtables and Sessions
At this point we are mainly interested in proposals for roundtables and sessions, which will then be posted on our website so that individuals can propose papers to all suggested sessions. Proposals for roundtables should include a list of participants. Unlike sessions they are not open for individual proposals.

Proposals for Papers
You can submit proposals for an individual paper at this point. The Programme Committee will try to find a place for it. Sessions open for individual proposals will be posted to our website as soon as they are accepted by the Programme Committee.

Please submit abstracts (maximum of 100 words) for any proposals before 15 January 2012 to: Ingo Schmidt, Programme Committee Chair, ingos@athabascau.ca

Please note: The Society for Socialist Studies is committed to interdisciplinary work. Anyone suggesting a session, roundtable, or paper who is also affiliated with other associations participating in Congress may think about cross-listing their proposals.

http://socialiststudies.ca/

http://socialiststudies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/CfP_Congress-2012_SSS.pdf

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Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

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International Critical Thought

Critique

INTERNATIONAL CRITICAL THOUGHT

International Critical Thought
I am delighted to pass on details of this exciting new initiative from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Call for Papers

International Critical Thought (ICT), an English-language quarterly edited by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and published by Routledge, which made its debut in the first quarter of 2011, is now calling for submissions.

The journal comes up as a response to recent developments that have crippled the capitalist regime and led the world to a period of fundamental change. It aims to serve the Marxist and left scholars in their reflection upon the past and inquiry into the future, with an emphasis laid on coalescence of social concern with academic rigor, and bettering of the reality through better understanding it. As a 21-century forum, ICT goes along with cultural diversity and intellectual openness, and is most willing to facilitate dialogues not just within left community but also between the left and other social thoughts. And as a journal based in China, it lends an extra attentive ear to the developing world experience, for instance, to discussion on what China’s rise means to the world and in particular the world socialism.

So, a publication outlet for left scholarship across the world, ICT welcomes studies done in various academic disciplines employing different research tools. Articles reviewing interesting books are also needed. The length of contributions may vary between 2,000 (for book review for example) and 6,000 words, and follow the Chicago Manual of Style in writing and citation.

We look forward to hearing from you. For further information, please contact Dr. Gao Jingyu via email gaojy@cass.org.cn.

Sincerely yours,
Cheng, Enfu (Chief Editor, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

Guideline for Contributing to the Column of ‘Information and Trend’

International Critical Thought will have a column ‘Information and Trend’ that publishes specially on Leftist organizations around the world. The following is a brief description of the requirements for submitting to this column for the purpose of introducing your organization and its periodicals or events.
（1）Length: the length of the body of your submission should be between 500 to 800 words in English.
（2）The content of your submission need to include the following information:
A. Name of the organization, year of establishment, goal of the organization, current chair (including title and institutional affiliation), contact information (name and email of the contact person).
B. Description of the major activities of the organization, such as academic conferences organized in the past five years and their themes, time and location, periodicals sponsored by the organization or communiqué within the organization.
C. Important plans for future academic events, and their theme, time and location.

Please include contributors’ biographical information and clear contact information in your submission, including the contributor’s name, affiliation, title, telephone, mailing address, and email of the contact person (this part is not included when the number of words are counted for the submission).

 

**END**

 

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

 

‘Maximum levels of boredom

Disguised as maximum fun’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales)  

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

The Ockress: http://www.theockress.com

Rikowski Point: http://rikowskipoint.blogspot.com

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

International Socialist Review – Issue 76

Socialism and Hope

INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW – ISSUE 76

Issue 76: March–April (2011)

ISR 76: http://isreview.org/index.shtml

CONTENTS 

Revolt in the Middle East 
Another World is Possible

Middle East in Revolution

Editorial 
The actuality of revolution

Ahmed Shawki and Mostafa Omar 
Chronicle of a revolution 
A running account of the movement that brought down Hosni Mubarak

Matt Swagler 
Tunisia: A dictator falls, but what comes next?

Phil Gasper • Critical Thinking 
Can revolution happen here? 
Mass protests are taking place around the world. Will anything similar happen in the U.S.?

Features

Deepa Kumar 
Political Islam: A Marxist analysis 
Part one of a two-part series

Ken Loach 
Between commodity and communication: Has film fulfilled its potential? 
The director of Land and Freedom speaks at the London Film Festival

Noam Chomsky 
Human intelligence and the environment 
How what is rational in capitalist terms is irrational in environmental terms

Stuart Easterling 
Mexico’s revolution, 1910-1920 
The concluding part of a three-part series on the Mexican Revolution

Bolivia today: A debate 
Jeffery Webber’s article, “Bolivia’s reconstituted neoliberalism” (International Socialist Review, September–October 2010), draws a dissenting response from Federico Fuentes, and a rejoinder from Webber

Books

Hadas Thier 
Gaza’s nightmare: the truth about Israel 
A review of two new books about Israel’s war on the Palestinian people

PLUS: Helen Redmond reviews Sabstian Junger’s War, Jim Ramey review’s Nir Rosen’s Aftermath; Chris Williams reviews The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth; Jason Farbman reviews two new books on the struggle in Latin America; Dao X. Tran reviews a memoir of a Vietnamese Trotskyist

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Research in Comparative and International Education – Volume 5 Number 4 (2010)

Deadwing

RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION – VOLUME 5 NUMBER 4 (2010)

Just published!

Now available at: www.wwwords.co.uk/rcie/content/pdfs/5/issue5_4.asp

RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Volume 5 Number 4 2010   ISSN 1745-4999

CONTENTS:

Kathrin Leuze. From Higher Education to Work: public and professional sector employment in Germany and Britain

Anna Maria Piussi & Remei Arnaus. Higher Education in Europe: a comparative female approach

Maria Eliophotou Menon. Influences on the Decision to Enter Higher Education in Cyprus: a comparison of students’ and teachers’ perspectives

Anna Horvai. Recognising the Roma and their Rights: an analysis of exclusion and integration in the education system

Satomi Izumi-Taylor, Yoko Ito & Andrew Gibbons. Early Childhood Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching Technology to Children in Japan and the United States

Xue Han & Hequn Wang. Mathematics Teachers’ Professional Development Opportunities in the Curriculum Reform of China

Nancy Burkhalter & Maganat Shegebayev. The Critical Thinking Movement in Kazakhstan: a progress report

Access to the full texts of articles is restricted to those who have a Personal subscription, or those whose institution has a Library subscription. However, all articles become free-to-view 18 months after first publication.

CALL FOR PAPERS: For all editorial matters, including articles offered for publication, please contact the Editor, Professor David Phillips (david.phillips@education.ox.ac.uk). Full details concerning the submission of articles can be found at www.wwwords.co.uk/RCIE/04.html

PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION. Subscription to the 2011 issues (this includes access to ALL PAST ISSUES, including those of 2010) is available to private individuals at a cost of US$50.00. If you wish to subscribe you may do so immediately at www.wwwords.co.uk/subscribeRCIE.asp

LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTION (institution-wide access). If you are working within an institution that maintains a Library, please urge your Librarian to take out a subscription so that we can provide unrestricted access throughout your institution; details of subscription rates and access control arrangements for libraries can be found at www.symposium-journals.co.uk/prices.html

In the event of problems concerning subscription, or difficulty in gaining access to the journal articles on the website, please email the publishers at support@symposium-journals.co.uk

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Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies – Volume 8 Number 2 (December 2010)

Dave Hill

JOURNAL FOR CRITICAL EDUCATION POLICY STUDIES – VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2 (DECEMBER 2010)

The latest edition of JCEPS (The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies) is now online.

JCEPS is a free, online, peer-juried/refereed international scholarly journal.

It is online at: http://www.jceps.com. 

Dave Hill (Chief/ Founding Editor; Middlesex University, London, UK; Visiting Professor of Education at  Athens University, Greece; Visiting Professor of Critical Education Policy and Equality Studies at the University of Limerick, Ireland)

Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, Volume 8, Number 2: December 2010

CONTENTS:

Anna-Carin Jonsson and Dennis Beach (University of Borås, Sweden): Reproduction of social class in teacher education: The influence of scientific theories on future teachers’ implicit beliefs

Petar Jandric (Polytechnic Graduate School, Zagreb, Croatia): Wikipedia and education: anarchist perspectives and virtual practices

Periklis Pavlidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece): Critical Thinking as Dialectics: a Hegelian-Marxist Approach

Andrew N. McNight (University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, USA): A Pragmatic and pedagogically Minded Revaluation of Historical Materialism

Diana Mulinari and Anders Neergaard (Centre for Gender Studies, Lund University, Sweden; Institute for Migration, Ethnicity and Society, Linköping University, Sweden): The ‘others’ in Sweden. Neoliberal policies and the politics of ‘race’ in education

James Avis (Huddersfield University, UK): Workplace learning, knowledge, practice and transformation

Imed Labidi (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA): Arab Education Going Medieval: Sanitizing Western Representation in Arab Schools

Margaret Kennedy and Martin J. Power (University of Limerick, Ireland): ‘The Smokescreen of meritocracy’: Elite Education in Ireland and the reproduction of class privilege

Magnus Dahlstedt and Mekonnen Tesfahuney (Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society), Linköping University, Sweden; University of Karlstad, Sweden): Speculative Pedagogy: Education, Entrepreneurialism and the Politics of Inclusion in Contemporary Sweden

Jean Leon Boucher (The University of Texas at El Paso, USA): There Will be Struggle: The Development and Operational Issues of Social Justice Programs at State Universities in the United States of America

Knud Jensen and Dirk Michel-Schertges (Aarhus University, School of Education, Denmark): Transforming of Educational Institutions after GATS – Consequences in Social Relations as Corporation, Competition and State Regulation

Donn Short (University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada): Conversations in Equity and Social Justice: Constructing Safe Schools for Queer Youth

Shahrzad Mojab (Ontario Institute in the Studies of Education, University of Toronto, Canada): Pedagogical Possibilities of Class in Culture: Review of: Ebert, Teresa, L. and Mas’ud Zavarzadeh (2008) Class in Culture. Boulder, Colorado: Paradigm Publishers.

Samuel Day Fassbinder (DeVry University. USA): Book Review: Nocella II, Anthony J., Steven Best, and Peter McLaren, eds. Academic Repression: Reflections from the Academic-Industrial Complex. Oakland CA: AK, 2010.

The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies is a free e-journal published by The Institute for Education Policy Studies (IEPS)

IEPS is an independent Radical Left/ Socialist/ Marxist institute for developing policy analysis and development of education policy. It is at www.ieps.org.uk The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS) seeks to develop Marxist and other Left analysis of education.

The Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies seeks and publishes articles that critique global, national, neo-liberal, neo-conservative, New Labour, Third Way, postmodernist and other analyses of policy developments, as well as those that attempt to report on, analyse and develop Socialist/ Marxist transformative policy for schooling and education from a number of Radical Left perspectives. JCEPS also addresses issues of social class, ‘race’, gender, sexual orientation, disability and capital/ism; critical pedagogies; new public managerialism and academic / non-academic labour, and empowerment/ disempowerment. JCEPS welcomes articles from academics and activists throughout the globe. It is a refereed / peer reviewed/ peer juried international journal.

Contact: dave.hill@ieps.org.uk and DAVE6@mdx.ac.uk

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Desparate Times at Mesa College – by John J. Crocitti

Critical Pedagogy

DESPERATE TIMES AT MESA COLLEGE by JOHN J. CROCITTI

A new piece has been inserted on the ‘Contributions’ section of The Flow of Ideas website – Desperate Times at Mesa College – by John J. Crocitti.

John considers the difficulties of trying to undertake worthwhile teaching at community college at places like Mesa College, USA.

He focuses on topics such as the problems of burn out, the associated difficulties of encouraging critical thinking, and the difficulties of successfully nurturing advanced and able students.

See John’s article at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=378&slink=yes

 

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Reimagine the University

Higher Education

REIMAGINE THE UNIVERSITY

How could we transform the university, how could students and lecturers learn differently through more creative, critical and empowering processes, is it even possible to transform the university, or do we need to create an entirely different system?

We invite you to be a part of exploring and demonstrating an alternative educational system over three days. Be it a workshop, a lecture a discussion a film an event, we are calling… on students, lecturers and staff and others to come together and show another university is possible.

***
For a long time the university has been undergoing a process of privatisation.

Universities are now run as businesses, with students as consumers and lecturers as creators of products – knowledge has become a commodity that can be bought and sold. The sole purpose of university has become to train docile workers to perform functions within a capitalist system, to contribute to the enrichment of the few rather than the collective social improvement of all.

The recent Browne Report, written by former executive of BP, takes this process to a whole new level- proposing a removal on the cap on fees which will create an even more hierarchical education system, reducing research funding and rising fees to an estimated £10,000 a year. All this results in students taking on more debt for the same education, with lecturers being forced to carry out ‘economies exercises’ and staff working longer hours and harder for less money.

It is clear that the university system is becoming bankrupt and in need of profound change, but no-one can see an alternative, a solution, a way out.

As workers and students at different places within the university system, we can see a different way forward, we don’t have all the answers, but we have many ideas and are sure there are many more out there. We are putting on a three-day event across the university to facilitate the process of re-imagining the higher education system. We would like to explore how universities can become a place where creative and critical thought is fostered, where participants teach what inspires them, learn what they are passionate about, where people share and develop their skills and knowledge in order to create a more equitable and sustainable world, not simply for jobs and profit.

To be held at University of Leeds & Leeds Metropolitican University 24th -26th November

Precise locations and workshops to be announced on our website: http://www.reallyopenuniversity.org

END

‘I believe in the afterlife.

It starts tomorrow,

When I go to work’

Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Human Herbs’ at: http://www.myspace.com/coldhandsmusic (recording) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h7tUq0HjIk (live)

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International Socialist Review 73

Socialism and Hope

INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW 73

FROM REFORM TO REBELLION

http://www.isreview.org/

Issue 73: September–October
From Reform to Rebellion
Image and reality in the Bolivia of Evo Morales

Election 2010

Lance Selfa • Analysis in brief
Preparing for a Republican comeback? The political terrain of the mid-term elections

Phil Gasper • Critical Thinking
The Democrats’ broken promises: Obama’s progressive supporters have been disillusioned in record time

Immigration

Justin Akers Chácon
The preventable rise of Arizona’s SB 1070

Justin Akers Chácon
Free trade without free people: Politics of the U.S.-Mexico border

International

Antonis Davanellos
Crisis, austerity, and class struggle in Greece

Toufic Haddad • Interview
The future of the Palestinian movement

Jeffery R. Webber
From rebellion to reform in Bolivia: Image and reality under Evo Morales

The economy

David McNally
The mutating crisis of global capitalism

David Harvey
Explaining the crisis
Interview with the author of The Enigma of Capital

Books

Geoff Bailey
Searching for the new, resurrecting the old
Review of The Coming Insurrection

Jeff Bale
Making sense of modern imperialism
Review of Imperialism and Global Political Economy, by Alex Callinicos

Leela Yellesetty
How the racial caste system got restored   
Review of Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow

plus Nagesh Rao on Marx’s approach to non-Western societies; James Illingworth on Marxism and history; Scott McLemee on Irving Bernstein’s books on workers during the Depression

Debate

Tom Wetzel, Sebastian Lamb, and Eric Kerl
Contemporary anarchism: An exchange

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International Socialist Review 172

Socialism and Hope

INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST REVIEW 72

ISSUE 72:
July-August 2010

¡Todos Somos Arizona!

Letter from the editors

http://www.isreview.org/index.shtml

ANALYSIS IN BRIEF

Sharon Smith
Laws that need breaking: It’s impossible to avoid comparing Arizona today to the South in the era of Jim Crow

PLUS: plus Nicole Colson on abortion rights in peril; Giles Ji Ungpakorn on the Red Shirt revolt in Thailand; John Pilger on the modern class war in Greece

COLUMN

Phil Gasper • Critical thinking

Economic crisis and class struggle: Are recessions better for the left or the right?

FEATURES

Orlando Sepúlveda
¡Todos somos Arizona!
The revival of the immigrant rights movement since the passage of SB1070

Noam Chomsky, interviewed by David Barsamian
The new imperialism

Tikva Honig-Parnass
Apartheid Israel and the contradictions of left Zionism

Dave Zirin
Women, gender, and sports

Eric Kerl
Contemporary anarchism

Chris Williams
Marxism and the environment
The real track record, from Marx and Engels to the Bolsheviks and beyond: An excerpt from the New Ecology and Socialism

Frances Fox Piven
The working class in the Great Depression
A celebrated left sociologist introduces new editions of Irving Bernstein’s The Lean Years and The Turbulent Years

BOOK REVIEWS

Michael Steven Smith and Paul Le Blanc
Learning from a revolutionary
Review of Peter Camejo’s memoir, North Star

Sherry Wolf
Are men really better athletes?
Review of Playing with the Boys: Why Separate is Not Equal

PLUS: Greg Love on the business of capturing and transporting Africans to be slaves; Ashley Smith on Dilip Hiro’s After Empire: Helen Redmond on why surgical errors are no accident; Paul D’Amato on Lenin’s Marxism

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