University for Strategic Optimism

University for Strategic Optimism

UNIVERSITY FOR STRATEGIC OPTIMISM

A university based on the principle of free and open education, a return of politics to the public, and the politicisation of public space.

About

Our basic public services, we are told, are simply too expensive. They must be thrown under the wheels of the megalithic debt that bears down upon us. They must be privatised, corporatised and commodified. All this so we can ensure the continuation of a system that funnels wealth into the hands of a privileged few. This failed and flailing market system, we are told, is the only one that is possible, drastic cuts the only alternative, the fairest thing to do. Any deviation from the path laid out for us will unleash the worst imaginable, a media-imagined Worst that threatens from our darkened skies.

The UfSO offers an emphatic No! to this description of our current situation, and sees instead a magnificent opportunity, a multiplication of possibilities, the opening of a space in which we might think about, and bring about, a fairer and and more fulfilling society for all. In short: Many good reasons for strategic optimism! We urge a rampant questioning of the ideological basis for the relentless privatisation and privation of our lives: Are these cuts incoherent, as some have said? Or is this a specific move/set of moves on the part of neoliberal capital? Are labour, education, healthcare, and the environment, mere commodities, to be consumed by those who will redeem them as more capital? Can the opposition to cuts begin moving towards a society ‘fit for purpose’? Is it still easier to imagine The End-of-the-World than The End-of-Capitalism?

University for Strategic Optimism: http://universityforstrategicoptimism.wordpress.com/

**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

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

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

 

 

Critical Theories in the 21st Century: A Conference of Transformative Pedagogies

 

Critical Education Against Global Capitalism – Paula Allman

CRITICAL THEORIES IN THE 21st CENTURY: A CONFERENCE OF TRANSFORMATIVE PEDAGOGIES

Second Annual West Chester Critical Theories Conference

Call for Papers

Due to the success of last years’ inaugural event, we are very excited about the upcoming Critical Theories in the Twenty-First Century conference at West Chester University. Due to the deepening crisis of global capital and the anti-capitalist movement in embryo (since last November), this year we added a special theme: Critical Education Against Capitalism. As many reactions to the ravages of capital are reformist in nature, failing to identify and target the true causes (i.e. private property as a complex historical process) of exploitation, injustices, war, educational expansion as well as educational budget cuts, ideological indoctrination, and so on, especially in critical pedagogy, this discussion targeting the root capitalist cause of life at the present moment is particularly relevant and needed.

Consequently, whereas last year “the call for proposals” was “general enough to be inclusive of many critical approaches to transformative or revolutionary pedagogies and theory,” this year we ask the critical pedagogy community to present their works in a way that demonstrates how it contributes to achieving a post-capitalist society. As such, we can suggest a few relevant themes for proposals: Marxist educational theory, Anarchist pedagogies, austerity/educational budget cuts, ignoring poverty, racialization and hegemony, (anti)settler-colonialism/imperialism, indigenous critical theory/autonomous governance, anti-capitalist eco-pedagogy, atheism and education, queer theory against capital, etc.

While this conference will include important presentations and debates between key figures in critical pedagogy, it will not be limited to this focus. In other words, as critical theory becomes more inclusive, global, and all encompassing, this conference welcomes more than just academics as important contributors. That is, we recognize students and youth groups as possessing authentic voices based on their unique relationship to capitalism and will therefore be open to them as presenters and discussion leaders (as was done in 2011). While this inclusivity is obviously designed to challenge traditional distributions of social power in capitalist societies, it will not be done romantically where participants’ internalized hegemonies are not challenged. Put another way, while students will be included as having something valuable to contribute, they will both be subjected to the same scrutiny as established academics, as well as invited to share their own critiques. All participants will therefore be included in the discussions of why and how to achieve a post-capitalist society.

When:

November 16th and 17th

Duration:

Friday evening and all day Saturday

Where:

West Chester University, West Chester, PA

Purpose:

To contribute to the wide and deep network of critical educators throughout the world; working with students and workers building a vast coalition of critical thinkers who know that a meaningful life after capitalism is possible.

Costs:

While we are securing small in-house grants at WCU to help cover the cost of meals and keynote speakers, we will ask for conference fees using the following sliding scale:

$20: students

$100: professors and teachers

Our goal is to set up a scholarship fund for out of town graduate students unable to travel due to financial restraints. This fund might not begin to produce opportunities for a year or two, but we want to start it right away. While this goal was established last year, we have yet to establish any funding here.

Submissions:

Non-traditional proposals

Traditional paper presentations where 500+ word proposal summaries of papers are submitted

Submissions are due October 19th, 2012.

Please submit proposals to: anarcho72@gmail.com

Further details at: http://ct21st.org/

**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  

‘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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

 

Marxian Analysis of Society, School and Education SIG #157 (MASSES) – AERA 2013

Marxism and Education

MARXIAN ANALYSIS OF SOCIETY, SCHOOL AND EDUCATION SIG #157(MASSES) – AERA 2013 

American Educational Research Association

Annual Meeting

San Francisco, California

April 27 – May 1, 2013

 

Marxian Analysis of Society, School and Education SIG #157

CALL FOR PAPERS

AERA 2013

The global financial crisis detonated in the West in 2007 has highlighted long-standing structural faults within capitalism, especially in its financialization of the economy – something that Marx and his predecessors already predicted. The current economic genocidal policies in nations such as Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Cyprus, along with the bailouts to specific US corporations, and the slow down of China’s ‘new economy’, present a credibility check in the recognition of the predatory policies and practices of capitalism’s third hegemonic momentum. In fact such financialization of the economy, with its the recurrent and increasingly devastating financial debacles assailing the world’s capitalist economies, has been incapable of producing sustainable growth in any sector while creating economic genocide, and has resulted in driving societies towards social foreclosures strong-armed through painful strangulation of austerity policies that are asphyxiating public institutions and transforming the very notion of public good and democracy itself!

The 2013 Marxian Analysis of Society, School and Education SIG program asks scholars, educators and graduate students around the globe who are profoundly committed to the struggle for social and cognitive justice to help us examine the transformative role of education and schools in addressing the contemporary crises, as well as, addressing the role of educators in helping to resolve the contradictions of the present and to contribute to a better future for schools, education and society.

Therefore, we ask scholars, educators and graduate students to contribute papers, posters or symposium that utilize a Marxist/Class analysis that will critically address the impact of the late capitalism’s financialization of the economy on questions of schools, education and society and how to move from pre-history to history proper to create a more and just democratic society and education.

Note: All submissions will be reviewed without author identification.

Please submit them without author names on the abstracts or summaries.

Proposals that bear the names of the authors and/or participants will not be considered for review and, consequently, will not be considered for the SIG #157 program for the 2013 AERA Annual Meeting.

Thank You, Dr. Sheila Macrine, 2013 Program Chair

Sheila L. Macrine Ph.D, is Chair of the Teaching & Learning Department University of Massachusetts Dartmouth 285 Old Westport Road North Dartmouth, MA 02747 – Phone: 508-999-8262, Fax: 508-910-6916, Email: nmacrine@aol.com

**END**

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

‘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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Critical Theories of ‘Social Representation and Reality’

Critical Education Against Global Capitalism – Paula Allman

CRITICAL THEORIES OF ‘SOCIAL REPRESENTATION AND REALITY’

SYMPOSIUM

Critical theories of ‘social representation and reality’

See: http://educationaldevelopment.liverpool.ac.uk/2012/04/07/symposium-critical-theories-of-social-representation-and-reality/

 

Organised in affiliation with the International Herbert Marcuse Society

University of Liverpool, Monday 18 June 2012 (1pm-5pm)

A symposium that will be of interest to researchers, students and professional practitioners who are engaged with or use critical approaches in their work.

The multiple and proliferating streams of Critical Theory continue to enrich scholarly and research fields in the humanities and political sciences. In the fields of education theory to media analysis, from cultural theory to theories of ‘the city’, from aesthetics to theories of the law critical theorists continue to employ perspectives and approaches that challenge, provoke and subvert the standard clichés and tropes of empirical sociology and positivism in the humanities and political sciences.

At this symposium we will hear papers presented by four scholars whose work questions and exposes the power dynamics and hidden conflicts that underlie and structure our social realities. Each in their different ways explore the myriad meanings of ‘representation’ in our culture. Douglas Kellner (UCLA) considers the role that critical educators can play in the context of the Arab Spring revolutions; Penny Burke (Paulo Friere Institue, Roehampton) interrogates the British widening participation agenda with a ‘critical eye’; Catalina Montoya (Javeriana University, Bogota) explores the changing role of the media in Colombian civil society using Chomsky’s ‘propaganda model’; and Mark O’Brien (Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Liverpool) considers the deceptions of language in the policy rhetoric of the UK Coalition Government.

All critically-inclined researchers, students and professional practitioners are invited to this symposium. A collaboration between the Centre for Lifelong Learning at the University of Liverpool and the Paulo Friere Institute at the University of Roehampton and organised in association with the International Herbert Marcuse Society, the event takes place at theUniversityofLiverpoolon Monday 18 June.

To book your free place from within the Universityof Liverpool, go to (click on date):  http://www.liv.ac.uk/cll/booking/

 To book your free place from outside the University (or if you are a student) go to: eddev@liv.ac.uk (please provide your institution, if relevant, your email and a contact number).

 For more information contact Mark O’Brien at mtobrien@liv.ac.uk

 **END**

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

‘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

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Educating from Marx: Race, Gender, and Learning – by Sara Carpenter and Shahrzad Mojab

Educating from Marx

EDUCATING FROM MARX: RACE, GENDER, AND LEARNING – BY SARA CARPENTER AND SHAHRZAD MOJAB

Series: Marxism and Education

Palgrave Macmillan

ISBN-10: 0230115810

ISBN-13: 978-0230115811

270 pages; hardback

 

This text is an articulation of a renewed Marxist-feminist framework for adult education. In recent years adult educators have been working to develop an important body of literature on neo-liberalism, capitalism, and imperialism. Many of these analyses draw on various strands of Marxist theorizing. With the exception of Jane Thompson’s work as an early socialist feminist, a Marxist-Feminist framework has yet to be articulated for adult education. This text combines original empirical studies with literature review from critical adult education and feminist theory to examine the sites, theories, and practices of adult education from a Marxist-Feminist perspective.  

Contents:

PART I: MARXIST-FEMINISTS ORGANIZING KNOWLEDGE

Introduction: A Specter Haunts Adult Education: Crafting a Marxist-Feminist Framework for Adult Education & Learning; Sara Carpenter & Shahrzad Mojab

Ideology, Science, and Social Relations: A Reinterpretation of Marx’s Epistemology; Dorothy E. Smith

Building from Marx: Reflections on ‘Race’, Gender, and Class; Himani Bannerji

PART II: MARXIST-FEMINIST PRAXIS

Examining the Social Relations of Learning Citizenship: Citizenship and Ideology in Adult Education; Sara Carpenter

Learning to Mentor Young People: A Saintly Vocation or an Alienating Experience?; Helen Colley

Exploring the Social Relations of Class Struggle in the OntarioMinimum Wage Campaign; Sheila Wilmot

The Ideological Construction of ‘Canadian Work Experience’: Adult Education and the Reproduction of Labor and Difference; Bonnie Slade

PART III: MARXIST-FEMINISM, IMPERIALISM, AND CULTURE

Adult Education in/and Imperialism; Shahrzad Mojab

Materiality and Memory: A Marxist-Feminist Perspective on the ‘Cultural Turn’ in Adult Education; Tara Silver 

Epilogue: Living Revolution, Learning Revolution, Teaching Revolution; Shahrzad Mojab & Sara Carpenter

 

SHAHRZAD MOJAB Professor in the Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), Canada.
SARA CARPENTER is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Adult Education & Counselling Psychology at theUniversity ofToronto’s OISE,Canada.

“Congratulations to the editors and other outstanding contributors to this exemplary text. The collaborative project that underpinned and drove the production of this work is clearly evident throughout: therefore, in one text we find the critically analytical/theoretical coherence one expects from a single-authored text with the added benefit of that coherence being brought to bear on a multiplicity of contexts that only a multiple-authored text can provide. An amazing contribution to critical revolutionary praxis inspired and informed by Marx” — Paula Allman, author of Critical Education Against Global Capitalism: Karl Marx and Revolutionary Critical Education

At Palgrave Macmillan: http://us.macmillan.com/book.aspx?isbn=9780230115811

At Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Educating-Marx-Learning-Marxism-Education/dp/0230115810/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333664978&sr=1-1

At Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Educating-Marx-Learning-Marxism-Education/dp/0230115810

**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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

Trade Unions, Free Trade and the Problem of Transnational Solidarity

Glenn Rikowski

TRADE UNIONS, FREE TRADE AND THE PROBLEM OF TRANSNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Workshop at Nottingham 2/3 December 2011 – Papers now Available!

Resistance against free trade agreements has increased since the demonstrations at the WTO ministerial conference inSeattlein 1999. Positions by trade unions on free trade agreements are, however, ambiguous. While trade unions in the North especially in manufacturing have supported free trade agreements to secure export markets for ‘their’ companies, trade unions in the Global South oppose these agreements, since they often imply deindustrialisation.

Academics, trade union researchers and social movement activists met in a two-day workshop, hosted by the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ) at the School of Politics and International Relations/University of Nottingham, on 2 and 3 December 2011 to discuss these issues in detail. The purpose of the workshop was to understand better the dynamics underlying free trade as well as explore possibilities for transnational solidarity between labour movements in the North and South. The papers of the workshop can be downloaded below:

Panel 1 – Conceptual and methodological considerations
Panel 2 – Free trade and particular sectors
Panel 3 – European trade unions and free trade
Panel 4 – Free trade negotiations
Panel 5 – Free trade and the Global South
Panel 6 – Resistance to free trade agreements and the quest for alternatives

Original source: http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/news/distributed/now-available-contributions-from-decembers-trade-unions-free-trade-and-the-problem-of-transnational-solidarity-workshop-at-nottingham

The Battle in Seattle: Its Significance for Education, by Glenn Rikowski (London, Tufnell Press, 2001)

From the publishers: http://www.tpress.free-online.co.uk/seattle.html

“It’s a wonderful outline of the new anti-capitalist activity It pulls together all aspects of changes to all levels of education, as it is drawn into the profit business ­ and ever further away from wider concepts of education.” — Caroline Benn, Hillcole Group of Radical Left Educators, and President of the Socialist Education Association

“This is essential reading for all those the world over who have been driven to the margins of existence by forces of the current phase of capitalism – globalisation. It helps to understand the forces hiding behind bodies such as the World Trade Organisation that drive us relentlessly towards giving up control over our minds and bodies. This booklet looks particularly at the dangers facing education systems from the global search for mega profits. It also shows that people’s resistance can make a difference in snatching control over their lives.” — Shiraz Durrani, Information for Social Change

“Glenn Rikowski vividly demonstrates the centrality of education in capitalist globalisation. With precision and utmost clarity, he also details the historical background to ‘The Battle in Seattle’ as well as the other mass demonstrations against global capitalism and its agents of destruction. Rikowski’s seminal text is destined to become essential reading for critical/radical educators and political activists, but it should be read by everyone who is concerned with, and about, the future of education indeed, the future of humanity.” — Paula Allman, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Nottingham, and author of Critical Education Against Global Capital: Karl Marx and Revolutionary Critical Education

“Glenn Rikowski has produced a brilliant and I believe historical landmark in Left education.” — Peter McLaren, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution

“I felt compelled to grab the red flag and take to the streets as I worked through Glenn Rikowski’s well documented exposé of what the World Trade Organisation is up to and its plans for education. But Glenn’s analysis is much more than a clarion call. It anchor’s that call in solid theory and critique so that my immediate response can now be matched by informed and focused action. An activist’s true handbook.” — Helen Raduntz, University of South Australia

Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Battle-Seattle-Significance-Education/dp/1872767370/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333617350&sr=1-3

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

‘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

Paulo Freire: The Global Legacy

Paulo Freire

PAULO FREIRE: THE GLOBAL LEGACY

A Celebration of Freire’s 91^st Birthday

A major international conference, Hamilton, New Zealand, November 26-28, 2012

A major international conference hosted by the University of Waikato, Te Whare Wananga o Waikato, New Zealand, November 26-28, 2012, will be held at the Novotel Hamilton Tainui Hotel on the banks of the Waikato River, in central Hamilton.

“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The University of Waikato, Te Whare Wananga oWaikatois delighted to be hosting a major international conference, “Paulo Freire: The Global Legacy” as a retrospective celebration of his work and its legacy and influence across the globe.

The University of Waikato, with a student population of about 13,000 and 2000 academic and support staff, is committed to delivering a world-class education and research portfolio, providing a full and dynamic university experience, distinctive in character, and pursuing strong international links to advance knowledge.

The University works closely with Maori tribes (iwi), particularly Tainui, to make the University accessible to Maori students and to foster an environment of success. http://www.waikato.ac.nz/maori/ & http://www.waikato.ac.nz/about/  &  http://www.waikato.ac.nz/. 

Paulo Freire, one of the greatest educators of all time, was born in Recife, Brazil, on September 19, 1921 and died of heart failure in Sao Paulo, Brazil on May 2, 1997. Freire taught Portuguese in secondary schools from 1941-1947 before becoming active in adult education and workers’ training. He was the first Director of the Department of Cultural Extension of the University of Recife(1961-1964). Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) is an argument for a system of education that emphasizes learning as an act of culture and freedom. His works became justly famous as he gained an international reputation for his program of literacy education especially for the rural and dispossessed in Northeastern Brazil. He was jailed by the new government after 1964 and was forced into a political exile that lasted fifteen-years, eventually returning to Brazil in 1979. As a living testimony, his many works have been translated into many languages, and have inspired the tradition of critical pedagogy.

The conference is aimed at experienced and new researchers, policy-makers and practitioners from all around the world who engage with Freire’s work in any of the following broad themes that the conference will be organized around:

·      Globalization

·      De-colonisation

·      Indigenous cultures

·      Cultural studies

A Stream in Portuguese is planned for Portuguese speaking delegates to present and discuss their research in Portuguese. Abstracts will be available in both English and Portuguese. Dr Ana Ratto, from  Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil, who is Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Education at University of Waikato, in 2012 is coordinating this stream which will take place on Tuesday 27 November 2012.

 For further information, contact ratto.ana@gmail.com

**END**

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

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Terry Eagleton and Alex Callinicos on Marx

Karl Marx

TERRY EAGLETON AND ALEX CALLINICOS ON MARX

THURSDAY 1 MARCH AT KINGS COLLEGE, LONDON

Socialist Worker Student Society is hosting a speaking tour with Terry Eagleton (author of Why Marx Was Right) and Alex Callinicos (author of The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx).

They will be speaking at Kings College, London (Room S-2.08) on Thursday 1 March at 6pm.

All are welcome and admission is free.

**END**

 

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

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

‘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

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

Symposium on Marxism and the Philosophy of Internal Relations

Bertell Ollman

SYMPOSIUM ON MARXISM AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF INTERNAL RELATIONS

It is our pleasure to announce a one day symposium on Marxism and the Philosophy of Internal Relations that will be held at York University in Toronto on Thursday, May 10, 2012, as an addition to the “Historical Materialism” Conference that is scheduled to take place there from May 11- 13.

The symposium will consist of four panels of two hours each, with each panel offering three papers (or talks) of 20 minutes each and a commentary by a discussant of 10 minutes.

Our hope is that this symposium will bring together many of those working on or with Marxism and internal relations… to share and refine our ideas as well as to build upon them. Given the total failure of mainstream economic theories and policies, and the social upheavals that have accompanied the current economic crisis, it is crucially important to develop more and better critical approaches to analyzing capitalism and theorizing alternatives to it. Without singling out any single interpretation, we believe that Marx’s philosophy of internal relations provides one such approach.

Bertell Ollman, Sean Sayers, David McNally, and Edward Winslow have already confirmed their attendance and participation.

For more information please contact Dennis Badeen at deezmail@yorku.ca

**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)

‘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

‘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

Capitalizing Power: The Qualities and Quantities of Accumulation

Peterborough United

CAPITALIZING POWER: THE QUALITIES AND QUANTITIES OF ACCUMULATION

Capitalizing Power: The Qualities and Quantities of Accumulation
A Conference of the Forum on Capital as Power
September 28-30, 2012, York University, Toronto
Call for Papers
Abstract Submission Deadline: June 30, 2012

Full text: http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/322/

 

With the global crisis lingering, many now wonder how capital has become so powerful, and what should be done about it. Although we are eager to provide answers, the problem starts with the question itself: what exactly do we mean by ‘capital’, and what does it mean to say that capital is ‘powerful’? The difficulty lies in the fractured nature of modern social science – both its conventional division into numerous disciplines, including economics, politics, sociology, international relations, and culture, and the habitual bifurcation of the economy itself into real and nominal spheres. These fractures create conceptual rifts: they place most aspects of power outside the economic process, and they portray capitalization as a fictitious mirror of an economic reality located in production.

The theory of Capital as Power removes these fissures by abolishing the disciplinary divisions between economics, politics, and other disciplines, as well as the economic bifurcation of the real and nominal. In doing so, the theory puts power at the centre of analysis and examines finance as the main algorithm of capitalist power.  The goal is to decipher the conversion of qualities to quantities: to theorize and research how the qualities of power – the multifaceted interactions of command and obedience, force and submission, violence and resistance – are universalized and discounted to the quantities of capitalization. 

We are calling for theoretical, empirical, and historical papers to engage critically with questions such as the following. How does power bear on accumulation, and how does it get capitalized? How has capitalization evolved and mutated? What are the qualitative forms of power in capitalism, and how do they compare to those that characterized earlier modes of power? What are the historical roots of capital as power? Do these roots alter the way we understand the origins of capitalism? How does capitalism convert qualities into quantities? What are the limits of capitalized power? How is capitalized power resisted and opposed? Can it be reformed or overthrown? Can these questions be addressed by mainstream and heterodox theories of capitalism – and if so, how do their answers differ from those offered by the theory of capital as power?

We are also interested in concrete areas of inquiry related to these broader questions. Suggested topics include:

* Capitalist power and labour – from proletarianization and wages to productivity and organization;
* International and regional relations and the capitalization of power;
* Capitalist and democratic accounting, including the history of discounting and its possible alternatives;
* Power and price formation – from local to global markets;
* The state as a locus of capitalization – from taxes and the law to ideology and violence;
* The role of capitalist power in contemporary crises;
* Capitalized power and nature – from genetic engineering, to energy, to the biosphere;
* Comparative modes of power: ancient and feudal, communist and fascist, capitalist and beyond;
* Capital as Power versus ‘primitive accumulation’ – dispossession, co-option and genocide;
* The power dimensions of ‘immaterial’ capitalism – from leisure and fear to knowledge and ideology;
* The psychology of capitalist power;
* Alternative visions for a de-capitalized society.

The conference will comprise two parts: public presentations open to all (day one), followed by a closed workshop for the conference participants (days two and three). The workshop will consist of longer presentations, allowing more time for debate, discussion and contemplation. Participants should be prepared to present in either part, depending on the allocation made by the organizers. Please email abstracts of 250 words to: casp.york@gmail.com. The deadline for abstract submissions is June 30, 2012.

***

Recent additions and updates to the Bichler & Nitzan Archives: http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/perl/latest 

Free to repost and circulate with due attribution under the Creative Commons License (attribution-noncommercial-no derivative). To unsubscribe, reply to this email with “unsubscribe” in the subject field.

—

Jonathan Nitzan

Political Science | Social and Political Thought, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, Ontario, M3J-1P3, Canada

Voice: (416) 736-2100, ext. 88822; Fax: (416) 736-5686; Email: nitzan@yorku.ca

Website: http://bnarchives.net

Discussion Forum: http://www.yorku.ca/cmass/forum/

**END**

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a new 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

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

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

Symposium on the Work of Paula Allman

Paula Allman

SYMPOSIUM ON THE WORK OF PAULA ALLMAN

Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues XVI

A Day Seminar, 10.30 – 4.30

Saturday February 4th, 2012

University of London, Institute of Education

20 Bedford Way, London WC1

The Drama Studio

 

SPEAKERS:

Sara Carpenter (University of Toronto)

Helen Colley (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Margaret Ledwith (University of Cumbria)

Peter Mayo (University of Malta)

Michael Neary (University of Lincoln)

Glenn Rikowski (University of Northampton)

 

This is an open seminar and tickets are free.

To reserve a place email: amaisuria@ioe.ac.uk    

Convenors: Tony Green, Alpesh Maisuria & Glenn Rikowski

 

Times Higher Education (Obituary): Paula Allman (1944-2011) – http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=418263&c=2   

 

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

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

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

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Policy Futures in Education: Volume 9 Number 5 – 2011

Paula Allman

POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION: VOLUME 9 NUMBER 5 – 2011

Now available at: 

http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pfie/content/pdfs/9/issue9_5.asp

POLICY FUTURES IN EDUCATION
Volume 9 Number 5 2011  ISSN 1478-2103

CONTENTS:

Gert Biesta & Carl Anders Säfström. A Manifesto for Education

Henry A. Giroux. Living in the Age of Imposed Amnesia: the eclipse of democratic formative culture

Henry A. Giroux. Business Culture and the Death of Public Education: Mayor Bloomberg, David Steiner, and the politics of corporate ‘leadership’

David Hursh & Andrew F. Wall. Repoliticizing Higher Education Assessment within Neoliberal Globalization

Engin Karadağ, Nuri Baloğlu & Abdullah Çakir. A Path Analysis Study of School Culture and Teachers’ Organisational Commitment

Alberto de Oliveira & Gilberto Abrantes Filho. Education and the Labour Market inBrazil

Anne Pirrie & James Benedict Brown. Field/Work, Site, and Other Matters: exploring design practice across disciplines

Khalida Tanvir Syed & Anne Hill. Awakening to White Privilege and Power inCanada

Anki Bengtsson. European Policy of Career Guidance: the interrelationship between career self-management and production of human capital in the knowledge economy

W. John Morgan & Grigori A. Kliucharev. Non-formal Education and Civil Society in Post-Soviet Russia: what is the relationship?

Tom Are Trippestad. The Rhetoric of a Reform: the construction of ‘public’, ‘management’ and the ‘new’ in Norwegian education reforms of the 1990s

Marilyn Leask. Improving the Professional Knowledge Base for Education: using knowledge management and Web 2.0 tools

 

OBITUARY

Dr Paula Allman

 

Access to the full texts of current 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 two years after first publication.

PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION (single user access). Subscription to the January-December 2012 issues, which includes full access to ALL back numbers (including those of 2011), is available to individuals at a cost of US$54.00. If you wish to subscribe you may do so immediately at: www.wwwords.co.uk/subscribePFIE.asp

LIBRARY SUBSCRIPTION (institution-wide access). If you are working within an institution that maintains a Library, please urge them to purchase a Library subscription so access is provided throughout your institution; full details for libraries can be found at: www.symposium-journals.co.uk/prices.html

For all editorial matters, including articles offered for publication, please contact the Editor, Professor Michael A. Peters (mpeters@waikato.ac.nz).

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

*****

Glenn Rikowski and Ruth Rikowski have a number of articles in Policy Futures in Education. These include:

Rikowski, Ruth (2003) Value – the Life Blood of Capitalism: knowledge is the current key, Policy Futures in Education, Vol.1 No.1, pp.160-178:http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=pfie&vol=1&issue=1&year=2003&article=9_Rikowski_PFIE_1_1&id=195.93.21.68

Rikowski, Glenn (2004) Marx and the Education of the Future, Policy Futures in Education, Vol.2 Nos. 3 & 4, pp.565-577, online at:http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=pfie&vol=2&issue=3&year=2004&article=10_Rikowski_PFEO_2_3-4_web&id=195.93.21.71

Rikowski, Ruth (2006) A Marxist Analysis of the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, Policy Futures in Education, Vol.4 No.4: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/viewpdf.asp?j=pfie&vol=4&issue=4&year=2006&article=7_Rikowski_PFIE_4_4_web&id=205.188.117.66

Rikowski, Ruth (2008) Review Essay: ‘On Marx: An introduction to the revolutionary intellect of Karl Marx’, by Paula Allman, Policy Futures in Education,Vol.6 No.5, pp.653-661: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=pfie&vol=6&issue=5&year=2008&article=11_Rikowski_PFIE_6_5_web

**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)  

 

‘Cheerful Sin’ – a new 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

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

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

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