Marxist Transhumanism or Transhumanist Marxism?

MARXIST TRANSHUMANISM OR TRANSHUMANIST MARXISM?

CALL FOR PAPERS

For a Special Issue of: New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry 

Guest editors: James Steinhoff and Atle Mikkola Kjøsen

In this special issue call, New Proposals asks authors to explore how Marxism and Transhumanism might be brought into conjunction. Could there be a transhumanist Marxism or a Marxist transhumanism? 

Transhumanism is defined by its proponents as an “intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally improving the human condition through applied reason, especially by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities” (Humanity+ n.d.). While this description says nothing about politics, transhumanism has been deeply pro-capital due to its popularization in the 1990s via techno-libertarian “extropianism” (More 1990). Because of this, the promethean project of improving the human condition by technological means tends to be joined with, and confused for, capital accumulation. Some of the most radical transhumanist thinkers have tended to assume to continued functioning of capital amid cataclysmic socio-technological change. For example, although transhumanist luminary Ray Kurzweil argues that the coming technological singularity (the moment when machines exceed human capacities in all respects) will irreversibly transform every aspect of human life, and even “death itself,” he still expects there to be a need for “business models” (2005, 7). Today, transhumanism is tacitly represented in the operations of venture capitalists and the giant tech capitals. DeepMind, acquired by Google in 2014, seeks to “solve intelligence” by creating AI with generalized learning abilities and Elon Musk’s Neuralink aims to provide a seamless machine connection to the human brain. 

However, transhumanism is not inherently incompatible with Marxist thought and communism. While transhumanism today appears to be a capitalist project, its historical lineage can be traced back to early twentieth century socialist thinkers such as Alexander Bogdanov, J. B. S Haldane, and J. D. Bernal (Bostrom 2005; Stambler 2010; Hughes 2012). Marx himself has many, what we might call “high modernist” moments in which he argues for overcoming human and natural limits, and advocates the socialized use of technology to achieve freedom from necessity for all humans. This high modernist Marx can be read as expressing a transhumanist impulse toward technologically augmenting the human condition (Steinhoff 2014). With a few exceptions (Armesilla Conde 2018), Marxists have shown little interest in transhumanism, other than as an object of critique (Rechtenwald 2013; Noonan 2016). One exception to this are the left accelerationists/postcapitalism theorists, who draw on transhumanist motifs, such as cyborg augmentation, terraforming and full automation (Srnicek and Williams 2015; Mason 2016; Bastani 2019). Left accelerationism has, however, picked up transhumanist motifs while dropping the capital/labour antagonism central to Marxist thought, glossing over much of the difficult question of how exactly capital is supposed to come to an end. We suggest that left accelerationism forgets its Marxist roots as it is blinded by transhumanist futures. 

We argue that the issues central to transhumanism should not be the purview solely of representatives of capital like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, nor of the left accelerationists. Instead, Marxist thought should seriously engage with transhumanism in order to “decouple it from its blindly capitalist trajectory, reflect on Marx’s own high modernist tendencies, and delineate a social project to embrace or escape” (Dyer-Witheford, Kjosen & Steinhoff, 2019, 161). Therefore we ask how a Marxist transhumanism or a transhumanist Marxism might be possible.

For this special issue of New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry we are interested in contributions that engage transhumanism and Marxism with one another. We are not interested in Marxist dismissals of transhumanism. That is not to say that we do not welcome Marxist critiques of transhumanism. We are, however, seeking critiques which take at least some elements of the theory and/or practice of transhumanism seriously from within a Marxist framework. 

Possible topics include:

• Syntheses of transhumanism and Marxism
• Transhumanism and value theory (e.g. engagement with core concepts like social form, labour-power, the working day, surplus-value etc.) 
• Critically engaging with and/or embracing the high modernist moments in Marx’s thought 
• Staking out a communist approach to transhumanism and/or the singularity (e.g. a communist version of Kurzweil’s intelligence explosion) 
• Engaging with the transhumanist kernel in left-accelerationist thought from a Marxist perspective
• Engaging with transhumanist projects or technologies from a Marxist perspective (e.g. radical life extension, terraforming, morphological freedom, space exploration, genetic modification, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, intelligence augmentation, brain emulation)
• Connecting transhumanism to the history of Marxist thought and socialist societies (e.g. Soviet space endeavours, central planning)

Please send abstracts of no more than 500 words in length, plus a short biography, to Dr. James Steinhoff (jsteinh@uw.edu) and Dr. Atle Mikkola Kjøsen (atlemk@gmail.com) by February 29th, 2020. Please put “New Proposals special issue” in the subject line. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by March 31st, 2020. Full-length papers are 5,000 - 10,000 words.

Timeline:

29 February - deadline for submitting abstract and biography.

31 March - notifications of acceptance

1 August - deadline for submission of full-length (5,000 to 10,000 words) paper for peer review

15 November - submission of final revised paper

Early 2021 - papers published.

Please note that acceptance of an abstract does not guarantee publication. All submissions will be peer reviewed once papers are submitted.

References

Armesilla Conde, Santiago Javier. 2018. Is a Marxist Transhumanism possible? Eikasía – Revista de Filosofía 82, 47-86.

Bastani, Aaron. 2019. Fully automated luxury communism. Verso Books.

Bostrom, Nick. 2005. “A history of transhumanist thought”. Journal of Evolution & Technology 14:1.

Dyer-Witheford, Nick, Kjosen, Atle Mikkola and Steinhoff, James. 2019. Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism. London: Pluto Press.

Hughes, James J. 2012. “The Politics of Transhumanism and the Techno‐Millennial Imagination, 1626–2030”. Zygon 47:4, 757-776.

Humanity+. n.d.. “What is transhumanism?” https://whatistranshumanism.org/

Kurzweil, Ray. 2005. The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Penguin. 

Mason, Paul. 2016. Postcapitalism: A guide to our future. Macmillan.

More, Max. 1990. “Transhumanism: Towards a futurist philosophy.” Extropy 6:6, 11.

Noonan, Jeff. 2016. “The Debate on Immortality: Posthumanist Science vs. Critical Philosophy”. The European Legacy 21:1, 38-51.

Rechtanwald, Michael. 2013. “The Singularity and Socialism.” Insurgent Notes. http://insurgentnotes.com/2013/10/the-singularity-and-socialism/

Srnicek, Nick, and Alex Williams. 2015. Inventing the future: Postcapitalism and a world without work. Verso Books.

Stambler, Ilia. 2010. “Life extension – a conservative enterprise? Some fin-de-siècle and early twentieth-century precursors of transhumanism. '' Journal of Evolution & Technology 21:1, 13-26.

Steinhoff, James. 2014. “Transhumanism and Marxism: Philosophical Connections”. Journal of Evolution & Technology 24:2, 1-16.

New Proposals : Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry represents an attempt to explore issues, ideas, and problems that lie at the intersection between the academic disciplines of social science and the body of thought and political practice that has constituted Marxism over the last 150 years. New Proposals is a journal of Marxism and interdisciplinary Inquiry that is dedicated to the radical transformation of the contemporary world order. We see our role as providing a platform for research, commentary, and debate of the highest scholarly quality that contributes to the struggle to create a more just and humane world, in which the systematic and continuous exploitation, oppression, and fratricidal struggles that characterize the contemporary sociopolitical order no longer exist.

New Proposals is a fully open access journal. We do not charge publication or user fees as a condition of publication. However, if your institution provides funding to support open access publications we ask authors of accepted papers to apply for open access funding support from their institution. For authors at open access funded institutions the production fee is $350 for articles. There are no production fees for student feature articles, or for book reviews, commentaries or reflections of 5,000 words or less. If you have any questions please contact us. We fundamentally support the principles of full open access in academic publishing. It does cost money to do this, even as we rely upon a lot of good will, volunteer labour, and self-exploitation to get the publication out the door. Any support or assistance is always appreciated!

Special issue editors:

Dr. James Steinhoff is a UW Data Science Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Washington. He researches the artificial intelligence industry, data science labour, Marxist theory and automation. He is author of the forthcoming book Automation and Autonomy: Labour, Capital and Machines in the Artificial Intelligence Industry (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and co-author of Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism (Pluto Press 2019). .

Dr. Atle Mikkola Kjøsen is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario. He researches Marxist value theory, media theory, logistics, artificial intelligence, androids, and post-singularity capitalism. With Nick Dyer-Witheford and James Steinhoff, he is co-author of Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Capitalism (Pluto Press 2019).  

Relevant Papers on Marxism and Transhumanism by Glenn Rikowski:

Marxist Education Across the Generations: a Dialogue on Education, Time and Transhumanism (with Derek Ford) (2019) https://www.academia.edu/40309329/Marxist_Education_Across_the_Generations_a_Dialogue_on_Education_Time_and_Transhumanism

Capitorg: Education and the Constitution of the Human in Contemporary Society (2011) https://www.academia.edu/5985145/Capitorg_Education_and_the_Constitution_of_the_Human_in_Contemporary_Society

Alien Life: Marx and the Future of the Human (2003) https://www.academia.edu/10986589/Alien_Life_Marx_and_the_Future_of_the_Human

Education, Capital and the Transhuman (2002) https://www.academia.edu/9033532/Education_Capital_and_the_Transhuman

Marx and the Future of the Human (2000) https://www.academia.edu/6043714/Marx_and_the_Future_of_the_Human

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A Place To Call Home

A PLACE TO CALL HOME

Recorded at the London Coliseum, 30^th October 2019

English National Opera (ENO) is pleased to announce that the single “A Place to Call Home” is released today (6^th December 2019).

This astonishing new song by former BBC Young Composer of the Year Alex Woolf will help to raise money in aid of Shelter’s Christmas appeal. Recorded live at the London Coliseum, nearly 2000 Community Singers joined ENO’s brilliant Chorus and Orchestra, as well as opera stars Sir Bryn Terfel, Alice Coote and Lesley Garrett. It was conducted by the ENO’s Martin Fitzpatrick.

Ruth Rikowski was one of the Community Singers.

You can share these links to friends and family to ask them to buy the single, helping it to become the Christmas No.1:

Youtube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k4UJhToa5xk3gPOlodPPXWv0Sad2wu3D4

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/album/1ACV8jAS9MfrldTVp59CJT?highlight=spotify:track:5meFJRCIK7FGE1yo9ExAK0

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/music/album?id=Bj7r6u7i4sah224aid3lqkpmhym&tid=song-T2iiwcftnytvyvqnyop2kyhoigy&hl=en

Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B082DJ1D76/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=a+place+to+call+home+sir+bryn+terfel&qid=1575593985&s=dmusic&sr=1-1

A quick method to get it on Youtube is to go to http://www.youtube.co.uk and then search for: A Place to Call Home ENO – and then it comes up!

Please share, please donate to Shelter....please make a difference for the homeless: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/singforshelter

A PLACE TO CALL HOME

Music and Lyrics by Alex Woolf

Lyrics

I stumbled across

A figure unknown,

Alive but alone, lost in his dreaming.

I stumbled because

That figure alone

He must have known what I was thinking:

That’s no place to call home.

I’ve stumbled before,

And I’ll stumble again.

I wish I’d known then how to give shelter.

I’ll stumble some more,

But I’ll seize the day, then

We’ll see the day when it’s not much to ask for:

A place to call home.

Sure as home is where the heart is

Homelessness is heartless and cruel.

Home…

If the heart is where the home is,

Aren’t we all homeless too?

I stumbled again

On that figure now known,

No longer alone, secure and with shelter.

I stumbled and then

I saw how he’d grown

In a place of his own.

So if home’s where the heart is

Then surely it’s smartest to start helping figures unknown.

Then we’ll all have a place…

A place to call home.

A place to call home.

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

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

Notes on Commodity Forms and the Business Takeover of Schools

Glenn Rikowski

NOTES ON COMMODITY FORMS AND THE BUSINESS TAKEOVER OF SCHOOLS

These notes are for a seminar with second year Education Studies students at the University of East London, Stratford Campus, on 20^th November 2019.

Introduction

Commodification, marketisation, monetisation (the increasing scourge of money), and competition, commercialisation (advertising and selling-centred image manipulation) in education: how do we challenge and terminate these developments, if we wish to? Do we rely on the state to protect us from these insurgencies by capitalist interests and motivations in contemporary education? Will pressure from below, from us, urge the state to curb and end the role of business in education? Do we hope for a victory of Corbyn’s Labour Party in the forthcoming General Election to end the business takeover of education?

These notes indicate a way forward regarding posting answers to these questions. It is argued that we need to attack the business takeover of education at the micro level: at the level of the commodity, first and foremost.

The first Part of these notes focuses on this micro-level: commodity forms, the basic, elemental phenomena of capitalist society. Part Two explores one of these commodity forms, the general class of commodities, in terms of its development in contemporary schools. The focus is on how the general class of commodities, through the business takeover of schools, grows and spreads. The examples explored in Part Two come from schools in England, though, as Verger, Fontdevilla and Zancajo (2016) demonstrate, what they call the ‘global education industry’ (which is roughly equivalent to what I take as the business takeover of education) is a world-wide phenomenon, not confined to the UK, the US or Europe.

The perspective of these notes rests on Marxism; the ideas of Karl Marx and those who embrace his critique of capitalist society and its social scientific armoury. There are many forms of Marxism, and I stand within what has been called ‘Open Marxism’ – based on the work of people such as John Holloway and Werner Bonefeld. For 40 years, I have studied and organised around what has become known as Marxist educational theory.

The rest of these Notes can be found at Academia, in my ‘Teaching Documents’ section: https://www.academia.edu/40918435/Notes_on_Commodity_Forms_and_the_Business_Takeover_of_Schools

Glenn Rikowski

14 November 2019

More of Glenn Rikowski’s publication and papers can be found at:

Academia: http://independent.academia.edu/GlennRikowski

ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

Privatisation: Education and Commodity Forms

PRIVATISATION: EDUCATION AND COMMODITY FORMS

An article by Glenn Rikowski

My article has recently been published in:

Keywords in Radical Philosophy and Education: Common Concepts for Contemporary Movements

Edited by Derek R. Ford

Brill | Sense

Leiden | Boston

2019

This article, Chapter 25, is now available at Academia: https://www.academia.edu/39344962/Privatisation_Education_and_Commodity_Forms

ABOUT THE BOOK

While education is an inherently political field and practice, and while the political struggles that radical philosophy takes up necessarily involve education, there remains much to be done at the intersection of education and radical philosophy. That so many intense political struggles today actually center educational processes and institutions makes this gap all the more pressing. Yet in order for this work to be done, we need to begin to establish common frameworks and languages in and with which to move.

Keywords in Radical Philosophy and Education takes up this crucial and urgent task. Dozens of emerging and leading activists, organizers, and scholars assemble a collective body of concepts to interrogate, provoke, and mobilize contemporary political, economic, and social struggles. This wide-ranging edited collection covers key and innovative philosophical and educational themes--from animals, sex, wind, and praxis, to studying, podcasting, debt, and students.

This field-defining work is a necessary resource for all activists and academics interested in exploring the latest conceptual contributions growing out of the intersection of social struggles and the university.

Contributors are: Rebecca Alexander, Barbara Applebaum, David Backer, Jesse Bazzul, Brian Becker, Jesse Benjamin, Matt Bernico, Elijah Blanton, Polina-Theopoula Chrysochou, Clayton Cooprider, Katie Crabtree, Noah De Lissovoy, Sandra Delgado, Dean Dettloff, Zeyad El Nabolsy, Derek R. Ford, Raúl Olmo Fregoso Bailón, Michelle Gautreaux, Salina Gray, Aashish Hemrajani, Caitlin Howlett, Khuram Hussain, Petar Jandric, Colin Jenkins, Kelsey Dayle John, Lenore Kenny, Tyson E. Lewis, Curry Malott, Peter McLaren, Glenn Rikowski, Marelis Rivera, Alexa Schindel, Steven Singer, Ajit Singh, Nicole Snook, Devyn Springer, Sara Tolbert, Katherine Vroman, Anneliese Waalkes, Chris Widimaier, Savannah Jo Wilcek, David Wolken, Jason Wozniak, and Weili Zhao.

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

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

Keywords in Radical Philosophy and Education

KEYWORDS IN RADICAL PHILOSOPHY AND EDUCATION: COMMON CONCEPTS FOR CONTEMPORARY MOVEMENTS

Edited by Derek R. Ford

Brill | Sense

Leiden | Boston

2019

While education is an inherently political field and practice, and while the political struggles that radical philosophy takes up necessarily involve education, there remains much to be done at the intersection of education and radical philosophy. That so many intense political struggles today actually center educational processes and institutions makes this gap all the more pressing. Yet in order for this work to be done, we need to begin to establish common frameworks and languages in and with which to move.

Keywords in Radical Philosophy and Education takes up this crucial and urgent task. Dozens of emerging and leading activists, organizers, and scholars assemble a collective body of concepts to interrogate, provoke, and mobilize contemporary political, economic, and social struggles. This wide-ranging edited collection covers key and innovative philosophical and educational themes--from animals, sex, wind, and praxis, to studying, podcasting, debt, and students.

This field-defining work is a necessary resource for all activists and academics interested in exploring the latest conceptual contributions growing out of the intersection of social struggles and the university.

Contributors are: Rebecca Alexander, Barbara Applebaum, David Backer, Jesse Bazzul, Brian Becker, Jesse Benjamin, Matt Bernico, Elijah Blanton, Polina-Theopoula Chrysochou, Clayton Cooprider, Katie Crabtree, Noah De Lissovoy, Sandra Delgado, Dean Dettloff, Zeyad El Nabolsy, Derek R. Ford, Raúl Olmo Fregoso Bailón, Michelle Gautreaux, Salina Gray, Aashish Hemrajani, Caitlin Howlett, Khuram Hussain, Petar Jandric, Colin Jenkins, Kelsey Dayle John, Lenore Kenny, Tyson E. Lewis, Curry Malott, Peter McLaren, Glenn Rikowski, Marelis Rivera, Alexa Schindel, Steven Singer, Ajit Singh, Nicole Snook, Devyn Springer, Sara Tolbert, Katherine Vroman, Anneliese Waalkes, Chris Widimaier, Savannah Jo Wilcek, David Wolken, Jason Wozniak, and Weili Zhao.

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

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

Marxist Education Across the Generations: A Dialogue on Educaiton, Time, and Transhumanism

MARXIST EDUCATION ACROSS THE GENERATIONS: A DIALOGUE ON EDUCATION, TIME, AND TRANSHUMANISM

A Dialogue by Derek R. Ford and Glenn Rikowski

A pre-print of this Dialogue was published in Postdigital Science and Education on 9^th January 2019

In this dialogue, two educational theorists discuss a range of topics at the nexus of Marxism and education, exploring the rich and diverse paths traversed within and around Marxist educational theory. The first part consists of a synthesis of their own trajectories and how they fit into broader social movements and political and academic conversations. In particular, they focus on the social production of labor-power and pedagogical logics. The second part concentrates on postdigital debates, including conceptions of time and transhumanism.

In June of 2018, Derek Ford contacted Glenn Rikowski proposing a collaboration, and Glenn suggested a dialogue. After a few months of preparation, they began the dialogue over e-mail in early October. A few weeks later, Derek visited Glenn in England for 5 days. They finished the conversation over e-mail, completing it in December 2018.

This dialogue is now available in pre-print format at Academia: https://www.academia.edu/38235324/Marxist_Education_Across_the_Generations_a_Dialogue_on_Education_Time_and_Transhumanism

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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

Glenn Rikowski @ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

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

Marxism and Education: Fragility, Crisis, Critique

MARXISM AND EDUCATION: 

FRAGILITY, CRISIS, CRITIQUE

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

Trump, the Alt-Right and Public Pedagogies of Hate and for Fascism. What is to be Done?

TRUMP, THE ALT-RIGHT AND PUBLIC PEDAGOGIES OF HATE AND FOR FASCISM. 

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

A NEW BOOK BY MIKE COLE

Routledge Focus, 2018

ISBN: 9781138607545

Trump, the Alt-Right and Public Pedagogies of Hate and for Fascism: What Is To Be Done? uses public pedagogy as a theoretical lens through which to view discourses of hate and for fascism in the era of Trump and to promote an anti-fascist and pro-socialist public pedagogy. It makes the case for re-igniting a rhetoric that goes beyond the undermining of neoliberal capitalism and the promotion of social justice, and re-aligns the left against fascism and for a socialism of the twenty-first century.

Beginning with an examination of the history of traditional fascism in the twentieth century, the book looks at the similarities and differences between the Trump regime and traditional Western post-war fascism. Cole goes on to consider the alt-right movement, the reasons for its rise, and the significance of the internet being harnessed as a tool with which to promote a fascistic public pedagogy. Finally, the book examines the resistance against these discourses and addresses the question of: what is to be done?

This topical book will be of great interest to scholars, to postgraduate students and to researchers, as well as to advanced undergraduate students in the fields of education studies, pedagogy, and sociology, as well as readers in general who are interested in the phenomenon of Trumpism.

Reviews:

'Mike Cole has written a stunning work that deserves to be read in teacher education courses, in graduate seminars, and in all classes dealing with the future of education--and of society.'

Peter McLaren, Chapman University, USA

'This incisive book, with startling clarity, is a cutting analysis of Trump and his relationship with the personnel and the rhetoric and discourse- the public pedagogy of the Proto-Fascist and Fascist movement in the USA and the implications internationally.'

Dave Hill, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

'This book provides a devastating critique and Cole brings to the fore the importance of public pedagogy in the struggle against Trump’s fascist tendencies. Nothing can be ignored in this book and much is at stake.'

Alpesh Maisuria, University of East London, UK

'This is an excellent book – it’s a highly engaging read that will be of interest to people who don’t already know a great deal about Trump and the alt-right and the various movements who oppose them, as well as those who are already well-versed in the horrors of Trumpism. The book makes good use of public pedagogy as a framing device, and it will be an important contribution to our further understanding of how dominant ideologies are enacted and perpetuated, and also how they are resisted.'

Jennifer Sandlin, Arizona State University, USA

Further details: https://www.routledge.com/Trump-the-Alt-Right-and-Public-Pedagogies-of-Hate-and-for-Fascism-What/Cole/p/book/9781138607545

***END***

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

Pedagogy in the Post-Truth Era: An Anti-Trump Pro-Test!

Derek R. Ford

PEDAGOGY IN THE POST-TRUTH ERA: AN ANTI-TRUMP PRO-TEST!

A Seminar by Derek R. Ford (Assistant Professor of Education Studies, DePauw University, USA)

University of East London

Stratford Campus

Cass School of Education & Communities

17^th October 2018

12.30 – 2.00pm

Room: ED201

Abstract: Those who are in shock that truth doesn't seem to matter in politics today miss the mark, for politics has never corresponded with truth. Instead, political struggle is about the formulation and materialization of new truths. In this sense, the "post-truth" era offers a new opportunity to articulate and fight for a new political reality. Yet rather than embrace this opportunity, the mainstream anti-Trump "resistance" aims to suture this opening and re-stabilize the political superstructure. This paper focuses instead on the left-wing resistance that's organizing and mobilizing to force a new world into being. After articulating the coordinates of our "post-truth" moment, it investigates the educational logic of the protest. Specifically, I propose that the protest is when movements test their political line, their organizational capacity, and the existing order of things.

Biographical details: Derek R. Ford is Assistant Professor of Education studies at DePauw University, USA. His research emerges from the nexus of subjectivity, pedagogy, and revolutionary struggles. He has written and edited seven books, including Communist Study and Politics and Pedagogy in the "Post-Truth" Era: Insurgent Philosophy and Praxis. He is education chair at The Hampton Institute (a working-class think tank), an organizer with the Answer Coalition, and co-editor of LiberationSchool.org.

Seminar details: This seminar is organised by Dr Alpesh Maisuria, Senior Lecturer Education Studies, part of the International Centre for Public Pedagogy (ICuP) and the Marxism and Education and Education: Renewing Dialogues Series (MERD Co-Convenors Alpesh Maisuria and Tony Green).

Links:

Derek Ford's book: Politics and Pedagogy in the “Post-Truth” Era: https://www.bloomsbury.com/…/politics-and-pedagogy-in-the-…/

Dr. Alpesh Maisuria: https://alpeshmaisuria.academia.edu/

ICPuP: https://www.uel.ac.uk/…/the-international-centre-for-public…

MERD facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/202497469816639/?fb_dtsg_ag=AdyC300tngNeUAmV0YiduaY9LBrsFhpfgYWjBZ2UgPpmVQ%3AAdxyQFjUkbZvsBPJUuFuTTHZ2ccCxx-oTjFqw4SAjWZD1g

Tony Green's Marxism and Education Palgrave book series https://www.palgrave.com/gb/series/14811

All welcome. No registration required.

Please share widely.

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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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Glenn Rikowski at ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Rikowski

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