Capitalism, Pedagogy, and the Politics of Being - by Noah de Lissovoy (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Reframing central categories in Western critical thought, this book investigates the relationship between capitalism and coloniality in society and education, and reconceptualizes emancipatory theory and pedagogy in response. De Lissovoy exposes a logic of violation at the heart of capitalist accumulation and argues that we need to attend to ontological and epistemological orders of domination within which subjectivity takes shape. Systematically bridging the theoretical traditions of Marxism, Latin American decolonial thought, and critical pedagogy, De Lissovoy shows how a new critical imaginary can reorder curriculum in schools and other educational spaces, organize a form of learning beyond the capitalist imperatives of imposition and exploitation, and reconstruct pedagogical relationships in the mode of a decolonial and democratic commons.

Review Quotes

"Not only is Noah De Lissovoy's recent publication of Capitalism, Pedagogy, and the Politics of Being elegantly unraveled and powerfully crafted, it establishes a much-needed space from the intertwined promises and limitations of critical pedagogy, neoliberal discourse, and Marxist theory... This is a book that I have already returned to time and time again, sitting in pause with its words, sentences, and sections and noting in its margins the many themes and theories that speak to the complexity of our current moment... his making of an anti-capitalist curriculum is a pillar upon which new forms of collectivity and relationality will certainly build." - Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies

"Building on the literature around racial capitalism, the book offers fresh insights on the possibility of viewing the pervasiveness of neoliberalism, and capitalism in a racial light; one which attempts to challenge the very foundation of these deep-seated ideologies that are weighing down on an expanding society and a rapidly degrading ecosystem." - Journal of International and Comparative Education

"De Lissovoy authoritatively but lovingly takes the field of critical pedagogy by its nape, carrying it forward into the present moment. Writing against the neoliberal mantra of there is no alternative, he produces a cogently argued mapping of how to reclaim a critical, democratic pedagogy through the power, struggles, and "discomforts" of collectivity and relationality. This is precisely the revolution we need." --Sandy Grande, Professor of Political Science and Native American and Indigenous Studies, University of Connecticut, USA

"In Capitalism, Pedagogy, and the Politics of Being, De Lissovoy shows us why he is one of education's sharpest thinkers at the crossroads of culture, critical theory, and critique of capitalism. In this book, he works through the intricate relationships between coloniality, advanced neoliberalism, and critical pedagogy in order to point us toward a truly radical, anti-capitalist curriculum." --Wayne Au, Professor, School of Educational Studies, University of Washington, Bothell, USA

"Capitalism, Pedagogy, and the Politics of Being stands apart from other projects in education, sociology and radical philosophy. De Lissovoy uniquely synthesizes traditions associated with Marxism and decolonial theory and constructs a new pedagogical imagination rooted in love, difference, and freedom. A vital intervention from one of the most important intellectuals writing in the Freirean tradition today." --Alexander Means, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA

About the Author

Noah De Lissovoy is Professor of Cultural Studies in Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He is the author of Education and Emancipation in the Neoliberal Era (2015), Power, Crisis, and Education for Liberation (2008), co-author of Toward a New Common School Movement (2015) and the editor of Marxisms and Education (2018).