Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education - by A Green & G Rikowski & H Raduntz (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In the first book in their series on Marxism and Education, Rikowski and Green use Marxist theory to examine the dialectic between race and power in education. The series is aimed at educationalists - teachers, researchers, policy-makers or administrators, as well as activists who consider the Marxist tradition a valuable and important resource.

Review Quotes

"This book demonstrates the continuing relevance and importance of Marxist analysis. There has been a significant, but until recently waning, tradition of neo-Marxist work in British educational studies. This collection announces a new beginning for this tradition. A very impressive set of contributors offer a series of theoretically sophisticated and substantively timely papers-papers which are rooted in solid scholarship and open debate. There is no doubt that this volume will attract considerable attention in the U.K., U.S. and elsewhere, and rightly so. It makes absolutely clear how necessary and constructively disruptive theory is!" - Stephen Ball, Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology and Education, Institute of Education, University of London.

"Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education provides an intelligent summary of past perspectives, current dilemmas and future directions that, until now, has been available only across the dispersed articles and debates that were set in a state of steady boil by Green and Rikowski's path-breaking 'Renewing Dialogues' seminar series. The artful balance of theory, policy, politics, and empirical research has and will continue to expand the boundaries of Marxist Educational thinking. Its spirit originates in the classic dialectical relationship of undogmatic, open, critical thinking and an optimism that a better future is there for the making. Invaluable to researchers-Marxist or otherwise, the co-editors have produceda new must read in the educational studies discipline." - Peter H. Sawchuk, Professor of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

"Green and Rikowski have assembled an impressive group of scholars to renew the dialogue around issues of Marxism and education. With a resurging international interest in Marxist theory and its relevance for our current situation in the shadows of neo-liberal economic policies and neo-conservative social policies, this book could not arrive at a more timely moment. This collection promises to offer some of the best analyses of contemporary educational policies and practices available anywhere." - David Gabbard, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of East Carolina

"This is the sort of volume that educators striving for greater social justice should eagerly anticipate. Their work is rigorous, theoretically sophisticated and attests to their social commitment." - Peter Mayo, Professor, Sociology of Education and Adult Education, University of Malta and co-editor of Gramsci and Education, Liberating Praxis, and co-author of Learning and Social Difference

"The Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues seminars are one of the important-if not the most important-sites for the advancement and application of Marxist scholarship to the educational arena. This book will immediately become a key text for critical scholars with interests in: (1) Marxist educational thought; (2) the impact of globalization and neoliberalism on schooling, teaching, and learning; and (3) the discourses of postmodernism, poststructuralism and their intersections with Marxism. This collection of papers includes many of the key scholars in the field and will certainly generate broad interest among critical education scholars in the U.K., North America and the rest of the English-speaking world. The past decade has seen a rejuvenation of interest in Marxist scholarship in education, particularly in North America. Green and Rikowski s collection is perfectly timed and will surely become the subject of much attention when it appears, as it will be a key source for the cutting edge Marxist analysis and critique of contemporary educational policy and practice." - E. Wayne Ross, Professor, Department of Curriculum Studies, University of British Columbia

"Green and Rikowski have edited an extraordinary and timely book, one dedicated to ex-plicating such key pedagogical issues as globalization, postmodernism, Marxism, and reform. It is a must read not only for critical educational scholars, but also for anyone in-terested in the meanings, statuses, and causes and effects of recent and historical devel-opments in educational philosophy, policy, and practice - especially for those committed to democracy, democratic schooling, democratic social change, and social justice. In the end, Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Educationbrings together the work of leading educational researchers in a remark-able and fundamentally new and exciting way." - Kevin Vinson, Associate Professor, College of Education, University of Arizona

"This volume is exactly the kind of re-encounter with Marxism that is needed by educational theorists at a time when neoliberalism is imperilling the public space of schooling-one of the last remaining public, genuinely civic spaces worldwide. The five parts of the volume seem to provide a perfect set of foci for the project that the editors want to carry out through this book. This will certainly be of great interest to academics studying globalization, as well as to activists, educators and educational theorists." - Imre Szeman, Senator William McMaster Professor of Globalization and Cultural Studies and Director of the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition and Associate Professor of English & Sociology, McMaster University

About the Author

GLENN RIKOWSKI teaches at the University College Northampton, UK.

ANTHONY GREEN teaches at the Institute of Education at the University of London, UK.