Abraham DeLeon | University of Texas at San Antonio (original) (raw)
Books by Abraham DeLeon
In this book, DeLeon presents a critique of neoliberalism and present times through a metaphor of... more In this book, DeLeon presents a critique of neoliberalism and present times through a metaphor of social collapse and considers what remains once the dust has settled for a different kind of person to emerge. Engaging a variety of social, political and educational theories, along with pop culture and literature, DeLeon positions humanity at the edges of collapse and what will emerge after the fall. Engaging academic and fictional alternatives, he imagines future possibilities through a new kind of person that rises from the rubble. Questioning the foundations of empiricism, standardization and "reproducible" results that reject new forms of social and political projects from materializing, DeLeon discusses the potentials of the imagination and the ways in which it can produce alternative possibilities for our collective future when unleashed and combined with fictional narratives. Moving across multiple intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and historical traditions, he constructs a radical, interdisciplinary vision that challenges us to think about transforming our collective future(s), one in which we construct a new kind of person ready to tackle the challenges of a potentially liberatory future and what this might entail.
Tales of a creeping, impending doom ushering the fall of civilization emerges from a variety of p... more Tales of a creeping, impending doom ushering the fall of civilization emerges from a variety of popular cultural forms. Zombie outbreaks, plagues or apocalyptic visions positions humanity within a precarious future filled with angst and fear. It appears that destruction shapes a collective vision of our potential futures. However, what do these visions mean for the social foundations of education and for educational theory and research? Subjectivities, Identities and Education after Neoliberalism: Rising from the Rubble wrestles with unknown tomorrows, creating an interdisciplinary vision of future possibilities. Beginning with the current neoliberal project of an ideal subjectivity, the author critiques our current era through the metaphor of societal collapse, a theoretical and imaginal possibility in which humanity is given the opportunity to begin again. Moving across multiple intellectual, philosophical, artistic and historical traditions, the author constructs a radical, interdisciplinary vision that situates the humanities and the social foundations of education as vital avenues in which scholars, teachers and students can begin to think about, and dare say imagine, what a different future might entail.
[Winner of the 2011 “Critics Choice Award” from the American Educational Studies Association] ... more [Winner of the 2011 “Critics Choice Award” from the American Educational Studies Association]
"Critical Theories, Radical Pedagogies, and Social Education: New Perspectives for Social Studies Education begins with the assertion that there are emergent and provocative theories and practices that should be part of the discourse on social studies education in the 21st century. Anarchist, eco-activist, anti-capitalist, and other radical perspectives, such as disability studies and critical race theory, are explored as viable alternatives in responding to current neo-conservative and neo-liberal educational policies shaping social studies curriculum and teaching.
Despite the interdisciplinary nature the field and a historical commitment to investigating fundamental social issues such as democracy, human rights, and social justice, social studies theory and practice tends to be steeped in a reproductive framework, celebrating and sustaining the status quo, encouraging passive acceptance of current social realities and historical constructions, rather than a critical examination of alternatives. These tendencies have been reinforced by education policies such as No Child Left Behind, which have narrowly defined ways of knowing as rooted in empirical science and apolitical forms of comprehension.
This book comes at a pivotal moment for radical teaching and for critical pedagogy, bringing the radical debate occurring in social sciences and in activist circles—where global protests have demonstrated the success that radical actions can have in resisting rigid state hierarchies and oppressive regimes worldwide—to social studies education.
This book is about machines: those that have been actualized, machines that have existed solely i... more This book is about machines: those that have been actualized, machines that have existed solely in our imaginations, or those deployed as metaphorical devices to describe complex social processes. The word and concept appears to evoke a host of emotional responses from humanity that emerges over a broad register; fear to jubilation, trepidation to caution, elation to regret. Machines transcend time and space to emerge through a variety of spaces and places, times and histories, and various representations that exist from film to literature; science to psychoanalysis; postcolonialism to artistic representations.
Films have been fascinated with them and literature has created fantastical worlds in which machines play prominent roles. Machines shifted agricultural production and helped to usher the Industrial Revolution as one of the central experiences of 19th century life in places like the United States and Western Europe. They are also at the heart of sophisticated military technology and recent scientific discussions about interstellar space travel.
Machines have become such a daily reality that their disappearance would have immediate and dire consequences for the survival of humanity. They are part and parcel to our contemporary social order.
From labor to social theory, art or consciousness, literature or television, machines are a central figure; an outgrowth of affective desire that seeks to transcend organic limitations of bodies that eventually will wither and die. The robots of science fiction and the machines of capitalist production demonstrate their trans-disciplinary emergences that firmly place machines at the center of a collective social imagination. This book explores how machines have emerged through popular representations, the imaginations of artists and poets, and how they have been actualized in contemporary society. This book takes the reader on an intellectual, artistic, and theoretical journey, weaving through a wide variety of texts and representations, historical eras, and social locations.
Machines is a call to examine not only their manifestations, but also to give particular attention to things we create as possessing deeper affective dimensions. Machines emerge, and once one attunes her/himself to the ways in which machines “speak” to us, we can imagine a society that is both dependent and repulsed by what machines do and how they have shifted the meaning of life itself. This book offers alternative ways in which to envision machines, understanding the deep processes that links them in a wide and disparate network of representations, manifestations, metaphors, and multiple meanings. Machines rejects that they are indeed neutral creations and this propels us to think differently about technology that is created under specific economic or historical paradigms. Rethinking machines and a machinic reality provides us with possible alternatives to our current technocratic reality. Let us sit back and take a journey through Machines, holding their mechanical parts as guides to possible alternative futures.
Critical Theories, Radical Pedagogies, and Social Education: New Perspectives for Social Studies ... more Critical Theories, Radical Pedagogies, and Social Education: New Perspectives for Social Studies Education begins with the assertion that there are emergent and provocative theories and practices that should be part of the discourse on social studies education in the 21st century. Anarchist, eco-activist, anti-capitalist, and other radical perspectives, such as disability studies and critical race theory, are explored as viable alternatives in responding to current neo-conservative and neo-liberal educational policies shaping social studies curriculum and teaching.
Despite the interdisciplinary nature the field and a historical commitment to investigating fundamental social issues such as democracy, human rights, and social justice, social studies theory and practice tends to be steeped in a reproductive framework, celebrating and sustaining the status quo, encouraging passive acceptance of current social realities and historical constructions, rather than a critical examination of alternatives. These tendencies have been reinforced by education policies such as No Child Left Behind, which have narrowly defined ways of knowing as rooted in empirical science and apolitical forms of comprehension.
This book comes at a pivotal moment for radical teaching and for critical pedagogy, bringing the radical debate occurring in social sciences and in activist circles—where global protests have demonstrated the success that radical actions can have in resisting rigid state hierarchies and oppressive regimes worldwide—to social studies education.
I have attached an excerpt of the book and have included the website for ordering information. Thank you.
"This volume of collected essays by some of the most prominent academics studying anarchism bridg... more "This volume of collected essays by some of the most prominent academics studying anarchism bridges the gap between anarchist activism on the streets and anarchist theory in the academy. Focusing on anarchist theory, pedagogy, methodologies, praxis, and the future, this edition will strike a chord for anyone interested in radical social change.
This interdisciplinary work highlights connections between anarchism and other perspectives such as feminism, queer theory, critical race theory, disability studies, post-modernism and post-structuralism, animal liberation, and environmental justice. Featuring original articles, this volume brings together a wide variety of anarchist voices whilst stressing anarchism's tradition of dissent. This book is a must buy for the critical teacher, student, and activist interested in the state of the art of anarchism studies."
Papers by Abraham DeLeon
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 2015
What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, ge... more What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, geographically, and increasingly virtually—through a critical geographical lens as has been done elsew...
In this paper, the author departs from a traditional academic rendering and takes an interdiscipl... more In this paper, the author departs from a traditional academic rendering and takes an interdisciplinary and fictional theoretical stroll. Engaging the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari as an initial entrée into thinking of the possibilities for creating a different kind of person, the author argues that educational theory and the social foundations of education are two intellectual and creative traditions that can potentially help us theorize a new subject for the next century. Utilizing a uniquely pastiche flair that dances across the humanities, the author argues that a utopian spirit must be imagined to counter the complex networks that neoliberal capitalism reproduces. Keenly avoiding its recuperative traps, the author argues for the development of an imaginative approach in rethinking educational, social, economic and political realities. The author ends the paper in the throngs of an imaginary becoming, conjuring an alternative subjectivity rooted in the mulitiplicities of everyday life.
What would it be like to have a conversation with a human that lives 30,000 years in the future? ... more What would it be like to have a conversation with a human that lives 30,000 years in the future? In this paper the author attempts this, constructing an imaginary encounter with a future humanity. Beginning with indigenous scholarship and literature, the author explores the imagination of indigenous writer Barry Lopez and his deep connection to the land and the natural world. Moving towards French social theory and literature, the author then explores the works of Georges Bataille and J.K. Huysmans, building a case for a future vision that emerges from voices that remain in the shadows, highlighting literature that exists in the margins. The author engages the indigenous imagination, along with the mad, diabolic, the archaic and the magic of unearthed ways of knowing, forging an imaginal future encuentro of radical conjuration. Conjuration becomes an alternative way to think of the potentials of a radically conceived view of the potentials of critical social theory. Leaving behind concepts of current radical thought may help a distant humanity overcome challenges of those social problems still yet on the horizon and what a fringe, historically situated 21st century scholar was envisioning for a future era, sparking an experimental and utopian vision.
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies
What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, ge... more What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, geographically and increasingly virtually—through a critical geographical lens. We wish to strengthen an examination of how teachers might find new networks of power and subjectivities—utilizing the interlocking concepts of the vagabond, the nomad, and imaginal machines—of historically situated bodies that perform and become teacher. How might the teacher as vagabond—forced increasingly into this role by a reconceptualized and hollowed out professional trajectory—find fulfillment and the necessary discursive components to shepherd students in a newly constituted profession? In thinking about this question, this paper outlines alternative ways in which to think of not only the practices that teachers do with students and as public intellectuals, but to also rethink the subjectivities available to us at this point of neoliberal capitalism. In other words, we think of this paper as an intervention for producing new ways to rethink relationships we form and of our place in this world. The key point to a nomadic subjectivity is movement, placing bodies in motion, allowing for transformative experiences to occur through the practices and experiences of perpetual forces and flows. Movement intrigues us as critical scholars, allowing us to envision alternative educational relationships and practices because it does not allow for stagnation; movement can allow for other possibilities to emerge. We, in effect, work to reimagine (teachers’) bodies in spaces, (teachers’) bodies in schools, and what might come of this imaginal work that points towards new ways in which to rethink how schooling is practiced and imagined. If teaching is to become, again, a viable profession and more importantly a critical nexus of actual education for students, then the space of schools must first be radically reimagined.
The End of the World As We Know It? Toward a Critical Understanding of the Present
Recent social movements including the Arab spring, European anti-austerity movements, Occupy move... more Recent social movements including the Arab spring, European anti-austerity movements, Occupy movements, and labor movements in the wake of the global “great recession” are substantially fuelled by young adults facing uncertain, if not dire, economic, social and ecological prospects. Whether looking at student populations in Quebec, global indigenous populations in the Idle No More movement, mining populations in Asturias (Spain) or the credentialed “graduate with no future” in Barcelona or Madrid, those resisting share expectations unmet by the neoliberal capitalist project of the last half century. Sustainable employment, a healthy biosphere, a living wage, and social security are growing uncertainties in much of the world, even for those privileged enough to obtain credentials in Western universities. Given the broader political economic context provided in this volume, how would we describe the economic conditions and outlook of those entering (students, young adults, immigrant populations) and re-entering (those forced to find more or different work) the “educated” workforce? What if the fundamental ideologies legitimating educational meritocracy and wage slavery no longer resonate with workers and stakeholders? What opportunities emerge for teachers and public intellectuals as fundamental beliefs and expectations about school and work under capitalism break down?
This chapter builds a vision for an insurgent social studies grounded in utopian thinking and way... more This chapter builds a vision for an insurgent social studies grounded in utopian thinking and ways in which to envision new forms of becoming outside of neoliberal sensibilities. Engaging auto ethnography, DeLeon constructs an interdisciplinary engagement of utopian ways in which to rethink subjectivity through the insurgent potentials that can exist within social studies education.
September 11th 2001 is forever cloaked in affective resonances: feelings, emotions, and desires t... more September 11th 2001 is forever cloaked in affective resonances: feelings, emotions, and desires that remain in bodies after that fateful day. However, the memories and events of 9-11 are centered in the creation and reproduction of spaces of terror and death that traverse global boundaries, linked by historical precedents rooted in European colonization. Although 9-11 was a tragic day for the lives lost, this event has signaled a new era in the hegemony of global capitalism, the United States, and the surveillance technologies that have arisen. September 11th now exists in the memory as justification for a host of problematic relationships occurring globally. In this article, the author moves across multiple traditions to rethink 9-11 in the context of space, postcolonialism, the body, and the forging of public memories. He ends by sparking his utopian imaginary, resisting dominant conceptions of that fateful day and rethinking September 11th through alternative narrative understandings.
In this book, DeLeon presents a critique of neoliberalism and present times through a metaphor of... more In this book, DeLeon presents a critique of neoliberalism and present times through a metaphor of social collapse and considers what remains once the dust has settled for a different kind of person to emerge. Engaging a variety of social, political and educational theories, along with pop culture and literature, DeLeon positions humanity at the edges of collapse and what will emerge after the fall. Engaging academic and fictional alternatives, he imagines future possibilities through a new kind of person that rises from the rubble. Questioning the foundations of empiricism, standardization and "reproducible" results that reject new forms of social and political projects from materializing, DeLeon discusses the potentials of the imagination and the ways in which it can produce alternative possibilities for our collective future when unleashed and combined with fictional narratives. Moving across multiple intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and historical traditions, he constructs a radical, interdisciplinary vision that challenges us to think about transforming our collective future(s), one in which we construct a new kind of person ready to tackle the challenges of a potentially liberatory future and what this might entail.
Tales of a creeping, impending doom ushering the fall of civilization emerges from a variety of p... more Tales of a creeping, impending doom ushering the fall of civilization emerges from a variety of popular cultural forms. Zombie outbreaks, plagues or apocalyptic visions positions humanity within a precarious future filled with angst and fear. It appears that destruction shapes a collective vision of our potential futures. However, what do these visions mean for the social foundations of education and for educational theory and research? Subjectivities, Identities and Education after Neoliberalism: Rising from the Rubble wrestles with unknown tomorrows, creating an interdisciplinary vision of future possibilities. Beginning with the current neoliberal project of an ideal subjectivity, the author critiques our current era through the metaphor of societal collapse, a theoretical and imaginal possibility in which humanity is given the opportunity to begin again. Moving across multiple intellectual, philosophical, artistic and historical traditions, the author constructs a radical, interdisciplinary vision that situates the humanities and the social foundations of education as vital avenues in which scholars, teachers and students can begin to think about, and dare say imagine, what a different future might entail.
[Winner of the 2011 “Critics Choice Award” from the American Educational Studies Association] ... more [Winner of the 2011 “Critics Choice Award” from the American Educational Studies Association]
"Critical Theories, Radical Pedagogies, and Social Education: New Perspectives for Social Studies Education begins with the assertion that there are emergent and provocative theories and practices that should be part of the discourse on social studies education in the 21st century. Anarchist, eco-activist, anti-capitalist, and other radical perspectives, such as disability studies and critical race theory, are explored as viable alternatives in responding to current neo-conservative and neo-liberal educational policies shaping social studies curriculum and teaching.
Despite the interdisciplinary nature the field and a historical commitment to investigating fundamental social issues such as democracy, human rights, and social justice, social studies theory and practice tends to be steeped in a reproductive framework, celebrating and sustaining the status quo, encouraging passive acceptance of current social realities and historical constructions, rather than a critical examination of alternatives. These tendencies have been reinforced by education policies such as No Child Left Behind, which have narrowly defined ways of knowing as rooted in empirical science and apolitical forms of comprehension.
This book comes at a pivotal moment for radical teaching and for critical pedagogy, bringing the radical debate occurring in social sciences and in activist circles—where global protests have demonstrated the success that radical actions can have in resisting rigid state hierarchies and oppressive regimes worldwide—to social studies education.
This book is about machines: those that have been actualized, machines that have existed solely i... more This book is about machines: those that have been actualized, machines that have existed solely in our imaginations, or those deployed as metaphorical devices to describe complex social processes. The word and concept appears to evoke a host of emotional responses from humanity that emerges over a broad register; fear to jubilation, trepidation to caution, elation to regret. Machines transcend time and space to emerge through a variety of spaces and places, times and histories, and various representations that exist from film to literature; science to psychoanalysis; postcolonialism to artistic representations.
Films have been fascinated with them and literature has created fantastical worlds in which machines play prominent roles. Machines shifted agricultural production and helped to usher the Industrial Revolution as one of the central experiences of 19th century life in places like the United States and Western Europe. They are also at the heart of sophisticated military technology and recent scientific discussions about interstellar space travel.
Machines have become such a daily reality that their disappearance would have immediate and dire consequences for the survival of humanity. They are part and parcel to our contemporary social order.
From labor to social theory, art or consciousness, literature or television, machines are a central figure; an outgrowth of affective desire that seeks to transcend organic limitations of bodies that eventually will wither and die. The robots of science fiction and the machines of capitalist production demonstrate their trans-disciplinary emergences that firmly place machines at the center of a collective social imagination. This book explores how machines have emerged through popular representations, the imaginations of artists and poets, and how they have been actualized in contemporary society. This book takes the reader on an intellectual, artistic, and theoretical journey, weaving through a wide variety of texts and representations, historical eras, and social locations.
Machines is a call to examine not only their manifestations, but also to give particular attention to things we create as possessing deeper affective dimensions. Machines emerge, and once one attunes her/himself to the ways in which machines “speak” to us, we can imagine a society that is both dependent and repulsed by what machines do and how they have shifted the meaning of life itself. This book offers alternative ways in which to envision machines, understanding the deep processes that links them in a wide and disparate network of representations, manifestations, metaphors, and multiple meanings. Machines rejects that they are indeed neutral creations and this propels us to think differently about technology that is created under specific economic or historical paradigms. Rethinking machines and a machinic reality provides us with possible alternatives to our current technocratic reality. Let us sit back and take a journey through Machines, holding their mechanical parts as guides to possible alternative futures.
Critical Theories, Radical Pedagogies, and Social Education: New Perspectives for Social Studies ... more Critical Theories, Radical Pedagogies, and Social Education: New Perspectives for Social Studies Education begins with the assertion that there are emergent and provocative theories and practices that should be part of the discourse on social studies education in the 21st century. Anarchist, eco-activist, anti-capitalist, and other radical perspectives, such as disability studies and critical race theory, are explored as viable alternatives in responding to current neo-conservative and neo-liberal educational policies shaping social studies curriculum and teaching.
Despite the interdisciplinary nature the field and a historical commitment to investigating fundamental social issues such as democracy, human rights, and social justice, social studies theory and practice tends to be steeped in a reproductive framework, celebrating and sustaining the status quo, encouraging passive acceptance of current social realities and historical constructions, rather than a critical examination of alternatives. These tendencies have been reinforced by education policies such as No Child Left Behind, which have narrowly defined ways of knowing as rooted in empirical science and apolitical forms of comprehension.
This book comes at a pivotal moment for radical teaching and for critical pedagogy, bringing the radical debate occurring in social sciences and in activist circles—where global protests have demonstrated the success that radical actions can have in resisting rigid state hierarchies and oppressive regimes worldwide—to social studies education.
I have attached an excerpt of the book and have included the website for ordering information. Thank you.
"This volume of collected essays by some of the most prominent academics studying anarchism bridg... more "This volume of collected essays by some of the most prominent academics studying anarchism bridges the gap between anarchist activism on the streets and anarchist theory in the academy. Focusing on anarchist theory, pedagogy, methodologies, praxis, and the future, this edition will strike a chord for anyone interested in radical social change.
This interdisciplinary work highlights connections between anarchism and other perspectives such as feminism, queer theory, critical race theory, disability studies, post-modernism and post-structuralism, animal liberation, and environmental justice. Featuring original articles, this volume brings together a wide variety of anarchist voices whilst stressing anarchism's tradition of dissent. This book is a must buy for the critical teacher, student, and activist interested in the state of the art of anarchism studies."
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 2015
What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, ge... more What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, geographically, and increasingly virtually—through a critical geographical lens as has been done elsew...
In this paper, the author departs from a traditional academic rendering and takes an interdiscipl... more In this paper, the author departs from a traditional academic rendering and takes an interdisciplinary and fictional theoretical stroll. Engaging the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari as an initial entrée into thinking of the possibilities for creating a different kind of person, the author argues that educational theory and the social foundations of education are two intellectual and creative traditions that can potentially help us theorize a new subject for the next century. Utilizing a uniquely pastiche flair that dances across the humanities, the author argues that a utopian spirit must be imagined to counter the complex networks that neoliberal capitalism reproduces. Keenly avoiding its recuperative traps, the author argues for the development of an imaginative approach in rethinking educational, social, economic and political realities. The author ends the paper in the throngs of an imaginary becoming, conjuring an alternative subjectivity rooted in the mulitiplicities of everyday life.
What would it be like to have a conversation with a human that lives 30,000 years in the future? ... more What would it be like to have a conversation with a human that lives 30,000 years in the future? In this paper the author attempts this, constructing an imaginary encounter with a future humanity. Beginning with indigenous scholarship and literature, the author explores the imagination of indigenous writer Barry Lopez and his deep connection to the land and the natural world. Moving towards French social theory and literature, the author then explores the works of Georges Bataille and J.K. Huysmans, building a case for a future vision that emerges from voices that remain in the shadows, highlighting literature that exists in the margins. The author engages the indigenous imagination, along with the mad, diabolic, the archaic and the magic of unearthed ways of knowing, forging an imaginal future encuentro of radical conjuration. Conjuration becomes an alternative way to think of the potentials of a radically conceived view of the potentials of critical social theory. Leaving behind concepts of current radical thought may help a distant humanity overcome challenges of those social problems still yet on the horizon and what a fringe, historically situated 21st century scholar was envisioning for a future era, sparking an experimental and utopian vision.
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies
What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, ge... more What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, geographically and increasingly virtually—through a critical geographical lens. We wish to strengthen an examination of how teachers might find new networks of power and subjectivities—utilizing the interlocking concepts of the vagabond, the nomad, and imaginal machines—of historically situated bodies that perform and become teacher. How might the teacher as vagabond—forced increasingly into this role by a reconceptualized and hollowed out professional trajectory—find fulfillment and the necessary discursive components to shepherd students in a newly constituted profession? In thinking about this question, this paper outlines alternative ways in which to think of not only the practices that teachers do with students and as public intellectuals, but to also rethink the subjectivities available to us at this point of neoliberal capitalism. In other words, we think of this paper as an intervention for producing new ways to rethink relationships we form and of our place in this world. The key point to a nomadic subjectivity is movement, placing bodies in motion, allowing for transformative experiences to occur through the practices and experiences of perpetual forces and flows. Movement intrigues us as critical scholars, allowing us to envision alternative educational relationships and practices because it does not allow for stagnation; movement can allow for other possibilities to emerge. We, in effect, work to reimagine (teachers’) bodies in spaces, (teachers’) bodies in schools, and what might come of this imaginal work that points towards new ways in which to rethink how schooling is practiced and imagined. If teaching is to become, again, a viable profession and more importantly a critical nexus of actual education for students, then the space of schools must first be radically reimagined.
The End of the World As We Know It? Toward a Critical Understanding of the Present
Recent social movements including the Arab spring, European anti-austerity movements, Occupy move... more Recent social movements including the Arab spring, European anti-austerity movements, Occupy movements, and labor movements in the wake of the global “great recession” are substantially fuelled by young adults facing uncertain, if not dire, economic, social and ecological prospects. Whether looking at student populations in Quebec, global indigenous populations in the Idle No More movement, mining populations in Asturias (Spain) or the credentialed “graduate with no future” in Barcelona or Madrid, those resisting share expectations unmet by the neoliberal capitalist project of the last half century. Sustainable employment, a healthy biosphere, a living wage, and social security are growing uncertainties in much of the world, even for those privileged enough to obtain credentials in Western universities. Given the broader political economic context provided in this volume, how would we describe the economic conditions and outlook of those entering (students, young adults, immigrant populations) and re-entering (those forced to find more or different work) the “educated” workforce? What if the fundamental ideologies legitimating educational meritocracy and wage slavery no longer resonate with workers and stakeholders? What opportunities emerge for teachers and public intellectuals as fundamental beliefs and expectations about school and work under capitalism break down?
This chapter builds a vision for an insurgent social studies grounded in utopian thinking and way... more This chapter builds a vision for an insurgent social studies grounded in utopian thinking and ways in which to envision new forms of becoming outside of neoliberal sensibilities. Engaging auto ethnography, DeLeon constructs an interdisciplinary engagement of utopian ways in which to rethink subjectivity through the insurgent potentials that can exist within social studies education.
September 11th 2001 is forever cloaked in affective resonances: feelings, emotions, and desires t... more September 11th 2001 is forever cloaked in affective resonances: feelings, emotions, and desires that remain in bodies after that fateful day. However, the memories and events of 9-11 are centered in the creation and reproduction of spaces of terror and death that traverse global boundaries, linked by historical precedents rooted in European colonization. Although 9-11 was a tragic day for the lives lost, this event has signaled a new era in the hegemony of global capitalism, the United States, and the surveillance technologies that have arisen. September 11th now exists in the memory as justification for a host of problematic relationships occurring globally. In this article, the author moves across multiple traditions to rethink 9-11 in the context of space, postcolonialism, the body, and the forging of public memories. He ends by sparking his utopian imaginary, resisting dominant conceptions of that fateful day and rethinking September 11th through alternative narrative understandings.
“All power to the imagination!” Provocatively, this popular anarchist phrase pushes us to re-exam... more “All power to the imagination!” Provocatively, this popular anarchist phrase pushes us to re-examine radical politics through imagination and its role for educational theory and research. The imagination serves an important role in creating alternative forms of resistance, knowledge, and embodiment through interdisciplinary research projects that force us to step outside current epistemological boundaries. The imagination has arisen throughout history and historical research allows scholars to explore these alternatives through archival traces left behind by documentary history. Specifically, the author engages “Project Y”, an autonomous, artistic, scholarly, imaginative and spontaneous space for youth during HemisFair’68, the Worlds’ Fair held in San Antonio, Texas in 1968. Project Y was a utopian space, envisioned to enable young people who attended the World’s Fair in San Antonio an opportunity to create, debate and produce artistic work that pushed originality, inclusion and self-determination. Educational scholars should engage archival research, exploring alternative historical possibilities that may shed light on contemporary social problems. Project Y pushed traditional spatial boundaries, an imaginal machine (Shukaitis, 2009a, 2009b) of potential resistance, demonstrating the importance of archival engagement for educational research. Through our collective imaginations, scholars can explore possibilities that may not be available under current social, political, environmental and economic realities.
Social studies is a content area filled with possibilities for teachers to explore important issu... more Social studies is a content area filled with possibilities for teachers to explore important issues surrounding social justice. Traditionally, the social studies have been guilty of reproducing the status quo, but there have been critical scholars seriously questioning these dominant narratives. Such critiques arise out of the notion that our assumptions about society need to be interrogated and social studies allows for the discussion of important social issues and problems. These include civic participation, historical memory, social theory and making our world a nicer place to live. Although these assumptions guide the analysis in this paper, I depart from progressive and Neo-Marxist analysis and argue for the inclusion of anarchist theory that challenges status quo assumptions in this largely reproductive social mechanism. Specifically I employ the concept of sabotage suggesting that teachers can employ a more radical and uniquely anarchist perspective to challenge and disrupt the traditional social studies curriculum.
Space is a central feature of contemporary society and capitalism is a uniquely spatial affair. A... more Space is a central feature of contemporary society and capitalism is a uniquely spatial affair. As critical theories have tried to understand the implications of this reality over the past few decades, Marxism and “poststructural” theories have integrated space heavily into their analysis, focusing on how capitalism has shaped it, the ways in which power/knowledge emerge through spatial realities and the coercive and disciplinary ways in which it shapes our bodies and subjectivities. Anarchist theory has also dealt with space, but has been inadequate in dealing with its full implications, limiting its potential in building a nuanced and sophisticated resistance. In this article, the author explores the politics of space through a neo-Marxist, “poststructuralist” and anarchist lens, arguing that these traditions need to be combined to rethink space and build new forms of subjectivities. In particular, the author focuses on two archetypes (the nomad and the vagabond) as examples that defy ideological and spatial constraints, exhibiting a uniquely anarchist subjectivity.
As a testament to the growing literature on autoethnography and my own connections to systemic an... more As a testament to the growing literature on autoethnography and my own connections to systemic and direct racism, this article is a therapeutic way to explore my past through the ancient way of telling, testifying and the role of narrative inquiry in the development of knowledge. Testimony opens new ways of looking at the world by participating in a subversive form of scholarship. Indigenous scholars have claimed that stories play a vital role in transmitting who we are. Through my experiences, I explore the concept of the middle ground and the spaces of identity created by complex relationships of power. Similar to the literature on borders, “go-betweens” dance between worlds and exist in spaces wrought with alienation, discovery, transmission, and cooperation. I also argue that anarchist theory and praxis can inform larger autoethnographic writing, pushing radicals to include narrative inquiry into their own communities and praxis through an exploration of self. In this way, we can begin the difficult process of theorizing from our own locations that includes moments of intense pain, shame and triumph that life sometimes brings us.
Anarchist theory has a long-standing history in political theory, sociology, and philosophy. As a... more Anarchist theory has a long-standing history in political theory, sociology, and philosophy. As a radical discourse, anarchist theory pushes us towards new conceptualizations of community, theory, and praxis. Early writers like Joseph Proudhoun and Emma Goldman to more contemporary anarchists such as Noam Chomsky have established anarchist theory as an important school of thought that sits outside the Marxist discourses that have dominated the radical academic scene. Today, anarchists have been responsible for staging effective protests (specifically, Seattle, 1999) and have influenced autonomous groups like the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) in their organizational and guiding philosophies. Interestingly, anarchism is glaringly absent from the literature in educational theory and research. In this paper, the author will highlight aspects of anarchist theory that are particularly applicable to education, while also establishing specific ways that anarchist theory can inform our own educational praxis. Specifically the author employs the anarchist framework of direct action and micro-level strategies, such as sabotage, that challenge us to resist the oppressive practices found in institutions today.
Education is rife with issues of equity and social justice and is entrenched in the fight for a b... more Education is rife with issues of equity and social justice and is entrenched in the fight for a better and more just world. A central problem for education should be fundamentally about the idea of “rights” and what the concept of “human rights” (denoted as HR) would mean in the context of educational theory, philosophy and practice. HR education has a long-standing tradition within education and should be a fundamental component when we envision an educational experience rooted in social justice. However, unfortunately, much of traditional HR theory, advocacy and scholarship are rooted within a liberal paradigm that relies on the State to be the main arbiter of how human rights should be structured. Interestingly there have been rigorous critiques against the State from critical scholarship. Using these perspectives, I argue for the need for educational theory to rigorously engage with HR. I also deconstruct some of the Truth claims inherent in the discursive construction known as “Human Rights” and try to expose some of its underlying ideological assumptions. Mainly, I will focus on the idea that States can ultimately provide HR in the way that it has been discursively constructed. The concept of HR is paramount to developing healthy, productive and socially just citizens. However, this chapter will also demonstrate that we need to stay vigilant in how these realities are lived out through these complex and important discursive constructions like the HR enterprise.
Mass shootings have captured the imagination of our contemporary society. As an educational schol... more Mass shootings have captured the imagination of our contemporary society. As an educational scholar, however, my own interest are those that have occurred within the public school context, such as Springfield, Oregon, Columbine, Colorado and Jonesboro, Arkansas. My initial research question centered upon the discursive construction of the abnormal school shooter. However, these conceptions of a school shooter seemed to have an underlying discourse of Whiteness that reproduces common stereotypes of “urban” and “urban crime” that appears to be reified in tandem with the school shooter archetype. Because Whiteness is not popularly associated with deviance, blackness is often constructed as its polar opposite rooted in rampant sexuality, poor work ethic, senseless crime and a lack of strong morality. These types of conceptions have a historical lineage that dates back to European colonization. In this article I critically analyze two main themes that emerged from the literature on school shootings: “ghetto” spaces are imagined as places “fit” for crime and the explicit/implicit links made between blackness and criminal activity. I end with ways in which these types of analysis can inform how we resist deficit understandings of urban spaces and people of color.
Critical theory in education has exposed many oppressive features of contemporary society. Howeve... more Critical theory in education has exposed many oppressive features of contemporary society. However, the literature remains fixed on the human experience, despite the fact that the representations of nonhuman animals provide a rich context in which to explore ideology, power, and what Michel Foucault called regimes of truth. In this paper, the author brings forth animal studies, an interdisciplinary approach to theorizing nonhuman animals in our society. The author provides a brief summary of the animal studies scholarship that has implications for educational theory: anthropomorphism, the representation of nonhumans, and speciesism. The author demonstrates the discursive construction of nonhumans is riddled with assumptions based upon Enlightenment notions of empirical science and rationality that expose our representational practices and has implications for how we represent Other humans. He ends with examining Deleuze and Guattari’s becoming-animal and argues that this can be a location in which we can begin to challenge the human/nonhuman binary.
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 2024
In this article, the author animates a different kind of telling and knowing for critical scholar... more In this article, the author animates a different kind of telling
and knowing for critical scholarship. Recognizing an unknow-
able reality through a journey to a mythical past, the author
imagines an ontology of the serpent, a radical interdisciplinary,
incantation for the future. This sorcerous evocation re-animates
ancient mythical practices, forging a becoming that has not
been realized. The serpent rejects a Christian, Cartesian, and
modernist telos, recasting a different relationship with hierar-
chies that subvert radical forms of resistance from emerging.
This paper ends within the embrace of anarchism, evoking the
anarchist’s “No!”, destabilizing self and pointing toward wonder-
ous, cosmic connections.
The recent explosion of post-apocalyptic visions of zombie outbreaks, plague, and bio-engineered ... more The recent explosion of post-apocalyptic visions of zombie outbreaks, plague, and bio-engineered super viruses reveals the preoccupation that exists about the potential for future disaster and its link to our conceptions of health, the body, and the public good. Born from this same historical conjuncture, The New York State Public Health Manual: A Guide for Attorneys, Judges, and Public Health Professionals, published in 2011, outlines the powers of the state of New York during a time of catastrophe; i.e. plague, outbreak, natural disaster. This particular legal guide demonstrates a current manifestation of biopower and the affective potential States hope to capture and control that emanate from the collision and interaction of bodies. States harness affect through various ways, and in this particular study, through a text that mobilizes fear and the ever-present potential of a threat, ultimately justifying draconian social
measures in the name of “public safety”. Written texts provide a rich context in which to critique and better situate State policies within larger frameworks of discipline and control. States and bodies are inextricably connected to each other, and analyzing public policies help better contextualize these links specifically.
Critical Studies in Education, 2018
According to the 2013 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), most teacher educ... more According to the 2013 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), most teacher education programs are failing in the United States. These programs, NCTQ insists, are not preparing new teachers with sufficiently ‘scientific’ methods and are, in the process, failing to properly train prospective teachers how to ‘lead the classroom’ (p. 2). In the deficit discourses employed by NCTQ, teacher education programs have become a cesspool of ‘mediocrity’ (p. 1) where the overall findings ‘paint a grim picture of teacher preparation in the United States’ (p. 17). We actually agree that things are grim, but for very different reasons and in very different spaces. Using NCTQ’s ‘Teacher Prep Review: A Review of the Nation’s Teacher Preparation Program’ as an entryway, the authors argue that the report typifies not only an alarmist approach usually found in conservative attempts at social policy and reform, but also further reifies quasi-empirically based research as the best (indeed the only) method by which to measure effective teacher education programs. The authors deconstruct the taken-for-granted assumptions within the NCTQ text, challenging quantification as a research/policy paradigm while arguing for the value of newly imagining educational possibility through risk and creation.
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 2015
What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, ge... more What we seek to engage here are the multiple spaces of schooling—as it shifts architecturally, geographically and increasingly virtually—through a critical geographical lens as has been done elsewhere (e.g. Aitken 2001; Nespor 1997; Squires and Kubrin 2005; Tate 2008). Adding to this work, we wish to strengthen an examination of how teachers might find new networks of power and subjectivities—utilizing the interlocking concepts of the vagabond, the nomad, and imaginal machines—of historically situated bodies that perform and become teacher. How might the teacher as vagabond—forced increasingly into this role by a reconceptualized and hollowed out professional trajectory—find fulfillment and the necessary discursive components to shepherd students in a newly constituted profession? We think, as the career becomes contingent the work of recapturing meaning in teaching (and being ‘teacher’) points towards the nomadic, the purposeful engagement with learning for becoming, rather than learning for testing; i.e. the practices that will foster the reconceptualization of identities that think outside of market parameters.
In this presentation, Professor DeLeon departs from a traditional academic rendering and takes an... more In this presentation, Professor DeLeon departs from a traditional academic rendering and takes an interdisciplinary and fictional theoretical stroll. Engaging the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari as an initial entrée into thinking of the possibilities for creating a different kind of person, he begs the question: are educational theory and the social foundations two intellectual and creative traditions that can help us theorize a new subject for the next century? Utilizing a uniquely pastiche flair that dances across the humanities, Professor DeLeon argues that a utopian spirit must be imagined within education to counter the complex networks that neoliberal capitalism reproduces. Keenly avoiding recuperative traps, he argues for the development of an imaginative approach in rethinking educational, social, economic and political realities. Professor DeLeon will end the presentation in the throngs of an imaginary becoming, conjuring an alternative subjectivity rooted in the mulitiplicities of everyday life.
When the serpent tempted Eve with that luscious apple from the Garden of Eden, a chain reaction o... more When the serpent tempted Eve with that luscious apple from the Garden of Eden, a chain reaction occurred across a truly interdisciplinary context. From religious studies to the humanities, Satan/Lucifer/Beelzebub/the Devil cemented his/its/their place within a variety of global imaginations. This class will be a provocation for us to explore the Devil's emergence across historical contexts, artistic and literary representations, film and academic/scholarly studies. Also lurking about in the shadow of the woods is the witch, another historical figure that has sparked fear, trepidation and awe. We will engage a variety of sources that help us better understand the representations of the Devil and the witch across cultural, social and historical locations, along with some historiography on these fascinating characters. Be prepared to be intellectually challenged as we move from the rural countryside of England to the critical scholarly studies that assess how Satan, and the witch, might be just a canvas for various social/political representations.
Michel Foucault: Theorist. Philosopher. Activist. Historian. Troublemaker. Foucault was a French ... more Michel Foucault: Theorist. Philosopher. Activist. Historian. Troublemaker. Foucault was a French philosopher (1926-1984) that ushered new and innovative ways in which to think differently about society, institutions, mental health and prisons, to name just a few. He was responsible for not only a breadth of scholarship that still lingers with us today in academic circles, but also leaves us with many questions and avenues to explore his wholly original thought and critiques. For this class, we will explore together, in depth, his many contributions to not only social theory, philosophy and history, but also to the way we think about power, about bodies, about the role of governmentality and sexuality.