Political Theory for an Alter-University Movement

381 Pages·2013·1.66 MB·English

by  Jessica Namakkal

Political Theory for an Alter-University Movement:
Decolonial, Abolitionist Study within, against, and beyond the Education Regime

A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
BY

Eli Loren Meyerhoff

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Joan Tronto, Adviser

September 2013
© Eli Loren Meyerhoff 2013
i

Acknowledgments
Walking the long and winding path of this dissertation would have been
impossible without my interlocutors and supporters. Taking higher education as the
object of critique in a dissertation written for my insertion into a career in that very
institution, I continually found my writing caught up in spirals around this apparent
paradox. Grappling with these tensions on my own, even making them part of the
theoretical object of my dissertation, got me only so far without feeling alienated and
ready to ‘drop out.’ At such points of despair, what saved me was always remembering to
reconnect the motivation of this dissertation with its origin: with the people in my life, in
the joys of their love, solidarity, friendship, care, comradeship, and integrity. Anything in
this dissertation that reads well and vibrantly is merely taking the relay from those
thousands of conversations.
The most momentous of those conversations were with my dissertation committee
members. In many ways, the backbone of my project has been Bud Duvall, who in acting
as the chair of my committee gave sound guidance that pulled me through the difficult
times of other committee members leaving. As chair of our department, he recruited
faculty and students to maintain a culture of radical inquiry and a community devoted to
bridging critical theory and practice. His dissertation reading group engendered a spirit of
mutual aid and constructive critique that continually motivated me to keep writing. At the
most clutch period, Joan Tronto stepped in to become my advisor, and I have profound
gratitude for her willingness to take a chance with such a ‘time to degree’ non-compliant,
trouble-making grad student as myself. Her patient, incisive questions pushed my project
in exciting new directions and her encouraging feedback on many drafts gave me the
ii
confidence to stitch together my scattered writings into the semblance of a whole,
complete dissertation. Meeting Richa Nagar as a hunger-striker in support of the
AFSCME workers was the encounter that opened my horizons to the possibility of
intersecting activism and academia, and questions about the conditions for that possibility
became the central problematic of this dissertation. Through the caring, politically
committed energy she has devoted to our correspondence, she has demonstrated a kind of
community of solidarity and collective study that I look forward to expanding. Likewise,
co-writing an article with Bruce Braun and my fellow graduate student Elizabeth
Johnson, led to a troubling of the norms of academic hierarchy as Bruce shared his
research and writing wisdom while making time for us to express our capacities, creating
a microcosm of the kind of non-hierarchical, expansively pleasurable, intellectual
collaboration that our article promoted. Bruce’s support of graduate students across
disciplinary borders has engendered a community of scholars at the U of Minnesota who
are engaged in boundary-pushing research. In addition to giving me helpful feedback on
drafts, Nancy Luxon has been a role model as a political theorist for her consistently
careful, attentive approach to critical reading and scholarly engagement.
For inspiring my transition to political science, I thank Bill Scheuerman, Jim Farr,
and Mary Dietz. Taking their courses inspired my excitement for political theory, and our
conversations formed the basis of my knowledge and passion for the research that I
continue today. During my prospectus writing stage, Scott Abernathy and Antonio
Vázquez-Arroyo gave me invaluable guidance and helped me earn the essential financial
support of a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, for which I also thank the University of
Minnesota. Working with Teri Caraway as teaching assistant over many semesters, I
iii
learned a great deal from her commitments both to improving pedagogically in the
classroom and to enacting real solidarity across divisions of labor on our campus and
around the world.
Offering a lifeline out of the frustration and alienation I felt as a chemical
engineer in my undergraduate days at the University of Southern California, Dallas
Willard’s philosophy classes liberated my horizons of intellectual and political
possibilities. His parting advice—“whatever you do, always give reasons”—has been the
mantra behind the ethic of communicative responsibility in my scholarly work. He and
Edwin McCann not only gave me a deep appreciation for the history of philosophy but
also provided crucial support for pursuing my philosophical interests in graduate school.
For showing me the joys of graduate student life, I will always fondly remember my
magical encounter with Chris Buck and Rosa Williams, on my escape from a corporate
wastewater treatment conference to their housing co-op and communist art, which felt
like stepping into a utopia. Only upon experiencing grad school myself did I begin to
realize its truly dystopian character, despite my being forewarned by Kim Miller, who
nonetheless helped me get into the beast by editing my essay for applications. Along with
Randolph Heard and Sarah Sullivan, Kim gave me hope that it was possible to grow up
and still be cool.
The best advice I received for surviving grad school was from Dion Farganis,
whose desk I took over for my eight years in the Social(ist) Science Tower, when he said
that what got him through was having a life in communities outside of academia. I was
lucky to find that life with my friends and comrades in the overlapping communities and
organizations of aspiring revolutionary movements, including Experimental Community
iv
Education of the Twin Cities (EXCO), Minnehaha Free Space, the Industrial Workers of
the World, and the Twin Cities Anarchist Bookfair. My entry-point into this world was
through engagement in militant politics on the U of M campus, especially with the
AFSCME strikes, the GradTRAC, Emaciated Gopher and GSWU grad unionization
movements, organizing conferences with the Committee on Revolutionizing the
AcaDemy (ComRAD), and an occupation of my own office building in solidarity with
the Wisconsin uprising. Despite our struggles mostly failing to achieve our goals of
abolishing oppressive institutions across campus and the city, we did have powerful
effects on the micro-political level of radicalizing many people, including myself, and
building strong bonds of affectivity that continue to sustain our involvement in
movements. Creating space-times of study that bridged this organizing with the resources
for intellectual work of the academic world, I enjoyed my most profound political-
intellectual developments through co-writing projects with fellow organizers, Isaac
Kamola, David Boehnke, Elizabeth Johnson, Bruce Braun, and Erin Dyke. Several
chapters of this dissertation are adapted from what we wrote together, and completing the
whole would have been impossible without their talking, reading, and writing along with
me as we dove into tough political-theoretical questions, composing better and better
ways of asking them.
The texts we wrote were continuing from threads of conversations with the many
friends and comrades who continue to inspire me, including Arnoldas, Amy Pason, Amit
Singh, Rita Hardie, Christian Villaroel, Silvia Perez Sanchez, Sofi Shank, Hana Worku,
Danny Sadowsky, Desmond McDougal, Isaac Martin, Laura Goetsch, Andrew Meeker,
Jane Franklin, Niels Strandskov, Grant Hagstrom, Jaime Hokanson, Carrie Feldman,
v
Liška, Sophie Frost, Zach Tauer, Max Spektor, Richard Merlin Johnson, Claire Sigford,
Amelia Smith, Ian Contrarian, Hanna Backman, Jacob Niewald, Robbie Jensen, Lucy
Saliger, Hallie Wallace, David Morawski, Maggie Ewing, Jeff Pilacinski, Sarah
Combellick-Bidney, Kevin Van Meter, Meghan Krausch, Cyrus Pireh, Andrew Ensign,
Ian Mayes, Dee Xuba , Maria Wesserle, Adam Luesse, Luce Gullen-Givens, Garrett
Fitzgerald, Jake Virden, Travis Erickson, Sadie Cox, Julie Gaynin, Tyler Reinhard, Erick
Boustead, Aaron Rosenblum, Jason Rodney, Maggie Whitman, Thane Maxwell, Andrew
Gramm, Sarah Halvorson-Fried, Erik Forman, Michele Rockne, Doug Sembla, Andrew
Molle, Amy Selvius, Madison Van Oort, Kieran Knutson, Nate Holdren, Matt May, Nick
Hengen Fox, Emily Fox, Kevin Riordan, Renata Blumberg, Djordje Popovich, Sriram
Ananth, Melody Hoffman, Raechel Tiffe, Nathan Clough, Lucia Pawlowski, Raphi
Rechitsky, Matt Hindman, Ilona Moore, Randall Cohn, Sarah Nelson, Jesse Wozniak,
Morgan Adamson, Cecilia Aldarondo, Corbin Treacy, Brian Schmidt, Dana Schumacher,
Mike Rowe, among many others. So many of our conversations happened in a place that
deserves to be thanked itself, Hard Times Café, whose collective workers made us an
anti-corporate oasis, convivially bubbling with coffee, vegetarian gravy, and Sabbath.
Intersecting with my outside-campus relationships, the friendships and
collaborations with my academic colleagues at the U of M sustained my motivations for
becoming an academic and created a culture of mutual aid and voluntary cooperation
within and across our departments. Engaging in dissertation reading/writing groups with
Adam Dahl, Darah McCracken, and Anthony Pahnke—as well as several years of
participation with the many critical-theoretically engaged members of Bud Duvall’s
group—nourished my project with constructive feedback and inspiration from radical,
vi
brilliant scholars. In the political science department, I enjoyed countless conversations
with Jennifer Routledge, Serena Laws, Mark Hoffman, Michael Nordquist, David Leon,
Isaac Kamola, Ilya Winham, Josh Anderson, Cigdem Cidam, Sergio Valverde, Matt
Jacobs, Garnet Kindervater, Charmaine Chua, Sheryl Lightfoot, Catherine Guisan, Lisa
Disch, Lauren Wilcox, David Forrest, Jenny Lobasz, Ross Edwards, Jeff Lomonaco,
Govind Nayak, Haeri Kim, Arjun Chowdhury, Chase Hobbs-Morgan, David Temin,
Quyhn Pham, Sema Binay, Ralitsa Donkova, Andrew Lucius, Ayten Gundogdu, Marcela
Villarrazo, Katie Gott, Robert Asaadi, Michael Illuzzi, Eric Boyer, Ashley Biser, Jennifer
Gagnon, Kartik Raj, Matt Cravens, Ted Gimbel, Paul Snell, Rock Zhang, Daniel Habchi,
Aaron Beitman, Brooke Coe, Zein Murib, Molla Reda, Sandra Borda, Giovanni Mantilla,
Ismail Yaylaci, and Zhen Wang, among others. From my time in the philosophy
department, I enjoyed my friendships with Josh Kortbein, Kris Houlton Banda Sukura,
Matt Frank, Chung Lee, Jack Woods, Tatiana Abetamarco, Ian Stoner, and Yi Deng. A
special note of gratitude goes to Chris Moore, who was always excited to engage
reasonably with me about even the most unreasonable aspects of life.
Meeting comrades from beyond Minnesota and building friendships and
collaborations with them has been crucial for putting my work in conversation with
broader struggles and radical intellectual currents. Through the Rethinking the
University, Reworking the University, and Beneath the University, The Commons
conferences, organized with ComRAD, I connected with scholars who are supporting
each other in writing our dissertations on universities from critical perspectives—Eli
Thorkelson, Zach Schwartz-Weinstein, Heather Steffen, Mark Paschal, Liz Mason-
Deese, and Erin Dyke. At and beyond many conferences, workshops, and convergences, I
vii
have thoroughly benefited from befriending Sean Parson, Brian Lovato, Bruno Anilli,
Rafi Youatt, Jasmine Yarish, Andrew Dilts, Sina Jo, George Ciccariello-Maher, Anatoli
Ignatov, Jesse Goldstein, David Spataro, Amanda Huron, Christian Anderson, Stevphen
Shukaitis, Pierpaolo Mudu, Carolina Sarmiento, Revel Sims, Cindy Gorn, Tim
Stallmann, Craig Dalton, Malav Kanuga, Mara Ferreri, Andy Cornell, Rana Jaleel, Rob
Haworth, Cindy Milstein, Marianne LeNabat, Alvaro Reyes, Brad Thomson, Brett Story,
Sutapa Chattopadhyay, Joe Feinberg, Andrew Yale, Anthony Meza Wilson, Heath
Schultz, Steve McFarland, Nate Prier, Claudia Bernardi, Anja Kanngieser, Anna Curcio,
Gigi Roggero, Anna Feigenbaum, Elsa Noterman, Heather Rosenfeld, Dimitris
Papadopoulos, George Caffentzis, Silvia Federici, Marc Bousquet, Jamie Heckert, and
Andre Pusey, among others.
Many other friends and family provided crucial support, care, and love during
grad school: Vijay and Rajani Raghavan, Terry Huynh, Louis Flynn and
Sandra Nauwelaerts, Keith Schofield, Nate and Nikki Daiger, Patrick Hefler and Amber
Otto, Meghan Dougherty, Nick Thalhuber and Jessamy Dipper, John Valko, Brett Smith,
Nichole Neuman, Tony Drollinger, Angie Simonson, Eric Roubinek, Fernando Calderón,
Gretchen and Erik Funk, Elizabeth Williams, Jason Ruiz, Christine Manganaro, Ginny
Sims, Garrett Karrberg, Emily Bruce, Calvin Stalvig, Simon Kress, Jesse Field, George
Hoagland, Sara Van Norman, Siobhan McKiernan, Jen Vitry, and Patricia and Claude
Lorcin. Special thanks to the loved ones who brought me into their family, Sheela
Namakkal and Ben Durban, and especially to Carol Sarraillon and Srinivasan Namakkal,
for hosting, feeding, transporting, and caring for me countless times over the decade of
graduate school.
viii
The forces that most powerfully channeled my life into this dissertation were from
mourning the losses of friends whose lives ended far too soon. My colleague at the U of
M, Andy Dickinson, inspired me with his persistently ethical mode of engaging with
people, always making the utmost effort to understand where you were coming from and
willing to take a conversation to unlimitedly nuanced depths. Remembering his political-
intellectual interest in the communities of righteous anger amongst indigenous peoples is
what motivated my own engagement with decolonial thinking, and his critical sensitivity
to the alienating, competitive culture of academia is a spirit churning behind my
dissertation’s problematic. My comrade, Adam Briesemeister, was a great inspiration to
me and many for his selfless devotion to helping people in this world—willing to engage
in depth discussions on any topic, while being simultaneously funny and
compassionate—and to creating another, more liberatory world, such as with being the
driving force of the Twin Cities Anarchist Bookfair and his neighborhood organizing for
community-based alternatives to police. Joel Olson, another former heart of the Twin
Cities anti-authoritarian community, also tragically passed away during my writing of
this dissertation. At a time when my faith in academia waned, meeting Joel—and
learning of his committed drive to ‘bring the ruckus’ in both his academic job as a
political theorist and his political organizing with immigrant and anti-racist struggles, and
seeing how he could do both in symbiotic ways without conflating them—gave me
essential guidance and inspiration for continuing to walk the path he blazed as an
insurgent, abolitionist theorist and organizer. More and more, I am seeing the spirit of
Andy, Adam, and Joel’s lives in those who struggle from the margins everyday; and my
work picks up from them, to translate and amplify their spirited voices.