Radical Voices for Democratic Schooling: Exposing Neoliberal Inequalities

279 Pages·2012·1.526 MB·English

by  Pierre W. Orelus, Curry S. Malott (auth.)

Palgrave Macmillan’s
Postcolonial Studies in Education
Studies utilizing the perspectives of postcolonial theory have become established and
increasingly widespread in the last few decades. This series embraces and broadly
employs the postcolonial approach. As a site of struggle, education has constituted a
key vehicle for the “colonization of the mind.” The “post” in postcolonialism is both
temporal, in the sense of emphasizing the processes of decolonization, and analytical
in the sense of probing and contesting the aftermath of colonialism and the imperi-
alism which succeeded it, utilizing materialist and discourse analysis. Postcolonial
theory is particularly apt for exploring the implications of educational colonialism,
decolonization, experimentation, revisioning, contradiction, and ambiguity not only
for the former colonies, but also for the former colonial powers. This series views
education as an important vehicle for both the inculcation and unlearning of colonial
ideologies. It complements the diversity that exists in postcolonial studies of political
economy, literature, sociology, and the interdisciplinary domain of cultural studies.
Education is here being viewed in its broadest contexts, and is not confined to institu-
tionalized learning. The aim of this series is to identify and help establish new areas
of educational inquiry in postcolonial studies.
Series Editors:
Antonia D arder holds the Leavey Presidential Endowed Chair in Ethics and Moral
Leadership at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, and is Professor Emerita
at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Anne H ickling-Hudson is associate professor of Education at Australia’s Queensland
University of Technology (QUT) where she specializes in cross-cultural and interna-
tional education.
Peter Mayo is professor and head of the Department of Education Studies at the
University of Malta where he teaches in the areas of Sociology of Education and
Adult Continuing Education, as well as in Comparative and International Education
and Sociology more generally.
Editorial Advisory Board
Carmel Borg (University of Malta)
John Baldacchino (Teachers College, Columbia University)
Jennifer Chan (University of British Columbia)
Christine Fox (University of Wollongong, Australia)
Zelia Gregoriou (University of Cyprus)
Leon Tikly (University of Bristol, UK)
Birgit Brock-Utne (Emeritus, University of Oslo, Norway)
Titles:
A New Social Contract in a Latin American Education Context
Danilo R. Streck; Foreword by Vítor Westhelle
Education and Gendered Citizenship in Pakistan
M. Ayaz Naseem
Critical Race, Feminism, and Education: A Social Justice Model
Menah A. E. Pratt-Clarke
Actionable Postcolonial Theory in Education
Vanessa Andreotti
The Capacity to Share: A Study of Cuba’s International Cooperation in
Educational Development
Rosemary Preston, Anne Hickling-Hudson, and Jorge Corona Gonzalez
A Critical Pedagogy of Embodied Education
Tracey Ollis
Culture, Education, and Community: Expressions of the Postcolonial Imagination
Jennifer Lavia and Sechaba Mahlomaholo
Neoliberal Transformation of Education in Turkey: Political and Ideological Analysis
of Educational Reforms in the Age of AKP
Edited by Kemal İnal and Güliz Akkaymak
Radical Voices for Democratic Schooling: Exposing Neoliberal Inequalities
Pierre W. Orelus and Curry S. Malott
Radical Voices for Democratic Schooling
Exposing Neoliberal Inequalities
By
Pierre W. O relus and C urry S. M alott
RADICAL VOICES FOR DEMOCRATIC SCHOOLING
Copyright © Pierre W. Orelus and Curry S. Malott, 2012.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-44164-8 ISBN 978-1-137-03147-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-03147-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Orelus, Pierre W.
Radical voices for democratic schooling : exposing neoliberal
inequalities / By Pierre W. Orelus and
Curry S. Malott.
pages cm—(Postcolonial Studies in Education)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–1–137–03392–5
1. Education—Economic aspects. 2. Neoliberalism—Social aspects.
3. Education and state. I. Malott, Curry, 1972– II. Title.
LC65.O725 2012
338.4(cid:2)737—dc23 2012016020
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: November 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Series Editors’ Preface v ii
Acknowledgments xi
Foreword xiii
Peter McLaren
Introduction 1
Part I The Echoing of Dissident Voices against the
Darkness of Neoliberalism, Capitalism, and Racism:
Toward a Democratic School System and Just Society
1 C lass Struggle Unchained: An Interview with
Peter McLaren 25
2 N eoliberalism and Education: An Interview with
Bradley J. Porfilio 65
3 T he Fight against Neoliberalism Has Just Began:
A Dialogue with Dave Hill 93
4 R esisting Neoliberalism with Hope: A Dialogue
with Noam Chomsky 115
Part II Unveiling Social Inequalities Perpetuated
through the Neoliberal and Capitalist School System
and the Corporate Media
5 N eoliberalism in the Academic Borderlands: An
Ongoing Struggle for Equality: A Dialogue with
Antonia Darder 1 33
6 C lass Warfare: A Dialogue with Pepi Leistyna 151
vi Contents
7 H igher Education, Neoliberalism, Democracy, and
Community: Challenges for Educators Working with
Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students;
A Dialogue with Hermán García 2 09
8 D emocracy and Social Justice in a Capitalist Society: Is
This possible? A Conversation with Shirley R. Steinberg 2 23
About the Authors 237
About the Contributors 239
Name Index 245
Subject Index 249
Series Editors’ Preface
For more than three decades, we have been swamped by policies and
economically driven formulations of education, commonly regarded
as neoliberal. These policies are characterized by the presence of a
state that withdraws necessary support from the social sphere, while
making itself strongly felt in several important spheres, including
use of repressive forces over which it holds a monopoly and the cre-
ation and cementation of the new infrastructure necessary for capital
mobility and accumulation. It is also ready to intervene and bail out
banks and other institutions that are crucial to sustaining the capital-
ist system.
There is no question that the state plays an important role in sus-
taining the market and its free international flow, contrary to those
who bemoan the weakening influence of the nation-state. There are
those like Phillip G. Cerny who have argued that the state, in fact,
often assumes the role of “competition state” in that it helps foster
the expansion of markets in a variety of fields. The state also plays a
strong role in ensuring that, in the age of free circulation, it is goods
that travel freely across borders, while simultaneously working to con-
trol the ebb and flow of labor power across these very same boundar-
ies, often reinforcing or relaxing its controls according to industrial
demands within its own area of jurisdiction, including demands for
the depression of local wages.
In concert, education is constantly being transformed from a for-
mer “public good” to an object of consumption. In fact, in a variety of
contexts, it is being changed into a positional good with its provision
deeply affected by the vagaries of the market. The most extreme form
of this approach is represented by the Chilean experience, post 1973,
with its important watershed being the first September 11 coup staged
by the army under General Augusto Pinochet against the socialist
“nationalizing” government of Salvador Allende. Even state education
viii Series Editors’ Preface
has been conceived of in this way, by the perpetrators of this dictator-
ship. Since 2011, students in Chile have been clamoring for the right
to free education to be enshrined in the country’s Constitution, given
that Chilean citizens pay for state-sponsored public education at all
levels. This CIA-driven military dictatorship was echoed not only in
Latin America during the 1970s but also later in Turkey with the stag-
ing of a military coup d’état meant to usher in neoliberal policies—
a move that eventually led to the deaths and disappearances of many
who publically opposed the onslaught of economic structural changes
well-primed to support an increasingly conservative political climate.
Neoliberalism emerged under a terrible sign—the Chilean coup. It
was characterized by liberalization of the market, but buttressed by
extensive violence. This political economic design has led to an increas-
ing gap between the rich and the poor, the devastation of ecological
balance, and the acceleration of military operations in the name of
democracy across the globe. In the face of the escalating disparities
of wealth and massive unemployment caused by neoliberal policies of
privatization and free-market deregulation, there has been much pro-
test and large-scale mobilizations for change. The growth of “specu-
lative” financial capital with its exponential spiraling “upward” effect
of channeling wealth into a 1 percent elite at the expense of the 99
percent has fueled indignation everywhere. This indignation has been
channeled into several sectors of social life, not least being the educa-
tional sector. The clamor of the indigandos in Europe and those who
joined the “revolutions” in the Arab world, risking life and limb in the
latter case, have done so in the name of human dignity—“we are not
merchandise in the hands of the politicians and bankers” was the cry
in Spain. The same occurred in Tunisia, Egypt, and other parts of the
Arab world where the quest for human dignity was allied to the more
international quest for jobs and a decent standard of living, especially
in an area of the world, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA),
which has among the lowest levels of employment in the world. In the
United States, a variety of protests across the country erupted under
the banner of the Occupy movement, in an effort to have the voices of
the 99 percent heard within what is still the wealthiest country in the
world. The Occupy movement spread itself on an international scale
with many cities following suit.
It remains to be seen whether the changes augured by those strug-
gling for more jobs and greater democratic spaces in the Arab world
will represent a departure from neoliberal tendencies that were preva-
lent in places like Egypt during the Mubarak period. It needs to be
Series Editors’ Preface ix
stressed that for all the government’s embracing of neoliberalism, jobs
for the majority of Arab youth and other people were and remain
seriously inadequate. It also remains to be seen whether the hopes of
those engaged in popular struggles remain forlorn ones as a result of
the presence of a strong military apparatus that wields so much power
in the interest of the US’ strategic hegemonic presence in the Middle
East. This seems to be the case with Egypt, where it is easy to get rid
of a natural “fall guy” in the form of the allegedly corrupt oligarch,
Mubarak, and some of his associates, so long as the military com-
mand structure remains intact. Similarly, the verdict remains out on
whether the Occupy movement can continue to generate, for the long
haul, the necessary pressure, given the formidable weight of neolib-
eral proponents in the United States.
Through “people power” in various countries in the world, there is
a push to combat neoliberalism and the ruthless exploitative nature of
capitalism, with its global military-industrial complex, and its exac-
erbation of colonial or postcolonial structures of domination. But
this remains an enormous challenge. It is one that calls for nuanced
accounts of the various complex factors that impinge on different
aspects of human lives. Education is one area that is especially wor-
thy of careful analysis. This requires that we conceive of education in
its broadest context, one that extends beyond its institutional provi-
sion in the form of schools and universities. Instead, it must extend to
consideration of the way alternative popular education plays its part
within the context of the Occupy movement in, say, London, New
York, the squares of Athens and Cairo, and the streets of Alexandria.
It also must take into account the way people’s consciousness is
affected or challenged. This is all part of hegemony seen as a process
of either cementing or negotiating/renegotiating the hegemonic rela-
tions involved. Education must also not be seen as an independent
variable. It does not have the capacity to change things on its own.
This collection of interviews in Radical Voices for Democratic
Schooling: Exposing Neoliberal Inequalities brings together some
of the finest exponents of critical thinking in education and social
everyday life. Many of the authors featured here are well grounded in
a postcolonial perspective that focuses on education and the policies
and practices of schooling that function to perpetuate inequalities.
We are fortunate to have a volume comprising some of the great-
est voices in the struggle for human emancipation in this very dif-
ficult, yet potentially revolutionary, moment in our history. Included
are the voices of Noam Chomsky, with his expressed faith in people