Reinventing Critical Pedagogy: Widening the Circle of Anti-Oppression Education - Softcover

Cesar Augusto Rossatto; Ricky Lee Allen; Marc Pruyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742538885 ISBN 13: 9780742538887

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006

Synopsis

Reinventing Critical Pedagogy offers a fresh perspective from which to read, discuss, and debate recent critical interpretations of schooling and our world at present. The authors build upon past accomplishments of critical pedagogy and critique those elements that contradict the radically democratic orientation of the field. Ultimately, they argue that critical pedagogy needs to welcome a wider representational and ideological base for the oppressed, and that it should do so in a way that makes the field more vital in the preparation for the revolutionary struggles ahead. Reinventing Critical Pedagogy takes a step in that direction because it not only takes to task OexternalO forces such as capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy, but also engages the manifestations of these external forces within critical pedagogy itself.

About this title

About the Author:

CZsar Augusto Rossatto is Associate Professor and Director of the Sociocultural Foundations Division in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Texas at El Paso. He is author of numerous publications including: Engaging Paulo FreireOs Pedagogy of Possibility: From Blind to Transformative Optimism (Rowman and Littlefield). He is founder of Paulo Freire SIG (Special Interest Group) at AERA (American Education Research Association). He is founder and chair of the First, Second, and Third International Conference on Education, Labor and Emancipation http://academics.utep.edu/confele. He teaches courses in critical pedagogy, multiculturalism, education for social justice, sociology of education. He is committed to dialectic and dialogical education and praxis for the liberation of disenfranchised groups. He is also well versed on organizational politics, international and urban education in the U.S. and Latin America. His main research interests are: globalization and neoliberalism in the U.S.-Mexican border region; Brazilian identity formation and social relations in United States, and their implications for schooling; the phenomena of fatalism and optimism in relation to social classesO differences; the application of critical pedagogy; and the origins and effects of whiteness in Brazil and in the United States. Ricky Lee Allen is Assistant Professor of Educational Thought & Sociocultural Studies at the University of New Mexico (UNM). He received his Ph.D. in Education from UCLA, where he specialized in Urban Schooling. His areas of scholarly interest are sociology of education, critical studies of whiteness, critical race theory, and critical pedagogy. His scholarship focuses on the theoretical aspects of these areas, most specifically on the racial politics of critical educational and social thought. His most recent articles are OWhiteness and Critical PedagogyO and OThe Globalization of White Supremacy.O At UNM, he teaches Critical Race Theory; Paulo Freire Seminar; Whiteness Seminar; Globalization and Education; Race, Ethnicity, and Education; and Sociology of Education. Before becoming a professor, Dr. Allen was a secondary science teacher in suburban Cincinnati, rural Indiana, and urban Los Angeles. Marc Pruyn works at New MZxico State University as an associate professor of social studies education and as the Director of Elementary Education. MarcOs areas of specialty and interest include social justice, multiculturalism, Marxism, anarchism, critical pedagogical theory and the social studies. He is a member of the Rouge Forum (www.rougeforum.org) and the Borderlands Collective for Social Justice. Marc spends his free time watching zombie movies, practicing TaeKwonDo and playing the drums. His most recent book (edited with Luis Huerta-Charles), Teaching Peter McLaren (2005), is available through Peter Lang. Feel free to contact him at profefronterizo@yahoo.com.

Review:

In the tradition of Paulo Freire, critical pedagogy needs reinventing and this is exactly what Rossatto, Allen, and Pruyn have accomplished. This breakthrough collection of intellectuals and their work remind readers what drew them to critical pedagogy in the first place: its spirit of critical self-reflection. Critical pedagogy will never be the same again. (Zeus Leonardo, Editor of Critical Pedagogy and Race, California State University, Long Beach)

Unlike many compilations resulting from conferences or professional meetings, this text is very carefully edited and expands the boundaries of critical theory in interesting, important ways. The book is divided into three sections; the first focusing on race and ethnicity, the second on theoretical concerns, and the third on applications of critical theory constructs to various disciplines. This final section is extremely important in pushing the study of critical theory into largely uncharted waters and undertheorized areas of scholarship. One of the most interesting and stimulating chapters focuses on the relationship between mathematics and the application of critical theory principles and ideas. Another excellent chapter focuses on issues of critical theory applied to environmental science. Highly recommended. (CHOICE)

This book is a long overdue and important contribution to the field of critical pedagogy. Moreover, the mix of new and established scholars and diversity of topics makes this an ideal text for classroom use. Reinventing Critical Pedagogy is destined to invoke dialogue, controversy, and contested conversations, not only helping to reinvent critical pedagogy but also to reignite it! (Sandy Grande, Connecticut College)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0742538885
• ISBN 13: 9780742538887
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272