Paul R. Carr

I am currently a Full Professor in the Department of Education at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, which is a stone's throw from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. I am also the Chair-Holder of the UNESCO Chair in Democracy, Global Citizenship and Transformative Education, with Gina Thésée as the Co-Chair. There are many wonderful folks involved in this project. The UNESCO Chair DCMÉT website is: unesco-dcmet.com

My current research is broadly concerned with social justice and political sociology, with specific threads related to democracy, media literacy, peace studies, intercultural relations, global citizenship, and transformative change in education. Over the past few decades, I have collaborated, as co-editor, in about twenty books on topics related to Whiteness and racism, interculturalism, democracy, transformative education, youth culture and critical pedagogy and social media. All of these projects have been enjoyable, engaging and meaningful, and I'm grateful for the collaboration and friendship with a range of colleagues. I also wrote a single-author book and co-wrote another with Gina Thésée.

I am influenced by the critical pedagogical movement/tradition/body of work, and am intellectually, socially and politically interested in Paulo Freire's work and ideas around political literacy, transformation, conscientization, and radical love. Other scholars, such as Joe Kincheloe, Peter McLaren, Antonia Darder, George Dei, and Carl James (and others), have further supported my thinking related to political sociology, oppression, human decency, and the quest for peace.

I also write poetry, and have been fortunate enough to collaborate with Spanish-speaking colleagues on several literary projects, including two anthologies with Cuban colleagues. I edited a Spanish-English anthology of poetry entitled Iguana: Exile, which included ten Canadian poets with linkages to Latin America, writing in both languages, and, more recently, a book entitled Concave Mirrors, which was produced with my Canadian colleague Hugh Hazelton and two Cuban colleagues.

My most recent book of poetry is DEMOCRAzY.

(From the back-cover)

DEMOCRAzY is a journey, of sorts, through the fissures and fault-lines that frame and cultivate our societal interactions and (supposed socio-psychological) development together. Are we free to engage with one another, with authorities and decisionmakers, do elections really matter, can we do more than fantasize about social justice, is it helpful to interrogate what underpins our institutions, our relationships and our ways of being…? Is there a point to democracy, if it exists? The poems in this book are unlikely to change or disrupt or transform what is presented to us as democracy but they do represent, at least, one person’s outlook and a call for something more enticing, engaging and… democratic.

I have been involved in a range of projects and initiatives in relation to solidarity with Latin America over the years, and continue to work with colleagues there.