-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Frank Pasquale Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 5:34 AM To: iDC Subject: [iDC] Ranciere/Illich
1. I thought the following essay on Jacques Rancière by Nina Power may be of interest to group members: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2010-07-01-power-en.html "Is education merely the transplanting of gobbets of information onto the blank slate of a student's mind (we could call this the Lockean approach), or are we drawing out forms of rational and creative capacity possessed (equally?) by students qua rational beings? Jacques Rancière contributes much to this debate, particularly in his work on the unusual educator Joseph Jacotot in The Ignorant Schoolmaster. This paper attempts to analyse the possibility of what could be called the "utopian rationalism" of Jacotot (and of Rancière himself), within the context of the modern university. Rancière's work will be read alongside that of Pierre Bourdieu and Ivan Illich as other crucial figures in the understanding of the way in which educational achievement relates to certain assumptions about what teaching involves." 2. Also, I wanted to pass on this conference announcement: Radical Nemesis: Re-envisioning Ivan Illich's Theories on Social Institutions. A symposium at Western New England College, April 1, 2011. Grand theorist Ivan Illich wrote provocative texts in the 1970s and early 1980s examining major social institutions including, for example, DeSchooling Society (1971), Tools for Conviviality (1973), Medical Nemesis (1975), and Gender (1982). His work critiqued modern educational, medical, and transportation schemes, among others, and examined the evolution of concepts of class and gender. Thirty years ago, in DeSchooling Society (1971), Ivan Illich set forth a radical framework for evaluating the significance, effectiveness, and legitimacy of one of this countrys major social institutions. While considered radical by some, he has also been criticized, including by feminist scholars, as deeply conservative and retrograde. See Gloria Bowles in Beyond the Backlash: A Feminist Critique of Ivan Illich's Theory of Gender, 3(1) Feminist Issues (Spring 1983). We will revisit Illichs works in a symposium at Western New England College School of Law on April 1, 2011. What application, if any, do Illichs theories and ideas have for current social challenges and social justice struggles? What can they tell us, for example, about decarceration, educational equity, racial justice, and health care access and self-determination? Are Illich's ideas dated, or do they contain enduring insights for today's scholars and activists? Papers applying, criticizing, or extending Illich's theories to any area of scholarship or social activism are invited. The symposium will take place at Western New England College School of Law on April 1, 2011. The College is located in Massachusettss Pioneer Valley, close to Amherst and Northampton and convenient to Bradley International Airport. Anyone interested in presenting a principal paper should submit an abstract to Erin Buzuvis ([email protected] <https://mail.shu.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=7a8e69d495274d3fb9204214d85d068d&URL= mailto%3aebuzuvis%40law.wnec.edu> ) by December 1, 2010. For more information, see our website: http://law.wnec.libguides.com/content.php?pid=108557 <https://mail.shu.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=7a8e69d495274d3fb9204214d85d068d&URL= http%3a%2f%2flaw.wnec.libguides.com%2fcontent.php%3fpid%3d108557%26sid%3d816 543> &sid=816543 **************************************************************************** ********************************************************************* all best, -Frank
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