The Palgrave International Handbook of Marxism and Education

The Palgrave International Handbook of Marxism and Education is an international and interdisciplinary volume, which provides a thorough and precise engagement with emergent developments in Marxist theory in both the global South and North. Drawing on the work of authoritative scholars and practitioners, the handbook explicitly shows how these developments enable a rich historical and material understanding of the full range of education sectors and contexts. The handbook proceeds in a spirit of openness and dialogue within and between various conceptions and traditions of Marxism and brings those conceptions into dialogue with their critics and other anti-capitalist traditions. As such, it contributes to the development of Marxist analyses that push beyond established limits, by engaging with fresh perspectives and views that disrupt established perspectives.

“This handbook represents urgent and necessary work. The struggles of the workers and the oppressed for the socialization of knowledge, their commitment to the emancipation of humanity, and the recomposition of socio-metabolism, all pulsate in education, and are central to the arguments presented here. Such struggles through education are the constant target of the dominant classes, aiming to profit from selling education as a commodity, capturing public resources, and, sadly, relegating education to mere labor force training, and as a result, we need the critical and active orientations discussed in the handbook.” (Virgínia Fontes, Professor at the Fluminense Federal University and at the Florestan Fernandes National School of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST), Brazil)

 

“This collection brings together an impressive array of intellectuals who adroitly demonstrate the enduring relevance of various Marxist modes of analysis for exploring and interrogating our contemporary world, the ongoing destruction wrought by capitalism across the globe and the ways in which extant educational structures, cultures and practices reinforce those destructive tendencies.

 

The editors’ comprehensive introduction along with 29 newly commissioned pieces by leading education scholars working theoretically and practically with and through Marx and in dialogue with decolonial, indigenous, queer, feminist and anti-racist perspectives offer fresh and unique insights that traverse arbitrarily established conceptual boundaries. 

 

This handbook will be an invaluable resource for educators, students, activists and all those committed to envisioning a social horizon beyond the alienating and exploitative nature of capitalist social organization and radically rethinking the role that liberatory pedagogy may play in achieving that goal.” (Dr. Valerie Scatamburlo-D’Annibale (she/her), Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Media and Film, University of Windsor, Canada)

 

“At a time when critical and creative thinking is under attack as never before--whether by neoliberalism, the far Right, and artificial “intelligence” devices that substitute for independent thought—this volume’s emphasis on how capitalism’s valorization process is undermining education could not be more timely. It is one of the most comprehensive, engaging, and in-depth analyses of the challenges facing critical pedagogy that have ever appeared.” (Peter Hudis, Professor of Humanities and Philosophy at Oakton Community College, USA)

 

“This Handbook in Marxism and Education aims to 'recalibrate' the conversation between Marxism and Education by renewing as many dialogues as possible from multiple critical standpoints. Each of the entries of this remarkable volume, written by authors from all over the world, offers a theoretical, explanatory, orempirical angle to this conversation, be it class, race, gender, queer, ideology, theology, ecology, or labour. The 'dialogues in Marxism and education are increasingly relevant for describing alternative conceptualizations of life' write the handbook's editors. They gathered contributors who pushed concepts and methods beyond established demarcations to be part of the wave of radical grassroots experiments against and beyond capitalism. The vital question for Marxism and Education today is how to learn and educate hope radically. This Handbook provides a guide in this direction.” (Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, Reader in Sociology, University of Bath, UK)

Richard Hall is Professor of Education and Technology at De Montfort University, UK, and an Advance HE National Teaching Fellow.

Inny Accioly is Professor of Education at the Fluminense Federal University, Brazil. She develops projects focused on connecting university and grassroots movements in Latin America, relating environmental education, anti-racist education, unionism, and indigenous and traditional knowledge.

Krystian Szadkowski is a researcher at the Scholarly Communication Research Group of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland. His interests cover political economy and transformations of higher education systems in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the issues of the public and the common in higher education.