Webb, D. (2019) Here we stand: The pedagogy of Occupy Wall Street. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 59 (3). pp. 342-364. ISSN 1443-1394
Abstract
Social movement learning is now an established field of educational research. This paper contributes to the field by offering a critical case study of Occupy Wall Street (OWS). The paper surveys the claims made by the movement’s supporters that transformed utopian subjectivities emerged in and through the process of participation, the prefigurative politics of the movement becoming an educative process of dialogic interaction and a moment of self-education through struggle. Drawing on the extensive range of first-hand accounts, and analysing the anarchist and autonomist ideas animating the movement’s core activists, the paper highlights the pedagogical lacunae in OWS and reflects on what we as educators, working in and with social movements, might learn from these. What the experience of OWS points to, the paper argues, is the need to avoid romanticising the creation of alternative spaces of learning and overstating the pedagogical possibilities opened up when people gather together and occupy a space.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019, Adult Learning Australia Inc. |
Keywords: | Occupy Wall Street; social movement learning; critical pedagogy; prefigurative practice; utopian pedagogy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Education (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 14 Jan 2020 12:40 |
Last Modified: | 14 Jan 2020 12:40 |
Published Version: | https://www.ajal.net.au/downloads/here-we-stand-th... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Adult Learning Australia |
Refereed: | Yes |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:155574 |