Criticality, Catastrophe, and Pedagogies of Hope
Dr Oli Belas, Senior Lecturer in Education and English

1700-1830
 
My presentation will take the form of a working paper, in which I’ll consider the potential for education to be a means and form of political literacy and political resistance as well as and apart from its potential to be a mechanism of oppression and social reproduction (the usual position in liberal, critical education studies). I will discuss the tradition of what Myisha Cherry calls, after the poet and activist Audre Lorde, “Lordean rage” – really, a euphemism for intersectional feminism-anarchism – and will focus on its politics of joy and attitude of utopian hope, as distinct from the catastrophizing of the standard “critical” narrative.  
 
This seminar is open to all. Contact Neil Hopkins (neil.hopkins@beds.ac.uk) for more details. 
 
*Refreshments will available. Please bear in mind that this session is likely to be recorded.