DIY Activism: Freire, Critical Public Pedagogies, and the Politics of Scale

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Paulo Freire Roundtable 2

Abstract

Viewed through the prism of Freire’s work, the educational processes of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) activist culture, offer to contribute to the re-scaling of expertise, knowledge production and public participation. Yet, research that has explored DIY’s educational dimensions remains sporadic and under-developed (Hemphill & Leskowitz, 2012). Equally, the concept of scale is central to understanding DIY’s critical educational praxis. However, while insights from the ‘spatial turn’ have informed scholarship in the field of critical education, the key notion of scale continues to be un-reflexively overlooked (Robertson, 2006; Papanastasiou, 2019). Combining appreciative inquiry with case study methodology, this paper draws upon the perspectives of DIY activists to explore the educational dimensions of their public work and the relevance of the concept of scale.

Author

• Gregory Martin, University of Technology - Sydney