Creative Dissent: Radical Pedagogies in Twentieth Century Grassroots Movements

Session Submission Type: Paper Session: Traditional Format

Abstract

Education that foments dissent is rarely found in traditional classrooms or institutions. This panel looks at complementary forms of political education, in person and through print, in the U.S. from the turn-of-the-century to the contemporary moment. We will focus on the impact of radical leftist thought on pedagogical methods as well as how efforts to communicate with different, multicultural communities, in turn, influenced the political ideologies being taught. Organizers in these movements adapted global ideas of anarcho-syndicalism, socialism, and communism to fit within societies divided by race and nationality. Thus, even within dissenting groups, there were often conflicts over both pedagogical methods and the content of what was being taught. Changes in technology, the political climate, or even internal negotiations over leadership roles led to re-definitions of content and tactics over time, which reflected creative adaptability and the vitality of radical dissent. Teaching became an ideological battleground, which produced creative, avant-garde approaches to radical thought. This panel spans from 19th century anarcho-syndicalist print culture to today’s social media, including the communist revisioning of the American Revolution in the 1920s to early 1940s, and experimental media production in black and Chicanx farmers’ cooperatives in the 1960s. Even though outreach was an essential component to the dissemination of ideas of dissent, this panel argues that the methods of pedagogy created space for self-reflection in social movements. The commonality we see between radical groups is how they sought to teach their own members--through magazines or newspapers, or innovative media, in order to facilitate cohesion, protest, and action.

David M. Struthers, Ph.D. (American studies/History) revisits print culture as the original form of social media in social movement communication and pedagogy. His exploration of early twentieth century Los Angeles and the borderlands argues that pedagogical efforts--specifically through anarchist newspapers--solidified an international political scene into a community. Caroline Heller (American studies/literary studies) examines two established periodicals, the Daily Worker and the New Masses, to look at how communist print culture revised traditional U.S. history in order to re-teach American values to a predominantly immigrant workforce. Heller’s work examines radical perspectives of Thomas Jefferson and the American Revolution, reminding us of the politics of both historiography and pedagogy. Elizabeth Rodriguez Fielder, Ph.D. (American studies/ethnic studies) revisits a lesser-known aspect of Civil Rights activism, the Southern Cooperative Movement, and argues for the centrality of art in social movement practice. She examines avant-garde multimedia narratives that were meant to teach the process--and potential success--of forming a cooperative. Peter Cole, Ph.D (labor studies/comparative history) will serve as chair and commentator on this panel.

Sub Unit

• American Studies Association Annual Meeting

Chair

• Peter Cole, Western Illinois University

Individual Presentations

• Pedagogies of Print and Person: Anarchist Newspapers as Social Media in L.A. and the Borderlands - David M. Struthers, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

• “Our Revolutionary Heritage": Teaching Dissent through Assent in the New Masses and the Daily Worker, 1926 to 1943 - Caroline Heller, University of Mississippi

• Creative Collaboration and the Southern Cooperative Movement of the 1960s - Elizabeth Rodriguez Fielder, University of Pittsburgh

Comment

• Peter Cole, Western Illinois University