Dualism and Democracy in Critical Education

• In Event: Capitalism and Its Fundamentalisms: Imperialism, Colonialism, and Democracy From the Standpoint of Revolutionary Learning

Abstract

Drawing from ongoing research into youth engagement work, this paper explores the limits of differing forms of critical education theory to address contemporary dynamics of imperialism, settler colonialism, and state violence. Beginning with the premise that the material and ideological forms within capitalism tend towards abstracted and dichotomized theorization of social relations and social life, this paper examines the conceptualization of democracy in youth engagement work. Following a discussion of the implications of this premise for the theorization of learning within a Marxist-Feminist framework, this paper will then think through the potentialities and difficulties of utilizing individual experience as the basis of critical educational activities and theorization.

Author

• Sara Carpenter, University of Alberta