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Description
Back to Research Working Groups
Praxical thinking is marked by the dissolution of the theory/practice dichotomy and by an emphasis on the connection between agency and social change. Unlike much political theorizing, it contains little distance to the inter-subjective construction and maintenance of both domination and resistance to domination. It is a theoretico-practical engagement not fashioned primarily in conversation with texts in authorial isolation in academe. It is rather in movement, amidst people, in a radical critical vein, at the street level. It adumbrates/fashions/imagines/conceives the possibilities of resistance and liberation by the oppressed, the excluded, the marginalized, in a realist vein, clear on the limits to be both taken in and pushed against. It is a form of political theorizing that is thoroughly worldy.
The research group investigates understandings of agency under oppression, collectivity, social change, social fragmentation, connections among oppressions, cultural domination, stances on resistance to oppressions. The emphasis is also on diverse methodologies that transgress the theory/practice dichotomy. But the methodological is always considered in relation to the particularities of thinking in resistance to multiple oppressions.
In our research we reconsider the relations underpinning the production of knowledge. The “research group” is relationally constituted within the “learning while educating” position, constantly foregrounding questions of practice as they pertain to the formulation of theory, and vice versa, within contexts of formal learning/teaching as well as the creative learning that characterizes everyday life.
Popular education is one key form of praxical thinking. As an experience based and action oriented process, it serves as an exemplar of how people learn from each other in creating social change. Popular education processes bring people together in a non-hierarchical setting enabling them to analyze the conditions in which they live to develop plans for collective action based on their own values and perceived needs. The spirit and methodology of popular education is integral to our conception and realization of participatory action research.
The workshop aims at advancing this form of theorizing through an exploration of particular research projects/contexts as well as broader, more general discussions.
Binghamton Faculty:
Ingerborg, Majer O'Sickey, German, Russian and East Asian Languages, Women's Studies, Workshop Coordinator
Mona Basta, Social Work. Corrine Bertram, Human Development. Lubna Chaudhry, Human Development. Maria Lugones, PIC, Comparative Literature. Dina Maramba, Human Development. Nicholas Paley, Education
Binghamton Graduate Students:
Marsha Acerra, Education. Manuel Chavez, PIC. Anne Jahn, COLI. Nikolay Karkov, PIC. Jemimah Mwakisha,PIC. Tanya Miller, Anthropology. Chantal Rodais, COLI. James Stanescu, PIC. Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, PIC
Participants from other universities and popular education centers:
Jackie Anderson. Mildred Beltre, Escuela Popular Norteña. Maria Benfield, UC Berkeley. Chris Cavanagh, Chrysalis Center. Concha Delgado-Gaitan, UC Davis. Laura Dumond Kerr, Escuela Popular Norteña. Sarah Hoagland, Northeastern University. Christine Keating, Escuela Popular Norteña. Crista Lebens, University of Wisconsin Whitewater. Anne Leighton. Xhercis Mendez, Escuela Popular Norteña. Rafael Mutis, Critical resistance, Escuela Popular Norteña. Laura Elisa Perez, UC Berkeley. David Quijada, U Utah. Karen Ann Watson-Gegeo, UC Davis
The workshop will meet bi-weekly. The bi-weekly meetings will include: popular education workshops, readings in praxical thinking and participatory research, discussion of films that engage social struggle, presentations by participants of their own work.
We will organize a Dialogue on “Praxical Methodologies and Radical Social Change”. We are conceiving the dialogue as among popular educators, praxical theorists, radical film-makers and critics, activists, social scientists that engage in radical participatory research.
PIC Website - State University of New York - Binghamton
webmaster: gverone0@binghamton.edu