From response and adaptation to learning, agency and contribution: making the theory of practice architectures dangerous

What is higher education praxis in a world beset by crises? Sjølie et al. (2020) explore this in relation to academics’ learning during the, using the theory of practice architectures, to highlight key responses and adaptations to the Coronavirus pandemic. I offer a re-reading of their cases of changing practice, challenging a sense of being accepting of, resigned to, and unfolding ‘under’ given circumstances. Instead, I highlight agentic, transformative praxis, where people act individually and collectively towards alternative futures. Drawing on Stetsenko’s transformative activist stance, I point to ways the theory of practice architectures might be put to work ‘dangerously’, as part of a struggle for a better world. Envisioning a reinvigoration of a politically charged theory of practice architectures, I argue the it offers particular value through the concept of learning as coming to practise differently, sharpened through a notion of contribution rather than participation.

A cooptação neocolonial da agência por meio da patologização da pobreza, da diversidade e da desigualdade nos EUA e como enfrentá-la com uma educação ativista transformadora

Este trabalho aborda a relação entre a patologização dos(as) estudantes oriundos(as) da classe trabalhadora, de imigrantes e de minorias étnico-raciais nos Estados Unidos e a cooptação da agência dessa população historicamente explorada e submetida a opressões sociais e educacionais. Para isso, utilizamos a concepção de agência desde o Posicionamento Ativista Transformador (Transformative Activist Stance – TAS), desenvolvido por Stetsenko (2017), a filosofia da práxis em Marx (1989), a teoria histórico-cultural de Vygotsky (2002) e a perspectiva anticolonialista de Freire (2019) e Quijano (2019). Primeiramente, apresentamos as condições de vida e de trabalho de estudantes vulneráveis e latinos(as) em Nova York e nos Estados Unidos, depois tratamos um conjunto de discussões teóricas oriundas de pesquisas sobre o contexto da patologização da pobreza, do déficit, da diferença e da desigualdade social. Em seguida, apresentamos as histórias de vida e de escolarização de estudantes do Community College da City University of New York (CUNY) diagnosticados(as) como deficientes de aprendizagem e a sua luta dentro do sistema educacional americano. O processo de patologização daqueles(as) que não se enquadram no padrão branco e supremacista norte-americano culmina numa nova forma de colonialismo (o Sul dentro do Norte Global), resultante na cooptação da agência crítica e transformadora daqueles(as) que, a priori, poderiam ser o motor da transformação do sistema escolar que os(as) oprime.Palavras-chave: Neocolonialismo. Deficiência. Agência. Educação. Abstract: This work addresses the relationship between the pathologization of students from the working class, immigrants and ethnic-racial minorities in the United States and the co-optation of the agency of this historically exploited population and subjected to social and educational oppression. For this, we used the concept of agency from the Transformative Activist Stance (TAS), developed by Stetsenko (2017), the philosophy of praxis in Marx (1989), the historical-cultural theory of Vygotsky (2002) and the anti-colonialist perspective of Freire (2019) and Quijano (2019). First, we present the living and working conditions of vulnerable students, especially Latinos, in New York and the United States, then we discuss a set of theoretical issues arising from research on the context of the pathologization of poverty, deficit, difference and social inequality. Next, we present the life and schooling histories 2 ? of students from a Community College at City University of New York (CUNY) diagnosed as learning disabled and their struggle within the American educational system. Our aim is to reveal how how the pathologization process produces students who come to “not fit in” the North American White supremacist sociocultural standard, which amounts to a new form of colonialism (the South within the Global North), resulting in the co-optation of the critical and transformative agency of precisely of the marginalized who, potentially, are uniquely positioned to be the engine of the transformation of the school system that oppresses them.Keywords: Neocolonialism. Deficiency. Agency. Education.

Marx, Vygotsky and Freire: methodological discussions on the role of language in social transformation

ABSTRACT This paper offers a Marxist grounding for a liberatory, critical-collaboratory dialogic praxis in educational contexts and examines the implications of such praxis for an understanding of the potential role of the school as a site of critical thinking. Aligning with Stetsenko’s ‘Transformative-Activist Stance’, the discussion centres on clarifying the methodological rationale for approaching language as a means of cultural action and social transformation based on Marx’s materialist conception of history and the educationally based dialogical approaches of Vygotsky and Freire.

“I’m trying to save some lives here!”

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the plans for and implementation of critical dramatic inquiry with middle school youth. The authors also provide a theoretical frame for understanding dramatic inquiry as an embodied, persuasive and reflexive practice that can inform and transform the ways youth and their teachers experience their own and others’ worlds. Throughout, the authors argue for the centrality of imagination in youth literacies and critical inquiry. Design/methodology/approach Working with Stetsenko’s (2008) concepts of contribution and agency, the authors considered the different ways youth “found [their] place among other people and ultimately, [found] a way to contribute to the continuous flow of sociocultural practices” (p. 17). Further, the authors considered Stetsenko’s (2012) reference to moral philosophy and the idea that “humans are understood as being connected with the world precisely through their own acts – through what has been termed “engaged agency” in moral philosophy (Taylor, 1995, p. 7)”. The authors read and annotated documents, noting key moments in the videos where youth collaborated in “finding a place among other people” and became “connected with the world […] through their own acts”. Findings The authors identified three ways dramatic inquiry orients youth in time-space, offering addresses and possibilities for answerability that direct their actions toward critical, ethical questions: creating a life through embodied positioning, reflecting on action through transformation of representations and establishing a direction for one’s own becoming through persuasion and answerability. These three modes of contributing to a dramatic inquiry extend current research and thought about drama by pointing to specific contributions to and purposes for action in drama experiences. Research limitations/implications This work represents a single two-session workshop of teacher research with middle school youth engaged in dramatic inquiry, and is, therefore, the beginning of a conceptual framework for understanding dramatic inquiry as critical sociocultural practice. As such, this work will need to be developed with the aim of extending the dramatic inquiry work across several days or weeks, to trace youth insights and subsequent actions. Practical implications Critical literacy educators who want to implement dramatic inquiry will find clear descriptions of practices and an analytic framework that supports planning for and reflection on social change arts-based experiences with youth. Social implications The authors argue that educators who aim to support youth actions, in relation to multiple viewpoints and possible futures, need to pose imagined and dramatized addresses to which youth can imagine and embody possibilities and express possible answers (Bakhtin). Based on Stetsenko’s transformative activist stance, the authors argue that drama-based experiences disrupt the everyday so youth may collectively explore and contribute to an emerging vision of equity and belonging. Originality/value Few studies have engaged Stetsenko’s transformative activist stance as a way to understand learning, social change and the role of imagination. This study describes and explores a unique instantiation of process drama informed by critical sociocultural theory.