Peter McLaren

Illuminating one of the most pervasive issues of our time, Popular Culture is the first book to link the importance and implications of popular culture with pedagogical practice. It shows how cultural forms such as Hollywood films, pop music, soap operas, and televangelism are organized by gender, age, class, race, and ethnicity, thus providing the contradictory text that both enables and disables emancipatory interest, so fundamental to the formation of self and society. What emerges is a redefinition of the very notion of popular culture.

Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution examines what is currently at stake—culturally, politically, and educationally—in contemporary global capitalist society. Written by one of the world's most renowned critical educators, this book evaluates the message of Che Guevara and Paulo Freire for contemporary politics in general and education in particular. Forcefully argued and eloquently written, Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution is a clarion call for building a new social order premised on the ideas and philosophy of two of the most important revolutionary figures of this century. It is an indispensable reference point for building transnational alliances between the North American and Latin American. Che Guevara, Paulo Freire is the best introduction available to the ideas and philosophy of these two iconoclastic figures.

Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution examines what is currently at stake—culturally, politically, and educationally—in contemporary global capitalist society. Written by one of the world's most renowned critical educators, this book evaluates the message of Che Guevara and Paulo Freire for contemporary politics in general and education in particular. Forcefully argued and eloquently written, Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution is a clarion call for building a new social order premised on the ideas and philosophy of two of the most important revolutionary figures of this century. It is an indispensable reference point for building transnational alliances between the North American and Latin American. Che Guevara, Paulo Freire is the best introduction available to the ideas and philosophy of these two iconoclastic figures.

«Pedagogy of Insurrection» by Peter McLaren has won the American Educational Research Association, Division B Outstanding Book Recognition Award 2016. Peter McLaren, named Outstanding Educator in America by the Association of Educators of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2013 and winner of numerous awards for his scholarship and international political activism, has penned another classic work with Pedagogy of Insurrection. One of the educators that Ana Maria (Nita) Araújo Freire credits as an architect of what has come to be known worldwide as critical pedagogy, and who Paulo Freire named his ‘intellectual cousin,’ McLaren has consistently produced iconoclastic work that has been heralded by educators worldwide as among some of the most significant commentary on the state of education. He is Honorary President of the Instituto McLaren de Pedagogía Crítica y Educación Popular in Ensenada, México, and Honorary Director of the Center for Critical Pedagogy Research at Northeast Normal University in China.

From the moment the first shots were fired by Russian soldiers in their invasion of Ukraine, Peter McLaren began writing about what has turned out to be the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II. Putin's invasion caused McLaren to think about his father, a World War II veteran who served in the Royal Canadian Engineers, and his uncle, a World War II hero who served in the Royal Navy and played a leading role in sinking the battleship Bismarck. Fearing the conflict would escalate beyond Ukraine, McLaren furiously put pen to page and published 25 articles in the New Zealand journal, Pesa Agora, and wrestled with some of the moral dilemmas surrounding the conflict, including the possibility of a World War III nuclear catastrophe. McLaren made the decision to support Ukraine during the first few weeks of the conflict. In writing about the war in his signature literary style, which inspired the late Joe Kincheloe to name McLaren "the poet laureate of the educational left", McLaren was also closely following political events in the United States. Years before, McLaren had predicted that his adopted country would soon be treading towards fascism, as he watched with increasing alarm Trump operatives such as Steve Bannon put into effect propaganda efforts redolent of those crafted by the Third Reich leading up to World War II. McLaren's voice has often been described as prophetic, in consonance with the prophetic tradition of theology, and his approach in this work can be likened to the 'problem-posing' approach of the Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, in that his writings are meant to raise provocative questions for discussion, with solutions to follow after intense and extended dialogue. It is in this sense that the book attempts to make the political more pedagogical and the pedagogical more political--and theological. Most disturbing for McLaren in writing about the war in Ukraine were the number of supporters for Putin's bloody war, typically among Trump supporters but also including some factions of the ultra-left. McLaren's own approach is dialectical, passionately supporting Ukraine while at the same time scathingly critical of Putin and United States foreign policy.

This collection of essays incorporates some of the most important and longstanding foundational texts in education developed by the leading educational neo-Gramscian social theorist Peter McLaren. The volume provides a much necessary framework for understanding more precisely not only the historical and philosophical foundations for McLaren's ideas, but even more importantly, it unpacks a clear understanding of the dynamics of ideological production framing the epistemicidal nature of capitalist schools. The chapters provide state of the art approaches grounded in both Marxist social theory and 'post-critical' sensibilities. They show the unique opportunities provided by critical theoretical approaches towards revolutionary pedagogies which are crucial to address the current challenges one is facing locally, nationally, and internationally. "Critical Theory: Rituals, Pedagogies and Resistance speaks to the current challenges we face as humanity, not only situating them historically, but also securitizing the role that our educational institutions, curriculum matrixes and teacher education programs have played in such social havoc. It provides crucial insights, not only to help a better understanding of the accomplishments produced by the critical educational and curriculum river in the struggle against the educational and curriculum epistemicide, but also to help explore alternative ways responsive to the world's endless epistemological difference and diversity. While the future of our field needs to go beyond Peter McLaren's intellectual thesaurus, it cannot certainly avoid going through him. The itinerant curriculum theory - and the ICTheorists - are conscious about that." - Jo o M. Paraskeva, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Strathclyde

This collection of essays incorporates some of the most important and longstanding foundational texts in education developed by the leading educational neo-Gramscian social theorist Peter McLaren. The volume provides a much necessary framework for understanding more precisely not only the historical and philosophical foundations for McLaren's ideas, but even more importantly, it unpacks a clear understanding of the dynamics of ideological production framing the epistemicidal nature of capitalist schools. The chapters provide state of the art approaches grounded in both Marxist social theory and 'post-critical' sensibilities. They show the unique opportunities provided by critical theoretical approaches towards revolutionary pedagogies which are crucial to address the current challenges one is facing locally, nationally, and internationally. "Critical Theory: Rituals, Pedagogies and Resistance speaks to the current challenges we face as humanity, not only situating them historically, but also securitizing the role that our educational institutions, curriculum matrixes and teacher education programs have played in such social havoc. It provides crucial insights, not only to help a better understanding of the accomplishments produced by the critical educational and curriculum river in the struggle against the educational and curriculum epistemicide, but also to help explore alternative ways responsive to the world's endless epistemological difference and diversity. While the future of our field needs to go beyond Peter McLaren's intellectual thesaurus, it cannot certainly avoid going through him. The itinerant curriculum theory - and the ICTheorists - are conscious about that." - Jo o M. Paraskeva, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Strathclyde

The crisis of capitalism, the ascendency of a post-truth politics, the expansive reach of an increasingly militarized surveillance state and the rampant consolidation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution characterized by a fusion of technologies have blurred the lines between the physical, digital, ideological and biological spheres. The historically generated social relations that have legitimized racism, homophobia, misogyny, misanthropy and misology have spawned a new generation of white supremacist, neo-Nazi militias and have led to a murderous assault on Black men by police and a generalized assault on people of color. The information ecosphere and the current infodemic which is promulgating the conspiracy theories that are both prolonging and intensifying the damage done by the pandemic and climate change by suggesting that the pandemic and climate change are not real, that they were created by the deep state solely for the purpose of providing cover for a further consolidation and intensification of the surveillance state, has led to a massive attack on progressive and critical educators. Bills are being created to ban the teaching of "divisive concepts" in public schools such as those related to race and gender. The teaching of the history of slavery is deemed an act of racism against white people. QAnon mythology that fabricates lies about a stolen 2020 election, and that Satan-worshipping pedaophiles are in control of the government, media and financial institutions, is fast becoming normalized within the US Republican Party and spreading to other countries. The world's masses are increasingly being transformed into 21st century compliant and self-censoring human beings who appear defenseless in the face of nationalist calls for military solutions to global problems, of white supremacist chauvinistic attacks on people of color and of narratives championing nationalism, isolationism, and fascism. For four decades Peter McLaren has been writing about these world-historical developments and urging educators to seek a socialist alternative. In the performative style that has been the signature of McLaren's work, The Critic Pedagogy Manifesto is meant to remind readers what is at stake in these precarious and dangerous times and to offer armed hope in the struggle ahead. This is vintage McLaren making use of his creative talents with humor and irony. We need more of this alternative literary presentation of ideas to make the arguments that bland statements in articles present with a straight face. McLaren leads the way.--Michael A PetersDistinguished Professor of EducationBeijing Normal University, PR China For years, Professor Peter McLaren has followed his radical cosmopolitan path and invented an original language of critical theory and pedagogical critique, which, fundamentally, culminates in his artistic expression.....capturing the absurd days of chaos in the world's leading rogue state. - Juha Suoranta, Professor of Adult Education, Tampere University, Finland "'The poet laureate of the left' writes with characteristic aplomb to expose the realities of Trump and the very real danger of the consolidation of fascism in the US."--Mike Cole, author of Trump, the Alt-Right and Public Pedagogies of Hate and for Fascism: What Is To Be Done?"

Peter McLaren, l'enfant terrible of the educational establishment has continued to be a highly visible and much valued international firebrand whose work is characterized by an exquisite militancy and eloquence. McLaren's newest work is a clarion call for challenging religious fundamentalism and its unholy alliance with Trump's neo-fascist government. McLaren has emerged as a revolutionary and that cannot be ignored. This new compilation of his latest writings is destined to spark deep-seated inquiry among educators, scholars and others interested in radical scholarship and activism. Sheila Macrine, Professor, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He walks Among Us: this is Peter McLaren at his best - witty, cutting, caustic, savage, penetrating, observant, entertaining - just what is required for these new barbaric dark ages Michael Peters, Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Education at Beijing Normal University Here again, as we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, Professor McLaren has made one of the most enlightening contributions of the period, weaving together brilliant theoretical generalizations, incisive critical insights, and acute personal observations with his customary elegance and clarity. After all these years, he has come to literally define what we mean by critical public intellectual -- a role never more indispensable as we seek to maneuver through unprecedented global crisis. Professor Carl Boggs, Author of Facing Catastrophe: Food, Politics, and the Ecological Crisis. Peter McLaren has created restlessness in our souls: Disruptive, rowdy, troublesome, out-of-line, unsettling, ruthless, unvarnished restlessness. We will read and we will be renewed. Shirley R Steinberg, Editor, from the foreword of He Walks Among Us

Postdigital Dialogues on Critical Pedagogy, Liberation Theology and Information Technology presents a series of dialogues between Peter McLaren, a founding figure of critical pedagogy, and Petar Jandric, a transdisciplinary scholar working at the intersections between critical pedagogy and information technology. The authors debate the postdigital condition, its wide social impacts, and its relationship to critical pedagogy and liberation theology, as part of a transdisciplinary effort to develop a new postdigital revolutionary consciousness in the service of humanity. Throughout the dialogues we see how McLaren's thinking on critical pedagogy and liberation theology have developed since the publication of Pedagogy of Insurrection, and how these developments play out in Jandric’s theory of the postdigital condition. The book includes a foreword by Peter Hudis and an afterword by Michael A. Peters.

Postdigital Dialogues on Critical Pedagogy, Liberation Theology and Information Technology presents a series of dialogues between Peter McLaren, a founding figure of critical pedagogy, and Petar Jandric, a transdisciplinary scholar working at the intersections between critical pedagogy and information technology. The authors debate the postdigital condition, its wide social impacts, and its relationship to critical pedagogy and liberation theology, as part of a transdisciplinary effort to develop a new postdigital revolutionary consciousness in the service of humanity. Throughout the dialogues we see how McLaren's thinking on critical pedagogy and liberation theology have developed since the publication of Pedagogy of Insurrection, and how these developments play out in Jandric’s theory of the postdigital condition. The book includes a foreword by Peter Hudis and an afterword by Michael A. Peters.

This work by one of North America's leading educational theorists and cultural critics culminates a decade of social analyses that focuses on the political economy of schooling, Paulo Freire and literacy education, hip-hop culture, and multicultural education. Peter McLaren also examines the work of Baudrillard as well as Bourdieu's reflexive socio

From Myers Education Press--the publisher who brought you such titles as A School with a View, Childhoods, and Student Activism in the Academy—comes a story or rather a series of stories that are as out of this world as its protagonist. Long before he became a renowned Critical Studies professor at Chapman University, Peter McLaren was just another Toronto native trying to survive in a conservative working-class family. His father fought in WWII while his mother put food on the table, but like his father, Peter was caught in his own battles dodging abusive teachers and navigating through an academic roller-coaster. Sure, his home life may be ripped from a ‘50s sitcom on the surface, his background and the rest of his life from that point on was far from one, or maybe it was. This book chronicles Peter’s cross-country climb up the educational ladder as a teacher steeped in the school system, his encounters with various key players in history—from the Black Panthers to Timothy Leary—and everything else in between.

This new edition brings McLaren's popular, classic textbook into a new era of Common Core Standards and online education. The book is renowned for its clear, provocative classroom narratives and its coverage of political, economic, and social factors that are undervalued in other educational textbooks. An international committee of experts ranked Life in Schools among the top twelve education books in the world.

This Fist Called My Heart: The Peter McLaren Reader, Volume I. Through these gathered and sequentially presented essays, readers will be able to ‘see’ McLaren in the process of his theory construction, over time, without missing his essence of struggling for a just society that promotes the full humanity and liberation of all people. [Here,] we have curated some of the most exemplary essays along the trajectory of Peter McLaren’s long and impactful career. These pieces track and document Peter’s intellectual grow as one of North America’s most important intellectuals and advocates for critical pedagogy; his theorizing of the discursive and the everyday through postmodernist and poststructural lenses; his contributions to the literature and practice of critical multiculturalism; his stirring work on capitalist empire, and valiant struggles to resist it; through to his foundational, long held connection and cutting edge contribution to the field of humanist Marxism

This Fist Called My Heart: The Peter McLaren Reader, Volume I. Through these gathered and sequentially presented essays, readers will be able to ‘see’ McLaren in the process of his theory construction, over time, without missing his essence of struggling for a just society that promotes the full humanity and liberation of all people. [Here,] we have curated some of the most exemplary essays along the trajectory of Peter McLaren’s long and impactful career. These pieces track and document Peter’s intellectual grow as one of North America’s most important intellectuals and advocates for critical pedagogy; his theorizing of the discursive and the everyday through postmodernist and poststructural lenses; his contributions to the literature and practice of critical multiculturalism; his stirring work on capitalist empire, and valiant struggles to resist it; through to his foundational, long held connection and cutting edge contribution to the field of humanist Marxism

«Pedagogy of Insurrection» by Peter McLaren has won the American Educational Research Association, Division B Outstanding Book Recognition Award 2016. Peter McLaren, named Outstanding Educator in America by the Association of Educators of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2013 and winner of numerous awards for his scholarship and international political activism, has penned another classic work with Pedagogy of Insurrection. One of the educators that Ana Maria (Nita) Araújo Freire credits as an architect of what has come to be known worldwide as critical pedagogy, and who Paulo Freire named his ‘intellectual cousin,’ McLaren has consistently produced iconoclastic work that has been heralded by educators worldwide as among some of the most significant commentary on the state of education. He is Honorary President of the Instituto McLaren de Pedagogía Crítica y Educación Popular in Ensenada, México, and Honorary Director of the Center for Critical Pedagogy Research at Northeast Normal University in China.

«Pedagogy of Insurrection» by Peter McLaren has won the American Educational Research Association, Division B Outstanding Book Recognition Award 2016. Peter McLaren, named Outstanding Educator in America by the Association of Educators of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2013 and winner of numerous awards for his scholarship and international political activism, has penned another classic work with Pedagogy of Insurrection. One of the educators that Ana Maria (Nita) Araújo Freire credits as an architect of what has come to be known worldwide as critical pedagogy, and who Paulo Freire named his ‘intellectual cousin,’ McLaren has consistently produced iconoclastic work that has been heralded by educators worldwide as among some of the most significant commentary on the state of education. He is Honorary President of the Instituto McLaren de Pedagogía Crítica y Educación Popular in Ensenada, México, and Honorary Director of the Center for Critical Pedagogy Research at Northeast Normal University in China.

This new edition brings McLaren's popular, classic textbook into a new era of Common Core Standards and online education. The book is renowned for its clear, provocative classroom narratives and its coverage of political, economic, and social factors that are undervalued in other educational textbooks. An international committee of experts ranked Life in Schools among the top twelve education books in the world.