If you’re interested in learning more about anarchist pedagogy, we’re compiled this list of readings, books, podcasts, and other media for anyone to look into. If you have trouble finding copies of anything, or want to suggest something to add to our list, send us an email!
Books:
- Anarchist Pedagogies – Robert H. Haworth (ed.)
From Francisco Ferrer’s modern schools in Spain and the Work People’s College in the United States, to contemporary actions in developing “free skools” in the United Kingdom and Canada, this collection of articles shows the importance of developing complex connections between educational theories and collective actions. - Beyond Education – Eli Meyerhoff
By looking into the history of so-called “educational crises”, the author argues that learning has always been a terrain of struggle between different ways of making the world. His analysis helps us grow beyond our romantic view of the university and begin to explore other ways of learning and living together. - Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Paulo Freire
Dedicated to the oppressed and based on his own experience helping Brazilian adults to read and write, Freire includes a detailed Marxist class analysis in his exploration of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. In the book, Freire calls traditional pedagogy the “banking model of education” because it treats the student as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge, like a piggy bank. He argues that pedagogy should instead treat the learner as a co-creator of knowledge. - Out of the Ruins – Robert H. Haworth, John M. Elmore (ed.) [PAYWALL]
This collection of articles explores and discusses various examples of alternative learning spaces that directly challenge the way that public education is tied to the dominant capitalist and statist power structures of our societies. - Unraveling Faculty Burnout – Rebecca Pope Rourke [PAYWALL]
A book that addresses the issue of burnout in higher education, particularly (but not only) among women. It combines personal experiences, research, and practical advice to help faculty members understand and cope with burnout, and the system that generates it. - The Long Haul – An Autobiography of Myles Horton
The autobiography of Myles Horton: labor organizer, radical educator, and the first white man that Rosa Parks ever trusted. Myles helped found the Highlander Folk School in rural Tennessee in the US in 1932, and since then, it has been hugely influential in training generations of social activists from the US South. His autobiography is full of serious insights and wisdom about what it means to be a radical educator.
Articles:
- Anarchism, Academia, and the Avant-Garde – David Graeber
- Schools No Longer – Chapter 9 of Anarchy in Action by Colin Ward
Podcasts:
- Smash The Class – A Podcast from the Anarchist Pedagogies Collective
- ‘Beyond Education’ – An Interview with Eli Meyerhoff
- Part One: The Modern School & Francisco Ferrer: School Shouldn’t Be Terrible – Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff
- Part Two: The Modern School & Francisco Ferrer: School Shouldn’t Be Terrible – Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff