From my 2008 blogs: A conversation with Paul Carr and Joe Kincheloe about the upcoming Obama Administration
after the disaster of the Bush Administration, and an analysis
A permanent revolution
Thu,
11/06/2008 - 09:55 — Vanessa Paradis
Paul Carr,
Very inspiring
blog and article. It reminds me of a lecture I watched from Peter McLaren's website in which he stated that we need a
"permanent revolutionary critical pedagogy." The teaching, learning, activism, and action should never end. I
think many people realize this now, and if it is remembered, we are not likely to find ourselves in this current sort
of situation again.
in solidarity,
vanessa
The perpetual revolution
Fri, 11/07/2008 - 11:07 — Joe Kincheloe
Vanessa,
Great insight.
Now we enter into a different Zeitgeist. An evolving criticality meets an evolving socio-cultural setting. Again, we have
to rethink who we are and what we do.
Evolvingly yours,
Joe
Joe L. Kincheloe Canada Research Chair in Critical Pedagogy Faculty of Education
McGill University
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Analysis of the Conversation
I must admit, when I had first read that response from Joe, all I saw was the personal
message, "Lovingly yours." Of course, I also saw "Evolvingly yours,
but I seem to always quite naturally take a "diametric opposite reading," just as he recommends
in his work, thus reversing the letters in Evol . . .(e.g. see Getting Beyond the Facts, 2001, page 67.) This concept of taking diametric
opposite readings in relation to "Getting Beyond the Facts on Page 666" of his social studies book, is discussed on
page 498 of my dissertation, Did Joe Lyons Kincheloe Discover the Golden Chalice for Knowledge Production? (Paradis, 2013). This type of analysis is so important for consciousness construction and knowledge production. It might be viewed
in energetic terms as a form of "alchemy" because when two unlike concepts are brought together during this process,
something new -- a much more powerful energy -- is created in the form of knowledge production or some
type of action, or another way one might view this in the tradition of an improvisational bricolage, is
as what "emerges" during the process of actively engaging in the research.
And so, Joe was awake (I was still sound asleep but stirring). . . there is so much more in relation
to these concepts of "evolving" and the "Perpetual Revolution." In fact, it was so important
to Joe that he superceded McLaren's "take" of a "permanent critical pedagogy revolution," replacing
it with his own "Perpetual Revolution." While it may seem like a somewhat subtle difference, it is not; there
is a huge difference as immediately it implies continuous change in contrast to McLaren's notion "permanent." There
are other differences and this was important enough that even though my conversation was with Paul Carr, Joe
jumped in to leave what is, in reality, a profound message, as well as what turned out to be a very personal message
to me. (Joe almost always communicated on multiple levels). We will actually be seeing this "perpetual revolution"
playing out in the global "theater." In many ways, it has begun, but as Joe has so often described in his work,
we haven't seen anything yet. Intuitively, I know there is something very profound that will emerge by taking
an analysis of all of this, but as bricolage research goes, we have no way of knowing what will evolve until we actually do
the research. I hope I can do so soon.
What does this revolution entail?
Joe discusses it in relation to the revolutions of the past (the revolutions of the 1940s-1960s). He has mentioned these in
many places in his work but has left it for us to interpret. This interpretation must be made with the full power of his bricolage.
I have made a start in my dissertation, including covering the influence of music during that era and what changed it.
There is much more to do.
Yes, I
admit it--I want to see not only a social and pedagogical revolution
but and epistemological an ontological revolution as well. [Joe Kincheloe, 2008, Knowledge and Critical
Pedagogy: An Introduction, p. 252]
