RESEARCHING CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS: THE TRANSGRESSION OF A RADICAL EDUCATOR ACROSS THREE CONTINENTS by Marion Thomson A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Marion Thomson 2011 RESEARCHING CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS: THE TRANSGRESSION OF A RADICAL EDUCATOR ACROSS THREE CONTINENTS Doctor of Philosophy, 2011 Marion Thomson Graduate Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning University of Toronto Abstract This study addresses the topic of class consciousness and the radical educator. Using the theory of revolutionary critical pedagogy and Marxist humanism I examine the impact of formative experience and class consciousness on my own radical praxis across three continents. The methodology of auto/biography is used to interrogate my own life history. I excavate my own formative experience in Scotland, Canada and my radical praxis as a human rights educator in Ghana West Africa. The study is particularly interested in the possibility of a radical educator transgressing across race, whiteness and gender while working in Ghana, West Africa. Chapter One begins by discussing the theory of revolutionary critical pedagogy, Marxist humanism and theories of the self. Chapter Two assesses the methodology of auto/biography, research methods and an introduction to formative experience. Chapter Three, Four and Five contain excavation sites from Scotland, Canada and Ghana with accompanying analysis. Chapter Six concludes with a summary of research findings. ii Acknowledgements Many people supported me in completing this study. I would like to acknowledge the incredible support of my supervisor Professor Tara Goldstein and Professor David Livingstone for encouraging my scholarship and continuing studies in class consciousness. I must also thank the ongoing feedback of Jim Crowther and the Scottish popular education group. The continuing feedback of my thesis committee Dr. John Portelli and Dr. Ruben Gaztambide-Fernandez, and my external examiner Dr. Darlene Clover is also greatly appreciated. I am especially grateful to Action for Young People in Ghana, who led me on this lifelong journey as a critical human rights educator in radical praxis. This study is dedicated to the many organic intellectuals and activists past and present in Fife, Scotland, Fircroft, Intercede and Ghana. And to my family, past and present. You have made this all possible by encouraging and supporting my scholarship, activism, learning and critical life. iii Table of Contents Abstract........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................iii Chapter One: Introduction and Literature Review .................................................................. 1 Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy, Class Consciousness, Marxist Humanism, and the Collective Self.................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 1 Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy................................................................................................ 4 Definitions of Adult Learning................................................................................................. 4 Critical pedagogy................................................................................................................ 4 Popular education................................................................................................................ 5 Transformative learning...................................................................................................... 5 Adult education................................................................................................................... 6 Revolutionary critical pedagogy......................................................................................... 6 Dehumanization and Capitalism............................................................................................. 6 The Capital-Labour Contradiction and a Worker’s Pedagogy ............................................... 7 Marx, Gramsci and Freire and Their Relation to Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy ............ 10 Consciousness, humanity and social change .................................................................... 12 Antonio Gramsci and His Influence on Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy: Building an Alternative Culture............................................................................................ 14 A culture of agency........................................................................................................... 15 Paulo Freire and His Influence on Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy................................... 17 Freire and pedagogy.......................................................................................................... 17 Freire and the role of the educator .................................................................................... 17 Neo-Marxist Influences ........................................................................................................ 18 Louis Althusser .................................................................................................................19 Bowles and Gintis............................................................................................................. 21 Feminist critiques..............................................................................................................22 Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy in an Age of Neo-Liberalism........................................... 24 Race, Whiteness and Class .......................................................................................................26 Whiteness Theory ................................................................................................................. 26 Race....................................................................................................................................... 28 Race and ethnicity............................................................................................................. 29 Exploring my whiteness and racism ................................................................................. 30 Class Consciousness .............................................................................................................31 Building alliances..............................................................................................................33 The Study of the Collective Self and Marxist Humanism ............................................................ 34 Freire’s Ideas of Being and Humanity From the Pedagogy of Freedom .................................. 34 Unfinishedness and Finding ‘Humanity’.............................................................................. 34 Ethics and Being ................................................................................................................... 35 Marxist Humanism, the Collective Self and a Marxist Ontology............................................. 37 A Marxist Humanism: Human Nature and a Marxist Ontology........................................... 38 An introduction to the collective self and Marxist humanism.......................................... 41 iv Liberalism and the individual self..................................................................................... 42 Multiple selves and feminist post structuralist theory ...................................................... 43 The Black feminist self ..................................................................................................... 45 Marxist learnings from a post structuralist self................................................................. 50 Chapter Two: Research Methods.............................................................................................. 54 The Formative Development of a Radical Educator..................................................................... 54 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 54 Beginnings: Scotland, My Master’s Research and My Journey to Ghana ................................... 55 My Own Family Memories....................................................................................................... 58 Ghana ........................................................................................................................................ 60 Working on Three Continents....................................................................................................... 62 Knowing Your History ............................................................................................................. 63 The Power of Memory, Collective Self and Marxist Humanism ......................................... 63 The Concept of Class Consciousness, Ideology and the Role of the Radical Educator ....... 64 Working Across Race ..........................................................................................................