Nothing Never Happens

Ecojustice Pedagogy, Act 1 Rebecca Martusewicz (pronounced: marta-savage) is Professor of Social Foundations and Community Education in the Department of Teacher Education at Eastern Michigan University. She was a founder and director of the Southeast Michigan Stewarship (SEMIS) Coalition, developing “citizen stewards of the Great Lakes.” I spoke with Prof. Martusewicz about her new book, … Contin...

In Part 2 Ben Speight talks about the practices of “combing our forces” in the fight for worker justice. These current times require ever more coalition building and organized resistance to the status quo. Ben uses examples from his own decades of union organizing to show that “the people united will never be divided!” Theme … Continue reading "Organizing for Change: A Conversation with Ben Speigh...

Workers Unite!, Act 1 This March 2019 podcast is for anyone who teaches/studies social movements, movement building, labor history, union organizing, non-violent activism, social justice teaching, and direct action for social change! Hear Teamster Local 728 Organizing Director Ben Speight give an overview of union organizing and connections to our current times. He visited my … Continue reading "W...

Rev. Noelle Damico (United Church of Christ) is an activist educator and movement builder with the Alliance for Fair Food.[http://www.allianceforfairfood.org/]. She coordinated the 2 million member Presbyterian Church USA’s involvement in the Coalition of Immokalee Worker’s Campaign for Fair Food [https://ciw-online.org/], among many other food justicecampaigns. This podcast takes place in an actu...

“United, Unafraid, Undefeated, Unstoppable Leaders.” That is the description by the students of U-Lead Athens. Since August 2014 they meet every Thursday night at Oconee United Methodist Church, on the boundary of the University of Georgia (a university that bans undocumented students). Mentors and allies from the university (the UGA Undocumented Student Alliance) and the … Continue reading "U-Lea...

In Part Two Leopando continues to explore the theological influences on Freire’s thought and activism that sustained him through exile and institutional work (in government and higher education). We discuss the institutional boundaries on using a Freirean method in the college or university classroom, and I admit to being a “failed Freirean.” We talk about … Continue reading "Teaching as “Vocation...

Freire and Faith, Act 1 Irwin Leopando is Associate Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College, (CUNY) in Queens, NY. He is the author of the book we discuss in this podcast, A Pedagogy of Faith: The Theological Vision of Paulo Freire (Bloomsbury, 2017). Leopando came to study Paulo Freire (1921-1997) in graduate school classes … Continue reading "Freire and Faith: A Conversation with Irw...

Nicolazzo asks us, “How do we think about the most vulnerable students on our campuses,” especially those who are multiply marginized? How do we work toward “a practice of freedom” (hooks)? Nicolazzo shows us a broader vision of trans*studies and pedagogies in higher education, and how attention to these intersections of oppression and freedom benefit … Continue reading "Z Nicolazzo: Part 2: The T...

From the field of studies in higher education come deep insights into pedagogical theory and practice. In the second of a series on trans*pedagogies, and on the recommendation of Dr. T.J. Jourian, I invited Dr. Z. Nicolazzo to talk about teaching and activism. Nicolazzo is assistant professor of Trans*Studies in Education in the Center for … Continue reading "Trans*Pedagogies: A Conversation with...

This October podcast is a bit self-serving. Our Religious Studies Department has been on a 30+ year journey into what it would be to live into Freire’s vision for democratic education. How can liberatory pedagogies inform our work at the department level? In what ways can we model our commitment to an education for freedom … Continue reading "What would we be doing if we weren’t doing this?: A Fre...

In Part 2 Torres talks about the origins and work of the UCLA Paulo Freire Institute in social justice education. He discusses his many influences (Gramsci, Marx, liberation theology, Alves, Dussell, Habermas, Bourdieu, Illich, Rawls, Dewey, Gadotti, to name a few), and the new theoretical directions of his graduate students in ecopedagogies and anarchist pedagogies. … Continue reading "Education...

Freire’s First Critic, Act 1 Carlos Alberto Torres is Professor of Social Sciences and Comparative Education at UCLA (2009-present), past Director of the UCLA Latin American center (1995-2005) and founder of the Paulo Freire Institute in São Paulo, Brazil (with Freire in 1991),    Buenos Aries, Argentina, and UCLA (since 2002). Prof. Torres is also … Continue reading "Freire’s First Critic: An Int...

In the second half of our conversation Victoria Rue talks about the importance of theatre in the classroom as a way to break out of the ruts and old habits of traditional teaching. She offers suggestions for tools on the journey, as well as stories of her own experiences of transformative teaching and learning with … Continue reading "Theatre as Pedagogy: Victoria Rue Interview Part 2" The post Th...

Theatre as Pedagogy, Act 1 Victoria Rue is a professor, author, playwright, theatre director and workshop leader, and Roman Catholic womanpriest. She has taught at San Jose State University from 2004 to the present in Comparative Religious Studies and Women’s Studies. In the Fall of 2018 she will be at Dar Al Calamar University College … Continue reading "Theatre as Pedagogy: A Conversation with V...

In Part Two: Theatre for Systemic Change, Marc talks about his experiences with Forum Theatre and Legislative Theatre in addressing community issues. With over 30 years experience, Marc shows the successes, opportunities, and future vision of his theatre work. The Mandala Center for Change: “Founded in 1999, the Mandala Center is a multi-disciplinary arts education … Continue reading "Marc Weinbla...

Marc Weinblatt has been a professional educator, theatre director, activist, and workshop facilitator since 1980 having extensive experience with both adults and youth. An internationally recognized leader in the use of Augusto Boal’s renowned Theater of the Oppressed (T.O.) to stimulate community dialogue and social change, Marc has worked with diverse communities ranging from police … Continue r...

In Part 2 of our podcast on ecopedagogies, Laurel Kearns and Tim Van Meter take us through several concrete pedagogical practices in ecoliteracy and ecopedagogy. They discuss the use of autogeographies in their classrooms to enable students to examine their place in the world. And they take us through the interdisciplinary pedagogical practices and commitments … Continue reading "Ecopedagogies: Pa...

Ecopedagogies, Act 1 Tim Van Meter In this first of hopefully many podcasts on the topic of ecopedagogies, I am joined by Prof. Laurel Kearns of Sociology and Religion and Environmental Studies at Drew Theological School and the Graduate Division of Religion at Drew University and Prof. Tim Van Meter, Alford Chair of Christian Education … Continue reading "Ecopedagogies: A Conversation with Lauren...

In Part 2 Colleen and Willie bring us to the challenges of our current time with specific strategies for educating about systemic poverty. They show us an intersectional approach and offer tools for meeting people where they are. An engaged scholarship is at the root of their activist work. They end on a note of … Continue reading "Popular Education for Social Change: The New Poor People’s Campaig...

At the fiftieth anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike, the Poor People’s Movement, and the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I invited two activist-scholars involved in the New Poor People’s Movement to talk about popular education and movement building for social change. In Part 1, Willie and Colleen talk about … Continue reading "Popular Education for Social...

In Part 2 of the podcast Professors Case and Rios talk about student and institutional resistance and challenges, along with concrete curricular and teach suggestions for a culturally relevant pedagogy. The post Intersectional Pedagogies Part 2 appeared first on Nothing Never Happens .

This podcast focuses on intersectional pedagogies, and what the consideration of multiple socially-constructed identities and social locations bring to the learning journey. The conversation is with two leaders in the field, Profs. Kim Case and Desdamona Rios of the University of Houston at Clear Lake. Issues of privilege, power, and social justice are all made … Continue reading "Intersectional P...

This audio podcast is a concrete example of popular education for movement building and social change. As defined by the Highlander Research and Education Center: “Popular Education is a participatory process that combines people’s experiences to develop collective analysis and strategies for action for positive social change.”   This campaign has been “a long haul”, … Continue reading "Popular Ed...

Rev. Allyn Maxfield-Steele was recently in Atlanta and I met with him to learn about the plans for the new Septima Clark Learning Center that will be built at the Highlander Research Center in New Market, TN, where he works as co-director with Ash-Lee Woodward Henderson. Septima Poinsette Clark (1898-1987) was an educator and civil … Continue reading "Catching the Spirit of Septima: Highlander Cen...

In this second part of the podcast Profs. Westfield and Lockhart-Gilroy go deeper in their discussion of embodied teaching and learning, utilizing womanist epistemologies. Critical race theory provides a framework for understanding the dynamics of race in the classroom. They describe their classrooms as multisensory—honoring the whole selves in the space to make places for … Continue reading "Woma...