Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago. Specialization in the history and futures of education. Address: Loyola University Chicago
820 N Michigan Ave
Chicago IL 60611 USA
and communications; relations with family and friends; loneliness and isolation; intercultural re... more and communications; relations with family and friends; loneliness and isolation; intercultural relations between international and domestic students and the local communities; and the problems of being the outsider and meeting discrimination in this role. The book skilfully explores examples of the experiences of international students studying in Australia where the authors are based and broadens its horizons to include examples taken from the UK, Canada, the USA and New Zealand, all of which act as host countries. It also examines the range of countries which now export education and act as hosts for students coming from abroad. The global range and command of the field is impressive and provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the contexts in which the students are hosted. The balance between student interviews and policy commentary is effective, and the book effortlessly moves between the two. The market for international and cross-border education has expanded beyond compare in the last decade and the book reminds the reader, university authorities and policy makers in governments across the world, having taken examples from far beyond Australia, that international students need both protection and empowerment (451). What is clear is that, as the market has grown and matured as a global phenomenon, understanding of what it actually is has not matured, and the student has, typically, been left to sink or swim on his/her own, with, in some very well documented and recorded cases, very serious and tragic consequences. The authors in their conclusion recommend that these ‘twin concerns of protection and empowerment’ (451) ought to lead to an improvement in the support offered to international students and at the same time a greater emphasis on systems which enable them to manage their own circumstances while they are students. This should happen both at national legislative as well as at local, campus-based levels. While these lessons apply in the first instance to Australia, the authors suggest that they are relevant too for other education exporting nations. And, as a final lesson, the authors suggest that there is in fact a pressing need for there to be new regulatory approaches at a global level, in which global agencies would have a central role. International students must be recognised as, and given rights as, citizens of a global community rather than simply being seen as fee-paying transnational consumers (466). This study is invaluable in challenging current practice and customs towards international students. Their voice is heard – and we need to respond to it.
This article discuss the characteristics and shortfalls of "transfer" research and prop... more This article discuss the characteristics and shortfalls of "transfer" research and proposes that an "entangled history" approach can be usefully applied to thinking about intercultural exchanges in the history of education. It attempts to illustrate this method by examining the intersections between the "travels" of John Dewey and his ideas and educational developments in the Balkans in the early twentieth century.
This article problematizes some of the ways that the issue of “context” has been treated in compa... more This article problematizes some of the ways that the issue of “context” has been treated in comparative education scholarship. We critique the cube approach recommended by Bray and Thomas (1995) as well as the common recirculations of Sadler’s (1900) garden metaphor. Borrowing a set of analytic concepts from Bruno Latour (2004), we suggest that too often in the field of comparative education the issue of context is treated as a “matter of fact” when instead context should be revisioned as a “matter of concern” and one of the central research concerns in our field. We propose the concept of ‘big C’ Context to link ‘little c’ contexts to power/knowledge concerns and the historical discourses that govern what it is possible to think and do.
The 'blue marble' photograph published in 1972 offered an iconic image of the earth. Take... more The 'blue marble' photograph published in 1972 offered an iconic image of the earth. Take from the Apollo 17 spacecraft at a distance of 45,000 kilometres, it shows a small blue and white planet in the vast darkness of space. That image prompted romantic and sometimes apocalyptic self-understandings of humanity relative to the immensity of the universe. It extended people's horizons and imaginaries from the relational intimacies of families, clans and communities, beyond the bordering and ordering of nation-states, towards the idea of earth as an imaginable social whole - a system that had to be self-sustaining. Such narratives helped to make everyday life knowable and actionable, reminding people of their responsibilities and stewardship of the plant. They prompted scientific debates about extending the geological time-scale beyond the Holocene, the warm period since the end of the last ice age, to recognize the Anthropocene, when human activities leave geological trace...
As a graduate student I had the opportunity to study with Professor Andreas Kazamias and see his ... more As a graduate student I had the opportunity to study with Professor Andreas Kazamias and see his dynamic teaching and scholarship in action. This short reflection piece discusses the turn to Greek literature in Kazamias’s work and the enduring relevance it has today.
This intellectual project was launched out of a desire to explore the theoretical and methodologi... more This intellectual project was launched out of a desire to explore the theoretical and methodological dilemmas encountered in designing and conducting education research in post-socialist settings. We allude to “(re)imagining utopias” in our title both to signal that the volume engages with the shifting social imaginaries of postsocialist transformations and to highlight the ways in which social science research is itself fully implicated in the project of producing and managing collective visions of the future.
Este artículo examina la importancia de Checoslovaquia en la modernización de la educación yugosl... more Este artículo examina la importancia de Checoslovaquia en la modernización de la educación yugoslava en las décadas de 1920 y 1930. Durante este periodo para los yugoslavos Checoslovaquia era considerada “la nación eslava más avanzada”. Las relaciones eslavas permitieron que los yugoslavos ubicaran a Checoslovaquia como un modelo de modernidad agradable, afín y alcanzable. En el campo de la educación, esto se convirtió en una visión cultural específica del niño “moderno” o de aquél que habría de ser ciudadano, en conjunto con su maestro, también “moderno”. Todos estos ideales fueron moldeados no únicamente por las influencias provenientes de un lugar determinado, sino más bien mediante la movilidad de la gente, de los objetos y de las ideas a lo largo de los circuitos de interacción yugoslavo-checoslovacos. En este sentido, el artículo propone nuevas metodologías y estrategias analíticas para emprender estudios transnacionales en la historia de la educación.
In one telling of the story, the transatlantic transfer of European civilization has created a ne... more In one telling of the story, the transatlantic transfer of European civilization has created a new kind of democratic people who are haunted by an obligation to bring a similar conversion to other peoples around the world. After observing a review of Union troops in the midst of the American Civil War, the ardent abolitionist Julia Ward Howe penned the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,”2 which proposed that the distinctive American mission of war was to “to make men free.” Though this notion has not gone unquestioned and though the song itself has been satirized many times—for example, by Mark Twain who in 1901 suggested, “as Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich”3 —the ideas it expresses have shown a curious resiliency across American history. The notion that Americans have a messianic duty to make others free recurs as a topic of cultural reflection and regularly informs policy and actions. National symbols and national narratives come out in spades in times of war, yet war sometimes also provides moments of clarity and insight into the composition of social imaginaries.4 Howe’s battle hymn provides one crystalline image of the American relationship to military conflict; the “Star-Spangled Banner,” which became the U.S. national anthem in 1931, provides another.
Three American armies invaded Europe in the years of World War I and in its aftermath—at least su... more Three American armies invaded Europe in the years of World War I and in its aftermath—at least such was the account proposed in 1924 by the Serbian Child Welfare Association of America. First came the American Expeditionary Force, which entered the war in 1917 after the European combatants had been fighting for three years. The second “American army” was the American Relief Force that arrived after the armistice of November 11, 1918; the third was the “Army of Reconstruction.” And, according to the Serbian Child Welfare Association, “the first army helped to set Europe free; the second lifted her and set her on her feet; the third army started her on her way rejoicing toward a higher civilization.”1 As will become clear in this chapter, the activities of these three “armies” were not as clear-cut and distinct as portrayed here, nor were they necessarily separated and neatly sequenced, however it is not to be contested that during and after World War I a substantial number of Americans invaded Europe with notions of freedom, uplift, and civilization on their minds.
This chapter discusses a number of ways that transnationalism has been approached in the history ... more This chapter discusses a number of ways that transnationalism has been approached in the history of American education and proposes that an “entangled history” approach can be usefully applied to thinking about transcultural interactions in the historical development and operation of schools and school systems. It aims to contribute to the conversations within this edited volume by historically discussing education as an international field and proposing that we need to paygreater attention to the interpretive frameworks used in the history of American education. The chapter also elaborates on the claim that interpretive frameworks are not severable from the empirical, documentary “data” dimensions of archival research. Rather, the historian needs to be cognizant of and reflect upon the ways that method, objects of inquiry, narrative, and theoretical frameworks are unavoidably interlinked. The entangled history approach advanced in this chapter considers the assemblages and apparatuses that produce regularity, order, and forms of coordination over human social, political, cultural, and economic ways of living.
A Yugoslav pedagogue reporting on the advanced state of schooling in Czechoslovakia in 1934 had t... more A Yugoslav pedagogue reporting on the advanced state of schooling in Czechoslovakia in 1934 had this to say about Czechoslovak educational literature: In their reviews, books and lectures many foreign pedagogues are mentioned. One thing is characteristic, however: German pedagogues are mentioned by far the least, regardless of whether they are Austrian or “Reichsdeutsche.” In place of this, they emphasize Tolstoy, J. Dewey, Spencer, M. Montessori and others.1
and communications; relations with family and friends; loneliness and isolation; intercultural re... more and communications; relations with family and friends; loneliness and isolation; intercultural relations between international and domestic students and the local communities; and the problems of being the outsider and meeting discrimination in this role. The book skilfully explores examples of the experiences of international students studying in Australia where the authors are based and broadens its horizons to include examples taken from the UK, Canada, the USA and New Zealand, all of which act as host countries. It also examines the range of countries which now export education and act as hosts for students coming from abroad. The global range and command of the field is impressive and provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the contexts in which the students are hosted. The balance between student interviews and policy commentary is effective, and the book effortlessly moves between the two. The market for international and cross-border education has expanded beyond compare in the last decade and the book reminds the reader, university authorities and policy makers in governments across the world, having taken examples from far beyond Australia, that international students need both protection and empowerment (451). What is clear is that, as the market has grown and matured as a global phenomenon, understanding of what it actually is has not matured, and the student has, typically, been left to sink or swim on his/her own, with, in some very well documented and recorded cases, very serious and tragic consequences. The authors in their conclusion recommend that these ‘twin concerns of protection and empowerment’ (451) ought to lead to an improvement in the support offered to international students and at the same time a greater emphasis on systems which enable them to manage their own circumstances while they are students. This should happen both at national legislative as well as at local, campus-based levels. While these lessons apply in the first instance to Australia, the authors suggest that they are relevant too for other education exporting nations. And, as a final lesson, the authors suggest that there is in fact a pressing need for there to be new regulatory approaches at a global level, in which global agencies would have a central role. International students must be recognised as, and given rights as, citizens of a global community rather than simply being seen as fee-paying transnational consumers (466). This study is invaluable in challenging current practice and customs towards international students. Their voice is heard – and we need to respond to it.
This article discuss the characteristics and shortfalls of "transfer" research and prop... more This article discuss the characteristics and shortfalls of "transfer" research and proposes that an "entangled history" approach can be usefully applied to thinking about intercultural exchanges in the history of education. It attempts to illustrate this method by examining the intersections between the "travels" of John Dewey and his ideas and educational developments in the Balkans in the early twentieth century.
This article problematizes some of the ways that the issue of “context” has been treated in compa... more This article problematizes some of the ways that the issue of “context” has been treated in comparative education scholarship. We critique the cube approach recommended by Bray and Thomas (1995) as well as the common recirculations of Sadler’s (1900) garden metaphor. Borrowing a set of analytic concepts from Bruno Latour (2004), we suggest that too often in the field of comparative education the issue of context is treated as a “matter of fact” when instead context should be revisioned as a “matter of concern” and one of the central research concerns in our field. We propose the concept of ‘big C’ Context to link ‘little c’ contexts to power/knowledge concerns and the historical discourses that govern what it is possible to think and do.
The 'blue marble' photograph published in 1972 offered an iconic image of the earth. Take... more The 'blue marble' photograph published in 1972 offered an iconic image of the earth. Take from the Apollo 17 spacecraft at a distance of 45,000 kilometres, it shows a small blue and white planet in the vast darkness of space. That image prompted romantic and sometimes apocalyptic self-understandings of humanity relative to the immensity of the universe. It extended people's horizons and imaginaries from the relational intimacies of families, clans and communities, beyond the bordering and ordering of nation-states, towards the idea of earth as an imaginable social whole - a system that had to be self-sustaining. Such narratives helped to make everyday life knowable and actionable, reminding people of their responsibilities and stewardship of the plant. They prompted scientific debates about extending the geological time-scale beyond the Holocene, the warm period since the end of the last ice age, to recognize the Anthropocene, when human activities leave geological trace...
As a graduate student I had the opportunity to study with Professor Andreas Kazamias and see his ... more As a graduate student I had the opportunity to study with Professor Andreas Kazamias and see his dynamic teaching and scholarship in action. This short reflection piece discusses the turn to Greek literature in Kazamias’s work and the enduring relevance it has today.
This intellectual project was launched out of a desire to explore the theoretical and methodologi... more This intellectual project was launched out of a desire to explore the theoretical and methodological dilemmas encountered in designing and conducting education research in post-socialist settings. We allude to “(re)imagining utopias” in our title both to signal that the volume engages with the shifting social imaginaries of postsocialist transformations and to highlight the ways in which social science research is itself fully implicated in the project of producing and managing collective visions of the future.
Este artículo examina la importancia de Checoslovaquia en la modernización de la educación yugosl... more Este artículo examina la importancia de Checoslovaquia en la modernización de la educación yugoslava en las décadas de 1920 y 1930. Durante este periodo para los yugoslavos Checoslovaquia era considerada “la nación eslava más avanzada”. Las relaciones eslavas permitieron que los yugoslavos ubicaran a Checoslovaquia como un modelo de modernidad agradable, afín y alcanzable. En el campo de la educación, esto se convirtió en una visión cultural específica del niño “moderno” o de aquél que habría de ser ciudadano, en conjunto con su maestro, también “moderno”. Todos estos ideales fueron moldeados no únicamente por las influencias provenientes de un lugar determinado, sino más bien mediante la movilidad de la gente, de los objetos y de las ideas a lo largo de los circuitos de interacción yugoslavo-checoslovacos. En este sentido, el artículo propone nuevas metodologías y estrategias analíticas para emprender estudios transnacionales en la historia de la educación.
In one telling of the story, the transatlantic transfer of European civilization has created a ne... more In one telling of the story, the transatlantic transfer of European civilization has created a new kind of democratic people who are haunted by an obligation to bring a similar conversion to other peoples around the world. After observing a review of Union troops in the midst of the American Civil War, the ardent abolitionist Julia Ward Howe penned the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,”2 which proposed that the distinctive American mission of war was to “to make men free.” Though this notion has not gone unquestioned and though the song itself has been satirized many times—for example, by Mark Twain who in 1901 suggested, “as Christ died to make men holy, let men die to make us rich”3 —the ideas it expresses have shown a curious resiliency across American history. The notion that Americans have a messianic duty to make others free recurs as a topic of cultural reflection and regularly informs policy and actions. National symbols and national narratives come out in spades in times of war, yet war sometimes also provides moments of clarity and insight into the composition of social imaginaries.4 Howe’s battle hymn provides one crystalline image of the American relationship to military conflict; the “Star-Spangled Banner,” which became the U.S. national anthem in 1931, provides another.
Three American armies invaded Europe in the years of World War I and in its aftermath—at least su... more Three American armies invaded Europe in the years of World War I and in its aftermath—at least such was the account proposed in 1924 by the Serbian Child Welfare Association of America. First came the American Expeditionary Force, which entered the war in 1917 after the European combatants had been fighting for three years. The second “American army” was the American Relief Force that arrived after the armistice of November 11, 1918; the third was the “Army of Reconstruction.” And, according to the Serbian Child Welfare Association, “the first army helped to set Europe free; the second lifted her and set her on her feet; the third army started her on her way rejoicing toward a higher civilization.”1 As will become clear in this chapter, the activities of these three “armies” were not as clear-cut and distinct as portrayed here, nor were they necessarily separated and neatly sequenced, however it is not to be contested that during and after World War I a substantial number of Americans invaded Europe with notions of freedom, uplift, and civilization on their minds.
This chapter discusses a number of ways that transnationalism has been approached in the history ... more This chapter discusses a number of ways that transnationalism has been approached in the history of American education and proposes that an “entangled history” approach can be usefully applied to thinking about transcultural interactions in the historical development and operation of schools and school systems. It aims to contribute to the conversations within this edited volume by historically discussing education as an international field and proposing that we need to paygreater attention to the interpretive frameworks used in the history of American education. The chapter also elaborates on the claim that interpretive frameworks are not severable from the empirical, documentary “data” dimensions of archival research. Rather, the historian needs to be cognizant of and reflect upon the ways that method, objects of inquiry, narrative, and theoretical frameworks are unavoidably interlinked. The entangled history approach advanced in this chapter considers the assemblages and apparatuses that produce regularity, order, and forms of coordination over human social, political, cultural, and economic ways of living.
A Yugoslav pedagogue reporting on the advanced state of schooling in Czechoslovakia in 1934 had t... more A Yugoslav pedagogue reporting on the advanced state of schooling in Czechoslovakia in 1934 had this to say about Czechoslovak educational literature: In their reviews, books and lectures many foreign pedagogues are mentioned. One thing is characteristic, however: German pedagogues are mentioned by far the least, regardless of whether they are Austrian or “Reichsdeutsche.” In place of this, they emphasize Tolstoy, J. Dewey, Spencer, M. Montessori and others.1
Reimaginig Utopias explores the shifting social imaginaries of post-socialist transformations to ... more Reimaginig Utopias explores the shifting social imaginaries of post-socialist transformations to understand what happens when the new and old utopias of post-socialism confront the new and old utopias of social science. This peer-reviewed volume addresses the theoretical, methodological, and ethical dilemmas encountered by researchers in the social sciences as they plan and conduct education research in post-socialist settings, as well as disseminate their research findings. Through an interdisciplinary inquiry that spans the fields of education, political science, sociology, anthropology, and history, the book explores three broad questions: How can we (re)imagine research to articulate new theoretical insights about post-socialist education transformations in the context of globalization? How can we (re)imagine methods to pursue alternative ways of producing knowledge? And how can we navigate various ethical dilemmas in light of academic expectations and fieldwork realities? Drawing on case studies, conceptual and theoretical essays, autoethnographic accounts, as well as synthetic introductory and conclusion chapters by the editors, this book advances an important conversation about these complicated questions in geopolitical settings ranging from post-socialist Africa to Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The contributors not only expose the limits of Western conceptual frameworks and research methods for understanding post-socialist transformations, but also engage creatively in addressing the persisting problems of knowledge hierarchies created by abstract universals, epistemic difference, and geographical distance inherent in comparative and international education research. This book challenges the readers to question the existing education narratives and rethink taken-for-granted beliefs, theoretical paradigms, and methodological frameworks in order to reimagine the world in more complex and pluriversal ways.
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