Speculative Non-Buddhism
For Educationruins of the buddhist real
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If we assume the capture of the American university by the “national economic dogma,” as Nietzsche called education in the service of money-making careerism, what concrete actions might a change-minded instructor take? The goal of this seminar is to spark a spirited discussion around this basic, yet potentially productive, question.
Two fertile assumptions that will be on the table for discussion are encapsulated in the quotes above: (1) current models of instruction, however adept at contributing to the workforce, simultaneously contribute to students’ alienation (from their own interests and abilities, from one another, from possibility), and function to diminish their intellectual capacity; (2) while the institutional space of the classroom is currently a site of status-quoist control and maintenance, it is potentially one of invigorating new vectors of personal discovery and social practice.
In addition to an open discussion, this seminar will offer strategies for realizing change in the classroom. Derived from socialist and anarchist thought, these strategies include: the political theory of prefiguration; the concept of concrete utopia; the social theory of the spectacle, the pedagogical practice of unlearning; and the ethics of the worst necessary.
Date: October 26, Saturday, 10am-2pm
Reading: Glenn Wallis, For Education: The College Classroom as Concrete Utopia
Cost: Pay-what-you-can, up to $90
We are committed to making our offerings of knowledge, dialogue, and community available to anyone who feels they can benefit from them, regardless of ability to pay. We trust you to pay what you can currently afford. If you can not afford to pay anything, but feel you can benefit from our seminars, we wholeheartedly encourage you to register for free. For others, please bear in mind that a seminar costs nearly $1000 in labor and expenses to run.
