Anarchist Pedagogies Collective

Sharing and Supporting Anarchist Ideas and Experiences

Page 3 of 7

Smash the Class, Episode 4: Discussing Expertise and Authority in Our Learning (Part 1)

It’s been a while, but we’ve put together our fourth episode of Smash the Class!

Sparked by our experiences with Joyful Resistance, we wanted to talk about how our understanding of expertise and authority can inhibit a lot of the conversations and learning that can take place within our various communities. As we hosted these meetings, which were meant to act more in line as either a support group or space to just meet with others interested in anarchist pedagogies, we kept noticing that a lot of people seemed to want one thing: experts. There was an expectation that these meetings would have an expert to tell us what to do.

This isn’t inherently bad! And we’re not intending to shame anyone because we get it. But we just noticed that people wanted experts to provide answers and solutions to something we haven’t quite figured out, especially because we all come from different cultural spaces and backgrounds. We’d hoped to create a space for people to find others to connect with in their development of anarchist pedagogies.

So in this episode, we spend time discussing concepts like being able to make mistakes and feeling comfortable with it, the problems around focusing on individualisation while neglecting collaboration, and the ways that learning is a lifelong process that we all need to keep going through.

We also reference quite a few different things that have been done, these include:

And if you want to check out the School Revolt playlist for 2022, everything is available here.

Announcement: Becoming the Anarchist Pedagogies Collective

Since our first ever School Revolt Festival, we’ve decided to take a step back and do some internal learning. This learning has brought us to a conclusion that we are much more than a network and that our values were not articulated in a way we found inspiring.

And so, we are proud to share with you that the Anarchist Pedagogies Network is, from now on, the Anarchist Pedagogies Collective! This isn’t just a name change. It comes with a deep rethinking of our values and commitments. You can read more about those on our About Us page.

What does it mean for the future? The Anarchist Pedagogies Collective is still here for you. We are still committed to a kind of learning that is inclusive, revolutionary, and filled with love and care. We are still committed to abolition. We are still interested in making spaces that are for genuine mutual aid. 

We have many plans for the future, including more workshops, podcast episodes, and creative projects. But we also want to imagine a better world with you. Come talk to us, suggest your best ideas, and we can make them happen together!

Love and solidarity,
The APC

Smash the Class, School Revolt Special: A Q&A with James Khost

This recording comes from one of the events that was hosted during our School Revolt festival this year. It was hosted by James Khost. He’s a 15-year old student who is interested in filmmaking and editing. The documentary that he shared with us was a short experiential film about a day in the life of Brooklyn Apple Academy, which is part of the Flying Squads.

If you missed the event, this episode helps to put everything that was discussed together! You can also find James’s documentary on our YouTube channel. Though we’ve also included the audio from the video in this episode, we still highly recommend that you check out the film for the full experience. It’s genuinely enjoyable and a great look into the Flying Squads.

If you’re interested in more of James’s work, you can go to his website. You can also check out both Brooklyn Apple Academy and the Flying Squads for more information on homeschooling and self-directed education.

Smash the Class, School Revolt Special: Breakfast with Pelle and Daniel, featuring John from Working Class History

As part of School Revolt 2022, Daniel and his son Pelle gave a glimpse into their reading of the Working Class History book. This is the final episode in the week, and we wanted to shared this both on YouTube and as a special episode of the podcast. We also were so lucky that John from Working Class History was able to join them to round out the festival!

This is episode includes discussions about the Paris Commune, international’s women day, and the sit-in at the Ladies Home Journal, as they were the two entries for March 18 in the book.

You can find Working Class History here, and it’s definitely recommended to check the book out.

Smash the Class, School Revolt Special: the need for unlearning in learning

As part of the School Revolt, Sonia and Nicole got together to discuss the need for collectives and individuals to put effort towards unlearning.

So often we encounter a range of interpersonal oppression that actively sabotage our abilities to prefigure and develop a healthy society. Much of this comes from the ways that our societies have been structured, but it has definitely impacted all of our values and attitudes in the ways that we organise. Sonia and Nicole both believe that it is necessary to address these, and they think that there are many ways that we can be doing this.

One element of the conversation focuses on sentipensamiento, the idea of combining the rational with the emotional. They believe that, by incorporating sentipensamiento into our activism and learning, we can help to build areas that not only engage in mutual aid but mutual care and support.

Enjoy!

(Note: Apologies if the audio is different or off. Nicole wanted to try their hand at editing one, too!)

« Older posts Newer posts »