Beyond boundaries? Disability, DIY and punk pedagogies

Abstract

DIY is often viewed as a core element of punk, an aspect that enabled activism against an assumed authority and power (Guerra, 2018; Martin-Iverson, 2017). It is therefore often lauded as a means of engaging with/utilising punk in a pedagogical sense (Bestley, 2017; Cordova, 2016). It should be capable of working in tandem with education in developing and encouraging the ‘movement against and beyond boundaries’ (hooks, 1994). However, this is not necessarily simple or straightforward to realise through one’s own pedagogical practices, especially when one considers them through an intersectional lens. We argue that punk scholarship on DIY fails to account for its capacity to support ableist ideologies and structures - incorporating it into punk pedagogy in an uncritical manner risks further deepening asymmetrical power relations in regards to disability and the adversity that people with disability experience. We utilise collaborative auto-ethnography to unpack some of the complexities involved in pursuing punk pedagogical practices and unpacking the aforementioned critique of DIY further. We consider how DIY can/could potentially be a powerful, empowering pedagogical tool and consider the ways DIY purports a damaging, ableist narrative, which at times can even aid the neoliberal agenda within higher education. The necessity for punk pedagogies to be underpinned by considerations of intersectional issues, both from the viewpoint of the teacher and the students, is demonstrated through our use of critical disability theory as an analytical tool.

Punk and education research: ‘Don’t want to be taught to be no fool’

“…Francis Stewart and Laura Way (2023), in their paper Beyond disability? Disability, DIY and Punk Pedagogies, turn their attention to the DIY ethos commonly associated with punk.…”

“…In a sense, the approach taken for this paper invites readers to step inside punk scenes, and in doing so it offers an insight into the ways that a movement that champions efforts to interrupt and address power hierarchies, can unwittingly enable teaching and learning practices that reinscribe forms of discrimination. From this, the authors challenge us to broaden our thinking by taking an intersectional lens to understand the ways dominant narratives about DIY and punk pedagogies might ‘uphold and perpetuate particular privileges within punk, especially concerning the way abled bodies are constructed as normative’ (Stewart and Way, 2013, this issue). Their important work moves the field forward by re-centring questions of equity and punk in education and pedagogy.…”