Doing – Reflecting – Comprehending, Or: How We Found Resonance With Anarchist Pedagogy

Abstract

The present auto-ethnographic article examines the compliance of an educational experiment implemented at Stellenbosch University (South Africa) with anarchist pedagogy. After describing this experiment, reflecting on it, and evaluating it within anarchist pedagogical theory, the authors conclude the following: overall, the teaching and learning model implemented approximates the anarchist ideals to a considerable extent. However, this compliance is not uniform but rather instantiates a spectrum of possible enactments of anarchist pedagogy; the enactment of anarchist pedagogy is patent from a macro/maximalist perspective while it is less significant from a micro/minimalist perspective. Since this compliance was not deliberate but emerged unwittingly through practice, the authors ponder whether anarchist pedagogy may be 'natural' or 'intuitive' for more lecturers and students. Lastly, given their own experiences, the authors propose to consider the negative effects of anarchist struggle, such as suffering, alienation, and sacrifice, as inevitable from anarchist pedagogy and the essential elements of this pedagogical model.