Radically democratising education? New student movements, equality and engagement in common, yet plural, worlds

Abstract

This article investigates the relation between democracy and education in the context of radical student activism. Drawing upon participant observation and interviews with left-wing student activists in New Zealand in 2012 and 2015, it argues that a one-sided preoccupation with the student activists’ public actions as attempts to unleash disruptive forces of the political risks ignoring the undecidability and profoundly experimental and educative aspects of their activities. By paying attention to the less publicly visible social settings – or ‘free spaces’ – shaped by ideals of flat, horizontal democracy, the article shows how the students continuously mediate their radicality by negotiating and balancing a sense of ‘responsibility to act’ with a sense of ‘responsibility to otherness’. Democratic engagement thereby not only becomes a question of ‘disruptive’ political influence; it also comes to revolve around the continuous creation of spaces for collective self-education and experimentation with the conjuring of a common – yet plural – world.

Slogans as an integral part of educational discourse: Two examples

“…On the other hand, it is ambiguous because some students also assert that they are the university. For example, those students who occupied rooms at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) in 2011 to protest against the neo-liberalised and commercialised university proclaimed ‘We are the university’ (Nielsen, 2019: 89).…”

The Ethics of Radical Student Activism: Social Justice, Democracy and Engagement Across Difference

“…As I will elaborate later, they worked from an ideal of 'dissensus' and the creation of plural but equal spaces for conversation. They experimented with organic, non-hierarchical forms of meetings and continuously discussed to what extent they should present themselves as a group/unity with a specific name in order to better mobilize others and be recognizable, or whether to refuse this stabilization and categorization in favour of more diffuse, organic and fluid identities (see Nielsen 2019). In order to explore their political aims and ways of organizing, I participated in different protest actions (including a 'street party' and protests against fee hikes), followed their writings in the student magazine and on their Facebook page, conducted formal interviews with seven students who were involved in the actions (from organizers to more ad hoc activists) and had informal conversations with them and other activists and scholars at various academic and social events.…”

“…Minority students, one of them said, often have other networks where they work with like-minded students and target specific minority-related issues. Nevertheless, Jim and his fellow activists seemed to feel a strong sense of 'responsibility to otherness' (Barnett, 2004)-an obligation to learn more about other ways of viewing and experiencing the world, especially those of marginalized and minoritized others, in order to better include such positions in what they saw as a common struggle against inequality (see also Nielsen 2019). At one point during a big open activist meeting, a white male participant criticized progressive stacking for discrimination and censorship because he was asked by a female student of colour to stop talking and start listening a bit more.…”

Gender back on the agenda in higher education: perspectives of academic staff in a contemporary UK case study

“…Concurrently, alongside identified 're-politicization' of students (Nielsen, 2019), there is some rejuvenation of interest in feminist pedagogies and gender content (Henderson, 2015). Beyond its inherent value 'for its own sake', a gender focus offers wider value to fostering development of valuable capacities, including the propensity to be inherently challenging, critical and political (Darder & Baltodano, 2003).…”