Blog

Created
Mon, 06/03/2023 - 17:00

This post introduces readers to the second Special Issue we have co-edited on the umbrella theme of ‘Politicizing Artistic Pedagogies’. The first Special Issue, entitled ‘Politicizing Artistic Pedagogies: Publics, Spaces, Teachings’, was published in late 2021 in the journal Art & the Public Sphere. There was a subsequent Progress in Political Economy Forum containing several blog posts which drew on articles in that issue. The second Special Issue is now out and is entitled ‘Politicizing Artistic Pedagogies: Disciplines, Practices, Struggles’. Our editorial roles switched for the issue, with Mel taking the lead this time. This reflects the distinctive outlook and coverage of the two issues: the first has a broader, more societal scope, while the second has more of an art-discipline/practice focus. Nevertheless, as noted in our essay introducing the first issue, we still believe that ‘the two issues should be understood as complementary and thus together comprising a greater “whole”…[and] we have ensured that there are still plenty of overlaps between them’ [...].

Created
Tue, 28/02/2023 - 06:00

In August 2017 I travelled to Dayuma, a small town on the Ecuadorian oil frontier. I was conducting research for my recent book on fantastical materialism and post-neoliberal state utopias, which was the focus of my previous post on literary techniques for the critique of political economy. But as I entered the town, I could see a demonstration taking place outside the production facilities of a multinational oil company. And within hours of my arrival I was caught up in a labour dispute, which quickly escalated into a more serious and generalized conflict, involving the detention of the strike organizers, the kidnapping of the company manager, the blockading of the production complex, the launch of a military operation to break the blockade, and the unleashing of a rapidly evolving battle against seemingly impossible odds that was destined to achieve a remarkable victory [...]