The politics of 'transformative' culture in popular arts and education
This project, funded by the British Academy, aims to clarify the 'transformative' potential of culture in late capitalist society. In response to popular discourses of despair about the inevitability of ecological catastrophe, economic crisis and the erosion of democratic participation, many cultural workers assert that the ‘world-making’ practices of art and education can create space for alternative perspectives and empower people to take action for social change. At the same time, the future of these very practices is threatened by the commodification of cultural work itself. When authenticity has market value, creativity is cultural capital and reflexive dialogue is good public relations, how does culture function as a critical force in social life? To answer these questions, this project explores the motivations, experiences and impacts of cultural workers who lead projects for social change in the arts and education, and who define their work as essential not only for creating spaces of political possibility, but also challenging the cultural logic within which such practices are themselves devalued or suppressed.
Ethnographies of critique, philosophies of praxis
This project brings together common lines of thought in critical theory and philosophy and critical ethnography in order to develop more effective forms of critique and political action in neoliberal contexts. More information soon.
University rankings and the consolidation of elite networked institutions in an era of global capital
In collaboration with Dr Chris Bolsmann, also of Aston Sociology. More information soon here as well.
