ERIC Number: EJ1340422
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Dec
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1527-9316
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Composing an "Agon" and "Lettering a Public": Democracy between Binaries?
Gordon, Jeremy G.
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, v21 n4 p134-150 Dec 2021
In response to ongoing expansion of neoliberal ideology in democratic education, this essay details a classroom experiment that attempts to "redo," or "recraft" democracy. Recrafting democracy, in this context, takes shape in active efforts to compose an agonistic public sphere through a specific kind of "lettering a public." As described, intentionally inefficient student efforts to "care-fully" compose, revise, and mail democratic letters allowed a more reciprocal and felt form of democratic deliberation to unfold. The essay describes the "Dear Demos" course assignment and articulates how the experiment in doing democracy might work to contest neoliberal notions of efficient, technocratic models of self-governance.
Descriptors: Neoliberalism, Democracy, Democratic Values, Activism, Racial Bias, Police, Communications, Rhetoric, Letters (Correspondence), Assignments, College Students
Indiana University. 107 South Indiana Avenue, Bryan Hall 203B, Bloomington, IN 47405. Tel: 317-274-5647; Fax: 317-278-2360; e-mail: josotl@iu.edu; Web site: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A