nerd teacher [books] reviewed Anarchism and Education by Judith Suissa
Unfortunate that the author is a transphobe.
1 star
Initially, I really liked this because it was one of the first introductions to anarchism and education that I'd had. It often feels like no one is talking about it, and it's sometimes hard to find information in a range of disparate sources.
I can't totally dislike this because it did send me on my own path towards finding projects and learning more about different school movements, but it's unfortunate that the author is a TERF and supports TERF-related projects. While I'm not going to say that I can't recognise that anarchists can be bigots (especially white anarchists), it still frustrates me that they manage to exist and perpetuate hierarchies that they should find unjustified and fight against. As a result, this is a book that I refuse to recommend to anyone. There are other people doing the work to bring the history and philosophy to light who aren't …
Initially, I really liked this because it was one of the first introductions to anarchism and education that I'd had. It often feels like no one is talking about it, and it's sometimes hard to find information in a range of disparate sources.
I can't totally dislike this because it did send me on my own path towards finding projects and learning more about different school movements, but it's unfortunate that the author is a TERF and supports TERF-related projects. While I'm not going to say that I can't recognise that anarchists can be bigots (especially white anarchists), it still frustrates me that they manage to exist and perpetuate hierarchies that they should find unjustified and fight against. As a result, this is a book that I refuse to recommend to anyone. There are other people doing the work to bring the history and philosophy to light who aren't transphobes. [Note: It recently dawned on me that she may not identify as an anarchist and is simply an academic who is 'interested' in anarchism because I've never seen her identify as such. However, my point still stands.]
And if you need to get this book for any reason, pirate it. She deserves nothing, and the publisher needs to know she is not welcome in liberatory spaces.