Landscapes of Learning

by Maxine Greene

Special 2018 Edition From the new Introduction by Janet L. Miller , Teachers College, Columbia "Maxine Greene never claimed to be a visionary thinker. But forty years later, her trepidations detailed throughout 1978's Landscapes of Learning now appear unnervingly prescient. Witness and treasure Landscapes as evidence of her matchless abilities to inspire myriad educators and students worldwide." “I would suggest that there must always be a place in teacher education for ‘foundations’ people, whose fundamental concern is with opening new perspectives on the many faces of the human world.” — Maxine Greene The essays in this volume demonstrate clearly that Maxine Greene is herself an example of the kind of “foundations” specialist she hopes to someone who can stimulate, inform, and bring new insights to teachers, students, curriculum planners, administrators, policy-makers—indeed all those concerned with education in its broadest sense. These essays, a number of them based on lectures presented to various professional organizations, reveals her dedication to learning and teaching, as it reveals her belief in the potential of each individual person. A philosopher whose orientation is largely existential and phenomenological, she seeks to demystify aspects of today’s technological society, to question taken-for-granted notions of social justice and equality, and to elucidate conflicts between youth and age, the poor and the middle class, people of color and Whites, male and female. As a humanist, she calls for self-reflectiveness, wide-awakeness, and personal transformation within the context of each person’s own lived world—each one’s particular landscape of work, experience, and aspiration. Recognizing the multiple realities that compose experience, the many landscapes against which sense-making proceeds, the essays are grouped in four intellectual and moral components of emancipatory education; social issues and their implications for approaches to pedagogy; artistic-aesthetic considerations in the making of curriculum; and the cultural significance of women’s predicaments today. All are richly illuminated by examples; all are written with grace and passion; all will help readers achieve greater self-understanding and critical consciousness.

Genres: Teaching, Education

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1978

Reviews

[Zach]

Learning Landscapes is an original, vital book, which is written atop other books.  Maxine Greene, a  self-professed phenomenological existentialist, is a brilliant thinker and a pleasure to read. Her passionate, clear, and innovative ideas are refreshing.  Written in the 1970s, this is her first book,  but you can hardly tell the time period. Greene's analysis of the passivity and the dire influence of positivism in education seem like they're written about today.  In order to achieve wide awakeness, Greene suggests using the arts to help people problematize the world and break down the mystification that leads to so much passivity.  

The only parts that help the reader locate the time period are Greene's analysis of affirmative action, which at the time is clearly still early in its implementation, yet her insights on affirmative action shine brilliantly and timelessly. Also, her analysis of sexism in schools and the struggle for women to find & choose their own path help the reader understand how recent,  how little, and how much has happened for women's rights.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm kind of reading my way through this one off and on as I'm writing this semester. I'm really liking Maxine's take on ed philosophy

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

After John Dewey, maybe the greatest American educational philosopher, and this has been a very important book for me. Very powerful way to rethink what is important in learning.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Metaphor is magic; through metaphor, the world is renewed. Maxine Greene’s Landscapes of Learning presents an invitation for educational revival through a panorama of praxis, “bringing the world closer to heart’s desire.”

“There are open spaces to be created in living rooms, on playgrounds, in workplaces, studios, and waiting rooms; there are communities to be made.” To do so, “It is necessary to look into the darkness, into the terrible blankness that creeps over so many [marginalized] lives, into the wells of victimization and powerlessness, and interrogate the “they.”

“To act upon democratic values, I believe, is to be responsive to consciously incarnated principles of freedom, justice, and regard for others.” As educators, it is incumbent upon us “to surpass what is insufficient and create conditions where persons of all ages can come together in conversation–to choose themselves as outraged and destructive, when they have to, as authentic, passionate, and free.”

[Farfished9 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! God bless you, Maxine Greene...and happy birthday!! =)