Border Crossings: Cultural Workers and the Politics of Education

by Henry A. Giroux

Since 1992, Border Crossings has showcased Henry Giroux's extraordinary range as a thinker by bringing together a series of essays that refigure the relationship between post-modernism, feminism, cultural studies and critical pedagogy. With discussions of topics including the struggle over academic canon, the role of popular culture in the curriculum and the cultural war the New Right has waged on schools, Giroux identified the most pressing issues facing critical educators at the turn of the century. In this revised edition, Giroux reflects on the limits and possibilities of border crossings in the 21st century. "Borders" in our post 9/11 world have not been collapsing, he argues, but vigorously rebuilt. In order to have a truly critically engaged citizenry the challenges of these new "borders"- such as the increased militarization of public spaces, the rise of neo-liberalism, and the war in Iraq- must play a vital role in any debate on school and pedagogy.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 1991

About the author

American cultural critic. One of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy in the United States, he is best known for his pioneering work in public pedagogy, cultural studies, youth studies, higher education, media studies, and critical theory.

A high-school social studies teacher in Barrington, Rhode Island for six years, Giroux has held positions at Boston University, Miami University, and Penn State University. In 2005, Giroux began serving as the Global TV Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Giroux has published more than 35 books and 300 academic articles, and is published widely throughout education and cultural studies literature. Since arriving at McMaster, Giroux has been a featured faculty lecturer, and has published nine books, including his most recent work, The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex.

Routledge named Giroux as one of the top fifty educational thinkers of the modern period in 2002.

Reviews

[W.T. Anderson]

Cross reference with
Dewey, democracy & education
Friere, pedagogy of oppressed
Giroux, border crossings
In exploring the theory pedagogy and practice of networked learning

[Arda]

Giroux is a rebel!

Notes from thesis:

The logic of institutions is that they are aligned with government, and as long as this is the case, the bodies intersecting in the spaces will remain complicit (Giroux, 2008)

Giroux (2008) demonstrates the connection of space and agency in the following:
“In a society in which the public sphere is characterized by a culture of fear and public life has receded behind gated communities, a pervasive discourse of privatization coupled with the practice of brutalization embraces an utterly narrow and commodified definition of freedom and feeds a disinterest in politics while closing down any sense of responsibility for those who in a neoliberal capitalist society represent the losers, the unemployed, the incarcerated, the poor, the young, and the elderly.” (p. 594-595)

Understanding how pedagogies work is critical in acquiring the means to challenge and speak back to the authoritarian discourse (Arendt, 1976, 1977) – “from a position of critical agency” (Giroux, 2008, p. 611).

Public pedagogy is set on and distributed in the public sphere of institutionalized sites such as, but not limited to, educational and cultural establishments as well as media platforms (Giroux, 2008). The Anglo and Euro centric discourse of academia, media, social media, various institutions working within the funding of governmental as well as non-governmental organizations and United Nations platforms, sets the defining relationships between the “developing” vs. “the developed.” The language, from that viewpoint, is within the “impoverished vocabulary of privatization, individualism, and excessive materialism” and it does not encourage critique or the type of collective action that would change the comfort zone by which governments are in the service of investors (Giroux, 2008, p. 592).

[Leslie Vicente]

Greatbook. I used it for my dissertation, which was on the banning and values of Ethnic Studies programs in Arizona, Texas and California. Extremely insightful on today's education and its true purposes.

[Dani]

I love Giroux's work here. I picked up this book after reading some articles of his for school, I can't believe I didn't discover his work sooner. As both a practicing artist and an educator, I find this applications for this work broad in both my fields. Love his pedagogy centering the margins. I'll definitely be reading everything of his I can get my hands on.

[MacK]

In analyzing what it means to teach performance to children who often feel the need to perform for approval, attention, or just plain old entertainment, Giroux offers a number of valuable insights into not merely education in literature, theatre and film, but education in general. Though at times it's a little antagonistic for my tastes, it generally offers a host of ideas and encourages readers to make up their own minds. (Not at all a bad trait for any book about education)

[Dmitri]

Not your mother's educational theory... indeed, much more than ed theory. Plenty of great thinking here toward working out compromises between enlightenment and postmodern thought, and toward equipping and provoking intellectuals to bust out of their shells, cross borders, and kick butt.

[Elena]

A bit of a poststructuralist view on society and the role of education within it. Advocates the benefits of individual identities without firm boundaries, identities that cross boundaries.