Beyond bounds? The terrorist teachers of Lev Vygotsky

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore socio-cultural-historical influences on the ideas of Soviet educational psychologist Lev Vygotsky, since these have become transferable to the point where their influence is now virtually global. The paper provides biographical sketches of Vygotsky, his father and his tutor interwoven with a history of terrorist movements. Design/methodology/approach – Literary study, historical study, biographical study, speculative history. Findings – Passages from his initial major work, Educational Psychology, reveal the radicalism of Lev Vygotsky's thought. It is suggested that two teacher-mentors, his father and a tutor, were influenced by the radical and terrorist narodnik, or populist, movements in Russia of the mid- to late-19th century and passed on this orientation to Vygotsky. The coincidences uncovered raise a series of questions about the degree to which these socio-cultural-historical circumstances influenced Vygotsky's fundamental research project and his attempt to develop an educational method that insisted on going beyond bounds. Research limitations/implications – Several unresolved questions for debate are raised at the end of the paper that may be of particular interest to those using Vygotsky in teacher education programmes. Originality/value – Connects Lev Vygotsky's socio-cultural-historical circumstances to his research project, couched in terms of boundary-crossing and knowledge transference.