Counter-hegemonic Practices Research Articles

Critical Media Literacy as Curricular Praxis

The current stalemate of mass communication as neither a professional nor a worthwhile academic discipline in U.S. higher education is deeply rooted in the gradual evaporation of the critical in its curriculum. In light of this, this article strives to reclaim “the critical” in media literacy, aiming at three main goals. First, it attempts to problematise the escalating vocationalisation of mass communication education. Second, it seeks to build a philosophical, theoretical base for critical media literacy, informed by critical educational theories developed by Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux, and others. Third, it aims to identify some core areas of critical media literacy by which to reconfigure mass communication as an interdisciplinary academic field within the larger context of democracy. Ultimately, the article makes the case for repositioning critical media literacy as pedagogy of possibility that opens up a new pedagogical space for alternative, counter-hegemonic mass communication education and practices.

Democracy in a Multipolar World

I have decided that the best way to address the theme of this conference, ‘Interrogating Democracy in International Relations’, is to examine the implications of my agonistic approach for envisaging what democracy could mean in a multipolar world. I will begin by presenting the basic tenets of the theoretical framework that informs my reflection on the political. It has been elaborated in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, co-written with Ernesto Laclau.1 In this book we argue that the two concepts needed to grasp the nature of the political are ‘antagonism’ and ‘hegemony’. Both point to the need for acknowledging the dimension of radical negativity and the ever present possibility of antagonism which impede the full totalisation of society and foreclose the possibility of a society beyond division and power. They require coming to terms with the lack of a final ground and the undecidability that pervades every order; this means, in our vocabulary, recognising the hegemonic nature of every kind of social order and envisaging society as the product of a series of practices whose aim is to establish order in a context of contingency. The practices of articulation through which a given order is created and the meaning of social institutions is fixed are what we call ‘hegemonic practices’. Every order is the temporary and precarious articulation of contingent practices. Things could always have been otherwise and every order is predicated on the exclusion of other possibilities. It is always the expression of a particular configuration of power relations. What is at a given moment accepted as the ‘natural’ order, jointly with the common sense that accompanies it, is the result of sedimented hegemonic practices; it is never the manifestation of a deeper objectivity that would be exterior to the practices that brought it into being. Every order is therefore susceptible of being challenged by counter-hegemonic practices which attempt to disarticulate it in order to install another form of hegemony. In The Return of the Political, The Democratic Paradox and On the Political I have developed this reflection on ‘the political’, understood

Constituting Folklore: A Case for Critical Folklore Studies

Abstract This article argues for the development of a critical folklore studies through an interweaving of folklore and rhetorical theory. Following paths set by Roger Abrahams, Kenneth Burke, and Antonio Gramsci decades ago, and drawing upon more recent contributions by Ernesto Laclau and rhetorical critics, it considers folklore as a constitutive rhetoric, the act of which establishes a "folk"--and their adversaries-as a political category. Identifying three articulations of critical folklore studies, it calls upon folklorists to intervene against (rather than strictly analyze) oppressive power formations through the production of overt criticism and related counterhegemonic practices.

Constituting Folklore: A Case for Critical Folklore Studies

This article argues for the development of a critical folklore studies through an interweaving of folklore and rhetorical theory. Following paths set by Roger Abrahams, Kenneth Burke, and Antonio Gramsci decades ago, and drawing upon more recent contributions by Ernesto Laclau and rhetorical critics, it considers folklore as a constitutive rhetoric, the act of which establishes a “folk”—and their adversaries—as a political category. Identifying three articulations of critical folklore studies, it calls upon folklorists to intervene against (rather than strictly analyze) oppressive power formations through the production of overt criticism and related counterhegemonic practices.

EUROPE'S OTHER

ABSTRACT As ‘Eurobarometer’ surveys indicate, European populations are increasingly sceptical about further EU enlargement, especially as far as Turkey is concerned. Austria's rejection of negotiations with Turkey has been remarkable. While the Austrian government has been in line with European council resolutions, policy makers of different parties have reiterated their claim for alternatives to full membership for Turkey. Furthermore, opinion polls have shown that the Austrian population's refusal of Turkey is above EU average. Embedded in the popular arguments why Turkey should stay outside the EU, we find what Ralf Grillo has called ‘cultural anxiety’: essentialist views of ‘our’ and ‘their’ culture cause fears about a fast growing and predominantly Muslim population that would flow into EU labour markets and threaten ‘us’, in particular ‘our’ democracy, equality and human rights. Against this backdrop my interest will neither be focused on a further analysis of whether Turkey is sufficiently prepared for EU accession nor on the European Union's absorption capacity. In this paper I will rather focus on the emergence of hegemonic and counter-hegemonic cultural practices of selfing and othering in order to better understand the extensive refusal of Turkey's EU accession in Austria.

Gramsci, Intellectuals, and Academic Practice Today

This essay follows a series of events on the campus of a public university in the Midwestern United States. By examining some of the contemporary political-economic and cultural conditions affecting universities, I explore the production of and constraints on intellectual practice. Building from Antonio Gramsci's conceptualization of intellectuals, I argue that academic intellectuals and academic practices are produced within a highly politicized institution in which hegemony is exercised, and I consider the possibilities of and limitations on resistance. I suggest that counterhegemonic practices are possible through politically engaged scholarship.

Nineteenth-Century United States Literary Culture and Transnationality

The term transnationalism is used frequently in reference to the rapid circulation of “capital, labor, technology, and media images” in the global economy governed by postindustrial capitalism (Sharpe 110). When incorporated into such phrases as transnational capitalism, the term implies a critical view of historically specific late modern or postmodern practices of globalizing production, marketing, distribution, and consumption for neocolonial ends. By the same token, transnationalism is often used to suggest counterhegemonic practices prompted by or accompanying the migrations and diasporas occasioned by these new economic processes of globalization. Thus, Homi Bhabha's privileging of “cultural hybridity” as a way to resist global homogenization is often traceable to his emphasis on “migrant workers,” who are “part of the massive economic and political diaspora of the modern world” and thus “embody […] that moment blasted out of the continuum of history” (8). If these new, exploited cosmopolitans experience every day their dislocation from the familiar boundaries of nation, first language, and citizenship, they may also be particularly able to comprehend how to negotiate transnational situations, even in some cases turning such circumstances to their advantage.

Reading counter-hegemonic practices through a postmodern lens

This paper examines the similarities and differences as well as the limitations and possibilities of critical pedagogy, feminist pedagogy and some of the more radical strands of multicultural education in adult education. As postmodern thought has begun to influence these discourses, a brief look at postmodernism in relation to these three pedagogical theories will be presented. Furthermore, it will be proposed that a synthesis while maintaining difference between these pedagogical strands may have the potential to minimize the limitations and multiply the possibilities of a critical adult pedagogy. It will be suggested that this endeavour may be deepened through the utilization of a strategic postmodern lens of analysis.

The Great American Football Ritual: Reproducing Race, Class, and Gender Inequality

An ethnographic study of one football season in a small South Texas town is presented to explore the extent that community sport is, as various critical theorists have suggested, a potential site for counterhegemonic cultural practices. Football is conceptualized as a major community ritual that socializes future generations of youth. This broad, holistic description of socialization also notes various moments of ethnic resistance engendered by the Chicano civil rights movement. Other moments of class and gender resistance to the football ritual are also noted. Finally, the way players generally resisted attempts to thoroughly rationalize their sport is also described. In spite of these moments of resistance, this study ultimately shows how deeply implicated community sport—in this case high school football—is in the reproduction of class, gender, and racial inequality. The white ruling class and the town’s patriarchal system of gender relations are preserved in spite of concessions to the new ethnic challenges. When seen from a historical community perspective, sport may be less a site for progressive, counterhegemonic practices than critical sport theorists hope.