Critical Theory and Educational Research (Suny Series, Teacher Empowerment & School Reform) (S U N Y SERIES, TEACHER EMPOWERMENT AND SCHOOL REFORM)

This book applies European critical theory to North American educational research.

The contributors to this anthology bring North American research traditions into conversation with the latest advances in French, German, British, and Latin American schools of social thought. Challenging the very precepts of many empirical and analytical approaches to understanding educational phenomena, this collection of essays is indispensable for educators wishing to understand present philosophical debates.

The future of educational research in the United States will largely depend on how teachers and researchers deal with the urgent issues raised in this timely and iconoclastic book.

"These essays suggest, indeed insist, that we rediscover, even reinvent, our self-images as researchers, our practices of research, and our ideas of the aims of inquiry. They present models, ideas, examples, and theories to prod that reflexivity, but have no interest in offering the false solace of method. Where emancipation is the interest, all methods give way to dialogue. These essays stand on the hope, the basic belief, that such dialogue is possible and invite your participation." -- from the Introduction by Peter L. McLaren and James M. Giarelli