Cultural History and Education - Critical Essays on Knowledge and Schooling (Paperback)

This new volume brings together an outstanding group of leading scholars in the study of the cultural history of education. These scholars, whose work represents a variety of national contexts from throughout Europe, Latin America, and North America, contribute to a growing body of work that seeks to re-think historical studies in education by integrating the study of knowledge systems, otherwise known as "discourses", into traditional intellectual history. The articles included investigate how these discourses "construct, shape, coordinate, and constitute social practices through which individuals 'reason' about their participation and identity," in the words of Popkewitz.
The collection challenges the field of historical studies in education to move away from the historicism that still dominates it, and thus introduces new ways to think about the politics of knowledge and the problems of change and reform in education. By understanding how knowledge gives rise to particular constructs of "the child", "the teacher", "the school", and "the community", the essays open up space for critique and other possibilities of action.
The essays are divided into 3 sections. The first is an introductory chapter written by the editors that explores the contributions of cultural history to the study of education. The second section examines the construction of historical narratives by exploring traditions of research in Europe and the Americas. Finally, the third section offers case studies of education that demonstrate how these approaches can be deployed and examines the relationship between knowledge and power.