Critical Education in the New Information Age (Critical Perspectives)

Essays by some of the world's leading educators provide a revolutionary portrait of new ideas and developments in education that can influence the possibility of social and political change. The authors take into account such diverse terrain as feminism, ecology, media, and individual liberty in their pursuit of new ideas that can inform the fundamental practice of education and promote a more humane civil society. The book consolidates recent thinking just as it reflects on emerging new lines of critical theory.

Who is Ramon Flecha ?

José Ramón Flecha (born in 1952) is a professor of sociology at the University of Barcelona, Doctor Honoris Causa from West University of Timişoara,^[1] and a renowned researcher in social sciences in Europe. His work has contributed to the fields of sociology, critical pedagogy, and cultural studies. Alain Touraine commented about Flecha's contribution: At times, as Ramón Flecha demonstrates, knowledge goes from bottom to top, when individuals without degrees produce and invent cultural analyses based on their own experience.^[2] Ulrich Beck has pointed out about Flecha's book Contemporary Sociological Theory: This is the conviction the book reveals... It combines rigorous research with facts, including the intention for a dialogical utopia. But this broad intention is presented in the book, joining theory with critique and empirical research with praxis, in such a charming way that it grabs its readers and captures them under its spell.^[3]
Flecha has dedicated his life to the development of theories and practices that overcome social inequalities (Flecha 1999; Flecha 2000)^[4]. He developed the Dialogic Gatherings, the Learning Communities project, and the Communicative Methodology of Research. The dialogic gatherings are a bottom-up cultural movement today extended along different continents^[5]. The Learning Communities project is a program of educational and social transformation which has already got the transformation of 80 educational centers in Brazil, Chile and Spain^[6]. The Communicative Methodology of Research^[7] is of reference in the European Research Framework Program and has been increasingly used by scholars from different countries. At present, Flecha is the director of the largest study about educational systems in the Framework Program of Research of the European Union. His work has been published in twelve different languages, including Spanish, English, Chinese, German, French, Korean, Finnish, Romanian, and Portuguese.

Biography

Ramon Flecha was born in 1952. In 1967 he collaborated in the creation of a center of cultural activities in the poorest area of his hometown, Bilbao. From 1969, and until the coming of democracy in Spain, he was a member of the clandestine movement against Franco’s dictatorship (Giner, E. in process)^[8]. In 1978 he moved to live in a poor neighborhood in Barcelona, where he founded the Popular Centre La Verneda-Sant Martí, which cultural democratic task has been outlined by an article in the Harvard Educational Review^[9], that being the first Spanish educational experience published in this journal. His book Sharing Words (published in Spain, USA and China) develops a theory and practice of Dialogic learning based on the narratives of the participants in the cultural activities at La Verneda-Sant Martí. The Dialogic learning theory is today the theoretical foundation of the Learning Communities project and other cultural activities.
In 1991 Flecha founded CREA^[10], the Center of Research on Theories and Practices which Overcome Inequalities, at the University of Barcelona. CREA was one of the centers that initiated in 1999 the Science Park of Barcelona and is today internationally well-known for its theoretical developments in the social sciences and its international research oriented to the overcoming of inequalities. In 1995 Flecha founded the Learning Communities Project and, since then, he has directly collaborated in most of the 80 schools that have engaged in a process of socio-cultural and educational transformation through this program. The Learning Communities project has extended to Brazil and Chile, has gained governmental support in Spain, and is being studied as a successful educational practice for strengthening social cohesion in Europe. CREA has also developed a Communicative Methodology of research, which has been used in relevant European research projects, like Workaló, which main conclusion, the recognition of the Roma in Europe, was unanimously approved by the European parliament in April 2005^[11]. SAFO, the women’s group at CREA, broke the silence about gender violence in Spanish universities ^[12] and Flecha supported them as the director of the center^[13]. In 2007, he received the Doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of West Timisoara.
Throughout his career, Flecha has given lectures around the world, in universities such as Harvard, Columbia, Montpellier, Aachen, Glasgow, Porto Alegre, Seoul, and UNAM. Flecha participated in The Harvard Education Forum celebrated on February 27, 1998; in honor of Paulo Freire, alongside important international referents such as: Noam Chomsky (Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics, MIT), Eileen de los Reyes (Moderator, Assistant Professor HGSE ), Carolyn Higgins (Earlhm College), Yamila Hussein (HGSE master’s degree candidate), Donaldo Macedo (UMass Boston), Nancy Richardson (associate dean for ministry, Harvard Divinity School), and Ira Shor (City College of New York).
Currently, Flecha is the principal investigator of the research project INCLUD-ED: Strategies for inclusion and social cohesion from education in Europe Includ-ed, the only integrated project focused on school education in the Framework Program of Research of the European Union.

 

Publications

• Oliver, E.; Soler, M.; Flecha, R. (2009). Opening schools to all (women): efforts to overcome gender violence in Spain British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 207–218.
• Aubert, A.; Flecha, A.; García, C.; Flecha, R. y Racionero, S. (2008). Aprendizaje dialógico en la sociedad de la información. Barcelona: Hipatia.
• Gomez,J.; Latorre,A.; Sánchez,M.; Flecha,R. (2006). Metodología comunicativa crítica. Barcelona: Roure.
• Touraine, A.; Wieviorka, M.; Flecha, R. et al. (2004). Conocimiento e identidad. Voces de grupos culturales en la investigación social. Barcelona: Roure
• Flecha, R.; Gómez, J. & Puigvert, L. (2003): Contemporary Sociological Theory . New York: Peter Lang, also available in Spanish.
• Flecha, R. (2000): Sharing Words. Theory and Practice of Dialogic Learning. Lanham, M.D: Rowman & Littlefield, also available in Spanish and Chinese.
• Castells, M.; Flecha, R.; Freire, P.; Giroux, H.; Macedo, D. & Willis, P. (1999): Critical Education in the New Information Age. Lanham, M.D: Rowman & Littlefield. Foreword by Peter Mclaren. Also available in Spanish and Portuguese.
• Flecha, R. (1999). Modern and postmodern racism in Europe: dialogic approach and anti-racist pedagogies, Harvard Educational Review, 69(2), 150-171.
• Flecha,R. & Gómez,J. (1995). Racismo, no, gracias; ni moderno ni postmoderno. Barcelona: Roure.
• Ayuste, A.; Flecha, R.; Lleras, J.; López. F. (1994). Planteamientos de la pedagogía crítica. Comunicar y transformar. Barcelona: Graó.
• Giroux, H.; Flecha, R. (1992). Igualdad educativa y differencia cultural. Barcelona: Roure.
• Flecha, R. (1990). La nueva desigualdad cultural. Barcelona: Roure.
• Flecha, R. (1990). Educación de las personas adultas. Propuestas para los noventa. Barcelona: Roure.
• Flecha, R.; López, F.; Saco, R. (1988). Dos siglos de educación de adultos. De las Sociedades de Amigos del País a los modelos actuales. Barcelona: Roure.

 

References

1. ^ In 2007, Flecha is sworn in Doctor Honoris Causa by West University of Timişoara by unanimous vote, due to his trajectory and scientific contribution to the social sciences. http://www.ri.uvt.ro/dri/index.php?lang=en&pagina=dhc, retrieved 26th of October, 2008.
2. ^ Words of commentary from Alain Touraine about the book: Flecha, R. (2000): Sharing Words. Lanham, M.D: Rowman & Littlefield.
3. ^ Words of Ulrich Beck in the prologue of the book: Flecha, R.; Gómez, J. & Puigvert, L. (2003): Contemporary Sociological Theory. New York : Peter Lang.
4. ^ References of two key publications: Flecha, R.(1999): Modern and Postmodern racism in Europe: dialogic approach and anti-racist pedagogies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. Harvard Educational Review . n. 2, v. 69, pp. 150-171. and Flecha, R. (2000): Sharing Words. Lanham, M.D: Rowman & Littlefield
5. ^ Mil y una tertulias literarias dialógicas en el mundo, retrieved 26th of October, 2008
6. ^ Red Comunidades de Aprendizaje retrieved 26th of October, 2008
7. ^ Communicative Methodology of Research, retrieved 26th of october, 2008.
8. ^ Giner, E. (in process). Aportaciones de Jesús Gómez y Ramón Flecha a las teorías y prácticas dialógicas (1965-2006). Dissertation.
9. ^ Sánchez, M. (1999): La Verneda-Sant Martí: A school where people dare to dream. Harvard Educational Review, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University. n. 3, v. 69, pp. 320-357. Available in: http://www.hepg.org/her/abstract/157, retrieved 26th of October, 2008
10. ^ http://www.pcb.ub.es/crea/pdf/portada/entrevista_escuela.pdf, retrieved 28th of February, 2009
11. ^ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2005-0151+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN, retrieved 26th of October, 2008
12. ^ retrieved 26th of October, 2008
13. ^ Letter of Gratitude to Ramon Flecha for the work carried out as the Director of CREA, retrieved 28th of February 2009

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Flecha