Art, Social Imagination and Democratic Education
 

A SPECIAL ISSUE DEDICATED TO MAXINE GREENE

WATCH AN EXCERPT FROM "EXCLUSIONS AND AWAKENINGS: THE LIFE OF MAXINE GREENE."
HANCOCK PRODUCTIONS, DVD, 2001

Shown with permission of Hancock Productions

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For more information about the movie, please visit:
http://hancockproductions.com/films/docs/exclusions_awakening
 

EDITORIAL
Art, Social Imagination and Democratic Education: Maxine Greene and the Unfinished Conversation
Lorraine Kasprisin
Editor
 

PROLOGUE
Prologue to Art, Social Imagination and Action
Maxine Greene
Teachers College, Columbia University
 

CONTROVERSY ADDRESSED IN THIS ISSUE

"My vision, in launching this Foundation, is to generate inquiry, imagination, and the creation of art works by diverse people. It has to do so with a sense of the deficiencies in our world and a desire to repair, wherever possible. Justice, equality, freedom - these are as important to us as the arts, and we believe they can infuse each other, perhaps making some difference at a troubled time."
Maxine Greene, Foundation for Social Imagination, the Arts and Education 

An understanding of the role of public schools in sustaining the life of a democracy requires more than the occasional class in civic education. It requires the development of social imagination. Maxine Greene reminds us of the important role that the arts - visual art, music, performance art and literature - can play in such an education.  We invite authors to explore the many dimensions of a vision for such an education within schools and colleges, or alternatively, outside these institutions. We also invite authors to contribute to a special section on Maxine Greene's lifetime work and writings on art, social imagination and education.
 

SECTION 1: ARTICLES IN RESPONSE TO THE CONTROVERSY

Can Literature Really Make a Difference? Toward a Chastened View of the Role of Fiction in Democratic Education
Trent Davis
York University, Toronto, Canada 

Educating Politicians as Playwrights:  Toward a Sustainable World in Creative Conflict
Daniel Larner
Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Western Washington University 

Opening Minds: Aesthetic Engagement in the Language Arts
Jane S. Townsend, University of Florida
Patrick A. Ryan, Mount St. Mary’s University 

Editor: The article below appeared in our Volume 3 Number 1 Winter 2008 issue on the theme, “Schooling as if Democracy Matters.”  It has a particular relevance to the theme of this issue also.
Teaching a 'Racist and Outdated Text': A Journey into my own Heart of Darkness
Melody Wong
United World College Costa Rica 

A Leap of Faith: Aesthetic Education in the Mathematics Education Classroom
Ed Wall
The City College of New York 

Coming into Presence: The Unfolding of a Moment
Lynn Fels 
Simon Fraser University

Tilting the Machine: a critique of one teacher’s attempts at using art forms to create postformal, democratic learning environments
Tricia M. Kress
University of Massachusetts, Boston 

Of Rocks and Hard Places: The Challenge of Maxine Greene’s Mystification in Teacher Education
P. L. Thomas
Furman University 

Refusing the Gift? - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Early School Leaving in Ireland
Rose Malone
National University of Ireland, Maynooth 
 

SECTION 2: NARRATIVES OF CHILDREN’S LIVES

Lunch at Petra: Greene, Gargoyles and the Sixth Grade Field Trip
Kathryn LaFever
Miami University 

Children’s Imaginative Communities - Microcosms of Democracy
Susan Donnelly
Whatcom Day Academy 

Universal Power to Create (A Slide Show)
Susan Donnelly
Whatcom Day Academy
Chas Hoppe: In this slideshow presentation, Whatcom Day Academy instructor Susan Donnelly analyses the artwork of a former Prospect Center student, nicknamed “Iris.” By tracing motifs found consistently in Iris’s art over the course of several years, we are able to gain insight into children’s imaginative communities, their values, and their dreams.

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SECTION 3: CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION WITH MAXINE GREENE:  REFLECTIONS ENGENDERED BY HER LIFE AND WORK 

Maxine Greene: Influences on the Life and Work of a Dynamic Educator
Karen L. Goldman
Knox County Schools, Knoxville, Tennessee  

Working with Youth: In Search of the Natality of the Teacher - for Maxine
Chris Higgins
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 

"One aneither":  A Joycean Critique of Educational Research
Ray McDermott, Stanford University
Meghan McDermott, Global Action Project 

A Response to a New Book about Maxine Greene’s Philosophy
David T. Hansen
Teachers College, Columbia University 

Notes on a Blue Guitar
William F. Pinar
University of British Columbia, Canada
 

SECTION 4: PAPERS FROM THE 2007 AESA CONFERENCE IN CELEBRATION OF MAXINE GREENE’S 90th BIRTHDAY

Introduction: Papers from the American Educational Studies Association 2007 Conference Special Session on Maxine Greene
James M. Giarelli

In October 2007, Susan Fransoza, Wendy Kohli, and Moredachai Gordon organized a special session at the annual meeting of the American Educational Studies Association in Cleveland entitled: Imaging the Future of Educational Studies: A Commemoration of the Work and 90th Birthday of Maxine Greene. I was honored to be invited to join my colleagues, Michelle Fine, Mary Bushnell Greiner, and James Palermo on this panel where we shared our unique perspectives on Maxine Greene’s work, as well as our shared admiration and love for her as our friend and teacher. The four of us, and the standing room only gathering at the session, were also treated to the special joy of Maxine’s company and response to our presentations. As always, she both embraced us as fellow travelers, while honoring us with careful, yet critical comments. And through this, we all learned once more what it means to be present in the dialectic of freedom and community.

I am grateful to Lorraine Kasprisin for inviting me to assemble the presentations from that special session for inclusion in the special issue of the Journal of Educational Controversy dedicated to Maxine Greene. Thanks to my fellow panel members for their participation, to Wendy, Susan, and Moredachai for the good work of getting the whole project started, to Fairfield University for its support, and, of course, to Maxine for inspiring and educating us all. 

Michelle Fine, A Greene Imaginary

James M. Giarelli, To Maxine Greene on Her 90th Birthday

Mary Bushnell Greiner, Shaking them up: Aesthetics in Social Foundations of Education

Jim Palermo, For Maxine Greene: The Teacher’s Responsibility, the Flesh, and Aesthetic Meaning
  

Photo taken at the 2007 AESA Annual Conference in Cleveland, Ohio. Special Session: Imaging the Future of Educational Studies: A Commemoration of the Work and 90th Birthday of Maxine Green. Clockwise from the left: Mary Bushnell Greiner, Michelle Fine, Wendy Kohli, James Palermo, Mordechai Gordon, Susan Franzosa, Jim Giarelli, and Maxine Greene.

ANNOUNCING A NEW BOOK FROM TEACHERS COLLEGE PRESS THIS FALL

Dear Maxine: Letters from the Unfinished Conversation, edited by Robert Lake All the royalties are pledged to the Maxine Greene Foundation for Social Imagination, the Arts and Education. http://www.maxinegreene.org A note from Robert Lake: Dear readers of Maxine Greene’s work, A new book comprised of 75 letters from a wide range of teachers, scholars and artists, followed by a short interview with Maxine, is now in publication by Teacher’s College Press. The title is Dear Maxine: Letters from the Unfinished Conversation and is edited by Robert Lake.  The date of release is September, 2010. Every letter in this book contains first person accounts of the impact that Maxine’s life and scholarship has made on the current generation, and I can think of no better way to present the immense value of her work to the next generation than through these personal narratives. Robert Lake

BOOK REVIEWS

	Variations on a Blue Guitar: The Lincoln Center Institute Lectures on Aesthetic Education Maxine Greene Reviewed by Rosalie Romano, Western Washington University
	Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change Maxine Greene Reviewed by Barbara Thayer-Bacon, University of Tennessee
	Community In The Making: Lincoln Center Institute, The Arts And Teacher Education (The Series on School Reform) by Maxine Greene (Foreword), Madeleine Fuchs Holzer (Editor), Scott Noppe-Brandon (Editor) Reviewed by Matthew Miller, Western Washington University
	The Dialectic of Freedom by Maxine Greene Reviewed by Anne Blanchard, Western Washington University

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

See the REJOINDERS SECTION to read reactions to the articles in this issue.

See our BLOG to enter into a conversation with our authors and other readers. 

See the TALKING WITH THE AUTHORS VIDEO SERIES for videotaped interviews with some of the authors.

LINK TO THE MAXINE GREENE FOUNDATION:
The Maxine Greene Foundation for Social Imagination, the Arts, and Education
The Foundation is concerned with supporting the creation of and informed appreciation of works that embody fresh social visions, that move people to perceive alternative possibilities for the making of humane communities.