Politics After Hope: Obama and the Crisis of Youth, Race, and Democracy

by Giroux,Henry A.

• ISBN13: 9781594518539
• ISBN10: 159451853X
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2010-04-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

As the new administration moved beyond its first year in office, Obama's politics of hope increasingly has been transformed into a politics of accommodation. To many of his supporters, his quest for pragmatism and realism has become a weakness rather than a strength. By focusing on those areas where Obama grounded his own sense of possibility, Giroux critically investigates the well-being and future of young people, including the necessity to overcome racial injustices, the importance of abiding by the promise of a democracy to come, and the indisputable value of education in democracy. Giroux shows why considerations provide the ethical and political foundations for enabling hope to live up to its promises, while making civic responsibility and education central to a movement that takes democracy seriously.

Author Biography

Henry A. Giroux holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department. An internationally acclaimed cultural critic, he has published numerous books and articles. His most recent books include The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex (Paradigm 2007) and Against the Terror of Neoliberalism (Paradigm 2008).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction
Barack Obama and the "Fierce Urgency of Now"	p. 3
Youth
War Talk, the Death of the Social, and Disappearing Children: A Lesson for Obama	p. 19
Hard Lessons: Neoliberalism, Education, and the Politics of Disposability	p. 23
Commodifying Kids: The Forgotten Crisis	p. 31
Disney, Casino Capitalism, and the Stealing of Childhood Innocence	p. 39
Ten Years After Columbine: The Deepening Tragedy of Youth	p. 45
Child Beauty Pageants: A Scene from the "Other America"	p. 55
Race
Youth and the Myth of a Postracial Society Under Barack Obama	p. 65
Disposable Youth in a Suspect Society: A Challenge for the Obama Administration	p. 71
Locked Out and Locked Up: Youth Missing in Action from Obama's Stimulus Plan	p. 79
Judge Sonia Sotomayor and the New Racism: Getting Beyond the Politics of Denial	p. 85
Children of the Recession: Remembering Manchild in the Promised Land	p. 91
Democracy
Beyond Bailouts: Education After Neoliberalism (coauthored with Susan Searls Giroux)	p. 99
Educating Obama: A Task for Critical Pedagogy	p. 105
Beyond the Audacity of Hope: The Promise of an Educated Citizenry	p. 111
The Iranian Uprisings and the Challenge of the New Media: Rethinking the Politics of Representation	p. 117
Obama's Tortured Democracy: The Power of Images and the Politics of State Secrecy	p. 125
Education
Obama and the Promise of Education	p. 135
Obama's Embrace of the Corporate Model of Education (coauthored with Kenneth Saltman)	p. 137
Against the Militarized Academy	p. 145
Higher Education in Search of Democracy?	p. 149
Obama's Postpartisan Politics and the Crisis of American Education	p. 161
Educating the Rest of Us: Making Democracy Matter	p. 177
Notes	p. 191
Index	p. 213
About the Author	p. 225
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