Radical Relevance: Toward a Scholarship of the Whole Left

by Gray-Rosendale, Laura; Rosendale, Steven

• ISBN13: 9780791462744
• ISBN10: 0791462749
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-30
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

In an effort to rethink the left, this interdisciplinary collection weaves together some of today's most powerful voices in contemporary left critical thought as they examine the fragmentation of American movements for social change, evaluate what critical scholarship might contribute to the task of renewing (or creating) a more unified and efficacious left, and explore the left's possibly inadequate dealings with many marginalized groups. Representing a diverse range of theoretical perspectives within several "textual" disciplines, the essays assess historical, practical, or speculative models for a "whole left"-"a left constituted by a broad range of complexly interwoven interests, including issues of class, environment, gender, sexuality, disability, race, and ethnicity.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION Toward a Scholarship of the "Whole Left"	vii
Steven Rosendale
I. LEGACIES OF MARXISM
ONE Black Nationalist Identity and Internationalist Class Unity: The Political and Cultural Legacy of Marxism	3	(28)
Alan Wald
TWO Race, Class, and Communism: The Young Ralph Ellison and the "Whole Left"	31	(26)
Barbara Foley
THREE Toward a Political Economy of Rhetoric (or a Rhetoric of Political Economy)	57	(12)
Victor Villanueva
II. LEFT COALITIONS BEYOND THE TRIAD
FOUR The Left Side of the Circle: American Indians and Progressive Politics	69	(16)
Scott Richard Lyons
FIVE Reconciling Red and Green	85	(18)
Michael Bennett
SIX A Monstrous Emerge-agency: Cripping the "Whole Left"	103	(21)
Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Wendy L. Chrisman, Marian E. Lupo
SEVEN What the Left Left Out	124	(17)
Derek Owens
III. THE ACADEMIC LEFT, CRITICAL THEORY, AND THE GLOBAL CONTEXT
EIGHT Globalizing Dissent and Radicalizing Democracy: Politics, Pedagogy, and the Responsibility of Critical Intellectuals	141	(19)
Henry A. Giroux
NINE Toward a Contemporary Philosophy of Praxis	160	(23)
Noah De Lissovoy, Peter McLaren
TEN Global/Local Labor Politics and the Promise of Service Learning	183	(20)
Wendy S. Hesford
ELEVEN Between School and Work: Classroom and Class	203	(10)
Evan Watkins
TWELVE Another World Is Possible	213	(25)
Mark Wood
THIRTEEN Feminism(s) and the Left: A Discussion with Linda Martin Alcoff	238	(19)
Laura Gray-Rosendale
CONTRIBUTORS	257	(6)
INDEX	263