Agency in Constrained Academic Contexts

Agency in Constrained Academic Contexts examines how social agents construct autonomous spaces in the context of neoliberal education. The contributors to this edited collection consider the ways that educators, students, and families assert agency, claim space, and thereby reshape the constraints imposed by the durability of the academic institutions of which they are a part.

“With its original and compelling theorization of space, this volume is on the leading edge of current work in educational anthropology. Agency in Constrained Academic Contexts shows how students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders are able to draw on their own 'spatial agency' to develop and employ specific local tactics to overcome the constraints of educational institutions. With contributions from a stellar lineup of anthropologists of education who examine these processes in a variety of global locations, and written to appeal to a wide audience, this book shows how new theory and research from educational anthropology can point the way to more liberating and humane educational practice and policy.”

With its original and compelling theorization of space, this volume is on the leading edge of current work in educational anthropology. Agency in Constrained Academic Contexts shows how students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders are able to draw on their own ‘spatial agency’ to develop and employ specific local tactics to overcome the constraints of educational institutions. With contributions from a stellar lineup of anthropologists of education who examine these processes in a variety of global locations, and written to appeal to a wide audience, this book shows how new theory and research from educational anthropology can point the way to more liberating and humane educational practice and policy.

-- Peter Demerath, University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota; former president, Council on Anthropology and Education

Agency in Constrained Academic Contexts is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the power and paradoxes inherent within all education spaces. This edited volume scrutinizes debates regarding the theorization of space, power, inequality, exclusion, and agency in relation to their sociohistorical and socio-political contexts. The contributors bring to life these debates via an anthropological spotlight on the power education has to conserve and constrain, but also, perhaps more importantly, on its ability to challenge hegemonic practices and transform the world we live in.

-- Lisa Russell, University of Huddersfield

Aprille Phillips is assistant professor of education at Southern Oregon University

Tricia Gray is assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Agency in Constrained Academic Contexts examines how social agents construct autonomous spaces in the context of neoliberal education. The contributors to this edited collection consider the ways that educators, students, and families assert agency, claim space, and thereby reshape the constraints imposed by the durability of the academic institutions of which they are a part.

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