Studia Krytyczne/Critical Studies

From ‘Forbidden Death’ to ‘Spectacular Death’ – on the transformation of death in the West (and maybe elsewhere)

Michael Hviid Jacobsen — 2024-06-23

This article aspires to capture the contemporary ‘death mentality’ in the Western world by proposing a transition from the time of ‘Forbidden Death’ to the age of ‘Spectacular Death’. Whereas ‘Forbidden Death’ – which according to the originator of the concept, French historian Philippe Ariès – was characterized by a modern tabooing, denial and seques- tration of death, towards the end of the 20th century we began to witness the contours of a postmodern ‘revival of death’ tendency. In the wake of this, it is suggested that we now no longer live in a time of ‘Forbidden Death’, but rather live and die in an era of ‘Spec- tacular Death’ in which death has become a spectacle – something mostly to be observed from afar, but with an intense force of attraction. ‘Spectacular Death’ indicates that our collective experience of, attitude towards, relationship with and management of death is increasingly characterized by the following five main features: mediation/mediatization, commercialization, re-ritualization and palliative care humanization of death and dying and finally also an academic specialization in the study of death. The article ends with a brief critical discussion of the range, scope and analytical applicability of the notion of ‘Spectacular Death’ also outside a Western context.

Resisting far right and neoliberal agendas in education: The stance of critical educators

Henry A. Giroux — 2024-06-23

Since the 1980s the discourses of neoliberalism and authoritarianism have merged, cre- ating the echoes of a fascist past that has moved from the margins to the center global politics. Education as a mode of domination has become central to politics and operates not only through various levels of schooling but also through a range of cultural apparatuses, including the social media and mainstream platforms. In the current moment, neoliberal fascism has aggressively targeted higher education, attempting to eliminate all vestiges of critical thinking, faculty power, historical consciousness, and critical knowledge. The general aim here is to turn higher education into a white Christian nationalist indoctri- nation center. Against the rise of neo-fascism and it current attacks on higher education globally, this essay raises a number of issues regarding the purpose of education in a time of tyranny, the role of critical pedagogy as an empowering practice, and how the notion of educated hope can overcome a politics of despair and hatred and create a movement of hope and collective resistance. The essay advances the idea that education is central to any viable notion of politics and that educators need to develop a more aggressive and informed pedagogical notion of the political, embrace critical pedagogy as a powerful tool of resistance, and create a mass movement to overthrow neoliberal capitalism with a radical democracy.

Biograficzny problem czy normalizacja? Narracje o międzypokoleniowym awansie klasowym

Justyna Kajta — 2024-06-23

Wpisując się w zwrot kulturowy w analizach klas społecznych, artykuł koncentruje się na biograficznym doświadczaniu międzypokoleniowego awansu klasowego. Opierając się na analizie 30 wywiadów biograficzno-narracyjnych z osobami, które pochodzą z klas ludowych, a obecnie są akademikami/akademiczkami, artystami/artystkami, menadże-rami/menadżerkami biznesu, tekst poszukuje odpowiedzi na pytanie o to, jak obiektywny awans klasowy jest subiektywnie postrzegany przez osoby, którego doświadczyły. Zapre-zentowane i omówione są tutaj dwa rodzaje narracji o awansie: problematyzująca (kiedy awans staje się przedmiotem pogłębionej pracy biograficznej) oraz normalizująca (kiedy awans nie stanowi kluczowego wątku w opowieści). Prezentacja wybranych przypadków biograficznych pozwala na wyodrębnienie elementów, które mogą wpływać na stopień obecności mobilności klasowej w narracjach.

Noty o autorkach i autorach

Sławomir Czapnik — 2024-06-23

Wprowadzenie do dwunastego numeru Studiów Krytycznych

Sławomir Czapnik — 2024-06-23

Barbarzyński status kobiet

Thorstein Veblen — 2024-06-23

Racjonalność, miasto, polityka. Z Adamem Chmielewskim rozmawia Sławomir Czapnik

Adam Chmielewski — 2024-06-23

Grzegorz Rdzanek (1973–2023): człowiek dobrej roboty

Sławomir Czapnik — 2024-06-23