Ruth Rikowski's 51st News Update

I hope you all had a good summer. Ours was really, really lovely, but unfortunately, ended all too quickly. Now, the academic year, with all the ‘hussle and bussle’ starts once again.

There are a variety of news items in this update; including an exciting new contact we have made with Robert C. Smith of the Heathwood Institute.



1. ROBERT C. SMITH OF THE HEATHWOOD INSTITUTE REPUBLISHING GLENN RIKOWSKI’S ARTICLE ‘CRITCAL PEDAGOGY AND THE CONSTITUTION OF CAPITALIST SOCIETY’

We had a lovely email this summer, completely ‘out of the blue’, from Robert C. Smith of the Heathwood Institute, a new radical academic organisation and press.
Robert contacted us saying how mush he valued our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website, and that much of our work is very close to his own.
Robert said that he would like to republish an article of Glenn’s that is on our website, entitled Critical Pedagogy and the Constitution of Capitalist Society (see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=242&slink=yes)
He requested permission to republish it for the September issue of their online publication - this would form part of their guest article series. He thought it would provide an insightful analysis for their readers. Glenn delightedly agreed.
The article is now on the Heathwood Press website – see

http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-august-critical-pedagogy-and-the-constitution-of-capitalist-society-by-glenn-rikowski/


This article from our website was previously published in Turkish – one of 10 of Glenn’s articles that were taken from our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website and published in a book in Turkish with Kalkedon Publishers, Istanbul, 2011. The title of the book is

Marksist Eðitim Kurami ve Radikal Pedagoji (‘Marxist Educational Theory and Radical Pedagogy’).

However, whilst it was lovely to see Glenn’s work being translated into Turkish (that it was valued in that way), permission had not been obtained from Glenn - see my previous news item about this in my 43rd newsletter, item 5, dated 30th October 2010 – now on my ‘Ruth Rikowski News Updates Progression’ blog – see http://ruthrikowskiupdates.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=turkish+book+by+glenn+rikowski. So this has been a serious issue for us (and not one what we would want repeated). This is why it has not been included as a news item in this newsletter before.

However, given how things are now working out it seems that a news item is now needed, so a short one is below (item 2). A fuller, more comprehensive outline and analysis might be given at a future date, but we will have to see what transpires on this and other related fronts.

Robert Smith is also a writer and researcher in the fields of philosophy and (post-Adornian) critical theory; with special interests in existential-phenomenology, psychology, systems theory, education and literary theory and author of the Consciousness and Revolt series and of ‘Experiential Coherence: further thoughts on the origin of Reconcililation’.

The Heathwood Press website can be found at:

www.heathwoodpress.com/authors/r-c-smith.



2. ‘MARKSIST EĞITIM KURAMI VE RADIKAL PEDEGOJI’ (‘MARXIST EDUCATIONAL THEORY AND RADICAL PEDAGOGY’) BY GLENN RIKOWSKI, IN TURKISH, PUBLISHED BY KALKEDON PUBLICATIONS, TURKEY, FEB 2011, ISBN – 9786055679798 (with a Foreword by Peter McLaren)

http://www.ilknokta.com/kitap/117557/Marksist-Egitim-Kurami-ve-Radikal-Pedagoji.html


On doing a random google search last year, in 2011, Glenn was most surprised to discover this book, ‘Marxist Educational Theory and Radical Pedagogy’ by him, on the internet.

Now, as already stated, this was a book proposal that I referred to in my 43rd newsletter (item 5), dated 30th October 2010. The news item is about a Turkish publisher that wanted to take a dozen or so articles of Glenn’s from our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website, translate them into Turkish, and publish them in a book.

When the publisher first contacted Glenn about this, Glenn found the idea very interesting but he also made it clear to Kalkedon Publications, that he only wanted the book published in a certain structured way as he wanted “…to make sure that readers appreciate the nature, purpose and origins of what I write.”. For this reason, Glenn proposed writing a new, additional chapter which would serve as an introduction; also that he would want a Foreword and an index. Furthermore, that he needed to retain copyright. The publisher did not reply to this and Glenn heard nothing further from them.

However, we have now discovered that they ignored all this (and the related copyright issues) and they published it anyway (without an introduction and an index), but in the way that they wanted to, in February 2011. They did not tell Glenn anything about it at all either. Heavens! They did not even send him a copy of the book.
It is nice that Glenn’s work has now been published in Turkish, meaning that his work will be read by a wider audience, and that these Turks were that keen on it that they were prepared to do the necessary work to translate it. However, they are also making some money out of it presumably (none of which, incidentally, is coming our way!). Also, if it had been translated into another language, such as in Spanish and with Peter’s help, then Glenn’s work might have been read by a wider audience. But the main thing is that Glenn wanted it published in a certain way.
Anyway, let’s move on. The book is now out and is there for people to read and hopefully in time, it will find a nice niche amongst Glenn’s publications. And Robert Smith, who was very courteous, sought permission and republished one of these articles, should certainly help in this regard.



3. PETER MCLAREN BACK AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES (UCLA)

We were surprised to discover that Peter McLaren is now back working at UCLA, in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies – see http://gseis.ucla.edu/people/mclareHis stay at New Zealand proved to be of a very short duration (although technically he still works there part-time). There has, it seems, been much ‘water under the bridge’. Anyway, one of the many things that he is now doing leading on from this includes co-editing a book series on ‘Education and Struggle’ with Michael Peters, published with Peter Lang.


4. COMMISSIONING LESLEY PITMAN AND PAUL VETCH TO WRITE BOOKS FOR CHANDOS PUBLISHING

I am delighted to say that I have commissioned 2 more people to

write books for Chandos Publishing (www.chandospublishing.com)
Lesley Pitman and Paul Vetch.


The tentative titles for their books are

‘Supporting research in area studies: a guide for academic libraries’ by Lesley Pitman


‘Digital Collections Management and Curatorial Practice’ by Paul Vetch


Lesley Pitman is Librarian and Director of Information Services, University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library. Lesley is responsible for the largest open access collection in the UK on Russian and East European Studies. She also coordinates the Research Support Strategy for UCL Library Services, Chairs the Digitisation Steering Group and takes the lead for UCL in some major digitisation projects.


Paul Vetch is Head of Research Development and Delivery in the Digital Humanities Division at King’s College, London, with responsibility for developing opportunities for new research collaborations and the management of the Research and Development team. He is also a Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities and a King’s Business Innovation Fellow.


Lesley’s book “will provide a guide for library staff who find themselves required to support academicsresearching in the ill-defined field of ‘area studies’. This can encompass an enormous range of disciplines in a single department or centre, from literature and film studies to economics and business, and is usually made more challenging by the fact that most of the source material will be in languages other than English.”


Paul’s book will explore “the practical impact and changing influence of digital collections management infrastructure on the way in which museums function, focusing in particular on the implications for curatorial staff – those directly involved with the interpretation and presentation of heritage materials to the general public.”


I wish Lesley and Paul all the very best with their Chandos book projects.



5. DAVID KAGOTHO-NDERITU INVITED ON SKY TV AND HIS ARTICLE ‘DANGEROUSLY LIVING’ NOW ON OUR WEBSITE

Several years ago now, Glenn and I got talking to someone in our local photocopy shop (‘CopyCats’), and amazingly found we had things in common. This person was David Kagotho-Nderitu. At the time we were photocopying our House of Lords globalisation papers; we started an interesting conversation between ourselves and discovered that we agreed about various issues around globalisation. Leading on from all of this David started doing some writing and at our suggestion some of his material was then published in ‘Information for Social Change’. Other material went in the Contributions section of our website.

This summer we had a surprise email (yes, another one!) from Joanna, the producer from the ‘Chrissy B. Show’ – a new show on Sky TV. The Chrissy B. show is a TV talk show based in London which covers ‘Real issues for real people, and better yet, you can get involved.’

David has an article on our website entitled ‘Multicultural Britain – what does it mean to be Black people?’ (http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=401&slink=yes) and this was what interested Joanna as she was organising a show on ‘Multicultural Britain’ for around the end July/beginning August 2012.

Joanne wanted to interview David and include him on her programme. She also planned to have 2 other studio guests – Maghan Peterson Fenn, author of ‘Bringing up Brits’ and Sundar Katwala, Director of British Future.
David was very interested in going on the show, but now he lives in Kenya. They were hoping to get a Skype connection but unfortunately were not able to in the end, so he was not able to participate.
Still, once again, it shows the power of our website does it not and hopefully will all lead on to even bigger and better things in time.

Leading on from all of this, David then wrote another piece, and asked if we could also include this in the Contributions section of our website, which we happily did. This article is entitled ‘Dangerously Living’, is about the financial crisis, and can be found at:

http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=406



6. DISSERTATION ON COMMODIFICATION OF CHILDRENS SOCIAL WELFARE SERVICES

We received an interesting email on our Flow of Ideas website, from Sean Hayes, who recently studied for an MA in the Ethics of Social Welfare at Keele University and wrote a dissertation (2011) on ‘the commodification of Children within Social Welfare Markets as a consequence of the Privatisation of Childrens Social Welfare Services’. Sean is now planning to develop all this further by studying for a Doctorate on the subject.
I read the dissertation with interest. As a working practitioner in the field, I thought Sean’s knowledge and understanding should prove to be very valuable. It was an interesting dissertation.
On reflecting, I made the point to him that we are witnessing the commodification of Childrens Social Welfare Services rather than the commodification of children themselves (the latter would only apply if we lived in a Slave society). I also made it clear to him that we think that a thorough understanding and analysis of all of this can only be done through a Marxist approach and looking at the commodification process itself in detail. Whilst in his dissertation Sean focused on the philosophers Bentham, Kant and Mill.
Anyway, it is great that some people are looking at these important areas, and also from a philosophical position, and we wish Sean the very best of luck with his Doctorate. Hopefully, it can help in some small way, and will alert some people to the dangers of what clearly lies ahead.


7. CAMPAIGN AGAINST CUTS IN BRENT LIBRARIES

This summer 2012 we went to a couple of interesting talks at Conway Hall in London. The ethos of Conway Hall is very near and dear to our hearts. Conway Hall is run by the South Place Ethical Society, which is an educational charity, deriving from a radical religious congregation founded in London in 1793. It is now a secular and humanist organisation and is “one of the oldest freethought communities in existence”.

The talks we went to were part of the Sunday lecture series. They were:

‘Schopenhauer and Character-Determinism’ by Tom Rubens

‘Don’t get fooled again’ by Richard Wilson

‘Infinity and Immortality’ by Adrian Moore

We also went to some of the events of the ‘Festival of Film and Philosophy’ week in the summer that were held there.

At a discussion on ‘Will’ following on from the Schopenhaeur talk (who of course influenced Nietzsche and Lawrence), I got talking to a lady that happened to be a librarian involved in fighting some of the library cuts. One of these campaigns was fighting cuts in Brent Libraries. She then put me in touch with Charles Rudd, who is heavily involved with this campaign and who provided me with some additional information. I said that I would happily insert this information in my next newsletter – so here it is – see below:

“Campaigners in [London Borough of] Brent have been fighting the Council’s decision to close six of its twelve libraries. In 2011 a legal challenge went all the way to the Supreme Court, which however refused us permission to appeal against the lower courts’ judgment that Brent’s action, and the consultation which preceded it, were not unjustified. Since then, “pop-up” libraries have been set up at Barham Park, Preston and Cricklewood (at least), and moves are afoot to set up community libraries in some areas, which would be run by volunteers. For details, see www.brentlibraries.wordpress.com


Charles Rudd - sawadarudd@waitrose.com "

I hope this information is helpful to those out there that are currently actively involved in campaigns to try to save and protect various London libraries.



8. ALEXANDER RIKOWSKI OBTAINING A PLACE TO STUDY LAW PART-TIME AT BIRKBECK COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Our eldest son, Alexander, has obtained a place to study for a Qualifying Law Degree (LLM) part-time at Birkbeck College, University of London. This means that he will be very busy indeed, as he will continue to work full-time at New Hunts House Library, King’s College London, but it should prove to be rewarding for him, long-term.



9. 3 NEW ITEMS ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG

http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/
There are 3 new items up on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog. These are: ‘Women in Love’ by D.H. Lawrence, ‘Sustaining Alternative Universities’ and ‘Life in the Higher Sausage Factory’ – the paper


Best wishes,

Ruth

30th September 2012

Ruth Rikowski's 50th News Update

This newsletter includes some more good news regarding our sons working in the library and information world, information about 2 new authors that I have recently commissioned for Chandos Publishing and David Black and Chris Ford’s new book on Chartism.



1. ALEXANDER RIKOWSKI OBTAINS PERMANENT POSITION AT MAUGHAN LIBRARY, KING’S COLLEGE LONDON

Leading on from my last newsletter, I am delighted to say that our eldest

son, Alexander Rikowski, now has a permanent position, working as an

‘Information Assistant’, at the Maughan Library, King’s College

London. It is a wonderful atmosphere there in a very beautiful building,

of course, and he is very much enjoying it all.

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/london/121b.html

and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kotomi-jewelry/6899255675/




He is also back working in the library that he used when he was a

Philosophy student there, so has easy access to all those lovely Philosophy

books again! What could be better!





2. VICTOR RIKOWSKI ON FRONT PAGE OF JUNE 2012 ISSUE OF ‘CILIP UPDATE’

I was very surprised and delighted to discover that our middle son, Victor Rikowski, is on the front cover of the June 2012 issue of ‘CILIP (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professioanls Update’, taking Rhyme Time with children at the Idea Store, Chrisp Street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. See


http://www.cilip.org.uk/publications/update-magazine/Pages/default.aspx


To be honest, I initially took the magazine out of its wrapping and left it on the table for several days without looking at it. When I finally got to have a read through it, I did not even notice the front cover at first. I flicked through ‘Update’ and then, low and behold I spotted an article by Kate Pitman, Idea Store Development Manager and member of the Strategy Group of the London Libraries Consortium. She was writing about the 10 year celebration of Idea Stores in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is where Victor works, of course. So, I started paying attention!



The article is entitled ‘A roaring trade in ideas’ (pp. 32-34). I then casually wondered whether Victor might possibly get a mention, as he has been working very hard and has been very pro-active there, taking Rhyme Time sessions, book clubs and creative writing workshops etc. I then spotted him in one of the small pictures in the article (on p. 34). I showed this to Glenn. He then pointed out to me that Victor was also actually on the front cover. Wow – amazing! The cover is entitled: ‘Fun times and learning at Idea Store, Chrisp Street’.



As part of its 10-year birthday celebration, Idea Stores also had a Short Story Competition, and Victor ran some Creative Writing workshops for anyone that wanted extra help with writing for the competition. The story had to cover a 10-year period. Our youngest son, Gregory Rikowski, went to one of the sessions and actually entered the competition (although did not win!). Anyway, we decided to insert his short story on our website, so here is the link:

http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=404


Leading on from all of this, I contacted the Managing Editor at ‘CILIP Update’, Rachel Middleton. Rachel explained that the cover picture was chosen from a number of different pictures that Idea Stores sent to them and said that she would gladly send Victor a copy. I told her something about our background, and the fact that Victor first wrote for the library and information world when he was just 14 years old – see http://www.libr.org/isc/articles/14-Victor_Rikowski.html.


I also mentioned the fact that the then editor of CILIP Update, Elpseth Hyams, came to the book launch for my digitisation book at UCL in 2011.



I explained that although I am not currently writing non-fiction material, I might make an exception for ‘Update’, if that would be useful and help to fill in some of the missing gaps.







3. COMMISSIONING JAMIE O’BRIEN AND CHRIS WALKER TO WRITE BOOKS FOR CHANDOS PUBLISHING

I am delighted to say that I have commissioned 2 new people to write

books for Chandos Publishing: these are Jamie O’Brien and Chris

Walker.



Dr Jamie O’Brien is a Research Manager at University College

London Virtual Environments, Imaging and Visualisation, a multi-

disciplinary research and training centre. Jamie came to the book

launch for my digitisation book, which was held at UCL last year.



Whilst, Dr Chris Walker wrote an excellent review of my digitisation

book for ‘CILIP Update’, January 2012 (see my newsletter No. 49, item

13). Chris is a part-time lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University and a

Law Librarian at the College of Law in York.



The tentative titles for their books are:



‘Spatiializing Knowledge’ by Jamie O’Brien



‘Qualitative Research and Grounded Theory for LIS Professionals and Students’ by Chris Walker





I wish James and Chris all the very best with the writing of their Chandos books.









4. BOOK LAUNCH FOR ‘1839: THE CHARTIST INSURRECTION’ BY DAVID BLAKE AND CHRIS FORD

Friends and comrades of ours, Dave Black and Chris Ford have a new book just out about the Chartist Movement. The book is entitled:

‘1839: The Chartist Insurrection’ by David Black and Chris Ford, Unkant Publishing: London, 2012 ISBN 978 0 9568176 7 9 (pbk).



Glenn went along to the book launch at the Workers Education Association, in East London, and it proved to be an interesting and enjoyable event.

http://www.unkant.com/2012/05/amm4-booklaunch-7th-jun-blake-and.html

He also purchased a copy of the book and proceeded to read it very quickly!



The book is very thorough and detailed and really paints a very full and clear picture of the whole event, providing accurate information and filling in many of the missing gaps. It makes it very clear just how significant the whole Chartist movement was, and that it was not just something that can be ‘swept under the carpet’. Interestingly, when I spoke to my sons about this, none of them had heard of the Chartist Movement. ‘Did you not study it as part of your basic history at school?”, I asked. ‘No’, they replied. Well, that just about says it all and helps to explain why Dave and Chris thought it was so necessary to write this book. It will, I am sure, prove to be an invaluable resource as well as a guide for future struggles. Dave and Chris thank various librarians for helping them to gather the historical material together. The book was a lot of work and took them many years to research and write.



There is a valuable endorsement of the book on the back cover by Ben Watson, who says:



“In retrieving the suppressed history of the Chartist insurrection, David Black and Chris Ford have written a revolutionary handbook. Without romanticism or condescension, they track the difficulties of unifying local revolts without selling out to the ‘representative politics’ favoured in the parliamentary charade. As today’s anti-capitalism faces the problem of anger without organisation, the lessons of the Chartists become crucial. Dialectics is not something to be derived from pure philosophy: by looking at the political problems of an insurgent working class. Black and Ford resurrect the true One-to-Many dialectic.”



For further information about the book see:
http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/1839-the-chartist-insurrection/


And a promotional video was shown at the book launch - see:

http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/promotional-film-for-1839-the-chartist-insurrection-by-david-black-and-chris-ford/




Dave also spoke at the book launch for my globalisation book, which was held at London South Bank University, in 2005. Dave’s talk was very good and he had lots of wise words to say about ‘value’, in particular.



We wish Dave and Chris every success with their book.









5. 6 NEW ENTRIES ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG

There are 6 news entries up on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog:

2 entries about library privatisation threats and cutbacks (demonstrating that the predictions that I first made in 2001 are very much now coming to pass); 1 entry about critical pedagogy and 3 focusing on the classics.



These are: ‘The Creative University and Paulo Freire’, ‘Strike: Greenwich Libraries Staff to Strike over GLL Takeover’, ‘Walk and Rally for Greenwich Public Libraries’, ‘Jane Austen and Douglas Kennedy’, ‘Let Other Pens Dwell on Guilt and Misery’ and ‘Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy’.



See: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/






The ‘Jane Austen and Douglas Kennedy’ piece is now also available on our website – see

http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=405&slink=yes








6. VISIT OF CANADIAN RELATIVES – MADE CONTACT FOLLOWING ON FROM MY BLOG

A second cousin of mine from Canada made contact with me in 2009, following on from a news item in one of my newsletters (the 27th) about my great grandparents. Here is the link:

http://ruthrikowskiupdates1-27.blogspot.co.uk/


The newsletter was written in March 2009, and it is the 2nd news item.



My great grandparents ran schools in Essex and Cornwall at the end of the 19th century. They were both qualified teachers, and of course this is something that I am very proud of. And clearly, it has all had quite some influence on me, in one way or another (with my love of books and learning etc).



This second cousin contacted me, saying that we had the same great grandparents. Wow! My great grandfather emigrated to Canada and one of his children went with him and decided to stay. She then went on to have 6 children. And these relations are descendants from that line, of course.



Anyway, another Canadian second cousin recently contacted me and came to the UK and we were fortunate enough to be able to meet up with him and exchange family information, genealogy, thoughts and ideas. Once again, it was surprising and interesting to find what we all had in common, and helped to give us a better sense of who we are and where we come from. Several of us spent a lovely afternoon together. It helped us all to piece together some more pieces of the jigsaw. Perhaps, one day I will get to write something more substantial about our family history. We will have to wait and see.



Here’s sending all good wishes to my cousins across the oceans.





7. ‘COLD HANDS & QUARTER MOON' ALBUM REMIXED AND FOR SALE

Victor Rikowski has now remixed his ‘Cold Hands & Quarter Moon’ CD. He went to Bangor recently, and distributed copies to his friends. An earlier remix of one of the tracks (‘Human Herbs’) can be found on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs




If anyone would like a copy (£5.00 + p.& p.), then please do get in touch.





Hope you have a good summer!



Best wishes



Ruth



N.B. Many thanks to Tina Besley for providing information about the ‘Creative University and Paulo Freire’ (an entry on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog in item 5 above), and to David Marzella for providing information about the Strike in Greenwich Libraries (2 entries on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog in item 5 above).



30th June 2012

Ruth Rikowski's 49th News Update

Some more good news from us in regard to our sons: Alexander Rikowski, our eldest son, is now working (as from February 2012) at Guy’s New Hunt’s House Library, King’s College London as an ‘Information Assistant’.

This newsletter also includes information about 2 talks that Glenn gave fairly recently; his re-invigoration of Marxism and Education and related articles, and a Symposium on the work of Paula Allman.

All that and a number of other items, including a book by Adam Winger, which I commissioned for Chandos Publishing, are all included in this newsletter.



1. ALEXANDER RIKOWSKI CURRENTLY WORKING AS AN ‘INFORMATION ASSISTANT’ AT GUY’S NEW HUNT’S HOUSE LIBRARY, KINGS COLLEGE LONDON AND PREVIOUSLY WORKING AT THE IDEA STORE
Our eldest son, Alexander, is now working at Guy’s New Hunt’s House Library,
King’s College London, as an ‘Information Assistant’ (on a temporary
contract). He is loving the work and the academic environment there. Finally, he
is making his King’s degree work for him, it seems! Let’s hope that all this
continues.

Prior to this, Alex worked for a while as a Temp for the ‘Idea Store’, working with Victor at the Chrisp Street branch in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. And prior to that, and following on from his degree, he was a ‘Civil Enforcement Officer’, where he learnt a lot about conflict management, good team work practice and various aspects of traffic regulations and law. But not surprisingly the job became unsafe so it was time to move on!



2. SYMPOSIUM ON THE WORK OF PAULA ALLMAN HELD AT THE INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON ON 4TH FEBRARY 2012, AS PART OF THE MERD SEMINARS – MERD XVI
A Symposium on the work of Paula Allman (who sadly passed away last autumn
2011), in praise and celebration of her writings and publications took place at the
Institute of Education, University of London, on 4th February 2012. This was
run as a part of the MERD (‘Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues’)
seminars – MERD XVI. Paula, incidentally, spoke at the very first MERD (in 2002)
– see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=events&sub=MERD

The Symposium was convened by Tony Green, Alpesh Maisuria and Glenn
Rikowski. Tony booked the room and filmed the events of the day (at the request
of Paula’s daughter); Alpesh took the bookings and Glenn invited the speakers and
also spoke himself.

There were some 20 odd people there – all people that clearly held Paula and her
work in very high regard. There were 6 speakers altogether and they all knew and
admired Paula, as well as highly rating and valuing her work. They were:

Morning Session:

Peter Mayo (University of Malta)
Helen Colley (University of Huddersfield)
Sarah Carpenter (University of Toronto)

Afternoon Session:

Margaret Ledwith (University of Cumbria)
Mike Neary (University of Lincoln)
Glenn Rikowski (University of Northampton)

Peter began the day, and gave a lot of interesting and useful background information in regard to Paula’s work and about Paula herself. In particular, he put her on the right road, helping her to get her first book published.

Then, Helen and Sarah in their talks, emphasised how much they valued Paula’s writing and how they used and were continuing to use Paula’s work and ideas in their own areas of writing and research and building on all of that. They had also both held reading groups on Paula’s work at their respective universities. In addition, in her talk, Helen emphasised the big influence that Glenn’s work has had on her.

In the afternoon session, Margaret took a general left/critical position and placed Paula’s work and influence within this. One of the topics she covered was child poverty.

Meanwhile, Mike’s talk was extremely intellectual, stimulating and alternative. This included Mike having a critical edge on Paula’s work itself. Mike praised her work but also felt that Paula saw the struggle as being something outside of the system, rather than something that we are all immersed in. Or as Mike and Glenn have expressed it on previous occasions – we all live and breath within the ‘social universe of capital’. In addition, Mike was not sympathetic to Paula’s pedagogy of love approach; thinking that it was too romantic, and that, instead, we needed a pedagogy of hate. Personally, I find this is a real strength of Paula’s work; she has great hope in humanity. I think if there was more love for humankind in general, we would all be much better off. But anyway, it was all very absorbing stuff and all makes for interesting debate.

People were very engaged with the whole day, and there was an interesting
discussion at the end. This was partly sparked off by Glenn’s talk, where Glenn
emphasised that Paula saw Critical Educators as people that should be gathering
and spreading the seed; spreading the wise words about revolutionary critical
pedagogy (a term that Paula coined) and many of the other ideas that were
encapsulated in Paula’s work. And in particular, as he said, it is important to make
the most of what Paula did in regard to understanding and summarising much of
Marx’s work and making it more easily accessible and readable to others. That was
certainly a real achievement on her part.

Glenn said, basically, that it was up to the people at the Symposium to get the ball rolling. But unfortunately, there were not any firm suggestions about how to take Paula’s work forward at the Symposium, no definite decisions were made and there were no firm commitments.
Hopefully in time, people will start to realise the importance of it all in a fundamental way and will start to take some more decisive action; such as the setting up of reading groups, modules, conferences, open discussions etc around Paula’s work.

Anyway, Glenn did what he felt was right in regard to making this
Symposium happen and helping to further increase awareness and knowledge about Paula’s work.

Leading on from this, there have been suggestions for publishing a book based on
the Symposium, with Sense Publishers and/or with Palgrave MacMillan.

After Paula retired she concentrated on getting her single-authored books published
above all else. She was very single-minded and determined about it all,
and that was a very wise decision, we think, particularly given the state of her
health. It was very important to her that she used her time sensibly and
productively.

I wrote a review article of Paula Allman’s little, but very important, book ‘On Marx’. The book was the first in Sense Publisher’s Series on ‘Key Critical Thinkers in Education’. This was published in Policy Futures in Education (Vol 6, No 5, 2008) and here is the link:
http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/freetoview.asp?j=pfie&vol=6&issue=5&year=2008&article=11_Rikowski_PFIE_6_5_web

Paula’s ability to understand and summarise some of the key aspects of Marx’s work is incredible. In On Marx she does this for Marx’s Capital Volumes 1-3 and she says:

“This very brief but relatively comprehensive précis of Capital Volumes 1-3, Marx’s brilliant ‘outing’ of capital’s essence as well as the manifestation of this essence in the concrete reality of fully developed capitalist societies, should enable a brief consideration of capitalism’s culpability in some of the major problems facing humanity.” (p. 21)

But for me, the most inspiring part of her work revolved around the faith and love she had in humanity; her hope that in a world beyond capitalism people could be at one with their species being, be able to find fulfilment and self-expression and to realise their full potential.

In On Marx Paula says that:

“In future communist/socialist societies, infinite humanisation would be a major objective, fully supported such that individuals would be able to develop all the potentials of which there were capable.” (p.62)

But also in referring to being human she has this to say:

“What it means to be a human being and for all people to be able not only to live as human beings but also to be able to develop their potentials more fully is also at stake, but then it always has been.” (p. 66)

So, it will all require a lot of thought and effort, but is something that is very worthwhile, well vital, in my view, if we are ever to live together in a really decent, civilised and humane way.

And finally at the end of On Marx she says that:

“The ultimate intent is to prepare people to become committed to and engaged in the process of humanisation through the struggle for revolutionary self and socio-economic transformation.” (p. 67)

Yes, indeed – becoming really human and becoming at one with our species being.
And then, as Marx says, we can be in a world where people can live:

“From each according to her/his ability to each according to her/his need.”


3. PETER MCLAREN’S UK TOUR IN 2012
Peter McLaren, who is now Professor of Critical Studies in Education at the University of the Auckland, New Zealand, did a tour of the UK at the end of January/beginning of February 2012. He gave talks on Critical Pedagogy at the University of Limerick, Ireland; Middlesex University (as part of a one-day conference on ‘Critical Pedagogy/Critical Education’), Anglia Ruskin University and the Institute of Education, University of London.



4. GLENN RIKOWSKI’S KEYNOTE SPEECH AT ASTON UNIVERSITY, BIRMINGHAM
As part of what Glenn has called his ‘Comeback Tour’ he gave a Keynote Address at the International Professional Development Association Conference last November 2011, which was held at Aston University, Birmingham. The Conference topic was ‘Learning: a public good or a private commodity?’ and Glenn’s talk was entitled ‘Higher Education in Crises of Capital and Labour’. For more information see:

http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/international-professional-development-association-conference-2011/



5. GLENN RIKOWSKI’S GUEST LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST LONDON – ‘LIFE IN THE HIGHER SAUSAGE FACTORY’
Leading on from this, and continuing with the ‘Comeback Tour’ Glenn gave a guest lecture at the University of East London, to the Teacher Education Research Group. This was on the topic of ‘Life in the Higher Sausage Factory’ (inspired by a Marx quote of course!), and was held on 22nd March 2012. Glenn wrote a 15,000 word paper (approx), which will probably go on our website at some point. There were some 20 people there, the talk went well, and there was a lively and interesting discussion following on from it all.



6. GLENN RIKOWSKI’S ONLINE ARTICLES ON ‘MARXISM AND EDUCATION’ – ALL LISTED ON HIS BLOG.
Glenn has listed all of his online publications on ‘Marxism and Education’ and
inserted them on his blogspot. So, they are all in one place now, which he is very
pleased about. Here is the link:
http://glennrikowski.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/marxism-and-education%20works-by-glenn.html

At some point he also intends to put material that he wrote some 30 years ago
(whilst he was at Warwick University) on our website, so that will also be added to
the list. Then, there will be a full historical picture and record!



7. GLENN RIKOWSKI’S RE-INVIGORAION OF ‘MARXISM AND EDUCATION’
Glenn has, indeed, done so very much to re-invigorate Marxism and Education as a topic. He was first inspired by the whole subject when studying for his PGCE at the Institute of Education, University of London, in the mid 1970s. This led on from our joint enthusiasm for Marxism when we were undergraduates. Not liking capitalism and wanting to find a better way of living and operating, Marxism provided us with hope and inspiration.

With some of his writing colleagues Glenn has argued and wrote ‘for’ Marxism and ‘against’ Post-Modernism. He brought many to Marxism and Education for the first time, enthusing and inspiring them, brought others back to it, and made the whole topic more ‘respectable’ and popular in general.

Leading on from all of this, and summarising many of the developments that have taken place from the 1970s to present on the topic, particularly in regard to Marxist Educational theory, Glenn wrote a paper and gave a talk for the 4th Historical Materialism Annual Conference. This was held on 9th-11th November 2007, in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. The paper was entitled ‘Marxist Education Theory Unplugged’. This is also now available on our website.

See:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Marxist%20Educational%20Theory%20Unplugged

And it is Marxist Educational Theory that Glenn has really developed and will continue to develop. We need to adapt and develop Marx’s work (and not treat it like the Bible), and make it relevant for capitalist life today. Only by such means can we really hope to move beyond this sick, money-making and exploitative world: to move towards a world beyond capitalism. And so, Glenn’s project for the last 30 years has been to do this in regard to Education specifically.



8. COMMISSIONING ADAM WINGER TO WRITE A BOOK FOR CHANDOS PUBLISHING - ‘DEVELOPING ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS: FROM THE GROUND UP’
Last autumn I commissioned Adam Winger from the Stevens Institute of Technology, USA, to write a book for Chandos Publishing, which he is making good progress with, with his co-author Trevor Alvord from James Madison University, USA.

The book is entitled: Developing Archives and Special Collections: From the ground up.

Below is some further information about the book – extracts from the Advanced Information (AI) Sheet that Chandos circulates. As the AI says, the book traces the moving from a disorganised archive to an ‘integrated digital presence’, so in this way, it encompasses some of the areas that are covered in my ‘Digitisation Perspectives’ book.

I wish Adam and Trevor every success with their book.


“Archives and special collections organize rare books, manuscripts, and unique objects. They must at once process and preserve special materials, and make these accessible to the public. Developing Archives and Special Collections details the strategies and obstacles in moving from a relatively disorganized archive, reminiscent of an attic, to an organized and robustly integrated digital presence, detailing the process of developing an archive, from inception to completion….”

Key Features Include
· gives a model for developing an archive from the ground up, into a digital presence
· provides practical applications that include processing concepts, basic conservation, digital collection tools, and marketing ideas

Contents Include
Introduction: History of the Stevens Family and the Institute; The history and state of the archives; Conceptualizing an action plan
Gaining Intellectual Control: Discovering the collection; Conceptualizing organization; Planning for action
Processing: Physically arranging the collection; More Product Less Process; Basic materials preservation
Description: Using description standards; Accessioning ; Creating finding aids and container lists
Digital Collections: Creating digital collections; Diversifying digital collections; Creating a web of digital collections
Partnerships, Marketing and Outreach: Innovative thinking in partnerships to achieve your goals; Developing advocates for your library; Making your work visible.”


9. ‘FREUDIAN CRISIS IN THE MODERN ERA’ BY GREGORY RIKOWSKI, ON OUR ‘FLOW OF IDEAS’ WEBSITE
Our youngest son, Gregory, has been taking a lively interest in the work of the Freud family recently, and in Psychology and Psycho-analysis, in general. Leading on from this, he wrote a piece which he entitled ‘Freudian Crisis in the Modern Era’, and this is now on our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website. See:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=402&slink=yes

He has uncovered a lot of important stuff here, particularly in regard to the propaganda/public relations work of Edward Bernays (the nephew of Sigmund Freud), who is someone that Glenn and I had never heard of before. One is always learning, eh!

And ‘Wonder’ – a poem which Gregory wrote whilst in attendance at Victor’s ‘Creative Writing’ course at the Idea Store is also now on our website. See:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=403

Finally, Gregory is currently doing some voluntary work in Westminster Libraries – yes, the library tradition in the Rikowski family continues….This is bringing a smile to all our faces!



10. 2 NEW SONGS BY VICTOR RIKOWSKI UP ON YOUTUBE AND REMIXES OF SOME ‘COLD HANDS & QUARTER MOON’ NUMBERS (working towards an album)
Victor has 2 new songs up on YouTube.

The first is ‘The Lamb’ which is a poem by William Blake that Victor has put to music. The whole mix is by him. Victor originally wrote this (a simplified version) when he was in the 6th form (17 years old), studying for his A’ Levels at Havering Sixth Form college. It is lovely to see that he has now returned to it, and turned it into a really beautiful song.

‘THE LAMB’ BY WILLIAM BLAKE – SONG WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY VICTOR RIKOWSKI (based on words from Blake’s poem)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3VloKBvZc

The second is ‘Winter Sheets’
‘WINTER SHEETS’ BY VICTOR RIKOWSKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8_p0NB9mcU&list=UU4t-CXndjFAh1fPBsZOR8qA&index=2&feature=plcp

There are also some remixes of some of the ‘Cold Hands & Quarter Moon’ numbers. These include:

'Human Herbs' - a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs
'Stagnant' - a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo


11. 4 NEW ENTRIES ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG
There are 4 new items up on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog:
http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/

These entries are: information about the Symposium on the work of Paula Allman, ‘The Freud Exposure’, ‘The Woman in the Fifth’ and ‘Life in the Higher Sausage Factory’.


12. 5 COPIES OF MY DIGITISATION BOOK IN LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND BOOK BEING USED AS A CORE TEXT
I was pleased to discover that there are no less than 5 copies of my ‘Digitisation Perspectives’ (Sense Publishers, 2011) book in London South Bank University Library.

Dr Dieu Hack-Polay has been using the book (but just his own chapter) as a core text on the ‘Strategic International HR’ module that he teaches on. Dieu is a colleague of mine and contributed a chapter to the book, at my invitation.



13. BOOK REVIEWS OF ‘DIGITISATION PERSPECTIIVES’ IN ‘CILIP UPDATE’ AND ‘MANAGING INFORMATION’

A great review of ‘Digitisation Perspectives’ edited by Ruth Rikowski Sense Publishers, 2011 was published in CILIP Update, January 2012, p. 38. The review is by Dr Christopher Walker, Researcher and Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology, Leeds Metropolitan University. Walker concludes his review saying that the book “…offers information professionals and students an excellent starting point, in a readable, accessible form…”

Monica Blake also provided a thorough review of the book for Managing Information (Vol 18, Iss 10, 2011, p.56).




Best wishes,

Ruth

31st March 2012

Ruth Rikowski's 48th News Update

Happy New Year!

Some great news from us this autumn: in October our middle son, Victor Rikowski, obtained a full-time permanent position as an ‘Idea Store Co-Coordinator’ at the Idea Store, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

More information about that, and some other news items, are below.


1. VICTOR RIKOWSKI OBTAINED A PERMANENT POSITION AT THE ‘IDEA STORE’ IN THE LONDON BOROUGH OF TOWER HAMLETS, AS AN ‘IDEA STORE CO-ORDINATOR’ IN OCTOBER 2011
Very exciting – our middle son, Victor, obtaining a full-time permanent position at
The Idea Store, a public library/community resource in the London Borough of
Tower Hamlets. He started working there as a temp in the early summer (shortly
before he got his degree results), loved it from day one, and really wanted to
work there permanently.

Victor was very determined about it all, and now he has succeeded. He has already set up a Creative Writing workshop there (leading on from his degree). Many different workshops and courses take place on a wide range of subjects at the Idea Stores, (e.g. fitness, cooking, I.T., fashion, business and finance), all at very affordable prices. To enrol or for more information about all these courses call 0207364 5665, or visit the website.

Victor has taken an Ancestry work shop and he regularly takes the ‘Rhyme Time’ session with children – playing his guitar and singing, telling stories, colouring, helping children with their homework etc. Furthermore, he also now participates with the sessions for the over 50’s – again, playing his guitar and singing etc. He does all that and much more at the Idea Store.

For more information about the Idea Store see - http://www.ideastore.co.uk/

So, onwards and upwards, as they say!




2. A ‘MARXISM AND EDUCATION: RENEWING DIALOGUES’ SEMINAR
IN PRAISE AND CELEBRATION OF PAULA ALLMAN’S WORK – TO BE
HELD AT THE INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON,

ON 4th FEBRUARY 2012
In celebration of Paula Allman’s work (Glenn holds the view that Paula has written the best books ever on Marxism and Education), Glenn is organising (with Tony Green and Alpesh Maisuria) a free one-day seminar at the Institute of Education, University of London, to be held on 4th February 2012. This will be held under the ‘MERD (‘Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues’) banner’. Sadly, whilst in the process of organising this event, Paula passed on (we knew that she was living on borrowed time). But it is lovely that this seminar is being organised, in praise, celebration and appreciation of her work. The following people will be speaking:

Sarah Carpenter, Helen Colley, Margaret Ledwith, Peter Mayo, Mike Neary, and Glenn Rikowski.





3. WOODBERRY DOWN COMMUNITY LIBRARY IN LONDON BOROUGH OF

HACKNEY RUN BY VOLUNTEERS
David Marzella, a union rep in Greenwich Public Libraries informed me about a library in the London Borough of Hackney that is solely run by volunteers. The library is called Woodberry Down Community Library.

For an interesting article about it all, see ‘An image of the ‘big society’?: a report from Woodberry Down Community Library’ by ‘Lady Stardust’.
http://thecommune.co.uk/2010/11/29/an-image-of-the-big-society-a-report-from-woodberry-down-community-library/#more-6215

This model fits in well with David Cameron and his ‘Big Society’ picture, and is perhaps paving the way for more to come - library volunteering is certainly on the increase of course.

The article written on 29th November 2010 is interesting and informative. Woodberry Down is a large run-down estate in Hackney with a population of 280,000. Woodberry Down Library used to be a large library in a very impressive building apparently. It was in the middle of the estate and was popular with the local community.

But then, the council had financial problems which resulted in closure of the library in 1996. The community occupied the building in protest, but were unable to stop the closure. Some other libraries were also closed at the time, leaving only 7 branches open in Hackney.

The building was turned into the Robin Redmond Community Centre. Then, in 2006, after some regeneration funding, a survey of the local people was conducted, and it was established that there was a need for some kind of library. A group of council officers came up with the idea of: “a community-led library, run by volunteers, owned by the community and only requiring low revenue expenditure.”

In March 2007 a small room in the community centre was opened – this was now to be the library. It was to be staffed solely by volunteers and funding for the room was to come from regeneration money. ‘Lady Starling’ says:

“…it is a library run by the council, but just with unpaid workers. It has all the support and infrastructure of the council library service such as new stock and the linked IT system; but also the constraints. The volunteers are employees in the hierarchy of the council with the same lack of autonomy, but just without the pay. The books, equipment and IT are centrally ordered…”

‘Lady Starling’ concluded that there was a good community atmosphere in the library but that it still felt “like a library run on the cheap”.

At the end of October 2011 I decided to go and visit the library with 2 of my sons, Alexander and Gregory, and see it all for ourselves. A friendly and helpful volunteer spoke to us and showed us round. She explained that the library had gone into a new building just 8 weeks before, so there was still much work to do in regard to publicising the new location etc. The library was indeed very small. Having said that, there were actual books in it (thank goodness!) and there was a children’s section, which apparently was well used. Groups of children (from nurseries etc.) go and use the library on a regular basis.

Having said all that, when we were there, there were no other users there at all and it did seem to be tucked away, and difficult to find (we certainly had some difficulty in finding it). Neither did it really have the feel of a library, but felt more like a resource centre housed within a big complex.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Woodberry Down Community Library and where the future of library volunteering is going in general. Apparently, Hackney Libraries are, yet again, currently being restructured.



4. ‘LIBRARY SYSTEMS CONSORTIA: A STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT AND

SURVIVAL?’ – TALK GIVEN BY WILL BLACKBURN AT A CILIP IN LONDON MEETING ON 10TH October 2011
I had not been to a CILIP in London meeting for quite some time, so decided to
go along to this one, with my youngest son, Gregory. The talk was about
libraries joining consortias “to cut costs, streamline operations…”

However, Will Blackburn frequently used language and vocabulary in a way that
it was difficult to decipher, we thought; it seemed to be more a process of
camouflage. If people are in the process of cutting back our libraries I think they
should be honest about it.

Instead, Will said, for example, that the consortia can ‘strengthen the library
position’ and enable libraries to ‘fight the good fight’.

Even the definition of the consortia, and what it was actually about, remained
somewhat elusive. Will Blackburn also emphasised the need to continually change
and evolve and the ‘lack of sovereignty’ in the consortia.

So, anyway, this is the way in which many things are drifting in the library and information profession. We need to take stock and re-assess.

Still, it is good that CILIP in London continue to hold these meetings (given the cutbacks etc) and alert people to these important happenings and developments.



5. LATEST ISSUE OF ISC NOW OUT, No. 31, Summer 2011
http://libr.org/isc/toc.html or

http://www.libr.org/isc/issues/ISC31/ISC31.pdf

The latest issue of ‘Information for Social Change’, No 31, Summer 2011, edited by Martyn Lowe is now out. Contributors include: Martyn Lowe, John Pateman, Jeff Cloves and Julie Biando Edwards.

ISC are also currently undergoing some changes, particularly in regard to social networking tools – so watch this space!

6. PIECE ON ‘MULTICULTURALISM’ BY DAVID KAGOTHO NDERITU NOW AVAILABLE ON OUR ‘FLOW OF IDEAS’ WEBSITE
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=401&slink=yes
David Kagotho Nderitu was someone that we connected with a few years ago, who then, at my suggestion, wrote some material for Information for Social Change.

David recently told me about an article that he was writing about ‘Multicultural Britain’ and wondered if it might be something that ISC would be interested in. ISC still, as yet, have to make a decision but meanwhile, David was happy for it to be inserted on our website, so here it is. The title of the piece is ‘Multicultural Britain: what does it mean for black people?’

7. ALEXANDER RIKOWSKI’S ESSAY ON DESCARTES ACCOUNT OF THE MIND AND THE BODY IS NOW ON OUR ‘FLOW OF IDEAS’ WEBSITE
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=398&slink=yes
Another essay that Alexander Rikowski wrote whilst he was a Philosophy undergraduate student at King’s College London (in his 2nd year) is now available on our website. This is on the topic of Descartes account of the mind and the body. This became an important topic for us this autumn, because of the interest that our youngest son Gregory is currently taking in Descartes philosophy. See also item 7 below, which refers to my entry about Descartes on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog.



8. 7 NEW ITEMS UP ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG
http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/
There are 7 new items up on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog. 2 items about
workshops that Victor Rikowski has been involved with and organised at the
Idea Store – Ancestry and Creative Writing Workshops; a piece about Industries
for Females (with ‘tongue in cheek’); ‘The Wise Man and the Foolish Man’; some
brief thoughts about the philosopher Descartes, a news item about Diana
Edmonds, becoming Head of Libraries Division within Greenwich Leisure Ltd. and
an item about Social Dancing at the Guild Hall.



9. ‘CHEERFUL SIN’ VIDEO – SONG WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND SANG BY

VICTOR RIKOWSKI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8
With the money that Victor has been earning, he decided to buy himself some new musical instruments and musical equipment. One of the results of this has been that he has made a video of a song that he has written, entitled ‘Cheerful Sin’, which is now on YouTube. We think that this is a very beautiful song, and hope that you agree!

10. GREAT REVIEW OF MY BOOK, ‘DIGITISATION PERSPECTIVES’ IS NOW AVAILABLE IN ‘THE HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY’ - REVIEW BY ERIC JUKES
http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/publications/book_reviews/full_review.php?id=729
A great review of my book ‘Digitisation Perspectives’, Sense Publishers, 2011, is now available on the ‘Higher Education Academy’ website. The reviewer, Eric Jukes (who was also at the book launch), outlines the areas covered in the book, gives the book a 5/5 rating and ends by saying:

“This is an excellent work and one which is well recommended, firstly for those involved, or embarking on, a digitisation project, for librarians, knowledge and information professionals, academics and, even those who might want to probe into the ethics of digitisation…”

That’s all for now. The next newsletter will be distributed at end March 2012.

Best wishes

Ruth

1st January 2012

N.B. Many thanks to David Marzella and Eric Jukes for providing information for items 3 and 10 respectively.

Ruth Rikowski's 47th News Update

Hope everyone had a good summer.

We spent time in both Suffolk and Bangor, which was all very lovely! Then, the rest of the summer was spent doing lots and lots of sorting!

Anyway, my newsletter this quarter consists entirely of new entries to our ‘Flow of Ideas’ website, apart from one item about my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog.

So, happy reading!!


1. ‘CAPITORG: EDUCATION AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE HUMAN IN CAPITALIST SOCIETY’ – PAPER GIVEN BY GLENN RIKOWSKI AT THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF CREATIVE ARTS AND MEDIA IN DUBLIN IN MAY 2011, AND NOW AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE
‘Capitorg’ by Glenn Rikowski is now on our website, and here is what Glenn says about it:

“This paper is my first writing, relating to my first public appearance (apart from seminars / lectures with my own students), for three years – apart from the eulogy for my father’s funeral (written on 21st February 2009).

Furthermore, Dublin was only my second trip outside the UK in 32 years; so in many respects it was something special for me. It felt a bit like the first leg of a ‘comeback’ tour!

I would like to thank the people in the Praxis & Pedagogy group at The Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media (GradCam) in Dublin for inviting me (especially Glenn Loughran). They were wonderful hosts.

The paper was completed in London at breakneck speed (during the ‘marking madness’ season) on 23rd May 2011, and was delivered to an audience at The Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media, in Dublin, on 25th May. It was revised on 27th May, went through further editing and proof reading on 6-7th September, and was finally posted to The Flow of Ideas on 8th September 2011.

The full reference and link to the paper is:
Rikowski, G. (2011) Capitorg: Education and the Constitution of the Human in Contemporary Society, A paper prepared for the Praxis & Pedagogy Research Seminar, The Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media (GradCAM), Dublin, Ireland, 25th May 2011, available online at ‘The Flow of Ideas’: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Capitorg

Note: the paper reads better if you click onto the ‘Print Friendly’ option at the end of the page.

The tremendous flyer for the event can be viewed at:http://www.gradcam.ie/glenn_rikowski.pdf

Praxis & Pedagogy
The group is convened by Glenn Loughran, artist, activist, and PhD Scholar at the NCAD and GradCAM. Other members include John Buckley (NCAD/GradCAM), Edia Connole (NCAD/GradCAM), Susan Gill (DIT/GradCAM) and Thomas McGraw-Lewis (DIT/GradCAM).
The group convenes Wednesdays bi-weekly.

For more information on joining the Praxis & Pedagogy seminar series, and/or related activities see http://www.gradcam.ie or email the group at praxis@gradcam.ie
Praxis & Pedagogy is at: http://praxispamphlet.wordpress.com/”
Written by Glenn Rikowski

2. ‘REPORT ON MONTESSORI’ BY JONATHAN FRANCE

This report on the Montessori Method was written by Jonathan France, one of Glenn’s students, in his final year in Education Studies at the University of Northampton. Jon France graduated with a First in Education Studies and Politics in summer 2011. He also came to my book launch for ‘Digitisation Perspectives’ earlier in the year, which was very nice. This report is now in the ‘Contributions’ section of our website.

The report was written as a short assignment for the Adventures in Educational Theory & Practice module (EDU3028) that Jon studied during the 2010-2011 academic year.

France, J. (2010) Report on Montessori, 30th November, Education Studies, School of Education, University of Northampton, online at ‘The Flow of Ideas’:http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=contributions&sub=Report%20on%20Montessori%20-%20Jonathan%20France

3. 'SCHOOL CULTURE AND 'FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET' ' BY DISHI PHILLIPS

This essay was written by another of Glenn’s students - Dishi Phillips. Dishi also got a 1st in summer 2011 in Education Studies and Psychology, and she wrote this when she was a final year student in Education Studies at the University of Northampton. This essay is now in the ‘Contributions’ section of our website.

It was written as an assignment for the Education, Culture & Society module (EDU3004) that Dishi studied during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Phillips, D. (2011) School Culture and Fear of a Blank Planet, an essay written for EDU3004 ‘Education, Culture and Society’, Education Studies, School of Education, University of Northampton, 10th January, online at ‘The Flow of Ideas’: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=contributions&sub=School%20Culture%20and%20Fear%20of%20a%20Blank%20Planet%20-%20Dishi%20Phillips

4. 'EDUCATION AND BONUS CULTURE' - BY BRIANNA HABERMAN-LAWSON

Here is an essay written by another of Glenn’s students - Brianna Haberman-Lawson, who also got a 1st in summer 2011. She wrote this when she was a final year student in Education Studies at the University of Northampton. This essay is now in the Contributions section of our website.

It was written as an assignment for the Education, Culture & Society module (EDU3004) that Brianna studied during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Haberman-Lawson, B. (2011) Education and Bonus Culture, an essay written for EDU3004 ‘Education, Culture and Society’ module, Education Studies, School of Education, University of Northampton, 10th January, online at ‘The Flow of Ideas’:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=contributions&sub=Education%20and%20Bonus%20Culture

5. ‘COMPETITION AND MARKETS IN EDUCATION’ – BY BRAD DYMOND

This is an essay written by Brad Dymond (another of Glenn’s students) when he was a final year student in Education Studies at the University of Northampton. He also got a 1st in summer 2011, in Education Studies and Economics. This essay is now in the Contributions section of our website.

It was written as an assignment for the Education, Culture & Society module (EDU3004) that Brad studied during the 2010-2011 academic year.



Dymond, B. (2011) Competition and Markets in Education, an essay written for EDU3004 ‘Education, Culture and Society’ module, Education Studies, School of Education, University of Northampton, 10th January, online at ‘The Flow of Ideas’:http://www.flowideas.co.uk/index.php?page=contributions&sub=Competition%20and%20Markets%20in%20Education%20-%20Brad%20Dymond

6. ‘RAGE: WRITERS CHANGE THE WORLD’ BY VICTOR RIKOWSKI
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=396&slink=yes

An essay that our middle son, Victor Rikowski wrote during his final year at Bangor University is now available on our website. It is entitled ‘Rage: writers change the world’(leading on from the original question which was ‘Do certain theatrical productions challenge social injustice? Of so, then how?’). The essay (written for an English Literature module) looks at various political plays and the effect that these can have or not have on society. As Victor says in his opening sentence of this essay:

“The six theatrical productions that this essay shall explore are those which use a wide variety of dramatic techniques to challenge various social injustices.”

And Victor concludes his essay powerfully in the following way

“ ..there is little doubt that all of the plays cited in this essay have posed some kind of challenge against social injustice. The social and political end to which these challenges are aiming for or could even be capable of within the sphere or radical social and political change is something that, perhaps, remains to be realized. However, it is a solid fact that no work of art has ever created or inspired any kind of lasting and substantial political change and it is likely that it never will. Of course, there is always the argument that raising political and social awareness is a political and social means to an end in itself. However, sometimes this argument of ‘cultural change’ is simply not enough. After all, cultural change is a temporary and fleeting decoration upon the giant scale of corruption involved with elements like capitalism, war, poverty, power and exploitation. In the face of these demons that cover the globe, what significant threat can a relatively small theatrical production with a moral conscience pose? As seen at the end of Ravenhill’s S & F when the characters feed each other ready-meals, the only thing we truly have is each other. In the face of the modern world and all of its problems, whether the issues are the financial crisis, war, poverty or whatever concerns us, there is one thing that unites us all which political theatre gives inspiration to and helps to resurrect: the hope for better days. You only get one life after all, and this hope is one of our strongest weapons against social injustice. All that remains now is to use it.”

Victor really enjoyed this ‘Rage’ course and obtained a 1st for this essay.









7. REVIEW OF ‘LIBRARIES AND SOCIETY’ by RUTH RIKOWSKI
I recently reviewed ‘Libraries and Society’, edited by David Baker and Wendy Evans and this is now on our website, at:
http://www.flowideas.co.uk/print.php?page=395&slink=yes

This is another Chandos book, published earlier this year (2011). I also went to the book launch for the book that was held at CILIP HQ.
Further details about ‘Libraries and Society’, along with information about how to order the book, can be found on the Woodhead/Chandos Publishing website at:
http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=2030&ChandosTitle=1

8. ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG – ‘The Moment’, ‘15 Female Professors’ and ‘Learn to Sing’
http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/

There are 3 new items up on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog. A blog about Douglas Kennedy’s latest book, ‘The Moment’ – a great read. Also, a link to an article entitled ’15 of the First Female Professors in History’, and an entry about singing lessons.



Best wishes


Ruth


30th September 2011


N.B. Thanks to Jasmine Hall for informing me about the article ’15 of the First Female Professors in History’ (see item 8 above) and many thanks to all those that contributed to our website.

Ruth Rikowski's 46th News Update

Times they are a-changing; moods they are a-changing.


Anyway, whatever – this newsletter (a little late) is a joint effort between Glenn and I.


Glenn spoke in Dublin in May 2011 and he saw this as the first leg in his ‘comeback tour’, as he calls it, leading on from his father’s death in Feb 2009 and alienation from some aspects of academic life. So, for this and other reasons, the sections on ‘Marxism and Education’ in this newsletter (1-4) are written by him and the remainder is written by me.



Glenn’s aim over the last 30 years or so has been very much to re-invigorate Marxism and Education. And from there to take the topic to new heights; breaking new theoretical ground. Single-authored volumes on this topic by him have yet to be written, but they will be in time.




1. GLENN RIKOWSKI TALKING IN DUBLIN, IRELAND AT GradCAM ON ‘THE CAPITORG’

On 25th May 2011, I gave my first public performance (apart from the eulogy at my father’s funeral, and lectures / seminars with my students at Northampton) since 4th July in Rhodes 2008 – for nearly three years. I was invited by the Praxis & Pedagogy Group of the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media (GradCAM) in Dublin to give a talk. The convenors of the Praxis & Pedagogy Group had read my Battle in Seattle: Its Significance for Education (Tufnell Press, 2001) and wanted me to expand on topics therein. However, given that little of substance has happened to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) since Seattle in 1999, I did not see much point in that. The Praxis & Praxis Group were interested in the concept of human capital, which permeates education and training policy documents in Ireland, as well as in the UK. Thus, I ended up speaking on that topic.



The title of my talk was: Capitorg: Education and the Constitution of the Human Contemporary Society. The ‘Capitorg’ (meaning ‘capitalist organism’) was an idea originating from Soowook Kim. He based the idea of the Capitorg on my work on the form of the human in capitalist society of the late 1990s and early 2000s. You can see Kim’s original article at: http://www.ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication/insights/v10n02/html/kim/kim.html

I based a short article on Kim’s work interesting work, called Planet of the Capitorg in 2007, which you can see at:

http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Planet%20of%20the%20Capitorg

The Praxis & Pedagogy Group produced a fantastic flyer for the event, which you can view at: http://www.gradcam.ie/glenn_rikowski.pdf

I produced a 15,000 word paper for the event: the most substantial writing for nearly three years. This will come out soon at our The Flow of Ideas website. About 6,000 words is new material. The rest in stuff jammed together from previous papers, but with some refinements and brief additions.



The Praxis & Pedagogy Group website is at: http://praxispamphlet.wordpress.com/

My advert for the event (along with quotations from my work and the work of Peter McLaren and Ramin Farahmandpur) can be found at: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/capitorg-education-and-the-constitution-of-the-human-in-contemporary-society-glenn-rikowski/

Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media, Dublin: http://www.gradcam.ie

Many thanks to folks in the Praxis & Pedagogy Group (and especially to Glenn Loughran) for inviting me to speak. They were great hosts. After having turned down so many invitations to speak and write over the last three years in particular, this event can be viewed as the first part of my ‘comeback tour’.


Glenn Rikowski



2. TALK AT THE IPDA CONFERENCE – ASTON UNIVERSITY

For the second gig in my ‘comeback tour’, I have been invited by Cliff Jones of the International Professional Development Association (IPDA) to do a Keynote talk at their forthcoming annual conference in November, at Aston University, in Birmingham. I will speak on Higher Education in Crises of Capital and Labour. For more on this, and the IPDA Conference in general, see: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/international-professional-development-association-conference-2011/

Glenn Rikowski




3. VOLUMES, BOOKS AND SHORT GUIDES ON MARXISM AND EDUCATION

For over 30 years now, I have been developing Marxist educational theory; or, more precisely, theorising education within the totality of capitalist social relations. Thus, for me, it is a momentous occasion when new works on Marx / Marxism and Education appear.



The first I would like to draw your attention to is Critical Education Against Global Capitalism: Karl Marx and Revolutionary Critical Education, by Paula Allman.

This first came out in 2001, and was published by Bergin & Garvey in hardback only. Now, at last, it is in paper back (and much cheaper). Sense Publishers have produced an excellent version, with some new material in the Introduction by Paula. In my view, this is the best book on Marx / Marxism and Education we have today.

For more details and Helen Colley’s introduction, see: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/critical-education-against-global-capitalism-by-paula-allman/

For ordering the book, see:Critical Education Against Global Capitalism: https://www.sensepublishers.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=51&products_id=1122&osCsid=3202bf1d0434f6e0a9d0fb2fcd2ee3d0

Amazon UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Critical-Education-Against-Global-Capitalism/dp/946091263X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289034653&sr=1-1

Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Education-Against-Global-Capitalism/dp/946091263X/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_p?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289037381&sr=1-1

In contrast to Paula’s excellent book is Jean Anyon’s Marx and Education which came out a few months ago (Routledge, 2011). I have not reviewed it myself, but here I will say two things. First, Robin Small’s Marx and Education (Ashgate, 2005), whilst nothing near the quality of Paula Allman’s book, at least indicates that the author knows a fair bit about Marx and his views on education in capitalist society and the transition to communism. Secondly, I find it incomprehensible how anyone could write a book called Marx and Education and not mention Marx’s 3 volumes of ‘Capital’. Apparently, it was not a problem for Jean Anyon. There have been a number of reviews of Anyon’s book already, but for me, it is Curry Malott’s review of Anyon’s book that provides a compelling view regarding the quality of Anyon’s rendition.

Review details for Jean Anyon’s Marx and Education:



For Curry Malott, see: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/another-review-of-marx-and-education-by-jean-anyon/

For Schooling in Capitalist America (blogger), see: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/the-pioneers-of-marxist-thought-in-education-a-review-of-marx-and-education-by-jean-anyon-in-two-parts/

For Ken McGrew, see: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/review-of-marx-and-education-by-jean-anyon/

For m310 (Amazon review), see: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/marx-and-education-misleading-title-and-confusing-narrative/

For details on the book (including how to order it), see: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/marx-and-education-jean-anyon/

Finally, the publishers Continuum, through Professor Richard Bailey, the Series Editor for the Continuum Library of Education Thinkers (see: http://www.continuumbooks.com/series/browse.aspx?SeriesId=2166)

have invited me to write a book on Karl Marx and Education. I declined the offer, mainly because I do in fact want to write such a book (and have done for many years) but not be confined by working to some kind of formula; as Jean Anyon did on her Marx and Education, which was part of the Routledge ‘Key Ideas in Education’ Series, edited by Greg Dimitriadis and Bob Lingard. I have something original to say on the issue of ‘Marx and Education’, which, like so many other topics in Marxist educational theory, will have to wait until my stint as a teaching / driving / marking machine comes to an end (or at least a decline in its intensity).



Glenn Rikowski





4. NEW BOOKS IN THE PALGRAVE MACMILLAN ‘MARXISM AND EDUCATION’ SERIES

In 2004, with Tony Green, I set up the world’s first book series on Marxism and Education: the Palgrave Macmillan Marxism and Education Series. From 2006 I was no longer one the Series editors, but the Marx and Education Series has really developed and Tony Green has facilitated an interesting range of publications under its banner.



Some of the forthcoming books in the Marxism and Education Series (Palgrave Macmillan) are:

‘Marxism and Education: Renewing the Dialogue, Pedagogy and Culture’ edited by Peter Jones



‘Educating from Marx: Race, Gender and Learning’ by Shahrzad Mojab and Sara Carpenter



Mike Cole’s Racism and Education in the U.K and U.S. – Towards a Socialist Alternative, was recently published as part of the Marxism and Education Series. See: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/racism-and-education-in-the-u-k-and-the-u-s-towards-a-socialist-alternative/

For a comprehensive list of titles in the Series, see: http://www.palgrave.com/products/series.aspx?s=ME

Glenn Rikowski





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And the rest is by me!!

5. PETER McLAREN, MICHAEL PETERS AND THEIR PARTNERS, NATHALIA JARAMILLO AND TINA BESLEY, RESPECTIVELY, ARE TAKING UP NEW ACADEMIC POSITIONS IN NEW ZEALAND IN THE COMING ACADEMIC YEAR

Peter McLaren, Michael Peters and their partners, Nathalia Jaramillo and Tina Besley, respectively, have all obtained academic positions in New Zealand and will be leaving the USA and going to New Zealand later in the year. And what a beautiful country to live in! We have also been invited to give talks/stay with them.

Tony Ward (one of the contributors to my digitisation book) will certainly be able to see more of them and hopefully work with them in one way or another.

We wish them all the very best with their new adventures.





6. TWO NEW ITEMS ON MY ‘SERENDIPITOUS MOMENTS’ BLOG

http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.com/

There are just 2 new items on my ‘Serendipitous Moments’ blog – ‘Capitorg’, which is about Glenn’s talk in Dublin and ‘Moving’, stating simply that Glenn and I are moving forward and are thinking what to do next; where to go next.





7. BOOK LAUNCH FOR ‘LIBRARIES AND SOCIETY: role, responsibility and future in an age of change’ edited by DAVID BAKER AND WENDY EVANS, CHANDOS PUBLISHING, OXFORD, 2011, ISBN 978 1 84334 131 4

http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=2030&ChandosTitle=1

At the invitation of Dr Glyn Jones at Chandos publishing, I attended the book launch for ‘Libraries and Society’, held on 6th May at the Ewart Room, CILIP, London. It proved to be an enjoyable event.



‘Libraries and Society’ is in 25 parts and has a number of different contributors.



As it says in the publicity for the book, it:



“…reviews both the historical and future roles that public, private, academic and special libraries have in supporting and shaping society at all levels. Key aspects of library provision and the major challenges that libraries now face and will continue to face in the future are considered. The book also focuses on the emerging chapter in cultural, economic and social history and the library’s role in serving diverse communities within this new era.”



I particularly like the cover of the book, showing the development of man and reading; from parchment, to paper to ebooks.





8. UCL DIGITISATION LUNCH TIME TALKS

The UCL Digitisation lunch time talks are fading into the background for me. There are not going to be any more talks until the autumn. And when I asked whether they would like me to give a lunchtime talk based around some of the themes in my digitisation book (thinking that it was something that could be of mutual benefit, especially as one of the contributors to the book was a UCL lecturer), this was the reply that I received:



“Dear Ruth,
thanks for your offer to speak.

As you say, we are postponing the lunchtime talks until the start of the
new academic year in the coming autumn. We already have an extensive
programme of speakers from within UCLDH and the wider UCL community
which is our focus. Rossella is currently confirming those slots but we
are already over subscribed.”



As I pointed out, one wonders what the definition of ‘the wider UCL community is’. Also, that my energy needs to be preserved and used wisely! Anyway, we will have to see what transpires.





9. RSPB PETITION AGAINST CUTS AND ‘RED TAPE CHALLENGE’

A school friend of mine, who is a member of the Royal Society of Protection for Birds (RSPB) sent me details of a petition, asking me if I would urge others to sign it. So here it is. The RSPB say:



“Dear Supporter,

A new UK Government review called the 'Red Tape Challenge' is threatening all environmental legislation with the axe. We cannot let this go unchallenged.



We all value the natural world. We all appreciate how fragile it can be. And we all know how vulnerable nature and special places for wildlife are to the ravages of unrestrained human activity.



We also all appreciate that to safeguard our precious wildlife and environment we need to give them legal protection. Wild birds and their nests need to be protected from damage and disturbance. Special places need to be protected from development and preserved for future generations. The Wildlife and Countryside Act does both of these things.



There are 277 other pieces of environmental legislation and regulation in the UK covering everything from National Parks and marine protected areas to greenhouse gas emissions and clean air.



All of our vital environmental safeguards are now under threat. The UK Coalition Government's Red Tape Challenge is aiming to scrap as much regulation as it can. It has put all legal protection for the environment up for grabs. Protection which is a measure of a civilised society, and is the result of reforms won since our charity was created in the nineteenth century.



The RSPB has played a leading role in securing much of this legislation and we will not stand by and allow it to be put at risk.

Please step up for nature and support our campaign to secure the future of this essential legislation.



We have prepared a template e-mail for you to send to the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, who launched the Red Tape Challenge - copies of which will be sent to the Cabinet Office and the Treasury.



Yours sincerely

Mike Clarke
Chief Executive”





10. VICTOR RIKOWSKI OBTAINS A 2:1 BA DEGREE IN ‘MUSIC AND CREATIVE WRITING’ FROM BANGOR UNIVERSITY

We are delighted to say that our middle son, Victor Rikowski, obtained an Upper Second Class Honours degree in ‘Music and Creative Writing’ (which also included some English Literature - poems and plays) from Bangor University. We are now looking forward to going to the graduation ceremony next week.



All in all Victor got a lot out of his degree and the whole experience. As well as obtaining a good degree, he also set up a band, ‘Cold Hands & Quarter Moon’ (and wrote most of the songs for the band), obtained some 1sts, made lots of friend, played at a lots of gigs, performed in some plays, had a good social life in general and did quite a lot of mountain climbing and walking in the beautiful North Wales countryside.



He is currently in the process of compiling a CD of the music of ‘Cold Hands & Quarter Moon’ and he will take this along to his graduation.

Now it is time for him to move on with his life. He is taking on board the next phase of it really enthusiastically and has already obtained work, which he is very much enjoying.



We are obviously very proud of Victor and his achievements and wish him all the very best for the future.



Best wishes



Ruth

8th July 2011





N.B. Many thanks to Tina Sinclair for providing information for item 9.



The next newsletter will be distributed at the end of September 2011.



And finally … check this out……



‘Life is Jerky’ – a video by Carlos Escano, featuring Peter McLaren: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RafAgSg_wns