This time last year university protests in Great Britain and the United States reached a high water mark, with a flurry of occupations and strikes challenging the further neoliberalization of higher education. Then everyone went home for winter vacation and protesters had trouble recreating the intensity of December’s activities in the new year. With the Occupation movement graduating out of its initial phase (what Henri Lefebvre might call various “trials by space”) one wonders if something similar will occur in 2012.

However, removing oneself from the front lines of these protests might be an asset and spending time with your family needn’t be a source of enervation.  Instead you can use this interval as a period of study and take holiday gatherings as an opportunity to radicalize your relatives. The list could be endless, but these readings about occupations and universities are a good place to start.

Representations  – This special edition deals mainly with the year of protests in the University of California system and their implications for the future of education and democracy.  Bob Meister’s accounting of the specious logic of various privatization schemes of universities and other public institutions is essential reading for understanding the stakes of current battles over higher education. Wendy Brown’s discussion of the de-democratizing pressures of neoliberalism and Shannon Steen’s statement on the precariousness of the arts are also highly recommended.

Qui Parle – Like Representations, Qui Parle is a venerable interdisciplinary journal that has felt it necessary to reflect on its own precarious position in relation to broader trends in educational reform. Unlike Representations Qui Parle gave their special edition an excellent title (“Higher Education on its Knees”) and drew in a wider range of contributors. Robert Paul Wolff, one of the all time great guys in philosophy and fantastic blogger (he actually read Newt Gingrich’s PhD dissertation), contributes a piece on the value of liberal education that is widely accessible (i.e. can be used to persuade relatives at holiday parties). Also worth checking out are reflections on the global aspect of these issues, with reports from the UK, Puerto Rico, CUNY, India, and Canada.

ZunguZungu  – This unfortunately named blog is run by Aaron Bady at UC Berkeley.  Aside from being a great aggregator of some of the best political writing on the web, it houses interesting and original reflections about the significance of the Occupy movement. Christopher Miller, who offers a moving account of the bravery of protesters and captures the pride that we should feel in this uptick in “youthful fancy,” is a good place to start.

Remaking the Public University  – Christopher Newfield, whose excellent book about the Unmaking of the Public University was reviewed on this site earlier this year, has an amazing blog about all issues education and the bankrupting of the public. Again, these contributions are written in a register that can capture the attention of your relatives who ask you what you are going to do with your degree in comparative literature.

But of course, one of the lessons from the Occupy Movement is that you should feel equally fulfilled reading something that has no immediate practical utility.  If this is the route you choose let me recommend my favorite book of 2011, Spurious by Lars Iyer.


 
 
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