Detournement as Pedagogical Praxis (Breakthroughs in the Sociology of Education)

Winner! 2015 AESA (American Educational Studies Association) Critics'Choice Book Award. The Situationist International (SI) was a Paris-based artistic and political avant-garde group that formed in 1957, went through three distinct phases during its existence, and dissolved in 1972. In 1967, SI leader Guy Debord published his book The Society of the Spectacle, which presents his theory of how “the Spectacle” (i.e., the Capitalist system in its totality) works endlessly (though not always successfully) to transform people into spectators whose sole purposes are to consume commodities and to live de-politicized, passive, isolated, and contemplative lives. To challenge and subvert “the Spectacle,” Debord and his SI associates theorized and practiced the anti-spectacular critical art they called “detournement,” which entails reusing existing artistic and mass-produced elements to create new combinations or ensembles. As Debord wrote in 1956, detournement has the potential to be “a powerful cultural weapon in the service of real class struggle.” In this edited book, the authors contribute chapters about how they created their own detournements and used them as central audio-visual texts in critical projects that they designed and carried out in a variety of pedagogical situations. Most of the projects involved preservice teachers in teacher education courses, and the anti-spectacular purposes include challenging Hollywood's problematic representations of Native Americans, subverting the racist stereotypes of Latin@s in a popular children's book, and critiquing the neoliberal agenda of the charter school movement. This book offers readers detailed accounts of pedagogical projects that can serve as examples of the critical possibilities of detournement. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1. THE INTRODUCTION TO DETOURNEMENT AS PEDAGOGICAL PRAXIS THE “MOSH PIT” A PEDAGOGY OF “SHORT CIRCUITS” CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY SHORT CIRCUITED WITH POPULAR FILMS STUART HALL: ENCODING/DECODING, REPRESENTATION, AND CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES THE SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL THE SPECTACLE Detournement Defined by Debord and the SI Detournements by Debord and Other SI Members A MOMENT OF CRITICAL REFLECTION BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE AUTHORS’ CHAPTERS A CONVERGENCE OF INFLUENCES FINAL WORDS NOTES REFERENCES 2. A DETOURNEMENT OF JOE CLARK’S PROBLEMATIC “MOTTO” OF PERSONAL AGENCY IN LEAN ON ME INTRODUCTION: CRITICAL PEDAGOGY, MEDIA CULTURE, AND SCHOOL FILMS LEAN ON ME AS A “PUBLIC PEDAGOGY” ABOUT AGENCY A VIDEOCOLLAGE COUNTERTEXT Sequence A: Linear Juxtaposition Sequence B: Separation and Rearticulation DETOURNEMENT AS A “CRITICAL ART” THEORY AND PRACTICE NOTES REFERENCES 3. JUAN SKIPPY: A CRITICAL DETOURNEMENT OF SKIPPYJON JONES INTRODUCTION CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Skippyjon Jones: The Series THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Juan Skippy: The Detournement INTERPRETATIONS AND ARGUMENT LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION THEME OF A WHITE SAVIOR IMPORTANCE FOR TEACHER EDUCATION PUZZLING FROM PEDAGOGICAL PRAXIS RIPPLING ACTION FROM PEDAGOGICAL PRAXIS APPENDIX A: COMPLETE LYRICS OF “SYMPATHY” NOTE REFERENCES 4. THE HOLLYWOOD INDIAN GOES TO SCHOOL: Detournement as Praxis COMING TO THE STORY CONSTRUCTING THE “HOLLYWOOD INDIAN” THE ETHNOGRAPHIC CONSTRUCTION OF INDIANS THE “HOLLYWOOD INDIAN” GOES TO SCHOOL TEACHER EDUCATION Detournement as Pedagogy in Preservice Education My Course A Detournement of The Hollywood Indian The Detournement: “Challenging Hollywood’s Indian” Description of Segments Students’ Responses to the Detournement CONCLUSION NOTES REFERENCES 5. DETOURNEMENT AS ANTI-OPPRESSIVE PEDAGOGY AND INVITATION TO CRISIS: Queering Gender in a Preservice Teacher Education Classroom CONTEXT: THE GUEST LIST THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: CRAFTING THE INVITATION THROUGH DETOURNEMENT Detournement in Preservice Teacher Education Social Justice in Teacher Education QUEER THEORY METHODS: THE INVITATION THE JUXTAPOSITION OF SCENES Sequence 1 Explanation of Sequence Sequence 2 Explanation of Sequence Analysis of Student Responses Findings: (Un)Accepting the “Invitation to Crisis” “What’s So Wrong with Gender Roles?” “Why Would a Parent Not Assign a Gender?” “The Media is Solely Responsible for Gender Construction” “Now I See Gender Everywhere” “Race and Gender Are Inextricably Linked” “I Get it Now” DISCUSSION NOTE REFERENCES 6. IN GOD’S COUNTRY: Deploying Detournement to Expose the Enmeshment of Christianity within the Spectacle of Capitalism INTRODUCTION Religion and Power: Hegemony, Consent & Trasformismo: Antonio Gramsci Ideological State Apparatuses: Louis Althusser Market Baptism: The Disease of Christian Social Imagination I [Heart] Huckabees The Scene: Dinner with Stephen and the Hooten Family The Detournement 1. Short Huckabees Cut:“ Forgive us our Trespasses” (15 seconds) 2. Long Huckabees Cut: Dangerous Ideas (80 seconds) 3. Music and Photo Collage (90 seconds) 4. Huckabees Repetitions (50 seconds) 5. The Closing Image Using the Detournement: A Very Public Pedagogy The Situationists Go to Church(!): An Example REFLECTIONS CONCLUSION: A BENEDICTION FROM ŽIŽEK NOTES REFERENCES 7. CHALLENGING WAITING FOR SUPERMAN THROUGH DETOURNEMENT THE TWO MAIN NARRATIVES OF WAITING FOR SUPERMAN REVIEWS AND CRITIQUES OF WAITING FOR SUPERMAN MY OPPOSITIONAL READING OF WAITING FOR SUPERMAN THE CONTEXT, PURPOSE, AND DESIGN OF THE PEDAGOGICAL PROJECT THE “CRITICAL ART” OF DETOURNEMENT THE FORM AND STRUCTURE OF THE DETOURNEMENT OF WAITING FOR SUPERMAN AN IMPORTANT CAVEAT SUBVERTING WAITING FOR SUPERMAN ’S STRUCTURING PRINCIPLE CREATING THE ILLUSION OF STUDENT IMPROVEMENT THROUGH THE “KIPP STAR” TREATMENT REVEALING HYPOCRISY “IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FIRE A TEACHER” (IN THE FAIRY TALE WAITING FOR SUPERMAN ) A MODEST PROJECT, AND FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTES REFERENCES 8. DETOURNING THE CHARTERIZATION OF NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITH PRESERVICE TEACHERS INTRODUCTION UN-FRAMING THE ARGUMENT: KATRINA AND THE NEW ORLEANS SCHOOL DISTRICT Detournement: A Brief Explanation The Design and Structure of the Detournement Sequence 1 Sequence 2 Sequence 3 The Context and Design of the Pedagogical Project SUMMARY OF FINDINGS Assertion 1 Assertion 2 Assertion 3 REFLECTIONS NOTES REFERENCES 9. REVISITING “SORDID FANTASIES”: Using Detournement as an Approach to Qualitative Inquiry INTERSECTING DETOURNEMENT AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH REARTICULATING THE CONCEPT OF DETOURNEMENT A PERSONAL FLASHBACK DEEJAYING, MIXTAPES, AND DETOURNEMENT REVISITING “SORDID FANTASIES” CROSSING OVER INTO THE “SORDID FANTASIES” ZONE STUDENT DETOURNEMENT PROJECTS TEEN DRAMAS ISLAM AND MUSLIM REPRESENTATIONS THERAPY IN FILM AND TELEVISION CONCLUSION: DETOURNEMENT NOTES REFERENCES The Introduction To Detournement As Pedagogical Praxis ; A Detournement Of Joe Clark's Problematic Motto Of Personal Agency In Lean On Me / James Trier -- Juan Skippy : A Critical Detournement Of Skippyjon Jones / Amy Senta -- The Hollywood Indian Goes To School : Detournement As Praxis / Trey Adcock -- Detournement As Anti-oppressive Pedagogy And Invitation To Crisis : Queering Gender In A Preservice Teacher Education Classroom / Ashley Boyd -- In God's Country : Deploying Detournement To Expose The Enmeshment Of Christianity Within The Spectacle Of Capitalism / Tim Conder -- Challenging Waiting For Superman Through Detournement / James Trier -- Detourning The Charterization Of New Orleans Public Schools With Preservice Teachers / Joseph D. Hooper -- Revisiting Sordid Fantasies : Using Detournement As An Approach To Qualitative Inquiry / Jason Mendez. Edited By James Trier, University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Usa. Includes Bibliographical References.