Routledge Fanon, Education, Action: Child as Method (Concepts for Critical Psychology)

Bridging childhood studies, pedagogy and educational theory, critical psychology, and postcolonial studies, this unique book reads the role and functions of ‘the child’ and childhood as both cultural motif and as embodied life condition through the work of Frantz Fanon. Based on innovative readings of Fanon and postcolonial cultural studies, the book offers new insights for critical pedagogical and transformative practice in forging crucial links not only between the political and the psychological, but between distress, therapy, and (personal and political) learning and transformation. Structured around four indicative and distinct forms of ‘child’ read from Fanon’s texts (Idiotic, Traumatogenic, Therapeutic, Extemic), the author discusses both educational and therapeutic practices. The pedagogical links the political with the personal, and Fanon’s revolutionary psychoaffective account offers vital resources to inform these. Finally the book presents ‘child as method’ as a new analytical approach by which to read the geopolitical, which shows childhood, education, and critical psychological studies to be key to these at the level of theory, method, and practice. By interrogating contemporary modalities of childhood as modern economic and political tropes, the author offers conceptual and methodological resources for practically engaging with and transforming these. This book will be vital and fascinating reading for students and scholars in psychology, psychoanalysis, education and childhood studies, gender studies, postcolonial studies, and mental health. Review O, to have had this book in hand over the years when I taught ‘Radical Theories of Education’! Fortunately, for many interested in this area of research it’s not too late. Erica Burman’s use of ideas from Frantz Fanon to illuminate questions of learning, guided by nuanced understandings of failure, offers ‘child as method’ but not as instrument or tool. This thought-provoking book brings to the fore educational theory as a self-critical human science without the aloofness of thought bereft of practice and sensitivity to the psychosocial dynamics of power.    Lewis R. Gordon, Global Center for Advanced Studies and author of What Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought ‘Education, globally, needs to be challenged. Child as Method, inspired by Frantz Fanon, is a timely intervention to imagine a different mode of thought for a more creative and better future of the world, earth and planet.’ Kuan-Hsing Chen, Professor of Social Research & Cultural Studies, NCTU, Taiwan, author of Asia as Method: Towards De-imperialization ‘Erica Burman's pathbreaking interpretation of 'child as method' builds on Frantz Fanon's understanding of racism and oppression and the transformative power of individual and social resistance. Burman's unique work constitutes a major contribution to the interpretation of Fanon's work and its radical implications for educational and childhood development.’ Irene L Gendzier, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, Boston University, US, author of Frantz Fanon: a critical study ‘Fanon as educator? It’s not the usual view – but Fanon’s writing can be a powerful resource for educational thought in a postcolonial world. Erica Burman’s detailed and scholarly treatment brings out a surprising range of intellectual connections and political implications from the famous texts. Her approach offers striking new thinking on race, coloniality, the psychology of child/adult relations, and the multiple meanings of childhood.’ Raewyn Connell, Professor Emeritus, School of Education & Social Work , University of Sydney, Australia, author of Southern Theory ‘‘Child as method’ is a unique and intriguing approach that contributes to postcolonial studies in education. The close involvement of this book with the re-reading of Fanon and the centrality of the child provide fascinating and substantial theoretical