Educing Ivan Illich: Reform, Contingency and Disestablishment(12 Teaching Contemporary Scholars)

More than a book about Illich, this is a conversation with Illich's work as we enter the third decade of the 21st century, just under twenty years after his passing, and almost fifty years since his Deschooling Society was first published. As Illich is beatified and demonised in equal measure, Educing Ivan Illich chooses to focus on the relationship between reform, contingency and disestablishment. As reform stands for a plurality of reiterations that seek effective forms of accordance, in our recognition of contingency we freely claim that even as we might recognize the presence of universality in how everything appears on a shared horizon, we are not denied the existence and dynamic reality of plural possibilities in their inherent contradictions. In this bargain of synchronicity, we find that disestablishing the reified universe by which we have, for so long, traded, staked and even lost our freedom and intelligence, is not just a desire but it becomes a must. Unlike other commentators of Illich's work, Baldacchino argues that what is radical about Illich is not a freestanding concept of deschooling but in how, in disestablishing social life, he exits the walls of the polis by upholding tradition as a disruptive force. In such light Illich's work is read in what remains overdue. Odd though it may sound, this is an urgent need for anyone interested in Illich's unique and irreplaceable contribution. To that end, Educing Ivan Illich has far more to offer than is usually expected from a commentary on someone else's work.

About the Author :
John Baldacchino is Professor of Art & Education in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A graduate of the University of Malta (B.Ed.) and Warwick (MA & PhD) he was faculty at Columbia University in New York, and the universities of Dundee, Falmouth, Robert Gordon and Warwick in Britain. He authored thirteen books, including Education Beyond Education (2009), Makings of the Sea (2010), Art's Way Out (2012), John Dewey (2014) and Art as Unlearning (2019). He is the editor of Histories and Philosophies. The International Encyclopaedia of Art and Design Education (2019).

Review :
"Another outstanding monograph by John Baldacchino. A fresh, thorough and truly comprehensive work on Ivan Illich, an interdisciplinary theorist who is particularly relevant to our age given the massive problems we face with politicians and institutions. Baldacchino insightfully explains and justifies the theological foundation of Illich's work, a foundation that strongly defines Illich's crucial understanding of dissent and conviviality."--John P. Portelli, Professor, OISE, University of Toronto "In this magnificent book, John Baldacchino has imaginatively returned Ivan Illich to the intellectual ground of his life and ideas. Not only does Baldacchino present a rich philosophical reading of Illich, that goes beyond the decontextualized or anecdotal treatments that plague Illich's legacy, Baldacchino also manages to theorize a constructive relation to tradition in a sympathetic and radical way."--Samuel D. Rocha, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia "In this scholarly reading of Ivan Illich, John Baldacchino conducts an astonishing feat; namely, to find ignored and minimized connections in Illich's contribution to education. Educing Ivan Illich creates a new educational 'language, ' with original viewpoints and perspectives, which expands our repertoire of thinking and our competence of acting--that we so desperately need when faced with educational situations. This volume should be read by anyone who has an interest not only in education but also in that which is good for humanity."--Herner Saeverot, Professor of Education, Western Norway University "Reading Illich's work by relating the disestablishment of institutions to re-form and contingency, thereby implying radical freedom, this book situates Illich's thought in a 'Golgotha' that is found outside the polis, the church and the market. It wonderfully shows the relevance of Illich's topicality of conviviality and the relevance of the attention he pays to the quality of hiddenness and of the way Illich contests widespread concepts like 'life' and 'responsibility'. In this way Educing Ivan Illich offers a really refreshing and fascinating entry into Illich's thinking."--Jan Masschelein, Professor, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven