I'm leaving for India on Monday. Unfortunately, in the midst of preparing for departure, I've managed to become ill with "Strep Throat." Nevertheless, I've also had the opportunity to prepare my reading list and make a calendar of arrivals and departures for our team of volunteers.
(1) "Yes Means YES! Vision of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape" by Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti- Essays on rape and women's sexuality. I have been given a grant by the Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation for the development of a creative work on conversations about women and organizing in India. These themes and topics of power and consent and sexuality will be useful fuel for the mental fire.
(2)"The Color of Freedom" by Laura Coppo, an oral biography outlining the lives of two Tamil Nadu social activist-revolutionaries, S. Jagannathan and Krishnammal Jagannathan during the time of Mahatma Gandhi and Indian independence.
(3) "Education for Critical Consciousness" and "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire. CLP grounds a lot of its operations in Freire's writings on liberating education and the power of reflection and action.
(4) "Deschooling our Lives" edited by Matt Hern provides examples of alternatives to traditional schooling, which may unlock some creative thinking for CLP activities and pedagogies. Thanks to my mentor, Kat Norman, for lending this one (and the next one) to me!
(5) "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling" by John Gatto also provides a critical examination of the public school system, the banking system of education, and the connections between the industrialized workforce and the crippling of creativity, enthusiasm, and liberation within public education systems.
(6) "The Revolution will not be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex" edited by Incite!Women of Color Against Violence. This one is critical of traditional organizing and organizational development in "capitalist America." Thanks to Patrick for the recommendation! I just got it in the mail today-- right on time!
Other possibilities...
- bell hooks, "Teaching to Transgress"
- A biography of Che Guevara, "A Revolutionary Life"
- "The Autobiography of Malcolm X"
- "AIDS Sutra"
