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List of contents
Preface
Foreword, Michael Apple (University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA)
Introduction
1. Biography and Education: Williams' Own Educational Experiences
2. Education in Fiction and Fiction in Education: Williams' Novels and his Analyses of English Literature
3. The History of Schooling in England: Education in The Long Revolution
4. The Significance of Adult Education
5. Culture, the Academy and the Role of the Public Intellectual
6. Cultural Studies and the Educational Role of the Arts and Media
7. The Theoretical Legacy: Structures of Feeling; Cultural Materialism; Base and Superstructure
8. Conclusion: Language and Culture; Tradition and Revolution
References
Index
About the author
Ian Menter is Emeritus Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Oxford, UK. He is Senior Research Associate at Kazan Federal University, Russia, Visiting Professor at Ulster University, Northern Ireland, Visiting Professor at Bath Spa University, UK, and Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter, UK. He is a Past-President of both the British and Scottish Educational Research Associations (BERA and SERA).
Summary
Raymond Williams' major contributions to intellectual progress are usually categorised within cultural theory, media studies or neo-Marxist studies. Serious analysis of his contributions to education as a field of practice as well as a field of study have been relatively neglected. This is the first book to redress that omission, focusing on how his writing and thought have helped us to understand education in Britain and also provide analytical tools that have helped to shape educational studies in the USA and internationally.
Ian Menter draws on Williams' several novels, including Border Country, as well as on his seminal contributions to cultural theory, including Culture and Society, The Long Revolution, Keywords and Marxism and Literature. Menter also examines how Williams' life shaped his understanding of education including his early involvement in adult education and his deeply ambivalent relationship with the academy. Public education is positioned as a key arena of social struggle where decisions shaping the nature of our futures and crucial to creating a democratic and just society. The book includes a foreword by Michael Apple who is John Boscom Professor Emeritus of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA, which makes reference to the importance of Williams' work in relation to education in the USA.
Foreword
Explores the life and work of Raymond Williams, focusing on how his writing and thought have helped us to understand education in the UK and provided analytical tools that have influenced educational studies internationally.
Additional text
Menter does the legacy of Raymond Williams a great service … This is a book worth reading in its entirety … [and] provides a forceful reminder that this legacy offers alternative ways to thinking about education that have relevance today.
