Education and the production of space: Political pedagogy, geography, and urban revolution

Henri Lefebvre identified spatial practice as integral to the reproduction of capitalism, and thus as a central concern of revolutionary praxis. In this fresh and innovative book, educational theorist Derek R. Ford deepens and extends Lefebvre's insights by revealing the intimate relationship between education and the production of space. The first in depth synthesis of educational theory, marxist theory, and critical geography, the book enunciates a revolutionary political pedagogy, one that emerges as a break from within--and against--critical pedagogy. This pedagogy is anchored in struggles in and for the urban, or the city as use value.

While capitalism has abstracted space and ordered it according to its own needs, resistance endlessly persists. Revolutionary political pedagogy is a way of harnessing onto and organizing this resistance educationally. To illustrate this complex theoretical arrangement, Ford turns to the 2015 Baltimore Rebellion, showing how processes of learning, studying, and teaching can help us produce space differently, in a manner aligned with our needs and desires. Education and the Production of Space generates ideas that teachers, academics, organizers, and activists will find indispensable for understanding and advancing the joyful struggle for a new world.