Recently a delegation from Public Pedagogies Institute attended the Manchester Metropolitan University’s 5th International Summer Institute in Qualitative Research: Putting Theory to Work (10th July – 14th July 2017). This biannual conference enables a unique opportunity for researchers from all over the world and disciplines to meet, learn and talk about theory as it relates to the work we do as researchers.

Throughout the event we engaged with various ways to engage and interact with theory. With a mix of keynote presentations, smaller group presentations and artistic responses to provocations that promoted the folding in of theory into creative output. These daily experiences promoted socially constructed art works that fold in and through each other; through discourse, arts methods and theoretical statements that ask ‘what happens when we think theoretical concepts in intra-action with materials and art-based propositions?’

A range of theoretical discussions where engaged with through the variety of forums that were pedagogically rich democratic and polyphonic. Many voices from across the globe that came together to teach and learn  found in the heart of Manchester, UK.

Mary Dixon, Karen Charman, Matthew Thomas and Jayson Cooper attended on behalf of the Public Pedagogies Institute where they shared a presentation that wove their voices and experiences together to create a tapestry of pedagogical discussions from being involved in the Public Pedagogies Institute’s 2016 Footscray Pop Up School. They each gave a 20 minute presentation that together sang the polyphonic nature of the Pop Up school. Speaking a new educational experience (a growing theoretical understanding of education consciousness) each of the presentations expressed the theoretical as it was put into practice through this one day event.

Exploring the plural pedagogical aims of local communities and the enrichments that come from such dialogue, the PPI presentation promoted wide discussion on public pedagogy, Australian identity and community expression.

Our friends at MetroWest have an upcoming event that may be of interest and they are offering grants for artists to participate:

Apply now for an artist’s grant to exhibit or perform at ‘One Night in Footscray’ in 2017!

‘One Night in Footscray‘ is a new and exciting platform to discover the art spaces, galleries and venues within central Footscray. It is designed as a self-guided twilight journey through central Footscray. Audiences and participants will be able to view and engage in a variety of high-quality art experiences, across different mediums and unexpected locations – all on one night.

The event aims to:

• encourage journeys through central Footscray and its creative spaces
• highlight the work of local arts and makers
• support emerging practitioners and students, creating a platform to showcase their work
• promote and encourage audiences and artists to see, experience and interpret Footscray, its people and places.

Find out more

Visiting Scholar Associate Professor Jennifer A. Sandlin from Arizona State University, will be giving a public lecture on Thursday June 29, 2017:

‘The Politics of Affect: Policing and Colonizing Anger in Disney’s Zootopia’

The is a free event and all Institute members are encouraged to attend.

Date: June 29
Time: 4 – 6pm
Location: VU at MetroWest, 138 Nicholson Street, Footscray 

The College of Arts and Education at Victoria University have sponsored Dr Sandlin’s visit. Professor Rob Strathdee, Dean of the College of Arts and Education at Victoria University will be a guest at the lecture.

Associate Professor Jennifer A. Sandlin  will also be presenting the Masterclass in Public Pedagogy for the Institute while she is in Australia.

The Politics of Affect: Policing and Colonizing Anger in Disney’s Zootopia
Associate Professor Jennifer A. Sandlin, Arizona State University

In this talk I focus on The Walt Disney Company’s recent hit animated film, Zootopia, which can be read as a commentary on the police state, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the policing of affect, particularly anger. I argue that Zootopia preserves and perpetuates whiteness, racialization, and dehumanization through the modulation and sanctioning of particular feelings. I problematize the film’s pathologization of rage not only because it disavows the productive and constructive uses to which anger and rage can be put, but also because it biologizes rage. Finally, I call for developing pedagogies attuned to affect in order to confront racialized state violence and the racializing assemblages that prop up ongoing white supremacist injustice, and argue that we must attend to how anger can be a form of moral protest and political outrage.

Date: June 29
Time: 4 – 6pm
VU at MetroWest, 138 Nicholson Street, Footscray 

Public Pedagogies Institute invites submissions for consideration in the next issue of the Journal of Public Pedagogies, to be published in November 2017.

The Journal of Public Pedagogies is a peer-reviewed publication of the Public Pedagogies Institute, published online by the Institute in conjunction with Victoria University. The journal publishes research in learning and teaching that extends beyond the boundaries of traditional or formal educational institutions.

Submissions are invited for articles of 3000-5000 words. Please submit your articles prepared for blind review, with name and contact information on a separate page.  Articles should be formatted in 12 pt, double line spaced (with no indents or formatting), using the Harvard Referencing Style. ( For referencing details please follow the Victoria University Harvard Guide. )

Images should be attached separately as jpeg or png files (please submit low resolution images for review, with high resolution versions to be made available upon request for publication).

Submissions will be accepted until June 30, 2017, however you are encouraged to contact us with your intention to submit prior to the deadline.

For further information or to submit your article, please contact Karen Charman.

The Journal can be accessed at the Victoria University site or at the link below.

Journal