Affect Theory and Comparative Education Discourse

Irving Epstein is the Ben and Susan Rhodes Professor of Peace and Social Justice at Illinois Wesleyan University, USA, where he is Chair of the Department of Educational Studies and Director of the Center for Human Rights and Social Justice. Apart from Affect Theory and Comparative Education Discourse, he has published four books and over fifty journal articles and book chapters. In addition, he has served as an associate editor of the Comparative Education Review, and parliamentarian to the Board of Directors of the Comparative and International Education Society. He also is a longstanding member of the Board of Directors of the Scholars at Risk Network, an international organization of over 500 universities around the world, dedicated to protecting scholars in danger while promoting academic freedom advocacy.

• Series Editor Preface1. Introduction: Comparative Education and the Case for Affect TheoryPart I: Fear 2. Addressing Mass Atrocity in Chile: Acts of Memorialization and Education: Learning and Unlearning as a Function of Social Memory3. The Aesthetic Turn: Engagement and Meaning Making Through the Arts4. Controlling the Body: Education, Sport, Politics, and the Sport for Development MovementPart II: Loathing5. Addressing Global School Violence6. Global Student Protest: Confronting the Status Quo 7. Data Analytics and World University Rankings Systems: Destroying the University and the Professoriate 8. ConclusionReferencesIndex

An exceptionally intelligent and readable analysis that questions the theoretical orientations dominant in comparative education research. The book proposes the use of affect theory to address how school practices fail to respect identity for children, families and communities. Through illuminating case studies, Epstein points toward a solution when he shows, for example, how extracurricular music programs build a connection between aesthetics and social justice. Other examples focus on questioning the universal claim that schools are safe spaces for children and youth by reviewing cases of school violence and youth protest in Chile, Spain, United States and Hong Kong. Affect Theory and Comparative Education Discourse makes a timely and important contribution to rethinking the dominant theoretical and methodological perspectives within the field of comparative and international education.