Communist Study

Ford’s Communist Study is insightful, thought-provoking, and therapeutic while unsettling and challenging to critical conventions…. [T]he challenging nature of the book is not accidental but rather it is intentional. As Ford notes, ‘There is a resulting tension that runs through the book, a tension that I hope readers find both productive and troubling’ (p. 7). This book bridges the oft intellectual divide, bringing postmodernism into relation with Marxism and political economy, to structure the edifice of a communist pedagogy. In doing so, Ford establishes himself as a premier educational and political theorist. * Discourse *
[S]uccinct yet dense. . . . Ford’s thinking on communist study is open, potential, and original in pointing out a new possibility of thinking itself. * Studies in Philosophy and Education *
Derek R. Ford’s Communist Study: Education for the Commons advances communist pedagogy. * International Critical Thought *
This book clearly establishes Ford as one of the boldest and most insightful emerging political and educational theorists. Ford moves deftly and daringly between disparate thinkers and concepts, weaving together philosophy, history, and educational theory in creative, profound, and lucid ways. He identifies and answers the most pressing political question of our moment: What does it mean to study like a communist? In doing so, he develops a groundbreaking communist theory of study, a praxis that is as provocative as it is practical. -- Peter McLaren, Distinguished Professor in Critical Studies, Chapman University
Ford understands that revolutions don’t organize themselves, nor do they evolve naturally and painlessly from the social and economic system destroying the world and crushing humanity today; revolutions are not a walk in the park nor do they arrive on the wings of aspiration alone. This surprising book extends that battle based on the Marxist principle that it’s not enough to interpret the world—‘The point . . . is to change it.’ It maps the treacherous, hopeful territory between the pessimism of the head and the optimism of the heart. Communist Study is a necessary book. -- Bill Ayers, emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago
Communist Study should be required of all theorists and activists concerned with radical political transformation. With brilliance and courage, Derek R. Ford dismantles dogma old and new, pressing us to forge the commonness that can make us a political force. -- Jodi Dean, Hobart and William Smith Colleges