Thinking in the Midst

Jessica, Kali, Kat, Mishuana, and Sandy join Cara to talk about indigenous feminists philosophy, why gardening is a rich and fertile metaphor for their work, and tending to communities with care. This episode showcases the 75th Anniversary of Educational Theory.For their paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/edth.70075For Sandy’s original paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2003.00329.xFor the 75th Anniversary Issue: ​​https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17415446/2026/76/1For more work by Sandy: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/red-pedagogy-9781610489881/For more work by Kali: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/105/article/815922/pdf?casa_token=fLW8470Re8wAAAAA:HYVCaY0WobYaFqJwmoYQrK2yLqV_YLxhMXx234L88bCesCGrcCJRXs0YXuUkIwoZ-M2vZJBllsIFor more writing by Mishuana: https://poshmark.com/listing/Settler-Aesthetics-Visualizing-the-Spectacle-of-Originary-Moments-in-the-New-Wo-654af186af9ad15787384a86?srsltid=AfmBOopAJqQhoYrzY9aJyetAC-fAxe8cL17Q8s3sqjZKiVsrg77qY_Slhttps://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816677917/mark-my-words/https://nyupress.org/9781479808120/keywords-for-gender-and-sexuality-studies/

Gert and Michele join Cara to talk about philosophers, schools, and education. They ask us to consider what matters? The role of schools as places of inquiry? And how these and many more questions effect schools, teachers, and students at all levels? This episode showcases the 75th Anniversary of Educational Theory.For Gert's essay: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11217-010-9191-xand original essay: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2006.00241.xand more writing by Gert: https://www.routledge.com/World-Centred-Education-A-View-for-the-Present/Biesta/p/book/9780367565527For Michele's essay: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/edth.70073?af=RFor more of Michele's work on higher education: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/L/bo22776687.htmlFor the full special issue: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/edth.70076

Anmarie, Diane, and Myra join Cara to talk about belonging, place, and children's literature. To learn more about Behind the Book check out: https://www.behindthebook.org/To learn more about Dr. Diane's work check out: https://www.drdianeadventures.com/

Philip Francis, Tom Van Winkle, and Rachel Seher join Cara to talk about place as school and what it means to build a relationship with places and the people in them. Seguinland Institute is currently accepting applications for its Spring '26 and Fall '26 semester programs: Check them out and Philip's here!Check out Rachel's work here and here! Check out Tom's work and Williams Mystic here!

Gil and Mara sat down to talk with Cara about what place-responsive and place based education could be. They contrasted this with schools where learning is removed from the environment, and schools that even make this removal part of the educational goal. To learn more about this year's philosophy of education conference: https://www.philosophyofeducation.org/To learn more about this topic from Gil, check out: https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-Democracy-in-an-Age-of-Uncertainty-Place-Responsive-Learning/Burgh-Thornton/p/book/9780367565091To learn more about this topic from Mara, check out: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo247751497.html

Emmalee, Kathy, and Kurt sat down to talk with Cara about youth sports and democracy. They explained how practices from cell phones in the locker room, financial accessibility, and whether you play for the town team influence democratic habits. Listen and keep the conversation going with your teams and players. To learn more about this year's philosophy of education conference and submit: https://www.philosophyofeducation.org/For more on this topic from Kathy and Kurt check out:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23328584241311810From Kurt on democracy (and math) check out: https://www.routledge.com/Democracy-and-Mathematics-Education-Rethinking-School-Math-for-Our-Troubled-Times/Stemhagen-Henney/p/book/9780367608200

Pattie and David sat down with Cara to talk about place based education and nature based education! They offer a vision of education that is responsive, local, and practical!For more of Pattie's work check out: https://shop.gryphonhouse.com/products/partnering-with-nature-in-early-childhood?variant=47751201095972 and https://shop.gryphonhouse.com/products/evaluating-natureness?variant=47751127630116.For more of David's work check out: https://www.davidsobelauthor.com/To learn more about the Philosophy and Education annual meeting: https://www.philosophyofeducation.org/

Naoko Saito, Jim Garrison, and Vincent Colapietro sit down with Cara and Derek to talk through Dr. Saito's General Session paper at PES 2025. The paper itself will appear in an upcoming issue of Philosophy of Education, but for more of Dr. Saito's related work (mentioned in the episode), see her recent American Philosophy in Translation. For Garrison's very important essay (also mentioned in the episode), see "A Deweyan Theory of Democratic Listening."And for Colapietro's recent work on relationality, see his "Relations, Ruptures, and Rituals," as well as his "Quotidian Tasks."Use this form to recommend future topics and guests!

Our second and final recording of a PES session, this episode features Paul Geis, Brad Rowe, Natasha Levinson, Christina Donaldson, and Cara Furman reflecting on mentorship in our field and in academia more broadly. This PES panel discussion was sponsored by the Committee on Mentoring.To recommend future guests and topics, use this link!

Ariana Zetlin and Vik Joshi join Cara and Derek to talk about the 2024 Northeast Philosophy of Education Society meeting and the way it assisted the fantastic work that they share with us here. For more info on Project Belonging, click here.For the 2025 NEPES call for papers, click hereAs always, recommend future topics and guests here.

In a special hyper-alliterative episode, Claire Katz, Cristina Cammarano, and Clarissa Thompson join Cara and Derek to talk about philosophy in summer camp settings.For scholarly work on philosophy camps in general, click here and here.For information on Claire’s camp, including how to sign up for this year’s offerings, click here.To request information and reserve a spot in Cristina’s camp, click here.And see these links for Clarissa’s organization and camp.As always, use this form to recommend future guests and episodes!

Tristan Gleason and John Mullen sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about a wide range of matters, from science education to ecology to climate and beyond. For more of John's work, click here, here, and hereFor more of Tristan's work, click here, here, and hereAnd for an incomplete bibliography of what we discussed in this episode, see all of these several links.And as always, use this form to recommend future guests and topics!

This episode presents a panel from PES 2025 entitled "Philosophy, the Coming of Age, and the Future of the Future," and consisting of papers by Barbara Applebaum, Barb Stengel, Deborah Kerdeman, and Nicholas Burbules.To recommend future guests and topics, please use ⁠this form⁠!

Meredith Broussard and Sasha Sidorkin sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about what artificial intelligence can be, how it works, what it’s for, and what it all means.For Meredith’s books on the subject, click here and here.For Sasha’s latest books, click here and here (and for an AI-generated podcast about the most recent book — WHAT ARE CARA AND I EVEN DOING ANYMORE — click here).To recommend future guests and topics, please use this form!

Cam Scribner and Kathleen Knight Abowitz join Cara and Derek to discuss a topic arising out of Scribner's contribution to Concordia University's fall institute on “Political Challenges of/for/in 21st Century Schools: Addressing Polarization in the Classroom.” There's a lot of talk about "small-c conservatism" in this one.For more of Cam's work, click here, here, and here.For Kathleen's work. click here, here, and here.Use this form to suggest future topics and guests!

Nicholas Tampio and Kathy Hytten join Cara and Derek to talk about Dewey, political saturation, democratic habits, and how expensive youth hockey is. For Kathy's works, click here and here For Nick's edition and intro to Democracy and Education, click here. And for his Common Core book, click here. And for public-facing work on Dewey, click here. And use this form to recommend future guests and topics!

A live episode! GroundWorks's 2024 edition features a piece on "Systemic Indoctrination" by Fedor Korochkin, and in an event held Tuesday, January 14th, he gave it as a talk, with Christopher Martin and Rebecca Taylor responding, and followed by a Q&A session. Here is the paper at the GroundWorks website, and Here is the form to recommend future topics and guests.

Doctoral students Phoebe Gilpin, Martha Perez-Mugg, and Arham Kazi sit down with Cara and Derek to talk about the writings that drew them to philosophy in the first place, the books they've encountered through their studies, and the works that they find themselves drawing upon in their own writing, as well. As always, please use this form to recommend future topics and guests. Works we talked about in this episode: Plato's Euthyphro David Labaree, "Public Goods, Private Goods" bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish Bruno Latour, Laboratory Life Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life Sara Ahmed, On Being Included Natasha Myers, Rendering Life Molecular José Medina Epistemology of Resistance Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth Tithi Bhattacharya, ed. Social Reproduction Theory David Mitchell, Biopolitics of Ability Jess Calarco, Holding It Together Catherine Elgin, True Enough Naomi Oreskes, Why Trust Science? Savannah Shange, Progressive Dystopia

Dave Backer and Heather DuBois Bourenane join Cara and Derek to talk about how schools are funded, the way investment vehicles (as well as quantities) reflect certain social commitments, and what it all means for the way we (literally) value schooling. For Heather's organization, WPEN, click here. For Dave's forthcoming book, click here. The Shanker Institute's School Finance Indicators Database The bond statement search engine that Dave mentioned. Use this form to recommend future topics and guests

This week, we present another cross-posted episode -- this time featuring Cara's podcast Teaching from an Ethical Center. This week's guest, Jia Lee, talks to Cara about the idea of adapting curriculum to fit her students, the idea of "fidelity" as policymakers and curriculum designers use the term, and what else it might mean, as well. As always, please use this form to recommend future guests and topics!