On Educational Leadership as Emancipatory Practice: Problems and Promises

As a critical reflection on education and educational leadership today, this book makes use of the ideas of some of the major thinkers of our time-Adorno, Arendt, Biesta, Brown, Apple, Hall, Marx, Nietzsche, Ranciere, Said, Williams, and others-in an examination of the emancipatory potential of education. Author Duncan Waite explores the political, social, systemic, epistemological, and cultural barriers and roadblocks that inhibit liberatory education, discussing the concepts of corruption and abuse of power; systems and structures that hobble us; ideologies such as neoliberalism, capitalism, and corporatism; identity and consciousness; and conceptions of learning, growth, and development. Ultimately the author unpacks how these issues relate to liberation, emancipation, and social justice for students, teachers, and educational leaders, as well as the role leadership can play in realizing the emancipatory promise of education.