Abstracts Economics

Teaching the Educator : Studying the De:Commodifying Self

by Paul Baines

"To center this discussion, I want to be clear about my spiral of action, reflection, and reaction or in popular education terms, the dynamic relationship between theory and practice, or praxis. For many years I focused my academic and activist life around critiques of consumer culture and advertising. For me, this cultural matrix and its voice-piece tore at the fabric of what I considered loving, sustainable, democratic, and just social relations. Up until this year, I was articulate yet fractured in this critique and was able to use my Masters to look for new directions. I began to focus on how consumerism connects with local and global political struggles for human rights and also on the construction and privileges of my perspective. This examination included many readings, but also educational workshops in media and cultural literacy and several creative projects. The mixture of this reflection and action has helped reconnect my interest in consumer culture and advertising in ways I never could have imagined or learned second-hand. Rather than just thinking my way into new ways of living, I've tried to design a Project that encouraged me to start living my way into new ways of thinking. Rather than using popular education pedagogy to change the way I study advertising, it has changed me. This new knowledge helps me validate the possibility for personal development and the hope for social transformation." – Page 1.