Defining the political ontology of the classroom: toward a multitudinous education

Abstract

This paper is driven by a simple question: what type of collective space is a classroom and how can it be imagined differently? Drawing on the social topography provided by Hardt and Negri, I suggest that schools have traditionally worked to produce either (a) a people; (b) a crowd; or (c) the masses. The problem with these forms of social collectivity is that they each tend to limit radical movements for democracy. Opposed to a people, a crowd, or the masses, I suggest that classroom collectivity be reconceptualized in terms of the multitude. It is by configuring the dynamic space of the classroom in relation to a theory of the multitude that educational democracy can be achieved.

Keywords:

• multitude
• biopolitics
• democracy
• critical pedagogy
• Empire