Introduction: Antonio Gramsci and educational thought

Abstract

This book seeks to pay tribute to this great political figure and social thinker of the 20th century. It comprises chapters from different parts of the world including New Zealand, Brazil, the United States, Canada, Germany and England. It complements another publication which Pete Mayo co-edited (Borg et al., 2002) in that it draws on the work of authors with which the three editors of the 2002 book were not familiar at the time of planning that volume. Peter Mayo was very careful therefore not to include in this book authors who had contributed to the 2002 book. The issues tackled are various. Deb Hill provides an in-depth philosophical discussion on the Hegelian and Marxian influence on Gramsci’s ‘philosophy of praxis’ arguably the central phrase in his prison writings originally intended as a work ‘für ewig’ (for eternity). The connections between Gramsci’s thought and Marx’s theory of consciousness and dialectical mode of thinking are carefully teased out here. This piece complements the work of Paula Allman (2002) around the subject.