But no vision of America makes sense without this reversal of our values: it is Disneyland that is authentic here! The cinema and TV are Americaâs reality! The freeways, the Safeways, the skylines, speed and deserts â these are America, not galleries, churches, and culture.
BAUDRILLARD, (1989, p. 104)
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Kip Kline and Kristopher Hollandâs Guide, Jean Baudrillard and Radical Education Theory: Turning Right to Go Left arrives at a dangerous and chaotic point in history and we are thrilled to have it in the series because in numerous ways it becomes imperative to understand our current reality and whether it is reality. This is the fourth addition to the Guides already in the series. It focuses on an individualâs work and the impacts that work has on education. Other Guides include David Backerâs volume entitled, The Gold and the Dross: Althusser for Educators (2019), Key Scholarship in Media Literacy: David Buckingham by Allison T. Butler (forthcoming) and Derek Fordâs Inhuman Educations: Jean-François Lyotard, Pedagogy, and Thought (forthcoming). The series, Brill Guides to Scholarship in Education are short introductions to various fields and scholars in education and fields related to education written for experts and novices. Though sophisticated in content, the style of these books is less structured or restricted than existing guides taking a novel approach, they can be used as an educational tool in undergraduate and graduate courses as introductory texts. This is particularly true for the Kline and Holland Guide.
We are facing a global pandemic with COVID-19 and nothing seems stable or certain anymore. It could be described as a chaotic nightmare. In America we canât even shop for groceries at Safeway or Wal-Mart any longer without face masks. It often is reminiscent of many post-apocalyptic movies. We can also decide to have those items delivered to our homes or our cars in the storeâs parking lots. In public schools and universities the entire ânormalâ has been disrupted. In some states in schools and universities students are experiencing modified face to face classes or classes on Zoom or some hybrid version of both. Perhaps, Zoom needs to be added somewhere in Baudrillardâs reality/simulacra analysis. It is a time of nightmarish chaos. Reality seems to be ever-changing or even unreal. The authors address this chaos in this text.
Instead truth circulates, it is never tethered to anything â like conspiracy theories and pyramid schemes which have become ârealityâ in our context. This results is a certain kind of chaos. And Berardi (2019) says, âThose who wage war on chaos will be defeated because chaos feeds upon war ⦠chaos is stronger than order. So the best thing to do is to make friends with chaosâ (pp. 1â3). This is the task of the philosopher of education as fatal theorist and fatal strategist. (p. 69)
The discussion of reality and chaos are certainly relevant to the current historical moment and we welcome the authorâs work on these topics. Jean Baudrillard and Radical Education Theory: Turning Right to Go Left is an outstanding addition to the series. We are sure you will find the Guide informative and enlightening.
Reference
Baudrillard, J. (1989). America. Verso Books.