Occupy with Amanda Joy, Joel Westheimer and Jacqueline Kennelly

Hosted by Neil Wilson

In Person Big Ideas History

Sunday

Apr , 2012

12:00pm

Eastern

Knox Presbyterian Church

120 Lisgar Street (at Elgin) • Ottawa

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Occupy with Amanda Joy, Joel Westheimer and Jacqueline Kennelly

This richly theorised, fascinating study of young activists should be read by all social scientists. It reinvigorates debates on social movements and the problem of youth, whilst providing a much-needed antidote to the current pessimism about the possibilities of activism and the political engagement of young people."

Diane Reay, Professor of Education, Cambridge University

After the Occupy movements began, the words “income inequality'” quintupled on news databases and yet now it seems the conversation has moved on. Is the Occupy phenomenon the voice of a new progressive movement or a spontaneous short-lived manifestation of dissatisfaction? What is the fate of the 99 percent and the 1 percent as forces of change? Can the Occupy movement occupy the agenda?

Amanda Joy, an Occupy participant and organizer is joined by Joel Westheimer from the University of Ottawa, and Carleton’s Jacqueline Kennelly, author of Citizen Youth: Culture, Activism, and Agency in a Neoliberal Era. Join us for a conversation that speaks to the very heart of our democracy.

The Authors

Amanda Joy

Amanda Joy is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Carleton University, and has been organizing for social justice since 1999 with groups and networks such as the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and Food Not Bombs. Her activism focuses on economic justice, health, democracy, gender and decolonization. She is currently an active member of Occupy Ottawa and is also conducting ethnographic research with the Occupy movement, writing about the reworking of democratic practices, the role of social media and prefigurative politics. Her previous academic work examined the transnational movement for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, particularly HIV-positive activism in Southeast Asia. She believes that a better world is possible.

Jacqueline Kennelly

Dr. Jacqueline Kennelly is an Associate Professor in Carleton University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Her research examines the interactions between schools, state policies, and everyday cultural practices in reproducing or ameliorating marginalization for low-income and homeless young people. She has also focused much of her work on young people's responses to such marginalization, through social movements and citizenship engagement. She has written or edited four books exploring these issues (Lost Youth in the Global City (2010, with J. Dillabough); Citizen Youth: Culture, Activism and Agency in a Neoliberal Era (2011); Phenomenology of Youth Cultures and Globalization (2015, with S. Poyntz) and Olympic Exclusions: Youth, Poverty, and Social Legacies (2016)) and has published multiple articles in a wide range of international academic journals. She is the founding director of the Centre for Urban Youth Research (www.urbanyouthresearch.ca). www.jacquelinekennelly.ca

Joel Westheimer

Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in Democracy and Education at the University of Ottawa, Canada. He is co-founder and executive director of Democratic Dialogue, a research collaborative dedicated to the critical exploration of democratic ideals in education and society. Westheimer’s recent awardwinning book is Pledging Allegiance: The Politics of Patriotism in America's Schools (foreword by the late Howard Zinn). He’s currently working on his third book, Restoring the Public in Public Education. He also publishes widely in newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals and addresses radio and television audiences on shows such as Good Morning America, More to Life, The Agenda, NBC TV News, C-Span, NPR, and CBC radio. He is the recent recipient of the Canadian Education Association’s Whitworth Award “for education research that matters” and education columnist for CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning show. A former musician, Westheimer grew up in New York City where he was also a public school teacher. Before moving to Ottawa, he taught at Stanford University and at New York University. He lives with his wife and two children in Ottawa where, in Winter, he ice-skates to and from work. www.democraticdialogue.com