Working with an approach to the interpretation and analysis of life stories based in the Marxist tradition this study looks at the lives of six teachers of literacy to adults who live and work on The Isle of Thanet in Kent. The study reviews points of divergence between postmodern theories based within a narrative constructionist approach to the interpretation of life stories and a Marxist approach. A case is made for a Marxist approach to life story work being both valid and informative. The first part of the study looks at considerations of methodology as these affect life story work in general and Marxist life story work in particular. Some work from Goethe and Balza is presented to show how Marx's own scientific worldview grew out of wider artistic and scientific traditions beyond those with which it is usually associated. Attention is drawn to the relationship between Marxism and humanism and how both can be brought together to provide a fertile and humane form of social science. The life stories of the six teachers are presented in a form agreed to by those whose stories are told. Three themes emerging from the stories are selected by the researcher for further investigation. These themes are class and identity, managerialism, and place. Each of these three themes is analysed to show the relationship of the six life stories to Marxism. On this basis the argument is then put forward that Marxism itself has an important contribution to make to the academic study of life stories. This final argument forms the substance of the concluding chapter.

This thesis utilises the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze alongside theory from the field of 'utopian studies' in order to think through how the concepts of utopia and utopianism might be relevant in an age that seems to have given up on the future. It develops – and argues in favour of - a 'nomadic utopianism', which proceeds through non-hierarchical organisation, maximises what Deleuze calls 'difference-in-itself and creates new forms of living as it proceeds. From this, nomadic utopias are produced, meaning that the relationship between utopianism and utopia IS inverted, such that the former is ontologically prior to the latter. I show how such an approach maintains an etymological fidelity to the concept of utopia as 'the good place that is no place'. I also develop the concept of 'state utopianism', in which a utopian vision functions as a 'perfect', transcendent lack orienting political organisation to its realisation and reproduction. I argue that this is a dystopian politics, and consequently that the state utopia is a dystopia. Contrary to received wisdom - which sees today's 'capitalist realism' as anti-utopian – I argues that the contemporary world can be seen as a state utopia in which 'there is no alternative'. This makes utopia a central force in contemporary ideology. These two forms should not be seen simply as opposites, however, and this thesis also shows how nomadic utopias can ossify into state utopias through the emergence of tyrannies of habit. These theoretical concepts are then applied to works of utopian and dystopian literature (Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, Albert Meister's The so-called utopia of the centre beaubourg and Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed); and the practices of 'musicking' (with a focus on the symphony orchestra and collective improvisation) and education. It is hoped that this will offer a new way of theorising utopia and utopianism, as well as generating a productive political approach from the thought of Gilles Deleuze, and contributing to debates on the political function of musical and educational practice.

This thesis examines, classifies and evaluates the tactics and organisational methods of British and Irish anarchist groups, which operated in the period 1984-1999 (although reference is made to groupings and events outside of this period). The thesis explains how class struggle anarchism, which was a minority trend even within the libertarian milieu, has developed into a significant and lively (anti-)political movement. This thesis examines recent groups through their own publications and their accounts of their recent actions. Previous studies have attempted to assess anarchist methods through either liberal or traditional Marxist categories. This thesis develops a mode of assessment that is consistent with the methods of evaluation used by anarchists themselves. This prefigurative ethic is used to build up an ideal-type of anarchism that is consistent with the main characteristics of libertarian theory. Anarchist prefiguration - which demands that the means must be synecdochic in relation to the ends - requires that the oppressed become the agents who bring about change. Oppression is irreducible to capitalism alone, but in most contexts, economic oppression will be a significant force in the creation of the oppressed agent's identity. Anarchists' preference for 'direct action' captures their commitment to the means being in accordance with the ends, and the primacy of the oppressed in resisting their oppression. The anarchist ideal is used as a standard to assess the operations of existing anarchist groups. Consistent with prefiguration, anarchist organisation and tactics have to be multiform and flexible, without strategic priority being given to any single organisation or structure. Anarchist tactics must also involve a variety of oppressed subjects, while undermining hierarchies of power. It will be shown that certain organisational methods associated with anarchism; such as old style syndicalism is incompatible with the prefigurative ethic. Similarly certain organisational structures, often dismissed as inconsistent with anarchist principles, such as temporary small groups carrying out selective propaganda by deed, can, under certain conditions, be consistent with anarchism. The growth of class struggle anarchism is shown to be a result of its prefigurative and multiform organisation and its corresponding diversity of tactics.

No description available.

The thesis is a qualitative study that analyses the personal narratives of isolation and resistance of former Baader-Meinhof prisoners (RAF) in the period 1970-1995 within the context of imprisonment and penality in Gennany. The thesis constructs a picture of isolation and resistance through these individual narratives that illustrate how a state policy to control the communication of individual RAF prisoners was translated into techniques of immobilization - solitary confinement - and surveillance - searches, censorship and monitoring. The narratives recount how these techniques, though central to security and order in prison, were applied and adapted in order to disable the group both within prison and on the outside, and to diminish the (political) resolve of the individual prisoner. The narratives also give insight into individual and collective resistance to isolation, namely the rationales of individual survival and striving for community in the pursuit of collective detention of RAF prisoners. The thesis contributes to the literature on RAF imprisonment by framing the lived experiences of former women and men RAF prisoners and the meanings they attach to isolation and resistance within a power and gendered dimensions of prison life and penality. The study also hopes to contribute wider discussions on imprisonment and penality in Gennany, in particular the governance of women and men prisoners who are constructed as dangerous.

Anarquismo Revolucionario EL ESPAÑOL FORMA PARTE DEL PODER POLÍTICO QUE COMBATE CONTRA FRANCO DURANTE LA GUERRA CIVIL ESPAÑOLA (1936-1939). Y ANALISIS DE LOS GOBIERNOS LOCALES DE LA COMARCA DEL VALLÈS OCCIDENTAL Catalanes, DE LA CIUDAD DE BARCELONA limítrofe, DE Importancia INDUSTRIAL DE SERVICIOS. / participación en los gobiernos locales de los anarquistas revolucionarios

Anarquistas Revolucionarios LOS, A Través De Su SINDICATO Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, EN La región más INDUSTRIALIZADA DE ESPAÑA, CATALUÑA, CON TRADICIÓN Teórica ROMPEN SU TACTICA Y POLITICO Y SE INCORPORAN AL PODER, ECONOMICO Y SOCIAL. POR EXIGENCIAS DE LA GUERRA CIVIL (1936-1939) CONTRA EL lanzas fascista de Franco, PERO TAMBIEN POR LA REALIDAD DE LA IMPOSIBILIDAD DE IMPONER SU REVOLUCIONARIA Dictadura. / los anarquistas asumen parte del poder revolucionario en los municipios durante la guerra civil

Escrita EN CATALÁN IDIOMA, Y OTRAS Cuestiones Relacionadas AMPLIA CON MI TESIS DOCTORAL REVISA DEL AÑO 2001 "ACTIVIDAD POLITICA DE LA IZQUIERDA ES DURANTE LA Libertaria COMARCA DEL LA GUERRA CIVIL OCCIDENTAL" (UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE EDUCACION A DISTANCIA VALLÈS, FACULTAD DE GEOGRAFÍA E HISTORIA) (ESPAÑA) (REFERENCIAS A LA MISMA EN INTERNET: www.educacion.es/teseo/. Also available in: www.e-spacio.uned.es:8080. Also available in: www.cibernetia.com/tesis_es/HISTORIA/ HISTORIA_POR_EPOCAS / HISTORIA_CONTEMPORANEA / 4.Importancia RADICA EN QUE SE DE SU ESTUDIO MUY Trata de las Naciones,, PODER POLÍTICO DEL Unidas PORMENORIZADO, ECONOMICO, SOCIAL Y MILITAR DE LAS ORGANIZACIONES EN CONTEXTO Anarquistas de la ONU Y DE GUERRA ES UNA ZONA ECONOMICA DESARROLLADA, ASÍ COMO AL DE LA CON CONFRONTARSE Teórica PREVIA CIRCUNDANTE La Realidad, SE VEN OBLIGADOS A UNA EVOLUCIÓN TOTALMENTE A SU PENSAMIENTO POLÍTICO ANTERIOR Contraria.

ANALISIS DEL PODER DEL SINDICATO EN CADA Anarquista Y SUS RESPECTIVOS GOBIERNOS MUNICIPALES EN localidad / Analisis poder politico de los anarquistas

Tesis Doctoral QUE CON DETALLE LA Analiza Influencia DE LOS ES CADA MUNICIPIO Anarquistas, PODER POLÍTICO DURANTE SU CONTRA LA GUERRA CIVIL LAS Fuerzas franquistas (1936-1939, Alianzas SUS, Teórica EVOLUCION ORGANIZATIVA Y, ASPECTOS IMPORTANTES DE SU GESTIÓN PÚBLICA COTIDIANA, ETC.