Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education
Abstract
This reflection on internationally renowned scholars Peter Beilharz and Sian Supski’s visit to Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in October 2024 presents utopia as a sociological methodology useful for research in educational studies. Presenting a brief introduction and exploration of the methodology, this article considers the cultural changes that are necessary to teach toward democratic, ecologically sustainable utopias compared to capitalist visions of utopia. As a starting point for further discussion, this personal reflection merely scratches the surface to provide a glimpse into the conditions that would underlie a democratic, ecologically sustainable utopia and serves to document a few of the historic and current local efforts toward a more fair and just world, while putting those efforts into conversation with similar labor and indigenous movements in Australia, as Beilharz and Supski presented during their visit. This is a work that emerged out of hope generated by identifying common ground and similarities in vision and collective memory bridging across oceans.
Keywords: utopia, education, democracy, ecological sustainability, labor movement, sociology, labor history, conservation, collective action, unions
Recommended Citation
Marshall, Rachelle F.
(2025)
"Sowing the Seeds of Utopia Collectively, from Australia to America and Everywhere in Between: A Methodology and Practice for Resistance and Emancipation,"
Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education: Vol. 3:
No.
1, pp.9-20.
Available at:
https://commons.emich.edu/impact/vol3/iss1/5
Included in
Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Urban Education Commons