In a recent round of reports published in media outlets, we have learned that the current Purdue President Mitch Daniels, former governor of Indiana, directed via email his top education officials to “get rid of” the work of the noted historian Howard Zinn from K-12 classrooms in Indiana. Referring to Zinn’s People’s History of the United States as ‘truly execrable,’ anti-factual, crappy and dishonest, then governor Daniels ordered his staff to act to make sure that Zinn’s work is not being offered across schools in Indiana. He wrote: “Can someone assure me that it is not in use anywhere in Indiana? If it is, how do we get rid of it before more young people are force-fed a totally false version of history?” Daniels’ order to his top state education officials comes across as an off-the-cuff directive directed at censoring Zinn. Unlike the deliberate engagement that is integral to academic evaluation, Daniels throws a number of serious charges at Zinn but does
This blog offers Mohan Dutta's reflections on the theoretical framework of the culture-centered approach, examining the interplays among Structure, Culture, and Agency in shaping marginalisation and the ways in which communities at the margins challenge structures. Writings on the blog are continually being revised to reflect the organic analysis of structure and agency.