Dialogic Pedagogy: An International - Issue 2 - Discusses democracy, dialogism, therapy, progressivism, anarchism

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk

My essay develops an authorial map-account of Martin Duberman’s educational paradigms expressed through his experimental seminars at Princeton University, Hunter College, and Lehman College CUNY (1966–1971 and beyond). The work builds a terrain of philosophical paradigms shaped his goals, judgments, definitions of success, and frustrations, then applies dialogic analysis to the synergies and conflicts among democracy, dialogism, therapy, progressivism, anarchism, and related values.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages44

Reading Time1 h 51 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Authorial map-account and dialogic terrain

Educational values and paradigm conflicts

Acknowledgment

ISSN: 2325-3290 (online) Democracy, dialogism, therapy, progressivism, anarchism, and other values in Martin Duberman’s innovative pedagogy Eugene Matusov University of Delaware, USA Abstract My essay aims to develop my authorial map-account of Martin Duberman’s various educational paradigms manifest in his experimental seminars at Princeton University, Hunter College, and Lehman College CUNY, 1966-1971 (and beyond) that I abstracted from his claims about his innovative educational teaching. I tried to develop a terrain of educational philosophical paradigms that shaped his goals, judgments, definitions of success, frustrations, and so on, and engage in a dialogic analysis of this terrain. His innovative pedagogy was driven by diverse and often conflicting educational philosophies involving democracy, dialogism, and therapy, among other values. I discuss the synergiesand conflicts of these values in Duberman’s pedagogy. Eugene Matusov is a Professor of Education at the University of Delaware. He studied developmental psychology with Soviet researchers working in the Vygotskian paradigm and worked as a schoolteacher before immigrating to the United States. He uses sociocultural and Bakhtinian dialogic approaches to education. His current research and practice focus is on Democratic Dialogic Education. His recent books are: Matusov, E. (2020), "Envisioning education in a post-work leisure-based society: A dialogic perspective." Matusov, E. , Marjanovic-Shane, A. , & Gradovski, M. (2019), "Dialogic pedagogy and polyphonic research art: Bakhtin by and for educators." Acknowledgment I am most grateful to my colleague Robert Hampel for introducing the pedagogical innovations of Martin Duberman1 (Hampel, 2021) to me, engaging me in this project, enlightening discussions, and providing critical and supportive feedback on the early drafts of this paper. Also, big thanks to my colleague Ana Marjanovic-Shane for her discussions of the issues and feedback on the earlier drafts. I am grateful to Martin Duberman for the two wonderful meetings and his comments on my papers. Thanks to Christel Hartkamp, Peter Gray, Kevin Curry-Knight, and Bryan Campbell for their feedback and discussions of earlier versions of this paper. ÏÏÒ 1 [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Duberman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Duberman) Dialogic Pedagogy: An International DOI: 10.5195/dpj.2023.385 | Vol. 1 Online 1 No. 2 Journal | [http://dpj.pitt.edu](http://dpj.pitt.edu)[ ](http://dpj.pitt.edu)(2023) A49 Democracy, dialogism, therapy, progressivism, anarchism, and other values in Martin Duberman’s innovative pedagogy Eugene Matusov Introduction My interest in Martin Duberman’s pedagogical experiment started on January 8th, 2019, with an email from my close colleague, educational historian Bob Hampel: Yesterday I read a terrific chapter by historian Martin Duberman2 . In the mid-1960s at Princeton, he decided to drop grades and tests in an undergraduate seminar. He writes about coercion and authoritarianism in traditional education & yearns to escape those. The chapter focuses on how he and his 24 students (2 sections of 12 each) struggled with their new freedoms. The article resembles the book3 you and I admire so much by Ira Shor4 . I paid attention to this reference because Bob’s prior reading recommendations were super interesting. The timing of his email was also good because it was winter break for both of us (in early 2019), and I could freely pursue my scholarly and teaching interests. As an educational researcher, theoretician, and practitioner-innovator, I have frequently critiqued conventional education and developed deep research and teaching interests in Progressive Education (and its shortcomings), Dialogic Education, Democratic Education, and Education for Authorship (Matusov, 2009, 2011, 2015b, 2015c, 2021a; Matusov & Brobst, 2013; Matusov & Marjanovic-Shane, 2016, 2017; Matusov, Marjanovi

FAQs

What is the main purpose of Eugene Matusov’s essay?

To map and analyze Martin Duberman’s educational paradigms as they appear in Duberman’s experimental teaching seminars, using a dialogic analytical approach.

Which educational seminars and time period does the essay focus on?

Duberman’s experimental seminars at Princeton University, Hunter College, and Lehman College CUNY, especially from 1966 to 1971, and extending beyond.

What values drive or shape Duberman’s innovative pedagogy in the essay?

The essay highlights democracy, dialogism, therapy, progressivism, anarchism, and other related educational values, and examines their synergies and conflicts.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk