Education, Affect, and Film: Visual Imaginings and Global Explorations Through a Comparative Lens

What can a study of international film contribute to our understanding of education in a globalized context? How can such an exploration further push the boundaries of comparative and international education (CIE) as an academic field?

In addressing these questions, Irving Epstein brings together insights from film theory, affect theory and CIE to explore the ways in which educational meanings are mediated through globalization processes. Some of the many films discussed in detail in the book include Parasite, Small Axe, My Octopus Teacher, The Pearl Button, and A Separation. Epstein shows how films can speak broadly to issues involving social class privilege, racism, colonialism and indigeneity, and environmental justice regarding educational concerns.

Irving Epstein is the Rhodes Professor Emeritus of Peace and Social Justice at Illinois Wesleyan University. In addition to Education, Affect, and Film, he is the author of Affect Theory and Comparative Education Discourseand the editor of Chinese Education: Problems, Policies and Prospects (1991), Recapturing the Personal (2007), The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children’s Issues Worldwide (2007), and The Whole World is Texting: Youth Protest in the Information Age (2015). From 1988-1998, he served as an associate editor of the Comparative Education Review, and is an Emeritus member of the Scholars at Risk advisory board, an international network devoted to protecting scholars from persecution while engaging in academic freedom advocacy.