Christopher Robbins

A photo of Christopher Robbins.

Professor

Teacher Education

314E John W. Porter Building

734.487.3260

[email protected]

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, 2005

Penn State University

Specialization: Critical Cultural Studies and Sociology of Education

 

Biography

Christopher Robbins grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania. He is a first-generation college student.

Interests and Expertise

Christopher's primary interests include critical theory, cultural studies, and sociology of education with a focus on power and inequality. His earlier and most sustained work considered the ways that processes of criminalization and militarization not only altered the democratic purposes of schooling, but also participated in broader transformations in institutional arrangements relative to racism and racial order. In recent years, he has looked at changes in higher education funding, considering the ways that the push for educational attainment introduces new dynamics to both social class and racial politics. From time to time, Robbins writes in intellectual history. He is currently working on a co-authored book project wherein he is looking at the politics and ethics of mass death (biological, social, and civic) and its implications for democracy, with an eye toward the role of schooling and the place of public pedagogy in opposing the increasing normalization of mass death in the U.S. He is the founding collaborator for The Workshop for Community+Collaboration at Eastern Michigan University's College of Education. 

Courses

SFCE 328(W): Schools for a Diverse and Democratic Society

SFCE 630: Schooling and the Politics of Fear

SFCE 580: Sociology of Education

EDST 801: Education, Democracy, and Social Thought

URED 817: Children and Families in Poverty

Publications and Presentations

Books and Edited Collections:

Robbins, C.G., Ferris, E., & Supski, S. (Eds.) (2023, December). Peter Beilharz: The life of the mind, friendship, and cultural traffic in postmodern

times. Thesis Eleven 179(1), 1-297. 

Robbins, C.G. (2008). Expelling hope: The assault on youth and the militarization of

            schooling. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Awarded the “Critics Choice Award” of

            2008 by the American Educational Studies Association.

Robbins, C.G. (Ed.) (2006). The Giroux Reader (Henry A. Giroux), introduced

             and edited by Christopher G. Robbins, Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.

Recent Articles and Essays:

Robbins, C.G. (2024, March). A review essay of Cannibal Capitalism: How Our System

is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet – and  What We Can Do about It.

Thesis Eleven.

Naish, K. and Robbins, C.G. (2024, February). "This class is a community rather than a

bunch of individuals:" Democratic pedagogy, integrated wellness and well-being

in an undergraduate education course. Report for the Bruce K. Nelson Faculty Development Center.

Robbins, C.G. and Ferris, E. (2023). Reflections on friendship and gratitude for Peter

          Beilharz on the occasion of his “revolution #70.” Thesis Eleven 179(1), 5-17.

Robbins, C.G. (2023). Circling Beilharz? More like a wobbly orbiting. Thesis Eleven

179(1), 129-141.

Robbins, C.G. and Ferris, E. (August, 2023). Under - and outside of - the spectre of menace:

                Crowds and power in an era of mass violence. (Chapter in book project, 40 pages)

Robbins, C.G. (2023, March 2). “You all ok?” The impossibility of being alright amid

              mass violence. Thesis Eleven.

*Robbins, C.G. and Ferris, E. (2023). A crusade and the crowd of the dead:

             Understanding the U.S. right’s attack on public schooling. The Review

             of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies 46(1), 25-63.

*Robbins, C.G. (2022). A class production: Higher education, the

            neoliberal metrics fetish, and the production of inequality/insecurity.

           Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict, and World Order. 48(2), 27-57.

Robbins, C.G. (2022, June 3). When “divisive rhetoric,” not regularized mass murder,

            becomes offensive. Counterpunch

 *Robbins, C.G. (2022). Beilharz with Bauman, after Bauman (Review Essay). Thesis

           Eleven.

 

        

 

Grants, Honors and Awards

Recipient of the American Educational Association's "Critics' Choice Book Award." (2008)

The Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Faculty Award, Research I, April 2011

The Holman Center’s (EMU) Award for Most Outstanding Faculty in Support of Student Success, April 2010

Eastern Michigan University Provost’s New Faculty Research Grant 2008

Dean’s Award for Innovative Scholarship, EMU, September 2007

The Holman Center’s (EMU) Award for Most Outstanding Faculty in Classroom Instruction, April 2007

Leadership Legacy Grant Awardee for The Workshop for Community+Collaboration, April 2023