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Derek Ford

Associate Professor of Education Studies

derekford@depauw.edu
(765) 658-4370

View Derek Ford's CV

Statement on Scholarly or Artistic Work

I am associate professor of philosophy and history of education and teach courses on how education has, does, and can help us imagine, struggle for, and enact liberatory ways of being together in the world. My courses depend on and inform my research interests, which are quite varied but generally focus on the relationships between education and political movements. If you like podcasts, I think the hosts of Nothing Never Happens helped me articulate the larger picture of my work .

I've written a few books, the latest of which is and has been reviewed in Monthly Review, Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, Studies in Philosophy and Education, and Rethinking Marxism. (You can hear about it on and watch the ). I’ve published about 30 book chapters and over 50 peer-reviewed articles in journals ranging from Contemporary Music Review and Educational Philosophy and Theory to Rethinking Marxism and International Critical Thought. My public scholarship appears in outlets like Black Agenda Report, Monthly Review, Peace, Land, and Bread, and has been translated into Türkçe, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. What moves my research and teaching also moves my organizing. I am on the Steering Committee of the , volunteer as the Organizational Relations Director at the , and as an organizer with the , among other groups. I was recently a Visiting Scholar at Korea University (Tokyo).

In 2021, I started engaging other media with a podcast series I wrote and hosted, , which takes listeners through volume 1 of Marx's magnum opus. Since June 2025, I’ve co-hosted the weekly podcast, , with my comrade and co-host Dani Abdullah. Both are available on all streaming platforms. In 2025, I ended up producing a documentary— “”— about New Afrikan Political Prisoner, theorist, and organizer, Shaka A. Shakur,” which debuted worldwide in early December 2025. A 老司机福利社 student and I helped Shaka edit his first book, , which published. Before then, I helped write, produce, and play myself in , a brother of mine who the state has terrorized since he was 17. Although 老司机福利社 no longer supports my editorial work, I remain a deputy editor of the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies and associate editor of Postdigital Science and Education.

I serve as deputy editor of the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, associate editor of Postdigital Science and Education, and contributing editor at the .

Educational Background

  • Ph.D., Cultural Foundations of Education (2015). Dissertation: Pedagogy, social transformation, and space: Toward a revolutionary critical pedagogy for space. Committee: Barbara Applebaum, Peter McLaren, Don Mitchell. Syracuse University.
  • M.S., Cultural Foundations of Education (2012) Thesis: Continuing to trouble critical pedagogy: Judith Butler and the role of subjectivity in the critical pedagogy debates. Syracuse University.
  • B.A., Major: Peace Studies Program (2008), Minor: Women’s Studies Program Goucher College, Baltimore, MD

Teaching Interests

I am associate professor of philosophy and history of education and teach courses on how education has, does, and can help us imagine, struggle for, and enact liberatory ways of being together in the world. My research and contemporary conditions inform my teaching, which encompasses everything from sound, politics, and listening and art politics, and education to the underground university.

Professional Experience

  • Visiting Professor, Korea University
  • Director, Peace and Conflict Studies Program

Awards and Honors

  • Edwin L. Minar Jr. Award for Scholarship, 2022, as assistant professor of education.
  • Community Advocacy Award for role as Organizational Relations Director, Indy Liberation Center, 2025, presented by exoneree Larry Darnell Smith Jr. on behalf of The Solitary Justice Project.

Service and Leadership

  • 2021-present, Advisory Board Member, Friends of Socialist China
  • 2021-present, Editorial Team Deputy Coordinator, International Manifesto Group
  • 2018-present, Secretary, Institute for 21st Century International Relations Inc
  • 2016-present, Editor, Liberation School
  • 2015-present, Education Department Chair, Hampton Institute

Speaking Engagements

Invited presentations

  • Moody, J., & Ford, D. (2026). Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in the U.S. Presentation delivered to the Rockland Coalition to End the New Jim Crow (online).
  • Idehen, C., Ford, D., Johnson, M., & Williams, M. (2026). “Across Enemy Lines: Shaka A. Shakur” and the New Afrikan Movement. Panel Presented at the Atlanta Liberation Center, Atlanta, GA.
  • Ford, D., & Chung, K. (2026). Trump 2.0: Anticipating Relations between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United States in the Coming Period. Panel presented at Korea University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Benson, L., Ford, D. Bateman, V., & Abdullah, D. (2025). Publishing beyond prisons: Keeping the New Afrikan tradition alive. Part of a book panel on Shaka A. Shakur’s, Manifestations of thought: When the dragon comes. Panel presented at The People’s Forum, New York City, NY.
  • La Riva, G., Bateman, V., & Ford, D. (2025). “Tearing down the prison walls:” A slogan for society. Part of a panel presented at the Indianapolis Liberation Forum, Indianapolis, IN.
  • Ford, D., Jin, W., & Shakur, A. (2025). The personal and the political. Part of a panel presented at The Peoples Forum, New York City, NY.
  • Bateman, V., & Ford, D. (2025). The aesthetic struggle against wrongful incarceration. One of three talks delivered at “Prisons Re-Imagined: Presidential Portraits.” Indy Art Center, Indianapolis, IN.
  • Ford, D. (2024). Comparative political education and what the Chinese model teaches the world. Talk delivered at the People’s University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China.
  • Cho, S., & Ford, D. (2023). Corea and the unfinished project of anti-colonialism: A lynchpin in the global struggle for peace. Panel presented at the Critical Theory Workshop, Paris, France.
  • Ford, D. (2023). Korean national education in Japan. Paper presented at the Korean Alliance of Women in Japan’s 13th Central Mother’s Conference in Tokyo, Japan.
  • Ford, D. (2023). Education for Bodily Liberation in Classrooms and Communities/Educación para la Liberación Corporal en las Aulas y Comunidades. Presentation and discussion at the 26th Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference, IUPUI, Indianapolis, IN.
  • Ford, D. (2023). The “far right” as reaction to emancipatory struggles: A historical analysis. Paper presented as part of “The threat of the far right to movements,” The People’s Hub, online.

Other

Interviews

  • Idehen, C., Ford, D., & Shakur, S.A. (2026). Shaka A. Shakur and the New Afrikan Independence Movement. Revolutionary African Perspectives (radio show/podcast), 13 July, available here: https://www.mixcloud.com/WRFG/public-affairs-rap-revolutionary-african-perspectives-13-july-2026/
  • Shakur, S.A., Shakur, H.K., & Ford, D. (2026). Screening and discussion: Across enemy lines: Shaka A. Shakur. Millennials are Killing Capitalism (video podcast), 28 May, available here: .
  • Bateman, V.T., & Ford, D. (2026). This man (Vernon Bateman) spent 25 years in prison and continues to fight for his exoneration. Get Indiana with Nate Spangle (video podcast), 14 January, available here:
  • Shakur, H.K., Shakur, S.A., Ford, D., & Puryear, E. (2026). When the dragon comes: Shaka Shakur and political prisoners. iMIXWHATiLiKE (video panel), 05 January, available here:
  • Bateman, V.T., & Ford, D. (2025). Friendship and freedom with Vernon T. Bateman and Dr. Derek Ford. A Different Lens (podcast), 6 January, available here: