A couple weeks ago, I was a featured guest on Education Today, a weekly radio show on KPFA, 94.1 out of Berkeley, CA. Hosted by longtime education activist and writer Kitty Kelly Epstein, I called in to talk about what a Marxist approach to education looks like and why it’s important. This week I thought I’d send along the interview, it’s about half an hour.

One thing we talked about, which I wanted to write out here, is something exciting I wanted to announce.

The largest educational research conference in the US is called the American Educational Research Association (AERA). I like to go to AERA since you can really get a sense of all the different streams of education research, across disciplines.

The conference is composed of special interest groups (SIGs) who accept submissions and then accept papers, create panels, etc. When you sign up for the conference and become a member, you can choose to join various SIGs.

This year, I’m serving Interim Chair for the Marxian Analysis of Society, Schools, and Education SIG (MASSES).

We’re trying to get our membership numbers up, and part of that effort includes our organizing a lecture by the incredible scholar of racial capitalism and history, Robin D.G. Kelley.

I’m a huge fan of Dr. Kelley’s. When our first daughter was born in spring of 2020, amidst the pandemic shutdown and the uprisings in Philadelphia, my partner and I read his pathbreaking book Hammer and Hoe aloud as we cared for the newborn, and I’ll always remember it.

So I asked if he’d address MASSES on the theme of education generally. He agreed!

Then I connected with friends and colleagues at the Teacher Union SIG and they wanted to co-sponsor the lecture. Which is super exciting.

The lecture will happen on April 9th, 2026, in Los Angeles, at 6:15pm. Here’s a draft flyer.

If you’re going to be at AERA, you can register for the lecture here. And please, if you’re going to the conference, join the SIG! It’s only 10 bucks.