Houman Harouni

Houman Harouni is a practice-based theorist of culture and education. His work—which combines psychology, philosophy, political economy, and pedagogy—addresses the potential of institutions for maintaining or changing social relations. His study of power-dynamics in culture opens to conclusions relevant for education as well as for leadership, organizational studies and social theory. In his dissertation, Harouni proposed and put into practice a new critical theory of mathematics education that traces the links between mathematics, labor, and politics. Harouni has been a Spencer fellow at the National Academy of Education, a postdoctoral fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a presidential fellow of Harvard University. He has been an advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology in Ecuador, a consultant with the Ministry of Education in China, and a long-time organizer and contributor to the training of teachers working with refugee populations in the Middle East.

His academic articles have appeared in the Harvard Educational Review, Berkeley Review of Education, and Teaching and Curriculum Dialogue, among other publications. As a cultural critic and author, he has been a contributor to The Guardian, Salon and The American Reader, as well as other popular publications. He is a former elementary and high school teacher and runs intensive leadership development and teacher training workshops in wide variety of countries and contexts.

Areas of Expertise

• Cultural Studies
• Curriculum Development
• History of Education
• International Education
• Leadership
• Mathematics Education
• Philosophy of Education
• Political Theory
• Teacher Education

Publications

Reframing the discussion on word problems: A political economy. For the Learningof Mathematics. 35(2), 27-32.,(2015)

Toward a political economy of mathematics education. Harvard Educational Review,85(1), 50-74.,(2015)

The sound of TED: A case for distaste. American Reader.,(2014)

Lived-in room: Classroom space as teacher. Berkeley Review of Education, 4(2), 187- 204.,(2014)

A question of silence: Why we don't read or write about education. American Reader, 1(8), 48-58.,(2013)

The risking of observations in the classroom: Teacher as cultural critic. Teaching and Curriculum Dialogue, 15(1).,(2013)

The horror of philosophy. The White Review.,(2013)

You’d have to be Russian: The structure of political jokes. PBS Frontline’s TehranBureau.,(2012)

A king alone: Art and the politics of personality. PBS Frontline’s Tehran Bureau.,(2012)

High school research and critical literacy: Teaching humanities with and despite Wikipedia. Harvard Educational Review. 79(3), 473-493.,(2009)