JPD 5(3): 20 Journal of Pedagogic Development Volume 5, Issue 3 Learning through Resistance: Contextualisation, Creation and Incorporation of a ‘Punk Pedagogy’ Mike Dines, BMus (Hons) Popular Music Performance, Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (London, UK) Contact: mike.dines@icmp.co.uk Abstract This article explores the many contradictions and complexities surrounding the theory and practice of a ‘punk pedagogy.’ It begins with a contextualisation, delineating notions of origin using a framework of anarchist models of pedagogy, teaching and learning in subcultural contexts (in this case, the new age traveller movement of the 1980s and 1990s), and the very beginnings of terminology and definition through Estrella Torrez’s chapter ‘Punk Pedagogy: Education for Liberation and Love.’ As a reiteration of practice, case studies of two current practitioners are explored (Tony McMahon in Australia and Rylan Kafara from Canada), unpacking differences and similarities in punk‐led models of teaching and learning. In conclusion, the importance of punk as teacher and facilitator is explored, examining links between the autobiographical experience of subcultural membership and punk as a tool for learning. This includes looking at how learning within a subculture draws upon the experiential and heuristic in areas such as political affiliations, lifestyle choices and musical preference. Keywords: education, punk, pedagogy Introduction We can only live these changes: we cannot think our way to humanity. Every one of us, and every group with which we live and work, must become the model of the era which we desire to create. The many models which will develop should give each one of us an environment in which we can celebrate our potential – and discover the way into a more humane world (Illich, 1976: 17). The anomaly of a ‘punk’ pedagogy – where a subculture stereotyped by anti‐authoritarian sentiments can somehow be associated with the constructive and reflective practice of education – has the habit of raising more than a few eyebrows. The link between punk and pedagogy not only remains incongruous, but also paradoxical, with the oxymoronic notion of the didactic in punk remaining the first response from many. Indeed, I was recently sent an email asking my views on the idea of punk pedagogy by a fellow popular music scholar. ‘I recently saw your call for papers on the pedagogy of punk rock,’ he begins ‘[and] I have to say as a scholar of popular music, the call for papers left me scratching my head a bit.’ He continues, ‘why would punk rock need to be taught in