Affecting Solidarity: Buenos Aires Teachers Countering Professional Alienation & Exploitation through Mate & New Media

This article discusses one social movement in Buenos Aires--"Frente Popular Darío Fernández" (FPDF)--whose goal was to assist public school teachers in becoming leaders of their communities by providing them an opportunity to learn about social mobilizing and popular education through a series of Freirean-based workshops. Guided by affect theorists influenced by the writings of Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (Ahmed, 2010; Braun & Whatmore, 2010; Deleuze, 1998; Featherstone, 2010; Goodwin, James, & Polletta, 2001; Gould, 2009; Seyfert, 2012; Sharp, 2007), the author explores what motivated these teachers in Argentina to seek out popular education, a mode of critical learning, as an alternative to the traditional public-school curriculum, and their desire to build solidarity among themselves and their activism-centered projects.