Recognition can take many forms, as Henry Giroux has learned very well

Earlier this year, the cultural critic and director of McMaster’s Centre for Scholarship in the Public Interest learned, through formal channels, that he would be the recipient of an honorary degree from the University of West Scotland, an honour he is to accept in October.

“I am delighted to receive this honorary doctorate,” says Giroux, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Educational Research Association last year. “I am both honoured and humbled.”

The author of more than 60 books, Giroux is familiar in international academic and political circles as a defender of education and fiercely left-leaning critic of violence, unchecked power, racism and neoliberal values.

Here in the halls of McMaster, Giroux is familiar for his tall, lean frame, black clothes and collar-length hair that give him the look of a seasoned rock musician.

He had no idea until recently that his work had influenced a popular musician who, a star to many, was also a fan of Henry Giroux, eager to talk to him and learn more about his ideas.

Julian Casablancas, leader of the critically-acclaimed New York band The Strokes, and more recently The Voidz, and owner of Cult Records asked if he could come up to Hamilton to interview Giroux about his work.

After a video shoot in Los Angeles, Casablancas flew in recently to meet Giroux at his home in southwest Hamilton.

Their session, part of which Casablancas recorded for his website, went well enough for the two to begin making plans for future collaborations involving other artists and intellectuals and aimed at engaging young people in what Giroux calls “a substantive democracy”.