Andrew Lamas began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. His primary faculty appointment is in the School of Arts & Sciences’ Urban Studies Program, where he focuses on the theoretical and practical dimensions, as well as the philosophical and religious bases, of social justice and economic democracy — in the context of historical and contemporary capitalist urbanization. He has also lectured in other schools and programs at Penn, including the Law School, the Wharton School, the School of Design, and the School of Social Policy & Practice. He is Core Faculty in Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies (GSWS) and the Alice Paul Center, he participates in the GSWS Global Gender Group, and he is Faculty Affiliate of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center. Andy also serves as a Faculty Mentor and Fellow at the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations, where he focuses on employee ownership, cooperatives, and other alternative forms of broad-based ownership, democratic governance, and workplace participation.
A selected list of Andy’s publications and related research is provided below.
Selected Books:
- Andrew T. Lamas and Paul Buhle, eds., Herbert Marcuse, Philosopher of Utopia: A Graphic Biography, by Nick Thorkelson; with a Preface by Angela Y. Davis and an Afterword by Andrew T. Lamas (San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 2019).
- Andrew T. Lamas, Todd Wolfson, and Peter N. Funke, eds., The Great Refusal: Herbert Marcuse and Contemporary Social Movements (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2017).
Selected Special Journal Editions—Guest Editor:
- Andrew T. Lamas, editor of the special issue “Refusing One-Dimensionality,” Part Two, Radical Philosophy Review 20, no. 1 (2017).
- Andrew T. Lamas, editor of the special issue “Refusing One-Dimensionality,” Part One, Radical Philosophy Review 19, no. 1 (2016).
- Andrew T. Lamas, general editor and coeditor of the special issue, “Critical Refusals,” Part Two, Radical Philosophy Review, 16, no. 2 (2013), with coeditors Douglas Kellner, Charles Reitz, and Arnold L. Farr.
- Andrew T. Lamas, general editor and coeditor of the special issue, “Critical Refusals,” Part One, Radical Philosophy Review, 16, no. 1 (2013), with coeditors Douglas Kellner, Charles Reitz, and Arnold L. Farr.
Selected Chapters:
- Andrew T. Lamas, "Angela Y. Davis," in The Routledge Handbook of Marxism and Postmarxism (London and New York: Routledge, forthcoming 2020).
- Andrew T. Lamas, "Eros on the Slaughter-Bench," in Jesse Krimes: Deus ex Machina, ed. Julie Courtney (Philadelphia: Drexel University, 2018), 4-8.
- Arnold L. Farr and Andrew T. Lamas, “The Great Refusal in One-Dimensional Society,” in The Great Refusal: Herbert Marcuse and Contemporary Social Movements, ed., Andrew T. Lamas, Todd Wolfson, and Peter N. Funke (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2017), 389-398.
- Peter N. Funke, Andrew T. Lamas, and Todd Wolfson, “Bouazizi's Refusal and Ours: Critical Reflections on the Great Refusal and Contemporary Social Movements,” in The Great Refusal: Herbert Marcuse and Contemporary Social Movements, ed., Andrew T. Lamas, Todd Wolfson, and Peter N. Funke (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2017), 1-25.
- Imaculada Kangussu, Filip Kovacevic, and Andrew T. Lamas, “Mic Check! The New Sensibility Speaks,” in The Great Refusal: Herbert Marcuse and Contemporary Social Movements, ed., Andrew T. Lamas, Todd Wolfson, and Peter N. Funke (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2017), 132-156.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Race, Poverty, and Shared Wealth,” in Poverty & Race in America: The Emerging Agendas, ed. Chester Hartman (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006), 96-102.
Selected Articles:
- Andrew T. Lamas, "Losing Well: Make America Radical Again," Radical Philosophy Review 20, no. 1 (2017): 1-30.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Accumulation of Crises, Abundance of Refusals,” Radical Philosophy Review 19, no. 1 (2016): 1-22.
- Arnold L. Farr, Douglas Kellner, Andrew T. Lamas, and Charles Reitz, “Critical Refusals in Theory and Practice: The Radical Praxis of Herbert Marcuse and Angela Davis,” Radical Philosophy Review, 16, no. 2 (2013): 405-424.
- Arnold L. Farr, Douglas Kellner, Andrew T. Lamas, and Charles Reitz, “Herbert Marcuse’s Critical Refusals,” Radical Philosophy Review, 16, no. 1 (2013):1-16.
Selected Conference Presentations and Invited Public Lectures:
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Angela Y. Davis: Reconstructing the Radical Marcusean Branch of Critical Theory,” paper, 8th Biennial Conference, International Herbert Marcuse Society, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2019.
- Andrew T. Lamas, "Ways of Seeing the Political: Two Aesthetic Traditions," Da Vinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA, 2018.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Who Owns the Co-op? Prevailing Myth and Promising Reality,” Weavers Way Cooperative, Philadelphia, PA, 2017.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Co-opting the Co-op: Contradictions and Challenges of Cooperation,” Mid-Atlantic Food Cooperative Alliance (MAFCA) Conference, Swarthmore, PA, 2017.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Radical Pedagogy and Critical Theory: Creating Alternative Possibilities within Conventional Spaces of the Neoliberal University," Pedagogy Seminar series, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2016.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Visions of Liberation and Critique: Herbert Marcuse and Martin Luther King, Jr.,” paper, 12th Biennial Conference, Radical Philosophy Association, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 2016.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Marcuse and MacIntyre: Beyond Polemics, Toward Radical Solidarity,” paper, 5th Biennial Conference, International Herbert Marcuse Society, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, 2015.
- Andrew T. Lamas (with Charles Reitz), Workshop on Radical Teaching: Accounting for Inequality, 5th Biennial Conference, International Herbert Marcuse Society, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, 2015.
- Andrew T. Lamas (with Nick Thorkelson), “‘Holy Critical Theory, Batman!’: Marcuse is in the Comic,” comic book (work in progress), 5th Biennial Conference, International Herbert Marcuse Society, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, 2015.
- Andrew T. Lamas, "Critical Refusals," International Herbert Marcuse Society, 4th Biennial Conference, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 2011.
- Andrew T. Lamas, "Utopian Desire in the Classroom of Capitalist Critique and Alternative Economy," Utopia, Crisis, Justice, 12th International Conference of the Utopian Studies Society (Europe), University of Cyprus, Nicosia, 2011.
- Andrew T. Lamas, "Teaching Hegel with Coconuts," University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England, 2010.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Community and Finance,” Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan, 2010.
- Andrew T. Lamas, "Counter-Cultural / Counter-Capital: Marcuse's Medusa and Possibilities for a Radical Praxis of Art and Alternative Economy," 3rd Biennial Conference of the International Herbert Marcuse Society, York University, Toronto, Canada, 2009.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “Thinking Critically about Microfinance: Lessons for the Middle East,” Middle East Economics Association / American Economics Association Conference, 2005.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “From Slavery to Liberation: The Critique of Wage Employment and the Shared Ownership Alternative in Nkrumah’s Africa and Lincoln’s America,” Central Pennsylvania Consortium African American Studies Conference, 2004.
- Andrew T. Lamas, “From Black Bottom to Baghdad: Shared Ownership for Addressing Urban Poverty,” Urban Affairs Association Conference, 2004.
Selected Jazz CD Liner Notes:
- Andrew T. Lamas, The Classic Trio, featuring David Hazeltine, piano; Peter Washington, bass; Louis Hayes, drums (Van Gelder Studios; Sharp Nine Records, 1997).
- Andrew T. Lamas, Killer Ray Rides Again, featuring Ray Appleton Sextet: Charles McPherson, alto saxophone; Jim Rotondi, trumpet; Slide Hampton, trombone; John Hicks, piano; Ray Appleton, drums. (Van Gelder Studios; Sharp Nine Records, 1996).
- Andrew T. Lamas and Peter Margulies, Louis at Large, featuring Louis Hayes Quintet: Louis Hayes, drums; Javon Jackson, tenor saxophone; Riley Mullins, trumpet; David Hazeltine, piano; Santi Debriano, bass. (Van Gelder Studios; Sharp Nine Records, 1996).
Andy was on the founding board of the Center for Community Self-Help, which was founded in 1980, under the leadership of Martin Eakes. Self-Help is a leading national community development financial institution (CDFI) headquartered in Durham, NC. Founded in 1980, Self-Help has provided over $6.9 billion in financing to 112,000 families, individuals and businesses underserved by traditional financial institutions. It helps drive economic development and strengthen communities by financing hundreds of homebuyers each year, as well as nonprofits, child care centers, community health facilities, public charter schools, and residential and commercial real estate projects. The Self-Help family of non-profit organizations includes North Carolina's Self-Help Credit Union, Self-Help Federal Credit Union, Self-Help Ventures Fund and the Center for Responsible Lending (Washington, DC), a national policy and advocacy organization addressing abusive lending practices. Through its credit union network, Self-Help serves over 120,000 people in North Carolina, California, Chicago and Florida and offers a full range of financial products and services. Andy was also a cofounder of The Reinvestment Fund–TRF, in 1983, and served on its board for nearly two decades. TRF provides financing, with more than $1.8 billion in total investments, for more than 3,000 projects in affordable housing, commercial development, solar energy, and community development in the Greater Philadelphia region and beyond.
In the 1980s, he served as the Managing Director of PACE, a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia, PA, which was one of the nation’s leading providers of technical assistance for cooperatives and was the developer (in collaboration with the United Food & Commercial Workers union) of the O&O Supermarkets, the nation’s first network of employee owned and operated supermarkets. He has also served on the boards of several arts and educational institutions, including Big Small Theater, InterAct Theatre, Miquon School, and Allens Lane Art Center. Annually, since 2003, he has taught a term-long course on critical social theory for high school students through the volunteer faculty program at Masterman High School. For more than twenty-five years, he has been the coordinator of a cooperative, feminist, softball league for girls and young women (grades K-12) in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Mount Airy. In 2007 and 2008, he was on the National Urban Policy Committee of the Presidential Campaign of Barack Obama.
Andy currently serves on the board of the Bread & Roses Community Fund (which has distributed more than $11 million to organizations in the Philadelphia area working for access to health care, economic justice, a clean, safe environment, civil and human rights, and peace). He is a senior consultant with Praxis Consulting Group—working with employee owned firms, community development financial institutions, and nonprofit institutions.
He is on the editorial board of the Radical Philosophy Review—the journal of the Radical Philosophy Association. He is the website editor and a founding board member of the International Herbert Marcuse Society. In October 2011, he organized the Society's Fourth Biennial Conference—Critical Refusals, which featured more than 150 papers and presentations by scholars, artists, and activists from more than fifteen countries. Special guest speakers included Angela Davis, Stanley Aronowitz, Richard Bernstein, Alex Callinicos, Andrew Feenberg, Michelle Fine, Lewis Gordon, Peter-Erwin Jansen, Douglas Kellner, Heather Love, Peter Marcuse, Charles Mills, Lucius Outlaw, Leo Panitch, Nina Power, Adolph Reed, and David Roediger.
By appointment of Penn’s Office of the Vice Provost for Education, Andy serves on the University Scholars Council and the Penn Fulbright Committee and regularly assists the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF) in selecting and supporting students who are candidates for scholarships and fellowships, such as Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall, Thouron, Gates Cambridge, Truman, Presidential Management Fellows, and others. He also serves on the Weigel Information Commons Faculty Advisory Group for Penn’s Van Pelt Library. At the Wharton School, Andy served for many years on the Faculty Advisory Board of Penn Social Entrepreneurship Mentoring Program (PennSEM) and of Penn International Business Volunteers (PIVB), and he was the Faculty Advisor for the Penn Microfinance Club in its initial years.
Beginning in 2007, with support from the Provost’s Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program at the University of Pennsylvania, he launched a research project on alternative currency in communities across the globe. To date, research projects have been undertaken by Prof. Lamas and his students in cities in the United States, England, Italy, Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, Senegal, Morocco, Japan, and South Korea.
He founded and directed (from 2012-2015) the Social Justice Research Academy, a month-long, residential program at the University of Pennsylvania for high school students from around the world. This annual program (every July) brings students together with Penn faculty to examine the historical importance and the contemporary relevance of struggles to overcome inequality and injustice. Students hailed from numerous countries, including: Brazil, Canada, China, El Salvador, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Palestine, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States.
He was presented the “Dr. B. R. Ambedkar International Human Rights and Social Change Award” by the Ambedkar International Mission (AIM), New York, NY (2017). At the University of Pennsylvania, he was the recipient of the Katz Award for Teaching Excellence in Urban Studies (2000), the School of Arts & Science’s LPS/CGS Distinguished Teaching Award (2005), and the School of Social Policy & Practice’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2015). He was awarded the George Bailey Award "for pioneering community reinvestment in the Delaware Valley" by The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), Philadelphia, PA (1993).
He received the B.A. (Humanities / Political Science) from Davidson College (Phi Beta Kappa), the M.A. (Economic Development / Africa) from the University of London's School of Oriental & African Studies, and the J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Fall Term Courses
- URBS 4520 (452) Community Economic Development
- URBS 4800 (480) Liberation and Ownership
- NPLD 790—Social Finance
Spring Term Courses
- URBS 4050 (405)/HIST405/AFRC4050 (405)/RELS4050 (439) Religion, Social Justice and Urban Development
- DYNM 671: Ownership Matters
Occasional Courses:
URBS 220: The Democratic City
SWRK 601: History and Philosophy of Social Welfare & Social Work
SWRK 611: Contemporary Social Policy
SWRK 736: Building Community Capacity
SWRK 770: Social Welfare and the Law
To learn about Prof. Lamas' teaching methods and his students' work in the Community Economic Development course (Fall 2009), see JoAnn Greco, "Teaching Inside the Box," in THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE (January/February 2010): http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0110/gaz01slide/index.html.
For a review of his use of technology in the classroom, see Cathy Von Elm, "Techno-gogy in Urban Studies and Social Policy & Practice," in IVY LEAVES (Spring2010): http://www.library.upenn.edu/docs/publications/ivyleaves/IvyLeavesSpring2010.pdf.
For a case study [compilation of videos and related information] highlighting Prof. Lamas’ teaching philosophy and methods, see the Merlot Elixr Program of the California State University (CSU/FIPSE) (November 2010): http://elixr.merlot.org/case-stories/teaching-strategies/nurturing-student-creativity-with-video-projects/nurturing-student-creativity---urban-studies.