Dewey, democracy, and Malaguzzi’s vision for the schools of Reggio Emilia

Malaguzzi often refers to Dewey as one of the ‘founding fathers’, one of the threads weaving the warp, one of the cornerstones of a much larger building. In defining the value of these connections Malaguzzi explicitly refers to activism, creativity and mediation between individuality and society. Central in his vision is the need to connect individual and social dimension, build a culture and society able to embrace both, to work for the common good while respecting individuality. The quest for a ‘new individualism’ is strong in Dewey as well, together with the need for qualified participation. While the questions are mostly similar, this article aims at establishing whether the answers are too and whether a direct link can be traced between these two thinkers. Dewey lived a long and productive life, he died at 92, and left an incommensurable contribution to pedagogy. His work had a wide audience in post-WW2 Italy and became an essential reference for pedagogists. His philosophy left lasting traces throughout the Reggio Emilia Approach (REA). This article aims at investigating whether Dewey’s vision of democracy and the role of schools in fostering it, inspired Malaguzzi and the schools in Reggio Emilia. Malaguzzi’s idea of democracy is a complex, multidimensional vision, that imbues all his work and writings since the post-war years. Contrary to Dewey, Malaguzzi does not dwell on philosophical argumentation, he often talks about it, but almost never in connection with the official governmental form and never defines it. Our investigation is therefore not easy. It implies deconstructing the concept of democracy to find clues and indicators leading back to Dewey’s vision. We will base our analysis on Dewey’s texts available to Malaguzzi and compare them with his own writings, focusing on two main aspects: participation and the relation between individual and society.