Biographical Statement

Jason Del Gandio was raised in a working class family in northern New Jersey. He spent his summers doing construction and carpentry for his father where he learned the value of hard work and the realities of capitalism. In his late teens and early twenties Jason participated in various underground subcultures. These experiences opened his eyes to cultural politics and alternative ways of being in the world. This inspired him to study philosophy as the practice of existential exploration and cultural critique. He graduated from Kean University of New Jersey, earning a degree in Philosophy with a minor in Communication Studies.
As a graduate student, Jason studied the Philosophy of Communication and Performance Studies at Southern Illinois University (at Carbondale). His doctoral dissertation used theories of embodiment and language to reconceptualize the "human vibe" as bodily emanation, which, to the best of his knowledge, was the first and only study of its kind. In the later years of his graduate studies Jason encountered the Global Justice Movement. Witnessing thousands of people marching in the streets and shutting down the likes of the World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund set Jason on a new path: radical social change.
Over the last twenty years, Jason has participated in the Global Justice Movement, the anti-Iraq war movement, fair trade campaigns, Latin American solidarity work, and the Occupy Movement, and he continues to be an ally for feminism, LGBTQ+ rights/liberation, and racial justice. More recently, he has taken up the issue of prison reform/abolition.
His first book, Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists (2008), earned a first place award from the Independent Publishers Industry and was translated into Korean. He has also co-edited three books: Spontaneous Combustion: The Eros Effect and Global Revolution (2017), Educating for Action: Strategies to Ignite Social Justice (2014), and The Terrorization of Dissent: Corporate Repression, Legal Corruption, and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (2014). Jason's long term projects include: developing a political philosophy that he refers to as neo-radicalism--a form of radicalism that focuses on communication, desire, and the creation of reality; developing a philosophy of “bodily emanation,” which he has worked on intermittently since graduate school; and developing a "social movement literacy"--how to educate the public about the importance of radical social movements.
Jason is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Communication and Social Influence at Temple University in Philadelphia. His classes help students to think strategically about social change. This often involves theories, practices, and communicative strategies for achieving social justice, and includes community organizing, coalition building, message framing, social media, direct action, public speech, culture jamming, etc.
Jason has appeared on television and radio, and regularly speaks on college campuses and at public venues. His speaking engagements include both workshops and traditional talks that address a variety of issues (see Justice & Liberation page, bottom). His life's goal: To create a world in which everyone is free.
As a graduate student, Jason studied the Philosophy of Communication and Performance Studies at Southern Illinois University (at Carbondale). His doctoral dissertation used theories of embodiment and language to reconceptualize the "human vibe" as bodily emanation, which, to the best of his knowledge, was the first and only study of its kind. In the later years of his graduate studies Jason encountered the Global Justice Movement. Witnessing thousands of people marching in the streets and shutting down the likes of the World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund set Jason on a new path: radical social change.
Over the last twenty years, Jason has participated in the Global Justice Movement, the anti-Iraq war movement, fair trade campaigns, Latin American solidarity work, and the Occupy Movement, and he continues to be an ally for feminism, LGBTQ+ rights/liberation, and racial justice. More recently, he has taken up the issue of prison reform/abolition.
His first book, Rhetoric for Radicals: A Handbook for 21st Century Activists (2008), earned a first place award from the Independent Publishers Industry and was translated into Korean. He has also co-edited three books: Spontaneous Combustion: The Eros Effect and Global Revolution (2017), Educating for Action: Strategies to Ignite Social Justice (2014), and The Terrorization of Dissent: Corporate Repression, Legal Corruption, and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (2014). Jason's long term projects include: developing a political philosophy that he refers to as neo-radicalism--a form of radicalism that focuses on communication, desire, and the creation of reality; developing a philosophy of “bodily emanation,” which he has worked on intermittently since graduate school; and developing a "social movement literacy"--how to educate the public about the importance of radical social movements.
Jason is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Communication and Social Influence at Temple University in Philadelphia. His classes help students to think strategically about social change. This often involves theories, practices, and communicative strategies for achieving social justice, and includes community organizing, coalition building, message framing, social media, direct action, public speech, culture jamming, etc.
Jason has appeared on television and radio, and regularly speaks on college campuses and at public venues. His speaking engagements include both workshops and traditional talks that address a variety of issues (see Justice & Liberation page, bottom). His life's goal: To create a world in which everyone is free.