Education as Performative Contradiction: Limits (And Possibilities) of Subjectification in the Anthropocene
An environmentally reoriented educational policy is oftentimes regarded as the premier locus for a societal response to the climate crisis. As observed by Gough (2021), a general belief shared among both policy makers and academics is a consensus that education needs to be perceived less as an inst...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Vilnius University Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia |
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| Online Access: | https://www.journals.vu.lt/acta-paedagogica-vilnensia/article/view/38426 |
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| author | Audrius Pocius |
| author_facet | Audrius Pocius |
| author_sort | Audrius Pocius |
| collection | DOAJ |
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An environmentally reoriented educational policy is oftentimes regarded as the premier locus for a societal response to the climate crisis. As observed by Gough (2021), a general belief shared among both policy makers and academics is a consensus that education needs to be perceived less as an instrument for securing sociocultural reproduction and transmission of existing knowledge and more as a catalyst for social and cultural change. The aim of this article is a critical investigation into possibilities and obstacles for education to achieve such change, given the condition of ‘ontological insecurity’ (Hamilton, 2017) that the Anthropocene implies. It is divided into three parts: 1) following Chakrabarty, I identify the politico-aesthetic challenges posed by anthropogenic climate change and formulate their relevance as an educational ordeal; 2) I enquire about the challenges and possibilities for environmental education to foster societal change and conclude that, while a general policy change toward sustainable education may be insufficient, education remains a premier site where negotiations could take place between the deep-seated beliefs about subjectivity and an open anticipation of unforeseen modes of agency; 3) after providing a comparative analysis of classical humanist Bildung and post-humanist accounts of subjectification in education, I conclude that these approaches constitute a performative contradiction, which allows the experiential challenges of the Anthropocene to be approached in terms of a reimagined aesthetic education thematized as a critique of (human) capacity.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-44dbda848a3044c59012da9f41682a97 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1392-5016 1648-665X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Vilnius University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia |
| spelling | doaj-art-44dbda848a3044c59012da9f41682a972025-01-20T18:08:18ZengVilnius University PressActa Paedagogica Vilnensia1392-50161648-665X2025-01-015310.15388/ActPaed.2024.53.4Education as Performative Contradiction: Limits (And Possibilities) of Subjectification in the AnthropoceneAudrius Pocius0Vilnius University, Lithuania An environmentally reoriented educational policy is oftentimes regarded as the premier locus for a societal response to the climate crisis. As observed by Gough (2021), a general belief shared among both policy makers and academics is a consensus that education needs to be perceived less as an instrument for securing sociocultural reproduction and transmission of existing knowledge and more as a catalyst for social and cultural change. The aim of this article is a critical investigation into possibilities and obstacles for education to achieve such change, given the condition of ‘ontological insecurity’ (Hamilton, 2017) that the Anthropocene implies. It is divided into three parts: 1) following Chakrabarty, I identify the politico-aesthetic challenges posed by anthropogenic climate change and formulate their relevance as an educational ordeal; 2) I enquire about the challenges and possibilities for environmental education to foster societal change and conclude that, while a general policy change toward sustainable education may be insufficient, education remains a premier site where negotiations could take place between the deep-seated beliefs about subjectivity and an open anticipation of unforeseen modes of agency; 3) after providing a comparative analysis of classical humanist Bildung and post-humanist accounts of subjectification in education, I conclude that these approaches constitute a performative contradiction, which allows the experiential challenges of the Anthropocene to be approached in terms of a reimagined aesthetic education thematized as a critique of (human) capacity. https://www.journals.vu.lt/acta-paedagogica-vilnensia/article/view/38426educationontological insecurityenvironmental and sustainable educationperformative contradictionsubjectification |
| spellingShingle | Audrius Pocius Education as Performative Contradiction: Limits (And Possibilities) of Subjectification in the Anthropocene Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia education ontological insecurity environmental and sustainable education performative contradiction subjectification |
| title | Education as Performative Contradiction: Limits (And Possibilities) of Subjectification in the Anthropocene |
| title_full | Education as Performative Contradiction: Limits (And Possibilities) of Subjectification in the Anthropocene |
| title_fullStr | Education as Performative Contradiction: Limits (And Possibilities) of Subjectification in the Anthropocene |
| title_full_unstemmed | Education as Performative Contradiction: Limits (And Possibilities) of Subjectification in the Anthropocene |
| title_short | Education as Performative Contradiction: Limits (And Possibilities) of Subjectification in the Anthropocene |
| title_sort | education as performative contradiction limits and possibilities of subjectification in the anthropocene |
| topic | education ontological insecurity environmental and sustainable education performative contradiction subjectification |
| url | https://www.journals.vu.lt/acta-paedagogica-vilnensia/article/view/38426 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT audriuspocius educationasperformativecontradictionlimitsandpossibilitiesofsubjectificationintheanthropocene |