Foreword: The Educational and Political Potential of Art

Dan Perjovschi, The Horizontal Newspaper: A School of Text and Image, is a book by Gloria Luca which deals with the artistic intervention ”The Horizontal Newspaper” in Sibiu, Romania by the artist Dan Perjovschi. I was invited to write a preface, which became the text “The Educational and Political Potential of Art.” Published in 2022 by Curtea Veche Publishing.

Poem: The Archive, the list

”The Archive, the list” is a poem published in The cry of the poor: an anthology of radical writing about poverty, published September 2021 by Cultural Matters. Editor Fran Lock. Translated by Freke Räihä.

Article: “Never Again the Everyday”

Taking my own, as well as students, experience of escapism into TV series as a starting point, that is, their ability take us somewhere far away, something which has become more acute during the pandemic time since we remain more or less self-isolated because of the corona virus Covid-19, the article discusses escapism in relation to distraction and attention in life as well as within teaching, but also in relation to colportage, hope and social justice. According to Ernst Bloch, social justice cannot materialize without regarding things differently. Something that is often dismissed as mere escapism might be a seed for a new and more humane social order, as it can be seen as an “immature, but honest substitute for revolution” (Bloch 1986, p. 368).

Published online and open access in Studies in Philosophy and Education (2021). A part of the special issue on Cinema, Philosophy and Education with guest editors Torill Strand and Claudia Schumann.

Article: On the Verge of tears

What do emotions do? Are emotions possible and desirable starting points for teaching difficult and complex subjects such as injustice and historical wounds? This article “On the verge of tears: The Ambivalent spaces of Emotions and Testimonies” explores the 2015 image and testimony of Alan Kurdi, lying on a beach of the Mediterranean Sea and the immense emotional response it elicited from the media. By critiquing emotions based on testimonies in teaching, by primarily following Ahmed (2014) and Todd (2003), this article argues that emotions are cultural practices, not psychological states, and, thus, are relational. Published online: Studies in Philosophy and Education, September 2019, Volume 38, Issue 5, pp 467–480.

Special Issue: Shifting Feminist Politics in Education

I have been guest editor together with Claudia Schumann for the special issue: “Shifting feminist politics in education: Contemporary philosophical perspectives”, for the journal Studier i pedagogisk filosofi. I and Claudia have written the introduction. Contributions from Karin Gunnarsson and Simon Ceder, Aislinn O’Donnell, Rebecca Adami, Lovisa Bergdahl and Claudia Schumann. The whole issue can be read online, for free.

Article: Inhabiting a Place in the Common

In the special issue on Shifting Feminist Politics in Education I contribute with the article: “Inhabiting a Place in the Common: Profanation and Biopolitics in Teaching”. This article considers the common and shared world in teaching, by reference to the concept of profanation in relation to biopolitics. “To profane”, means to treat something (or someone) as worldly and as something “that can be played with”. The act of profanation has implications for how objects that are “put on the table” can be regarded in teaching and how these “objects” can become public goods. But what happens when things that are used in teaching are representations of social injustice and suffering? This article will give a critique of the idea of profanation, specifically discussing when teaching deals with social injustice and representations of suffering. Published 2017, Studier i pedagogisk filosofi.

Article: Testimony and Narrative as a Political Relation

With the starting point in the film 12 Angry Men the article “Testimony and Narrative as a Political Relation: The Question of Ethical Judgment in Education” discussess testimony, narrative and listening in relation to educational settings. Co-written with Rebecca Adami. Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 49, Issue 1, 2015.

Article: Voices from the Past

How can the use of testimonies, as representations of suffering, be understood in education? In this article “Voices from the Past: On represenation of Suffering in Education” I discuss what kind of potential the use of testimonies can have for pedagogical transformation, drawing on Mollenhauer, Sontag, Agamben and Spivak. Ethics and Education, Volume 10, Issue 2, 2015.