Education as a corporeal matter An Agambenian perspective

1. Education as a corporeal matterAn Agambenianperspective Dr. Joris Vlieghe Laboratory forEducationand Society University of Leuven (Belgium)

2. A praxeologicalview on education • I am notinterested in a generaland normative theory on education in viewofwhichconcretepracticesmightbeassessed (asusefulorharmful) • I am ratherinterested in newwaysofdescribingandanalyzingconcreteeducationalpractices • This mightallow • toconsiderdimensionsoflearningandteachingthatusuallydon´tgetmuchattention • todefinetheirspecificeducationalsignificance

3. A praxeologicalview on education • Weshouldconcentrate on corporealaspectsofwhathappensinsideclassrooms • Andmoreprecisely on thoseformsofbehaviorthatmightbedefinedas ´gestures´ • Background: someideasdeveloppedbytheItalianphilosopher Giorgio AGAMBEN • An Agambenianviewmighthelpustoovercomethe quasi ineradicablepresenceoftheMerleau-Pontiandogmasregardingtheway in which (educational) researchshouldlookatthe human body

4. MERLEAU-PONTY: • Phenomenologicalaccountof (wo)man thatstronglyopposestheintellectualistanddualistprejudicesthataretypicalforthe traditional view on human embodiment (body = solely a containerof a mental orintellectualsubstance, thathasnothingto do withwhat (wo)man really\essentiallyis) • MP showsthat [1] whatis so called‘intellectual‘ is in realitydependent upon theway in whichweareasbodiessituated in theworld, [2] thatthebodyitselfis a sourceandcarrierofmeaning (ithasitsownintentionality) and [3] thatweareourbodies • Althoughthisviewatfirstsightmightseemtoimply an emancipationofthecorporeal, itis in reality just anotherversionof a dualistaccountof (wo)man.

5. Totheschoolofthought in educationalresearchthatgoes back toMerleau-Ponty´sideas, thebodyappearsas a resourcethathasbeenneglected (becauseoftheintellectualorientationof traditional schooling), but thatweshouldretrieveandputatusetorealizetheestablishedobjectivesofeducation, in a moreefficientwayand\or in a waythatismorerespectfultothewhole human being • Problematictothisviewis: • The bodyisinstrumentalized, ratherthanbeingtakenseriousforwhatitisitself. Thisapproachhasinterest in thebodyonlyinsofaritisthebasisof all constitutionofmeaning • Significanceofthebodyisdefined in theprecisetermsthatwerecentraltothe traditional (intellectualist) viewitissupposedtooppose, viz. : in termsofmeaning, pre-reflexive rationality, etc.)

6. Agamben, thebodyandeducation • Mycontentionisthattherefusalofintellectualism (towhich I agree) does not necessarilymeanthatweshouldembracethebodyassourceofmeaningandas a forgottenpedagogicalresource • In order totakethebodyseriously, especially in education, wemight turn toAgamben´sidea on gestures

7. Agamben, thebodyandeducation • Agambenproblematizestheideathatcorporealbehaviorshouldbeclassifiedas • Either: poiesis(mean in viewof an end, instrumental behaviour) • Or: praxis (pure end, autotelicactivity) → IN BOTH CASES: whatwe do ismeaningfulormeaningless • Thereis a thirdpossibilitycalledgesture: thisconcernscorporealactivities in whichthatwhatwe do isexperiencedasbeyondmeaning(i.e.: we find ourselves in a situation in whichanypossibilityofsignificationissuspended). Gesturesarepure means. Thisistosaythat an activityisexperiencedas such (e.g.: pure language, pure seeing, pure movement)

8. Agamben, thebodyandeducation • Tobeclear: ´pure´ ≠ returnto an originary (edenic) state = suspensionofall meaning, fullexposure • More positivelyseen: becauseofthissuspensionwemightforthefirst time experiencewhatmeaningis all about. Itconcerns a strong experienceofpotentiality • Itconcernshowever also an experiencewhichis in theolder sense oftheword ´experiential´(toputoneselfat stake): althoughoneexperiencesthat ´I CAN move´, ´I CAN speak´, ´I CAN see´, itis not an affirmationorstrengtheningof a subject-position, thoughitconcerns a radicalexpropriationoftheself. The ‘I’ in ‘I can’ disappears and the only thing that remains is an anonymous experience of potentiality • Itisnolongerpossibletoappropriatethatwhatoneexperiences (as a private possession)

9. Agamben, thebodyandeducation • E.g.: being on the telephone and making droodles. As one cannot perform two difficult tasks at one and the same time, one just puts down ‘meaningless’ drawings/signs • This behavior might of course be interpreted as a direct manifestation of primary (unconscious) processes (and receive a meaning from that) • Seen from an Agambenian point of view however, these gestures are ‘pure means’ and show the ability of ‘pure writing’, precisely because what one does is radically disinvested with meaning. Preciesely here we experience what it means that we CAN write. • It shows in a sense ‘that we don’t know what a body is capable of’ (Deleuze).

10. Agamben, thebodyandeducation • This perspective allows to analyze in a new way concrete practices that take place inside educational contexts • Two short illustrations: • Learning activity: Swedish gymnastics • Teaching activity: democratic gestures

13. Swedish Gymnastics • Exercise of the most essential bodily movement forms, typically in group, on command and in a repetitive manner • Might be analyzed as a disciplinary strategy that renders the body productive • But, it might also be seen as an educational practice that is concerned with the experience of ‘pure movement’

14. Swedish Gymnastics • The collective and repetitive nature of this kind of exercise is no mere accident, but is essential for it being a typically school practice (Swedish gymnastics ≠ sport, leisure) • This practice might be called a collectively body experiment in which we might experience a form of ‘democracy of the flesh’, meaning that we undergo together a form of self-expropiation that radicallyinterruptsanyexistingdistributionof well-definedcapacities, identitiesandsocialroles • In that sense weundergo an experienceofequality, meaningthatweexperienceour‘being together’ as not regulated by any established societal order. We appear as equals in view of an open future

16. Democratic gestures • The way in which a teacherisphysicallypresentisneitherimmaterial, norof a secondaryor instrumental significance (a kindofbody-languagethataccompaniesandsupportsotheractivities) • Thisistosaythat in concretegestures (embodied, but not under intentional control) a teacherdisplays (ordoes not display) an attitudeofequality(Rancière) • Thisisnottosaythat s/he isinterested in learningoutcomesorthestudent‘s well-being • butthat s/he ispassionatelydevotedtohis/her subject-matter andwantstogiveitfreetohis/her studentswhoaregrantedthepossibilityof a real transformationof individual andcollectivelife