The Pedagogy Of Becoming: Deleuze, Didactics and the Focus Group Interview

Author(s):

Lotta Johansson(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching

Format:

Paper

Session Information

27 SES 07 B, Learning Experience, Critical Thinking and Literacy

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

17:15-18:45

Room:

B016 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Stefan Thomas Hopmann

Contribution

The aim of this paper is to explore, both empirically and theoretically and with inspiration in Deleuzes & Guattaris (1994, 2004) philosophy, how the future and the not-yet-seen can be used methodologically and in a didactical context as a source of what is commonly referred to as critical thinking. In this, the future, or the not-yet-seen/said/thought, rather contains a geographical than a temporal aspect, escaping the linear and progressive image of time which is assigned with the modernity and thus, as Usher & Edwards (1994) argues, also the school as a modern project. In ‘traditional’ progressive pedagogy, like for example those associated with John Dewey (2004, 1991) and Paulo Freire (1972), departure in the pedagogical situation should be taken in the pupils’ own experiences which give precedence to the past and the already existing knowledge. With inspiration in Deleuze, and Deleuze & Guattari, this paper aims to show how a pedagogical and a methodological situation can take departure in an opposite position, namely in the not yet seen/said/thought, especially in relation to the process of subjectification and the construction of something ‘new’ (Deleuze & Guattari 1994). The following research question has been a source of navigation, based on the assumption that the methodology and the didactical relation corresponds:

How can the figure of the not-yet-seen be used in a methodological context?

How does the not-yet-seen as a didactical tool construct the subjects in relation to the production of the ‘new’?

Background

The school can, according to Biesta (2006) and Usher & Edwards (1994), be seen as a modern project, based on an idea of constant progress and on the human as a stable, coherent, and autonomous subject. However, this image can be contested, and in this paper, departure is taken in two figures which respectively contain both features of modernity and of the progressive education which partly challenge modernity as such, namely: critical thinking and the concept of experience. These two concepts will be described and contested in the following, aiming to highlight which aspects in these can be useful in relation to a Deleuzian thinking and to the not-yet-seen.

Experience

As a reaction against the prevalent school system in the end of the 1900^th, which preferentially emanated from the mere content of education, the progressive philosopher John Dewey emphasized the importance of starting the didactical relation in something as subjective as the experience. This is exemplified with the commonly quoted phrase by Dewey: “You teach a child, not a subject” (Dewey in Säljö 2010:176). When taking departure in the experience of the pupil instead of overall objectives, the learning environment improves, being beneficial both for the individual and the society. Without doubt, this was a radical statement in the beginning of the last century, but some decades later, the thoughts was at least partly implemented in for example the Swedish school (see ex. Englund 1986). By emphasizing the importance of the experience, the past is obviously an attendant factor which is hinting more in a conservative direction. How does this match with the progressive aspects associated with Dewey then, and with the outspoken aim for an education with the possibility to change society? As noted before, the emphasis on the experience of the pupils was radical, but in this, Dewey also highlighted the dimensions of the unknown future. The act of thinking, according to Dewey, appears in the tension between the past and the future, or rather; between the experienced and the not yet seen (1991:66). This makes what is beyond experience important in a pedagogical situation.

Method

Critical thinking Critical thinking is a commonly used figure in school curriculum; often associated with ideals of democracy and an anti-authoritarian mindset. Simultaneously, the concept has close connections to values from the enlightenment, namely for regarding the human as a logical, rational, and autonomous being. In this ideal lays an idea of the objective truth, of a true core ready to be uncovered (see for example Mulnix 2012, Tittle 2010). Walters (1994) contest this image, bringing forward what she calls the second wave of critical thinking, associating it rather with social constructivist values. Even though emphasize is put on the importance of the context, this second wave is unsuccessful in liberating itself from positivistic ideals, simultaneously as it gives expression of a rather weak relativism. Method In order to test these thoughts, both in theory and in practice, the method of focus group interview (FGI) is used. Krueger & Casey (2009) defines the focus group interview as follows: [a] “carefully planned series of discussions to obtain perceptions on a defined area of interest in a permissive, non-threatening environment” (2). The FGI has obvious potential, not only in a pedagogical context, but also in relation to a Deleuzian thinking. In this study, the specific method is seen as a constructed space of in-betweenness, which is permissive of the subjectivities’ movement and for constructing lines of becoming, and thus, which is according to Deleuze – the production of something other than it already is. What is methodologically stressed in this paper, is that by taking departure in the not-yet-known, instead of in already existing experience, a greater space of movement for the participating subjects to be constructed is produced, making it possible to create something ‘new’ not in an objective but in a relative sense. Thinking FGI with Deleuze imply questions directed towards the unknown, in a geographical rather than a temporal sense, but it also imply an analysis which does not departure in the expressions of the individual and thus the stable subject, but rather in the movements seen between the participants and in the knowledge which is constructed together. In this study, more than ten FGI's are conducted with students at thier final year in high school. The subject of discussion has been the future, or the not-yet-seen, both in relation to themselves and in relation to society.

Expected Outcomes

Theoretical inspiration in this paper is found in Deleuze, both in relation to the experimentation of the concepts mentioned and in relation to the method. Except using Deleuzes concept of the not-yet-seen departure is also taken in Deleuze & Guattari (2004:256ff) challenge of the stable subject and their use of the concept of becoming – showing how the subject rather is the result of flows, like opinions, skills, desires, than the production of it. With inspiration in Deleuze and Mazzei’s (2010, 2013), and in relation to Dewey’s notion of experience, a third wave of critical thinking is suggested. This third wave would like to highlight that the not-yet-seen can be used as a source of critical thinking. Putting emphasis on the geographical aspect of the not-yet-seen, showing that what we do not yet know is not necessarily located in front of us, but could as well be behind, below and so on. Also, it escapes the temporal, progressive and linear significance often associated with the future as a concept. This potentially develops a didactical tool for questioning the present, with the knowledge of that it might be different than it is. The FGI do not exclusively create movements in-between which challenge the stable subject. Sometimes positions within the group are taken and kept, and already existing knowledge and opinions are expressed. However, what these interviews show is that movement can actually be seen at times, when the participants, sometimes playfully, challenge their positions and opinions, constructing something they did not know before which partly also challenged the prevalent. Taking departure in this, this paper suggest that the focus group interview as a research methodology, or the open seminar as a didactical tool, inspired by Deleuze, can be a source of critical thinking, and of the creation of something new.

References

Dewey, J. (1991[1910]). How we think. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books. Dewey, J. (1999). Demokrati och utbildning. Göteborg: Daidalos. Dewey, J. (2004[1916]). Democracy and education. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications. Englund, T. (1986). Curriculum as a political problem: changing educational conceptions, with special reference to citizenship education. Diss. Uppsala : Univ.. Lund. Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books Biesta, G. (2006). Bortom lärandet: demokratisk utbildning för en mänsklig framtid. Lund: Studentlitteratur Krueger, R.A. & Casey, M.A. (2009). Focus groups: a practical guide for applied research. (4. [updated] ed.) Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Säljö, R. (2010) Den lärande mäniskan – teoretiska traditioner. In: (edi.U.P. Lundgren, R. Säljö, C. Liberg) Lärande, skola, bildning. Stockholm: Natur & Kultur. Mazzei, L. & McCoy, K. (2010): Thinking with Deleuze in qualitative research, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 23:5, 503-509 Mazzei, L. (2013) A voice without organs: interviewing in posthumanist research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26:6, 732-740 Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (1994). What is philosophy?. London: Verso. Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (2004). A thousand plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia. London: Continuum. Walters, K. S. (1994) Introduction: Beyond Logocism in Critical Thinking. I: (red.) Walters, K.S. Re-Thinking Reason. New Perspectives in Critical Thinking. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press. 1-22 Mulnix, J.W. (2012) Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking. Educational Philosophy and Theory. Vol. 44, No. 5. 464-479. Tittle, P. (2010). Critical thinking: an appeal to reason. New York: Routledge.

Author Information

Lotta Johansson (presenting / submitting)

Lund university

Department of Sociology

Lund

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