Pedagogical Possibilities of Becoming and the Transitional Space

• In Event: The Spaces of Pedagogy: Reticulations of Participation, Engagement, and Action

Abstract

If the learning self is imbued with a dynamic potential of becoming, how does this complicate pedagogical interactions with space? Furthermore, what meaning does this shift in perspective hold for the self, the space in which the learning occurs, and for challenging educational assumptions that dictate ‘acceptable’ ways of generating knowledge? Through an examination of the transitional space as defined by D.W. Winnicott (1989) and further elucidated by Elizabeth Ellsworth (2005), this paper critically reflects on the potential of the moving space of pedagogical becoming.
When exploring how space and the becoming, learning self can be considered dynamic, a framework that operates within unfixed conceptualizations provides language and structure to examine abstract components. Ellsworth’s concept of pedagogical hinges provides this guidance. “Pedagogy’s hinge” (p. 37) or the “pedagogical pivot place” (p. 38) described the ‘hinging’ moment wherein an individual experienced their own learning or living knowledge (p.1); that is, generated knowledge from their own experiences as opposed to passively accepting knowledge preemptively decided as necessary to know (p. 5). Additionally, the subsequent interpretive inquiry draws upon literature from educational theory, philosophy, media studies, and cultural studies to navigate through the theoretical aspects of approaching the pedagogical space in motion and the implications this holds for educational research and practice.
Significantly, within the transitional space the possibility of a becoming, learning self emerges. As a dynamic process (Colebrook, 2002), becoming relates to interactions and affect (Guatarri, 1989/2013). Furthermore, it is not possible to pre-emptively and consistently enact specific becomings. By freeing considerations of what constitutes the space and self, this perspective speaks to the pedagogical agency of the individual and welcomes a democratic epistemological approach (Ellsworth, 2005) that corresponds with an “open and contestable signification of democracy” (Brown, 2015, p. 20).
Here, the implications of engaging with a transitional space and allowing the possibility of becoming arise. Conceptualizing the learning self as becoming and in motion—rather than being, was, is, or to be—loosens the grasp of fixed educational assumptions that guide the discourse of education, in how it is conceived and acted out. This ‘loosening’ has reverberations within the politics of how things are taught, considered, and learned, as it calls into question hierarchical valuations of what constitutes ‘accepted’ ways of knowing and being. In the contemporary environment influenced by a neoliberal rationality (Brown, 2015) that seeks to shape, fix, and legitimize particular educational assumptions, it becomes crucial to consider other spaces that resist these efforts to foreclose other ways of approaching education. If a goal of educational practice, as indicated in this year’s call for submissions, is to encourage diverse democratic present(s) and futures, then considering the educational assumptions that permeate our pedagogical spaces can contextualize the productive promise and normative limitations in this pursuit.

Author

• Amy Sojot, University of Hawaii - Manoa