Awakening a Consciousness of Possibilities – Defamiliarizing the Present to Imagine Alternative Futures

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am - Gold 2
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Ethics

Abstract

This paper considers what imagining the future of education entails. I operate from a theoretical framework inspired by Chantal Mouffe’s political framework that renders utopian and idealistic visions impossible. According to my assumptions, based on Mouffe, education will always be dynamic and tension-ridden so what we can strive for is more like a dynamic equilibrium rather than a unifying vision. To explore what this process might look like, I have consulted the work of Maxine Greene and the process of awakening a consciousness of possibilities by defamiliarizing the present. In conclusion, in order to imagine the future of education we need to first defamiliarize ourselves from the current hegemony so that we can make more space to think afresh.

Author

• Maja Morsing, Teachers College, Columbia University