Theorizing Biological Narratives in Education: The Case of Virtual Truancy

• In Event: Curriculum, Bodies, and Space in Educational Contexts

Abstract

Discussions about education have begun to incorporate advancements in developmental psychology to warn teachers and parents against the effects of the pandemic on brain development. Using critical discourse analysis, this paper explores how scientism and biocentric constructions of learning animate truancy policies premised on worries and anxieties about cognitive and socioemotional development. First, the paper offers an emerging theory of bio-narratives to situate how scientists and biologism animate educational practices. Second, the paper examines articles about virtual truancy during the pandemic vis-à-vis the history of eugenics in the construction of the truant student. The paper concludes by showing how narratives about biological development, specifically neuroscience, are weaponized in truancy discourses.

Author

• Francisco Medina, Graduate Center, CUNY