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Session Submission Summary

Researching Across National Boundaries: Analysis of De-and Re-humanizing Practices in Inclusive Education

Wed, February 22, 8:00 to 9:30am EST (8:00 to 9:30am EST), Grand Hyatt Washington, Floor: Independence Level (5B), McPherson Square

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

1. Objectives
The new and growing body of theoretical work addressing the “posthuman condition” draws attention to the processes through which dehumanization is constituted (through the ejection of some groups from the category of the human) and how we may humanize knowledge production (by shifting those ejected from the category of the human from objects to subjects) (Caraballo & Souto-Manning, 2017; Dei, 2010; Paris & Alim, 2014; Walcott, 2014; Winn, 2019). The central question explored in the symposium is: what conditions are necessary for professional practice to become a site for interrupting discrimination and for (re)humanization of school inclusion through participation? The objective is to identify key concepts, methodologies and methods, and parameters that function as a starting point for practitioners in the field of education, using cases from multiple educational contexts.
2. Overview of the presentation
The key concepts that will be explored in the symposium will be generated through critical reflection and discussion on participants’ papers that collectively address the following questions:
(1) What modes of evaluation and measurement help create the conditions for de-/re- humanizing educational practices?
The presentation that addresses this question focuses on the historical dynamics of de-humanizing perspectives in assessment procedures (i.e., Special Needs Assessment Procedures/SNAPs) for children that were considered 'out of the norm' in the context of (e.g., dis/ability, any kinds of physical/mental impairments).
(2) What structural aspects of schooling/school organization of the space-time continuum contribute to de-/re-humanize classroom practices?
Two presentations address this question. First, a brief historical overview of the origins of homogenization practices, including “schooling the body” through a space-time continuum of school life, objectification, stereotyping, racism, and othering and their impact on the dehumanization of newcomer/refugee students. Second, an ethnographic study that explored time as a social construct and how it can be 'used' to de-humanize and re-humanize the classroom as an oppressive system.
(3) What is the potential of Comparative International Education (CIE) to reveal the dehumanizing pitfalls and limitations of educational practices at the intersection of education and digitality?
This presentation shares results from two studies:1) Comparing digital learning platforms from Estonia and Singapore and their use in inclusive education, and 2) Exploring "study streams" on YouTube – a digital practice in Italy, Spain, and Sweden that can be considered a bottom-up approach of participation in the digital learning condition.
3. Scholarly significance
The symposium is structured to generate concrete conceptual, methodological, methods-based, and evaluation-oriented frameworks for research and practice. Our research agenda offers two innovations:
(1) The problem of dehumanization as a paradigmatic one (Kuhn, 1996) that is shared across national boundaries, and that can be transformed by international collaboration.
(2) The problem of dehumanization is not only the social process that is the object of our study. As researchers and practitioners, we engage in humanization and/or dehumanization practices through our frameworks (e.g., by conceptualizing practitioners, patients/participants, and community members as knowledge producers).
4. Structure of the session
There will be four presentations by five scholars from three countries.

Sub Unit

Chair

Individual Presentations

Discussant