An octo-aesthetic figuration for learning in times of crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID5846745
AuthorsDelphi Carstens (0000-0001-8610-4393, University of the Western Cape, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume11
IssueSI2
Publication date2023-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Studies in Teaching and Learning (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2310-7103 • E-ISSN: 2310-7103
PublisherUniversity of the Western Cape Library Service (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.14426/cristal.v11isi2.1690
OpenAlexW4391437470
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited3

This theoretical paper mobilises a multi-modal figuration - octo-aesthetics - to argue for a transversal approach to HE (higher education) pedagogies appropriate to times of uncertainty. Using the eight independently thinking arms of the octopus as a guide, I deploy eight interrelated conceptual thinking aids to outline the relevance of an ethico-aesthetic paradigm to HE in times of individual, social, and environmental crisis. Deployed as speculative thinking aids, these octo- aesthetic figurations - schizoanalysis, bewilderment, shimmer, ecosophy, ecologicity, holobiont, trans-corporeality, and geontology - reclaim 'vision' and 'objectivity' from the disembodied all- knowing gaze of 'Man' and queer the central, and often unquestioned positions of privilege accorded to this viewpoint in humanist education systems. Calling into question anthropocentric binary/separatist humanist logics and assumptions of objective mastery, octo-aesthetic figurations reveal the onto-ethical outlines of a transversally situated learning modality that defies objectifying majoritarian modes of thinking/learning that are no longer appropriate to pedagogies in times of ecological calamity

Art Education and Development · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Digital Storytelling and Education

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