Overview
- Explains how pedagogy of banal evil can subvert “villainification” (the creation of a single actor as the face of systemic harm). Anti- villainification allows for the teaching and learning of history and contemporary events to exist in the tension between simplistically blaming one person and absolving us all from blame by (also simplistically) blaming the amorphous entity “society”
- Drawing from a phenomenographical study and the concept of order-words from Delezue and Guattari, examines the power of the label, evil, in the context of the study of historical and contemporary events
- Examines "Symbolic Evil" in the context of Canadian and US systems of schooling at the classroom, school, district, and national levels, noting the power of Symbolic Evil to help us redefine educational concerns like student “success”
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures (PSEF)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book asserts that engaging with divergent understandings about the nature of evil and how it functions can help those interested in education think through issues in curriculum, pedagogy, and beyond. The author provokes thinking about and through the concept of evil in the spirit of thoughtful education (as opposed to thoughtless schooling) toward how we might live together in less harmful ways. Although thinking about evil can be uncomfortable and troubling, such inquiries help us explore what sort of relations we want to have with others. Analyzing our role in evil as humans, as well as our responsibilities to counter the processes of evil present in our everyday lives, opens up a potential to foster radical thought in and out of the classroom.
Reviews
“A unique and valuable apparatus that can help educators and students reconceptualize evil as being a perpetually developing and creative force. … elementary school educators could benefit from the identification of theories and concepts that could serve as starting points for discussion with younger students.” (Bretton A. Varga, The Journal of Social Studies Research, Vol. 43 (4), October, 2019)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Cathryn van Kessel is Assistant Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta, Canada. As a researcher, a former secondary school teacher, and a current educator of pre-service teachers, her work seeks to blend educational theory and practice in provoking ways, particularly in relation to philosophy and social psychology.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: An Education in 'Evil'
Book Subtitle: Implications for Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Beyond
Authors: Cathryn van Kessel
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16605-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-16604-5Published: 29 April 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-16605-2Published: 15 April 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 155
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Curriculum Studies, Educational Philosophy, Sociology of Education