Teaching bodies/learning desire : rethinking the role of desire in the pedagogic process

Megan Watkins

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    12 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Desire is a crucial aspect of the pedagogic process. For too long, however, there has been a dichotomous relationship between understandings of teacher and student desire. The former is often configured as a pedagogic anachronism, problematised and needing to be contained. Conversely, the latter is essentialised as a force that should not be restrained by the processes of institutionalised education. Neither of these ideas is useful for thinking through complex issues around pedagogy. Overall, desire in education requires greater theoretical exploration. Within mainstream education it is rarely raised as an issue. Poststructuralist theorising, on the other hand, particularly in its use of psychoanalysis, tends to simply sexualise desire, which obscures more productive interpretations of its role in learning. There needs to be a reconceptualisation of the role of desire in the pedagogic process that moves beyond these formulations. The intention of this article is to rethink the nature and function of pedagogic desire. Drawing on a range of sources it considers current conceptions of both teacher and student desire and theorisations of desire and the body in education. Finally, it proposes an alternate model drawing upon Bourdieu's notion of habitus and the philosophical insights of Spinoza's monist logic.
    Original languageEnglish
    Number of pages12
    JournalPedagogy\, Culture & Society
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

    Keywords

    • critical pedagogy
    • desire
    • learning
    • postmodernism and education
    • teacher-student relationships
    • teaching

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