Thinking school curriculum through Country with Deleuze and Whitehead : a process-based synthesis

David R. Cole, Margaret Somerville

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapterpeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aboriginal Australian peoples have a continuous oral culture, which has changed over millennia, and continues to develop in contemporary Australia. Despite political movements towards reconciliation, and the recognition of Aboriginal cultures and rights, educational curriculum in Australia fails to engage with the a priori profundity and depth of living Aboriginal cultures. In order to address the profound disconnect between Western and Aboriginal philosophies, this chapter considers the arts-based Aboriginal onto-epistemology of 'thinking through Country' (Somerville, 2013) alongside a 'flat ontology' derived from Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus, and A.N. Whitehead's process philosophy. The aim is to propose ways to transform the Australian educational curriculum at the intersection of Western and Aboriginal understandings of coming to know the world.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationArt, Artists and Pedagogy: Philosophy and the Arts in Education
EditorsChristopher Naughton, Gert Biesta, David R. Cole
Place of PublicationU.K.
PublisherRoutledge
Pages71-82
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9781315143880
ISBN (Print)9781138500518
Publication statusPublished - 2018

Keywords

  • Aboriginal Australians
  • culture
  • oral tradition
  • curriculum change
  • Australia

Cite this