Abstract
Concluding the book, this chapter formulates a concept of less violent epistemology and of the circumstances that might be conducive to fostering its enactment. This chapter discusses the implications of, and processes required, to transition towards non-violent epistemology from habitual and historically engrained enactment of violent epistemology. This includes a discussion of what this is likely to mean for individuals from an emotional, psychological, and practical standpoint, and of how moving away from violent epistemology towards less violent epistemic practice is not a concept that can simply be ‘adopted’, but is rather a complex, whole-person approach which requires deep transformation of how we relate with ourselves, others and the phenomenal world. This chapter ends with a discussion on the potential and possibilities for change within social systems and structures which have been built on violent epistemology and suggested directions for future research.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Except perhaps for those with certain forms and degrees of cognitive impairment. More research would be necessary to explore the impact of this on epistemic agency.
- 2.
For example, noticing that a child needs more help with learning than previously thought can easily be integrated into a teacher’s existing schema related to that child by acknowledging this and making a mental note to spend a bit more time with them on the topic or to look into additional learning support. However, this is very unlikely to cause significant disequilibrium by challenging the validity of everything the teacher knows about teaching and learning.
- 3.
For example, when a teacher is required by a phenomenon to call into question the validity of an entire pedagogical philosophy into which their career and sense of self may be heavily invested.
- 4.
This is not to say that Summerhill School is a perfect example of conducive circumstances, but is rather an example of a school that aims to break away from many of the characteristics of traditional schooling that can be seen to constitute non-conducive circumstances.
- 5.
This is not to say that such categories should be done away with altogether, but simply to caution against their use as a form of violent epistemic ‘identity thinking’ (cf. Adorno 1973).
- 6.
While recognising that simply integrating more people into the existing economic system does nothing to challenge its underlying ideology.
- 7.
However, previous attempts to introduce such activities have perpetuated the exclusion of students who live in tenements. As Kohara (2009) found, these students would not participate because the activity required them to remove their shoes, and lacking access to adequate sanitary facilities, the children were embarrassed about the smell of their feet. This highlights yet again the importance of addressing broader contextual factors. As analysis of the Educommunication project also found (cf. Titchiner 2017), simply increasing opportunities for self-expression is also not sufficient.
- 8.
However, this would not address the fact that low self-esteem is often a product of subject de-formations fostered by struggling to conform to conditions of worth ascribed by an ideological society. Therefore, such actions do not address this underlying issue.
- 9.
This would need to be implemented with caution so as not to assign conditions of worth to placement in particular groups, which could simply reinforce students’ self-schema as ‘bad’, or ‘sub-standard’ if placed in a group which is seen to be for students of lower ability, for example.
References
Adorno, T. W. (1973). Negative Dialectics. London: Routledge.
Adorno, T. W. (1978). Subject and Object. In A. Arato & E. Gebhardt (Eds.), The Essential Frankfurt School Reader (pp. 497–511). New York: Urizen Books.
Adorno, T. W. (2005). Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life. London: Verso.
Ahmed, S. (2006). Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Durham: Duke University Press.
Appleton, M. (2002). Summerhill: A Free Range Childhood. Loughton: Gale Centre Publications.
Atuesta, L. H., & Soares, Y. (2016). Urban Upgrading in Rio de Janeiro: Evidence from the Favela-Bairro Programme. Urban Studies, 55(1), 53–70.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
Biesta, G. J. (2015). Beyond Learning: Democratic Education for a Human Future. London: Routledge.
Broadbent, D. (1958). Perception and Communication. London: Pergamon Press.
Cannon, B. (2016). Inside the Mind of Latin America’s New Right: If the Rhetoric of Latin American Elites Is Any Evidence, Neoliberalism Is Alive and Well, Despite a Decade and a Half of Left Governance. NACLA Report on the Americas, 48(4), 328–333.
Castells, M. (2017). Another Economy Is Possible: Culture and Economy in a Time of Crisis. Cambridge: Polity.
Chakrabarty, D. (2000). Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Cheney, G., Santa Cruz, I., Peredo, A. M., & Nazareno, E. (2014). Worker Cooperatives as an Organizational Alternative: Challenges, Achievements and Promise in Business Governance and Ownership. Organization, 21(5), 591–603.
Code, L. (1987). Epistemic Responsibility. Lebanon: University Press of New England.
Code, L. (1988). Experience, Knowledge and Responsibility. In M. Griffiths & M. Whitford (Eds.), Feminist Perspectives in Philosophy (pp. 187–204). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Cook, D. (2005). From the Actual to the Possible: Nonidentity Thinking. Constellations, 12(1), 21–35.
Cook, D. (2008). Theodor Adorno: Key Concepts. Stocksfield: Acumen.
De Graaff, A. (2011). Backwards into the Future: Chaos in the Classroom. Holt: Heathwood Press.
De Graaff, A. (2016). The Gods in Whom They Trusted: The Disintegrative Effects of Capitalism: A Foundation for Transitioning to a New Social World. Holt: Heathwood Press.
De Wispelaere, J. (2016). Basic Income in Our Time: Improving Political Prospects Through Policy Learning? Journal of Social Policy, 45(4), 617–634.
Dockhorn, G. V. (2002). Quando a Ordem é Segurança e o Progresso é Desenvolvimento (1964–1974). Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS.
Dohndt, G. (2014). Participatory Economics: A Theoretical Alternative to Capitalism. Retrieved June 27, 2015, from http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-jan-participatory-economics-a-theoretical-alternative-to-capitalism-by-geert-dhondt/.
Dussault, G. (1970). Theory of Supervision in Teacher Education. New York: Teacher’s College Press.
Edgerton, R. (2010). Sick Societies. New York: The Free Press.
Edkins, J. (2002). Forget Trauma? Responses to September 11. International Relations, 16(2), 243–256.
Evans, K., & Vaandering, D. (2016). The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education: Fostering Responsibility, Healing and Hope in Schools. Brattleboro: Good Books.
Fanon, F. (1963). The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.
Faria Filho, L. M., & Vidal, D. G. (2007). History of Urban Education in Brazil: Time and Space in Primary Schools. In W. T. Pink & G. W. Noblit (Eds.), International Handbook of Urban Education (pp. 581–600). Dordrecht: Springer.
Ferraz, C., Finan, F., & Moreira, D. B. (2013). Corrupting Learning: Evidence from Missing Federal Education Funds in Brazil. Journal of Public Economics, 96, 712–726.
Fiske, J. (1987). Television Culture. London: Methuen.
Fiumara, G. C. (2015). Psychic Suffering: From Pain to Growth. London: Karnac.
Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977. New York: Pantheon.
Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin Books.
Fromm, E. (2013). Escape from Freedom. New York: Open Road Media.
Ghiraldelli, P. (2000). História da Educação. São Paulo: Cortes.
Graeber, D. (2011). Revolutions in Reverse: Essays on Politics, Violence, Art, and Imagination. London: Minor Compositions.
Harich, J. (2010). Change Resistance as the Crux of the Environmental Sustainability Problem. System Dynamics Review, 26(1), 35–72.
Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and Time. New York: Harper & Row.
Holloway, J. (2010). Crack Capitalism. London: Pluto Press.
Holt, J. (1970). What Do I Do Monday? New York: E. P. Dutton & Co..
Honneth, A. (1995). The Fragmented World of the Social: Essays in Social and Political Philosophy. New York: SUNY Press.
Horkheimer, M. (1947). Eclipse of Reason. New York: Oxford University Press.
Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. W. (2002). Dialectic of Enlightenment. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Husserl, E. (1973). Experience and Judgement. London: Routledge.
Illeris, K. (2007). How We Learn: Learning and Non-learning in School and Beyond. London: Routledge.
Illeris, K. (2009). A Comprehensive Understanding of Human Learning. In K. Illeris (Ed.), Contemporary Theories of Learning: Learning Theorists … In Their Own Words (pp. 7–20). London: Routledge.
James, W. (1918). The Principles of Psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Dover.
Jarvis, P. (1987). Learning from Everyday Life. Human and Social Studies Research and Practice, 1(1), 1–20.
Jarvis, P. (2009). Learning to Be a Person in Society: Learning to Be Me. In K. Illeris (Ed.), Contemporary Theories of Learning: Learning Theorists … In Their Own Words (pp. 21–32). London: Routledge.
Kohara, L. (2009). Relação Entre as Condições de Moradia e Desempenho Escolar: Estudo com crianças residentes em cortiços. São Paulo: University of São Paulo.
Leithäuser, T. (1976). Formen des Alltagsbewusstseins. Frankfurt: Campus.
Leodoro, M. P. (2001). Educação Científica e Cultura Material: os artefatos lúdicos. São Paulo: University of São Paulo.
Marcílio, M. L. (2005). História da Escola em São Paulo e no Brasil. Revista FAEEBA, 14(24), 103–112.
Marx, K. (1978). The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. In R. C. Tucker (Ed.), The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: W. W. Norton and Co.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2012). Phenomenology of Perception. New York: Routledge.
Morgan, M. (2013). The Paradoxical Perpetuation of Neoliberalism: How Ideologies Are Formed and Dissolved. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from http://www.heathwoodpress.com/the-paradoxical-perpetuation-of-neoliberalism-how-ideologies-are-formed-and-dissolved/.
Pajak, E. (2002). Clinical Supervision and Psychological Functions: A New Direction for Theory and Practice. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 17(3), 189–205.
Piaget, J. (1977). The Development of Thought: Equilibration of Cognitive Structures. New York: Viking Press.
Pinto, A. V. (1960). Consciência e Realidade Nacional. Rio de Janeiro: ISEB.
Polanyi, M. (1969). Sense-Giving and Sense-Reading. In M. Green (Ed.), Knowing and Being: Essays by Michael Polanyi (pp. 181–207). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Politeia. (2016). Nossa Proposta. Retrieved July 11, 2016, from http://escolapoliteia.com.br/a-politeia/.
Posner, M. I. (1978). Chronometric Explorations of Mind. Oxford: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Rasella, D., Aquino, R., Santos, C. A., Paes-Sousa, R., & Barreto, M. L. (2013). Effect of a Conditional Cash Transfer Programme on Childhood Mortality: A Nationwide Analysis of Brazilian Municipalities. The Lancet, 382(9886), 57–64.
Rogers, C. R. (1959). A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships as Developed in the Client-Centered Framework. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A Study of a Science Vol. 3–Formulations of the Person and the Social Context. New York: McGraw Hill.
Rogers, C. R. (1961). On Becoming a Person. London: Constable.
Rogers, C. R. (1969). Freedom to Learn: A View of What Education Might Become. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill.
Rosa, J. M. (2006). As vozes de um mesmo tempo: A educação física institucionalizada no período da Ditadura Militar em Cacequi. Santa Maria: UFSM.
Said, E. (1994). Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage.
Sartre, J. P. (1956). Being and Nothingness: An Essay in Phenomenological Ontology. New York: Washington Square Press.
Schick, K. (2009). To Lend a Voice to Suffering Is a Condition for All Truth: Adorno and International Political Thought. Journal of International Political Theory, 5(2), 138–160.
Schwartzman, S. (2003). The Challenges of Education in Brazil. Retrieved August 26, 2016, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon_Schwartzman/publication/225088750_The_Challenges_of_Education_in_Brazil/links/0912f5064693c5c575000000.pdf.
Sherman, D. (2007). Sartre and Adorno: The Dialectics of Subjectivity. Albany: SUNY Press.
Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (2001). Social Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Domination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Smith, R. C. (2013). On the Basic Income Law, Economic Democracy, Participatory Economics, and the Importance of the Commons in the 21st Century: Further Thoughts on an Alternative Philosophy of Social Change. Retrieved May 2, 2017, from http://www.heathwoodpress.com/basic-income-law-economic-democracy-participatory-economics-importance-commons-21st-century-thoughts-alternative-philosophy-social-change/.
Smith, R. C. (2015). Systemic Cycles of Domination and Imagining the Horizon of Liberation: An Engagement with Dialectic of Enlightenment. Retrieved July 24, 2016, from http://www.heathwoodpress.com/dialectic-of-enlightenment-a-critique-of-cycles-of-systemic-domination-imaging-the-horizon-of-liberation/.
Smith, R. C. (2017). Society and Social Pathology: A Framework for Progress. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Song, S., & Swearer, S. (2016). The Cart Before the Horse: The Challenge and Promise of Restorative Justice Consultation in Schools. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 26(4), 313–324.
Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture (pp. 271–313). Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Telles, E., & Paixão, M. (2013). Affirmative Action in Brazil. Lasa Forum, 44(2), 10–12.
Titchiner, B. M. (2017). The Epistemology of Violence: Understanding the Root Causes of Violence and Non-Conducive Social Circumstances in Schooling, with a Case-Study from Brazil. Digital Thesis, University of East Anglia. Retrieved from https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/63644/.
Treisman, A. (1964). Selective Attention in Man. British Medical Bulletin, 20, 12–16.
Trevarthen, C., & Reddy, V. (2007). Consciousness in Infants. In M. Velmans & S. Schneider (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness (pp. 41–57). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Verdeja, E. (2009). Adorno’s Mimesis and Its Limitations for Critical Social Thought. European Journal of Political Theory, 8(4), 493–511.
Vieta, M., Quarter, J., Spear, R., & Moskovskaya, A. (2016). Participation in Worker Cooperatives. In D. H. Smith, R. A. Stebbins, & J. Grotz (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Volunteering, Civic Participation, and Nonprofit Associations (pp. 436–453). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Waring, M. (2012). Grounded Theory. In J. Arthur, M. Waring, R. Coe, & L. V. Hedges (Eds.), Research Methods and Methodologies in Education (pp. 297–308). London: Sage.
Weiss, A. (2013). A Comparison of Economic Democracy and Participatory Economics. Retrieved May 2, 2017, from http://www.heathwoodpress.com/comparison-economic-democracy-participatory-economics/.
Willis, G. D. (2015). The Killing Consensus: Police, Organized Crime, and the Regulation of Life and Death in Urban Brazil. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Young, R. J. C. (2001). Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Titchiner, B.M. (2019). Moving Forwards. In: The Epistemology of Violence. Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12911-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12911-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-12910-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-12911-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)