Table Of ContentEDITED BY
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INTERROGATING
THE ANTHROPOCENE
Ecology, Aesthetics, Pedagogy,
and the Future in Question
Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures
Series Editor
jan jagodzinski
Department of Secondary Education
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB, Canada
The series Educational Futures would be a call on all aspects of education, not
only specific subject specialist, but policy makers, religious education leaders,
curriculum theorists, and those involved in shaping the educational imagination
through its foundations and both psychoanalytical and psychological invest-
ments with youth to address this extraordinary precarity and anxiety that is
continually rising as things do not get better but worsen. A global de-territori-
alization is taking place, and new voices and visions need to be seen and heard.
The series would address the following questions and concerns. The three key
signifiers of the book series title address this state of risk and emergency:
1. The Anthropocene: The ‘human world,’ the world-for-us is
drifting toward a global situation where human extinction is not
out of the question due to economic industrialization and over-
development, as well as the exponential growth of global popu-
lation. How do we address this ecologically and educationally to
still make a difference?
2. Ecology: What might be ways of re-thinking our relationships
with the non-human forms of existence and in-human forms of
artificial intelligence that have emerged? Are there possibilities to
rework the ecological imagination educationally from its over-ro-
manticized view of Nature, as many have argued? Nature and
culture are no longer tenable separate signifiers. Can teachers and
professors address the ideas that surround differentiated subjec-
tivity where agency is no long attributed to the ‘human’ alone?
3. Aesthetic Imaginaries: What are the creative responses that can
fabulate aesthetic imaginaries, which are viable in specific contexts
where the emergent ideas, and which are able to gather hetero-
geneous elements together to present projects that address the
two former descriptors: the Anthropocene and the every chang-
ing modulating ecologies. Can educators draw on these aesthetic
imaginaries to offer exploratory hope for what is a changing
globe that is in constant crisis?
The series Educational Futures: Anthropocene, Ecology, and Aesthetic
Imaginaries attempts to secure manuscripts that are aware of the precarity
that reverberates throughout all life, and attempts to explore and exper-
iment to develop an educational imagination which, at the very least,
makes conscious what is a dire situation.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15418
jan jagodzinski
Editor
Interrogating
the Anthropocene
Ecology, Aesthetics, Pedagogy, and the Future
in Question
Editor
jan jagodzinski
Department of Secondary Education
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB, Canada
Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures
ISBN 978-3-319-78746-6 ISBN 978-3-319-78747-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78747-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018938340
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.
Cover image: © Mia Feuer, “Totems of the Anthropocene,” photograph courtesy of
Beatriz Escobar
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer International
Publishing AG part of Springer Nature
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to Jessie and Jason
friends
A
cknowledgements
This book emerged from a series of fifteen lectures entitled Anthropocene,
Ecology, Pedagogy: The Future in Question, which concluded with a
‘Sounding the Anthropocene’ symposium with special keynote guests
Hanjo Berressem (University of Koln, Department of American Studies)
and Bernd Herzogenrath (Goethe University, Department of English
and American Studies) in 2015–2016. The lecture series was presented
at the University of Alberta, with support from the Faculty of Education,
curated by myself, with the energetic and impassioned assistance of
Jessie Beier, as well as a number of dedicated graduate students: Ron
Wigglesworth who presented an art exhibition of photographs in rela-
tion to the Anthropocene, and the consistent help and support of Adriana
Boffa and Cathryn van Kessel. Many thanks to Diane Conrad who ena-
bled the lecture series to take place in her theatre space where many
presentations concerning Arts Based Research take place. Thanks also to
the video recording work by ‘Eb’ (Ebenezer Militsala) who was diligent
in editing and positing the lectures. The lecture series can be viewed on
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiYpb7adp3lvjdi-F8RktrQ.
I also want to thank other members of the support staff who made sure
rooms and flights were booked (Scott Mayo) and payments received
and reimbursed (Debra Mallett), so important for events such as
this. However, again, without Jessie’s help the series would not have
vii
viii ACKNoWLEDGEMENTS
been so successful, and running so smoothly. Her series of p osters
that she did for the event appear both on the front cover and in this
acknowledgment.
There are many contributors to thank, beginning with Bradley Necyk.
Bradley was brave enough to start the series and, along with Daniel
Harvey contributed to this collection. I very much appreciate Andony
Melanthropolus’ efforts to make the trip from Calgary on what is a busy
schedule, to both present, and together with Alexander Stoner contrib-
ute to this volume. Many thanks to Matthew Tiessen whose work I very
much admire. Matthew’s clear-headed grasp of the circulation of money
and his profound grasp of Deleuze is greatly appreciated. I am also so
appreciative of Nick Dyer-Witheford contribution to this collection.
Nick, for me, has never lost sight of the worker’s plight in capitalism.
He has written seminal books in this area; his chapter simply confirms his
strength in social Marxist theory, history, and in recognizing the impor-
tance of “species becoming.” My thanks to Janae Sholtz, a remarkable
philosopher whose grasp of Heidegger and Deleuze is well-know. Few
can offer a comprehensive projection as to “what needs to be done”
given the precarity of the world order. Mickey Vallee is another one of
those rare individuals who plays with “sound” imaginaries. one can-
not easily pinpoint Mickey’s disciplinary activities as he is a sociologist,
musician, sound theoretician, pedagogue, all rolled into one. In brief,
I admire Mickey for his interdisciplinary theorizing. Thanks to Michael
Trucello whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Brock University in the
context of a Deleuze conference. Despite an extreme schedule of dead-
lines, Michael managed to develop a superb chapter on environmental-
ist documentary film, which he presented for the lecture series. Thank
you, Michael, for sticking with it and seeing the chapter through. I met
Nathan Snaza for the first time at the “Bergamo conference,” a year
prior to the lecture series. Nathan is a consummate teacher and theo-
retician who is acutely aware of the Anthropocene issues and with their
consequences for education. I thank him for providing a unique perspec-
tive on this position. His was one of the earliest chapters finished, and I
appreciate his patience as this collection finally came to fruition.
The collection also includes authors who did not participate in the
lecture series. I personally approached a number of these authors and was
pleased that they accepted my invitation. I have never met Ted Stolze in
ACKNoWLEDGEMENTS ix
person, but he has an amazing reputation as a teacher and p hilosopher
who constantly challenges his students and his readership. I am so
happy he accepted the invitation to address the Anthropocene in such
a way few can. Unfortunately, I have not met David Fancy as we seem
to have just missed crossing path at Brock University, and there was no
way to meet at a Deleuze conference in Toronto. David’s reputation as
a Deleuze-Guattarian scholar is well known as he has written widely in
this area, drawing on his theatre-drama background. I so appreciate his
contribution on a particularly interesting topic on human-non-human
relations.
A special thanks to my good artist friend, Mia Feuer for allowing me
to generously utilize her images throughout this collection. Mia’s eco-
logical consciousness holds no bounds, as she thinks deeply and ethically
when it comes to developing her projects, choosing her materials, and
staging her installations. I so appreciate her coming to Edmonton to talk
about her ecological undertakings. An expectant mother at the time, it
was a joy to host her, Constantine and Galileo who came into the world
later. An image of her sculpture appears on the front cover.
I close with many thanks to colleagues who have contributed to this
collection. First, to Patti Pente, my colleague in art education, who
has written such an interesting chapter to rethink landscape within the
parameters of the Anthropocene. An especially warm thank you to two
friends and colleagues whom this book is dedicated to: Jessie Beier and
Jason Wallin. Both are artists and experimenters, both push the limits of
the imagination to make you think, Jessie with an intriguing chapter that
addresses the near future, and Jason exploring Pokemon in a way few
could envision.
Last but not least, I want to thank our former Dean of the Faculty
of Education, Fern Snart. Without her the lecture series event would
have never happened. This collection is the culminating point of that
initiative.
x ACKNoWLEDGEMENTS
Three Posters by Jessie Beier
Poster 1 Future in question
