The ethics of becoming in a pedagogy for social justice. A posthumanist perspective

Abstract

The spate of local (#Rhodesmustfall, #Feesmustfall) and global (such as Occupy, Arabspring) protest movements point to the multiple forms of exclusion that characterise late Capitalism. These exclusions are not only detrimental to the majority of humans, but also to the earth. The protests at higher education institutions are directed at institutional mechanisms and pedagogies that exclude the majority from meaningful participation in defining the social and environmental good. This article is a conceptual investigation into aspects of a posthuman pedagogy that aims to define notions of sociality and justice. A pedagogy of social justice does not simply aim at the inclusion of the marginalised in the social order, but queries the ways social ordering draws on an economy of lack and desire, the very resources of transformation. It is claimed that a posthuman perspective could do justice to the becoming of humans, nonhumans and earth. Particular aspects of a pedagogy of social justice are discussed such as desire, enjoyment; becoming and responsibility. It is argued that a focus on the production of desire through which students become minoritarian could enhance their power of differential becomings and their constructive engagement in the transformation of reality.