Posthumanism and educational research for sustainable futures

Abstract

Karen Barad’s (2007) concept of intra-action and Rosi Braidotti’s (2013) nomadic posthumanism are employed in this article to problematise the notion of educational research for sustainable futures. In rejecting the hierarchical dualism of Cartesian objectivism, which places the human above the non-human, I challenge the stable selfcontained subject that presuppose a dialectical relation to the other on which most educational research is premised. Instead, in drawing on the work of Barad and Braidotti, subjectivity is posited as always in the process of becoming-other through the actualisation of new relations. In light of such a subjectivity, I consider the implications for educational research for sustainable futures. Furthermore, four avenues of thought are proposed on how educational research informed by posthumanism could contribute towards sustainable futures.