Politics, Imagination, and the Problem of Antiquation: Embracing Old and New Materialisms

Jesse Bazzul

doi:10.14288/ce.v13i1.186366

Politics, Imagination, and the Problem of Antiquation

Embracing Old and New Materialisms

Authors

Jesse Bazzul University of Regina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v13i1.186366

Keywords:

Politics, Imagination, Science Education, Materialisms, Criticality, Post

Abstract

Political imagination has never been more important, yet it is very often foreclosed in conservative educational spaces. It’s important to question the occlusion of political imagination from both science and education on a general level—something STEM-types are actively discouraged from thinking about. In order for education fields to progress and face the crises of our century there must be space to dream/think/imagine ‘the political’ along infinite horizons. This essay is an attempt to clear some space for political imagination by problematizing quick dismissals of older critical perspectives (e.g. materialisms), and suggests that any turn to ontology needs to be continually interpreted and politicized. Giving space to politics and imagination is vital as educators dream about different futures in the ruins of capitalism. This paper speaks to the ‘ontological turn’ that is still occurring in various academic disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

Author Biography

Jesse Bazzul, University of Regina

Jesse Bazzul is associate professor of education at the University of Regina. His research interests include science and environmental education, ethics, and educational philosophy. Jesse thinks it's vitally important to view education as a transdisciplinary field, and that traditional social sciences have dominated the study of education for too many decades. Jesse is in the middle of co-editing an open access two-volume set entitled: Reimagining Science Education in the Anthropocene (Palgrave MacMillan). Jesse is also the author of a forthcoming book called: An Intense Calling: How Ethics is the Essence of Education (University of Toronto Press).

Critical Education Volume 13 Number 1 2022

Downloads

Published

2022-02-25

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 1 (2022)

Section

(Re)Considering STEM Education

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with Critical Education agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).