Imagination and Inquiry: Creative Approaches to Encouraging Literacy Development

Abstract

Imagination and Inquiry:Creative Approaches to Encouraging Literacy Development Karen Magro (bio) Murris, Karin. The Posthuman Child: Educational Transformation through Philosophy with Picturebooks. Routledge, 2016. 277 pp. $53.95 pb. ISBN 9781138858435. A central aim in Karin Murris's The Posthuman Child: Educational Transformation through Philosophy with Picturebooks is to "disrupt dualistic metaphors that shape ageist pedagogical practices and curricula" (7). Too often, the voices of children are left behind, and they are not valued as individuals whose perspectives can help solve problems. Children are "rich, resilient, and resourceful" (36) from Murris's point of view, and education should provide a safe space where children can heal, imagine, and create (83). While the often dense references to poststructuralist philosophies may be unfamiliar to some readers, Murris's book offers many practical pedagogical insights that will resonate with educators from a range of backgrounds. The Posthuman Child is divided into two parts. The first part explores conceptions of post-humanist philosophies, diffractive methodology, the aims of education, and binary conceptions of children that limit and potentially harm children and their ability to be active agents of change whose voices are valued. Murris is critical of educational systems, theories, and pedagogies that "[fail] to do justice to the capabilities of individual children, especially their imaginative meaning-making capabilities when philosophizing" (82). The second part focuses on the application of post-humanist philosophy in the classroom. More specifically, Murris analyzes the Reggio Emilia approach to teaching as a catalyst for creative and reflective thinking (Rinaldi). The Reggio Emilia constructivist education philosophy is learner-centred, highlighting discovery, choice, and exploration. This philosophy conceptualizes the teacher as a guide, facilitator, and co-researcher who encourages emotional and cognitive skill development through self-directed and collaborative learning projects (Rinaldi 43). [End Page 194] Murris believes that children's literature offers one avenue into this approach to teaching, as it has the potential to correct inaccuracies, "portray oppression, speak to 'structural inequality' and 'open up for enquiry justice-based solutions like repair, redistribution or reconciliation'" (243). For example, when used creatively, picture books such as Anthony Browne's Little Beauty, Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, and David McKee's Tusk Tusk can encourage "inter-active" learning that creatively integrates affective, spiritual, cognitive, psychomotor, and imaginative dimensions. Murris's transformative educational perspectives share significant parallels with Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Carl Rogers's Freedom to Learn, David Kolb's Experiential Learning, Kieran Egan's An Imaginative Approach to Teaching, and Marjorie Faulstich Orellana's Immigrant Children in Transcultural Spaces. Collectively, these writers advocate for a transformative education system that is rooted in democratic discourse, social justice, inclusion, and an "asset" perspective of human capacity building. An asset perspective of learning and literacy values and validates an individual's existing experiences and literacy practices. Murris advocates a post-human curriculum rooted in the needs, aspirations, and talents of children, and the transfiguring of traditional power polarity between the teacher and the student to enable more democratic dialogue and collaboration. Murris's theoretical approach is interdisciplinary; she integrates ideas from developmental psychology, critical pedagogies and new literacies, transformative learning theory, Reggio Emilia inspired pedagogies, agential realism, and other dimensions of poststructuralist and post-humanist philosophies. According to Murris, a post-humanist conception of teaching and learning dismantles dualistic norms that limit, confine, and stereotype children and the potential of children to be "philosophers" who can think reflectively about their world and initiate positive change. Murris advocates for a "non-hierarchical monist philosophy of education that is critical of the anthropocentric gaze," which neglects, trivializes, and is dismissive of non-human forces at play (6). Her transformative vision also reflects an existential stance; individuals are viewed in a process of becoming and (e)merging through intra- and inter-personal relationships with others. Murris emphasizes that post-humanist epistemological changes and shifts in power require an "unlearning" of didactic teaching practices that undermine children's voices and aspirations: [A] deeper challenge … involves preparing teachers for the uncertainty and insecurity involved in planning for lessons that democratically accommodate children's own questions and ideas, and that draw on pedagogies with which they are unfamiliar. This includes a lack of...