Situatedness and distanciation: Education in a time of ecological crisis and climate crisis

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, I explore the significance of place in education. The historical context is expressed by the ecological and climate crises in a world distinguished by the unjust distribution of privileges and burdens. I elucidate the concept of place by entering the tradition of the pedagogy of place. Here, the significance of place is accentuated with a sensitivity to the local context, in contrast to other educational approaches that emphasize more generic, abstract knowledge. A central premise is the notion of place as a delimited unit that is distinguished from other places. This stable notion, I argue, needs to be reconsidered in the present. With reference to Massey, I accentuate relations as pivotal to a notion of place that accommodates both a sense of belonging and conflicts of power and interest. I hold that education at this time in history should be sensitive to our situatedness in everyday life’s web of relationships. Still, general knowledge is required to bring up perspectives that enable students to critically conceive the place in which they are situated. I make and discuss these claims with reference to and in critique of Young’s notion of powerful knowledge and Klafki’s reformulation of German Didaktik. A central concern is to clarify the mediation of situated knowledge and general knowledge in educational practice. In the final part of the paper, I bring in elements from critical hermeneutics and utopian thinking, approaching Bildung as a process involving situatedness, distantiation, and refiguration.