In his ‘Towards the Critique of Violence’, Walter Benjamin introduces the concept of ‘educative violence’ as a contemporary manifestation of ‘divine violence’. In this paper, we aim to interpret ‘educative violence’ by examining other instances where the young Benjamin addresses pedagogical issues. By connecting the concept of divine violence to Benjamin’s ideas of education in tradition and of the schooling of Geist, our goal is twofold: firstly, to comprehend the productive role that violence may play in the pedagogical context, and (...) secondly, to apply it to the conception of schooling presented by Jan Masschelein and Maarten Simons to highlight its relevance to school education. By linking scholastic violence to divine violence, we argue that schools must be defended not despite but because of the violence they inhere. In doing so, we contribute another layer to the defense of the school and offer fresh insights into Benjamin’s notion of divine violence. (shrink)

The relation between philosophy and pedagogy is complex and hard to grasp.1 Nonetheless, the tendency within much educational research influenced by the Anglo-American traditions of studying education is for philosophy to become a source from which educational researchers retrieve concepts, ideas, and critical methods for the analysis of empirical material, for formulating criticism of policy, or for developing curriculum theory. Philosophy is simply applied to educational research problems and questions. Such a relation can be prolific, but it risks resulting in (...) a formalistic study of education and an asymmetric relation in which philosophy contributes to pedagogy, but where pedagogy is not given a chance to speak... (shrink)

This volume takes two different, albeit intertwined approaches. The first concerns a reformulation of aesthetics in education—one which highlights the sensory dimensions of educational experience. The second concerns a turn to the body and the senses as that which is deeply involved in practices of teaching and learning.

In this article, 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 article, I bring in elements from critical hermeneutics and utopian thinking, approaching Bildung as a process involving situatedness, distantiation, and refiguration. (shrink)