Challenging the Plague of Indifference: COVID-19 and Posthumanistic Education for Sustainability

Alison Sammel; Peter Blaze Corcoran

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-69284-1_14

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Challenging the Plague of Indifference: COVID-19 and Posthumanistic Education for Sustainability

Book chapter

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Challenging the Plague of Indifference: COVID-19 and Posthumanistic Education for Sustainability

Alison Sammel and Peter Blaze Corcoran

COVID-19: Paving the Way for a More Sustainable World, pp.281-293

World Sustainability Series, Springer International Publishing AG

2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69284-1_14

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Abstract

Caring and kindness

Posthumanism

Education for sustainability

Humanism

Discourse and subjectivity

COVID-19

Reflective of this COVID-19 era, Maxine Greene’s analysis of Albert Camus’ great novel, The Plague, reminds us “that the plague can be understood as a metaphor for people’s indifference or distancing or thoughtlessness” where we “organize people into sanitary squads to fight the plague…because everyone carries the microbe for the plague of the body, the potential for the plague of indifference”. As our species and planet respond to current unprecedented times, opportunities emerge that encourage educational shifts toward ecological sustainability. We argue that education must not be accepting of the plague of indifference because that is to be complicitous with it. As such, this paper explores opportunities to destabilize the enduring assumptions of indifference towards ecological sustainability within humanistic education, while building capacities to see beyond these assumptions. Since human subjectivity is shaped by educational agendas, we advocate for a provocative posthumanistic discourse where caring and kindness shape the future of teaching and learning within this deeply interconnected, beautiful world.

Details

Title: Challenging the Plague of Indifference: COVID-19 and Posthumanistic Education for Sustainability
Authors: Alison Sammel (Corresponding Author) - Griffith University
Peter Blaze Corcoran (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Publication details: COVID-19: Paving the Way for a More Sustainable World, pp.281-293
Series: World Sustainability Series
Publisher: Springer International Publishing AG
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-69284-1_14; 10.1007/978-3-030-69284-1
ISSN: 2199-7381
ISBN: 9783030692841
Organisation Unit: Sustainability Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99534606402621
Output Type: Book chapter

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