Archipelagic Imaginaries: A world-centred art education at the end of the world

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Abstract

This paper sets out to explore a concept of educational subjectivity that is appropriate to the
Anthropocene era. Where the rational autonomous subject of modern education remains the ideological
blueprint for much educational policy and theory in the western world, more recent shifts
towards precarious labour prompt a new conception of educational subjectivity beyond the valorised
attributes of self-investment, self-interest and market return. Within this context the ‘Anthropocene’
and the ‘environment’ have emerged as arbiters of educational subjectivity, beyond
the market ontologies of human capital formation. At stake within this shift is a new understanding
of agency within education that is neither radically autonomous nor infinitely adaptable.
Exploring the tensions between autonomy and adaptability, this paper considers how central concepts
developed within island studies can be helpful for thinking about these shifts in artistic
education. Utilising the postcolonial concept of archipelagic thinking to navigate the relation
between ‘locality’ and ‘world’ the first half of the paper maps out the co-ordinates of a worldcentered
education for the Anthropocene. In a world-centered education the event of subjectivity
shifts from the internal constructivist landscape of the student to the external, existential
landscape of the world. In the second half of the paper these theoretical mappings are transposed
onto the methodological ground of contemporary art education, through a curricular over view of
an archipelagic Masters programme in Art and Environment (MAAE) in the West Cork
Archipelago (Ireland).
Original languageEnglish (Ireland)
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)I S S N 1 8 2 5 - 5 1 6 7
Publication statusPublished - 20 May 2020

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