In a document devoted to the "posthumanist approach" to education, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO does not hesitate to draw inspiration from Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf^{[1]cited in note 4.} to deconstruct pedagogy and promote its replacement by "ancestral and indigenous holistic ways of knowing" and by "holistic systemic thinking"! The teaching of works and disciplines is particularly targeted.

Fiona BLAIKIE, Christine DAIGLE and Liette VASSEUR, “New Paths for Teaching and Learning: The Posthumanist Approach”, Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Ottawa, Canada, December 2020.

After the document download link, we offer our readers an anthology.

[https://fr.ccunesco.ca/-/media/Files/Unesco/Resources/2020/12/PosthumanismeEtEducation.pdf]

The introduction takes as a pretext the Covid-19 crisis and the long interruption of face-to-face lessons which has “upset” “what was considered to be normal" . Excerpts:

In any case, we challenge this approach that narrowly interprets pedagogy as the effective transmission of knowledge from an informed teacher to an uninformed student—who still needs to be educated. This vision of education is based on a patriarchal humanist vision of the developed Western world and its colonial ramifications (Murris, 2018). The humanist subject that emerges from this worldview is a white male with a normative, cisgender, heterosexual psycho-physical body, who places all other humans in a position of inferiority and thus justifies the oppressive regimes (e.g., residential schools) that continue to plague our societies. Due to industrialization and globalization, this vision has come to predominate. It erases collective memories, territorial and cultural identities, as well as relationships between places and people where traditional knowledge encompasses and forges essential infrastructures and meanings in our lives (Colonna, 2020).

The humanist vision of education is based on hierarchies and binaries that separate mind from body, human from non-human life, and humans from the natural world as a whole. This vision justifies the use and exploitation of some humans, non-humans, and the environment, and is therefore responsible for the multiple crises we face (Braidotti, 2013, 2019; MacCormack, 2020). To meet the urgent need to create new ideas, we must find new methods of teaching that can disrupt old ways of thinking and create new knowledge. This is what a posthumanist perspective can bring to our education systems.

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Posthumanism^{[2]Note: “Posthumanism must be distinguished from transhumanism. Transhumanism is a movement that seeks to transcend the human, because it is considered fallible. The goal is to transcend our fallible bodies and minds by using technology and science. Posthumanism, on the other hand, focuses on humans as embodied beings connected to all beings. It addresses the potential of the multiple relationships in which we are always intertwined.”} proposes new ways of thinking about humans, including teachers and learners, as non-exceptional and connected beings. The central idea of ​​posthumanism is “entanglement,” or entanglement (Alaimo, 2016; Barad, 2007; Bennett, 2010; Coole & Frost, 2010; Cielemęcka & Daigle, 2019). It refers to an assemblage of entities and beings (think of the microbiome in your gut, for example) that are also part of various other wholes (the ecosystem in which this assemblage inhabits, the cities and countries in which it lives, the technology it uses and is connected to, etc.). We are beings with permeable boundaries (like our skin or the membranes in our lungs) and are not separate or independent from the world around us, as the humanist worldview would have it. Every being, from the atom to the Earth system, is itself an agent, and its actions can have significant repercussions on other agents or systems. For example, the cells and organs of the body, the bacteria in the gut, and the organisms living on the surface of our skin all exert some action and sometimes act against our own conscious intentions. We see this in the world today, with the global consequences of the tiny COVID-19 virus.

How can one “posthuman” teach another? Adopting a posthumanist approach to education involves rethinking pedagogy, the production, and transmission of knowledge. If we need to understand the world differently, we need to “defamiliarize” ourselves from our habits of mind (Braidotti, 2019, p. 77) by moving away from the humanist worldview. This vision has shaped not only our thoughts, but also our institutions. Universities and education systems are structured around binary teacher-learner relationships, and view academic disciplines and subjects as distinct entities with their own goals and methods of study and practice. What changes do we need to make in order to be able to imagine and understand the world and ourselves differently? A posthumanist approach can change the way we value ourselves, other species, and the planet. It requires us to think about the system as a whole, rather than seeing each agent as a perfect, independent entity; it requires valuing all agents and their “relationality.”^{[3]Note: "It is worth emphasizing that part of the posthumanist approach, particularly among materialist feminists, is to extend attunement to nonhuman beings, such as nonhuman animals, natural phenomena, and objects such as rocks. This is a concept central to the posthumanist proposals of materialist feminists, which sheds light on the posthumanist pedagogical approach we discuss here."}.

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Goodbye to the study of works:

In the 2018th century, Western humanist education viewed the child as a passive recipient of knowledge. Teaching was based on prescribed bodies of great works—written largely by male scholars, writers, scientists, and artists. The teacher, on the other hand, was a separate being, authoritarian, detached, and knowledgeable. Even today, some view the child as being in the “process of becoming an adult (man)” (Murris, 2, p. XNUMX). The child is seen as simplistic, ignorant, inexperienced, and lifeless, with few ideas or experiences to offer: a (grateful) vessel to be filled with discipline-specific knowledge. Unfortunately, this view is still relevant today.

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Goodbye disciplines:

We need to move beyond disciplines and adopt a much more radical approach that is not discipline-centric but rather holistic. This is what posthumanist thinkers advocate. The problems we face in today’s world are complex, and only ways of thinking that recognize, eliminate, and bridge disciplinary divides and ultimately transcend them by taking into account the many complexities of these problems offer realizable possibilities. By exposing learners from preschool to graduate school to such thinking, we will enable them to see the world and all its beings, spaces, and places as intertwined, interconnected. In this way, we will avoid siloed thinking and foster the capacity to experiment, explore, and discover, allowing the creativity of children and educators to flourish.

Teaching by themes rather than by disciplines could promote holistic systems thinking. Consider a theme like “water.” In a variety of contexts, from elementary to undergraduate curricula, it could be approached through the arts and sciences, allowing for true learning in all its complexity. Such a shift in teaching and learning could lead to new ways of thinking, feeling, and taking responsibility for ourselves, others, nonhumans, and the planet.

pages 5-6

Conclusion:

This shift involves abandoning humanist worldviews and embracing posthumanist pedagogy and returning to holistic, ancestral, and indigenous ways of knowing. It requires establishing non-hierarchical relationships between teachers and learners, recognizing the importance of learning environments, and creating learning opportunities that embrace holistic systems thinking and feeling. A curriculum that values ​​the interconnected existence of all beings and their actions, that is rooted in and outside the classroom, and that is informed by innovative pedagogical methods will enable us to truly develop globally-minded citizens who are capable of thinking and acting holistically.

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