Karl Ernst Nipkow: Der schwere Weg zum Frieden. Geschichte und Theorie der Friedenspädagogik von Erasmus bis zur Gegenwart. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2007, 416 S., EUR 34,95 [Rezension]

Rezension zu: Karl Ernst Nipkow: Der schwere Weg zum Frieden. Geschichte und Theorie der Friedenspädagogik von Erasmus bis zur Gegenwart. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2007, 416 S., EUR 34,9

The eternal flower of the child : the recognition of childhood in Zeami's educational theory of Noh theatre

European theorists of childhood still tend to locate the first positive acknowledgements of childhood as a human developmental period in its own positive right between the 16th and 18th century in Europe. Even though the findings of Ariès have been constantly challenged, it still remains a commonplace, especially within the history of education, to refer to Jean-Jacques Rousseau of the 18th century as one of the earliest and most prominent conceptualisers of childhood as a positive period that must not be evaluated in the light of its distance to adulthood but for its inherent value as an important and unmissable period of human life. Such a view is as unhistorical as it is biased and eurocentred. This article endeavours to shed at least a small light on the history of education and of childhood outwith the usual focus. The central objects of examination are the theoretical treatises of Zeami Motokiyo regarding the Noh theatre which have long been recognised as one of the great cultural achievements of humankind. Despite their acknowledged importance, theorists of education have hardly engaged with these treatises even though they present us with a whole theory of education that also embraces a very original and positive theory of childhood. Given that the treatises originate from the 14th-early 15th century, they pre-date everything the typical Western History of Education would bring forth as the beginning of a positive childhood and a pedagogy that acts accordingly

Grauzonen. Pädagogik als Queer-Wissenschaft

What is a queer science? At least two meanings would probably appear under this heading: on the one hand, a queer science would be one that would make Queer the subject. This could be done in a very general way - by dealing with Queer in a scientific way, ie, on the basis of a specifically Western methodology and interpretation of the world - or, more specifically, by analyzing them already on the basis of a specific science, such as pedagogy And their instruments. On the other hand, a queer science, however, would also be those whose methodology and instrumentarium itself has already been traversed by Queer, that is to say, is certainly quarreled, irrespective of the subject to which this science is now devoted in general or particular

Words in Motion: Struggles of Translation, Adaption, Transposition, and Ignorance

Introduction to the special GER issue, "Words in Motion: Struggles of Translation, Adaption, Transposition, and Ignorance.

Zirkel und Disparitäten : Das Paradox der wissenschaftlichen Bildung

Scientific education - what a noble word. Hardly anyone would deny that this is not only a questionable, but also a necessary matter. Here, however, two concepts are combined which, like no other, have an aura of sublime and positivity. Together, they spread a glow that hardly anyone can escape. And with which so many people may well adorn themselves in times when glamor seems to be more relevant than the substance from which that splendor (unfortunately only supposedly) proceeds. And this always with regard to those two phenomena to which this radiant word of scientific education refers: science and education

Dōgen's time and the flow of otiosity—exiting the educational rat race

Based upon a discussion of the concept education and its temporal structures, this paper attempts to show how education could be seen as contributing to different forms of social and individual temporal crises prevalent in modern societies since at least the end of the 19th century. In contemplating those relations, and based on historical and intercultural explorations into Classic European and Japanese thinking, the paper aspires to open up a new horizon for a systematic revaluation and conceptual reinvention of education

The struggle to love : Pedagogical Eros and the gift of transformation

Why does anyone become a teacher, and why a student? Education in its contemporary form has evolved into a subsystem of society in which professional ‘teachers/ educators’ are confronted with an ever-changing group of people called ‘pupils/students’; and the individuals in both groups now have to deal with this institutionalised confrontation. Neither one nor the other decision—to become a teacher or to become a student—seems to have much to do with a specific other person, and it certainly does not have much to do with the actual person(s) that one is related to by becoming a teacher or by becoming a student in a specific institution. However, if pedagogical relations were as depersonalised as suggested, why is it that teachers as well as students hold very different relations to different students and teachers—relations that are more or less ‘deep’, ‘affectionate’, ‘successful’? And how are we to perceive education outside of formally institutionalised contexts (or those special relations that occur even within formalised contexts but transcend them)? Is there another type of pedagogical relationship? And what would be the reasons for entering into a pedagogical relationship other than becoming and being made a part of a subsystem of society? Why do two people gravitate towards each other, freely recognising each other as teacher and student? Attempting to answer those questions, the following paper revisits some historic positions, being conscious that those answers are also part of the answer to a much greater question: What is education?

Educating automatons : pedagogical tact in the age of the script

Despite the continuously insinuated chasm between educational theory and educational practice, there remains an unbreakable bond between both: Not only does every pedagogical act rest on a conceptual frame that precedes it, but also with every pedagogical act, a specific conceptual stance towards the world is consciously or unconsciously being affirmed. The traditional answer to the question for the relation of both has been the introduction of the concept of Pedagogical Tact by J.F. Herbart who formed the concept along the lines of Kant’s theory of judgement. Pedagogical Tact, so Herbart, functions as mediator between what we might call pedagogical theory and pedagogical practice, and becoming a successful educator then means to develop a heightened capacity to employ such tact in pedagogical practice – a capacity which, according to Herbart, needs the studying of theory before the educator’s encounter with educational practice. What already in Herbart’s version seems to be a rather complex and maybe even somewhat miraculous notion, becomes even more complex with the realization that the encounter of human and world in general, and of pedagogical theory and practice in particular, nowadays seems to rest much more on mediating devices than it used to: the act of interpreting the world, and with it the pedagogical situation, seems to be guided much more by the fabricated interpretation offers made by the media that surround us. However, realizing the increased complexity does not yet mean to truly understand the way in which the capacity of Pedagogical Tact will be influenced by this changed ways of making sense of the world. The contribution here attempts to open a horizon for discussing those matters. To achieve this goal, firstly, the concept of Pedagogical Tact in Herbart’s sense will be presented, while leaving it to a second step to closer investigate what the all-encompassing technologization of human life might mean for this pedagogical fundament

Pedagogies in dissonance : the transformation of pedagogical tact

When Herbart in 1802 introduced the concept of Pedagogical Tact in his first lecture on pedagogy, he answered to a systematic problem that had also troubled his predecessor: It was within his theory of judgement that Immanuel Kant attempted to solve the problem of the relation of theory and practice, of theoretical and practical Vernunft. In reference to Kant’s notion of Logical Tact, Herbart proposed the Pedagogical Tact as a way to describe how, in pedagogy, theory and practice could be bound together. Despite their brevity, those short remarks of Herbart became, and continue to be, a Classic theorem of pedagogical thinking, especially within Continental Pedagogy while in the Anglophone world, Pedagogical Tact has found only sparse interest until recently. Both the larger absence of interest, as well as the recent interest, are, in themselves, rather remarkable as they represent trends that seem characteristic for the adaptation of especially German pedagogical theories in Anglophone contexts. Concentrating on Herbart’s tact, this chapter will explore the distortions that not only led to an obliviousness towards the fundamental concept of Pedagogical Tact, but also its distorted reception much later