Critical Thinking, Citizenship, and Vocational Training:Creating a Space for Bildung

In this chapter Anouk Zuurmond explores the notion of Bildung. The chapter starts with a review of social literature on Bildung and an analysis of fundamental Dutch policy documents. It then describes a subsidised research project run by a consortium of two research-oriented universities, two secondary vocational education (mbo) institutions, and the HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, which attempts to move away of the aforementioned perspective

Shared Stories and Creative Dissonances:How Can Literature Contribute to Current Reflections on European Identity?

Over the past years, European cultural organizations have initiated several transnational literary projects to reflect on what binds Europeans together. As part of a research project that examines what role these literary projects play in the debate on European identity, this article explores expectations held by the organizers of these initiatives. Drawing on discourse analysis, documents such as project plans are researched to examine discourses on European political and cultural identity, as well as the main argumentative strategies deployed by organizations to legitimize the literary contribution to the debate on Europe as a unity

Serres on Education

In this latest contribution to Temple Continental: Philosophers for our Time, Iris van der Tuin and Anouk Zuurmond introduce readers to the French philosopher Michel Serres, and his thinking on education. They cover the ‘disparateness’ of knowledge in an internet age, the ‘voyage’ of pedagogy, the inequalities inscribed in institutions, the need for education outside as much as in a library, and the importance of interdisciplinarity. For Serres, education is perhaps best compared to swimming mid-stream as one attempts to cross a river

Serres on Education

In this latest contribution to Temple Continental: Philosophers for our Time, Iris van der Tuin and Anouk Zuurmond introduce readers to the French philosopher Michel Serres, and his thinking on education. They cover the ‘disparateness’ of knowledge in an internet age, the ‘voyage’ of pedagogy, the inequalities inscribed in institutions, the need for education outside as much as in a library, and the importance of interdisciplinarity. For Serres, education is perhaps best compared to swimming mid-stream as one attempts to cross a river