Beyond Belief: Visionary Cinema, Becoming Imperceptible and Pedagogical Resistance

The prospect of the Anthropocene is revisited in Chapter Twelve of ‘Art, Artists and Pedagogy’. Beier and Wallin repeat Deleuze’s observation that what we lack is a belief in the world. They delve into the premise of the world as it is already given, denying any variation in contemplating the future. In pedagogical terms they see this as curriculum reform, based on the existing dominant discourse with a pervasive sense of having ‘seen it all before.’ The overriding sentiment is that the anthropocentric (human centred) and anthropomorphic (human representation) thinking, presupposes the reality of human thought and cognition, without any doubt being expressed.

Looking for new ways to believe in the world, Beier and Wallin turn to film, through a reading of Deleuze, employing cinema as way to see beyond our ‘ordinariness’, and our usual way of being. The cinema they maintain, acts as a means to reflect on our current pre-occupations, to be critical, a way to re-think the world. How then, Beier and Wallin ask, might we envision cinema as a means to re-think the educational task with reference to Biesta? It is not teachers telling the child which desire is desirable, for this becomes a question the child must answer. In a reference to the Anthropocene we are asked to consider the future of human survival. The question is posed as to how can we, as educators, adjust to earth without us?

'Art, Artists and Pedagogy' is published by Routledge.