The moment when we blink : articulating the process of subjectivity in the life of a teacher
Date
1994
Authors
Underwood, Susan Jane
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Abstract
This thesis articulates an approach to teaching that acknowledges the role that education plays in the process of subjectification. It attempts to identify a position from which a subject who teaches can practise an awareness of the ethical dimensions of her actions. Both the teacher and the student are subjects of educational discourse and, as Foucault states, in these relationships power is always present. This thesis questions whether it is possible to create what Deleuze calls a "line of flight" capable of dismantling the binary arrangements of teacher/ student and allowing new thought to occur.
The introduction to the thesis begins with some of the subject's early recollections of instances in which she unconsciously interpreted power as a silencing force. The subject desires to dislodge that effect through consciously examining what she has learned to ignore in the power relations that create subjectivity.
In the first section of the thesis, the theories of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze are utilized to frame a way of thinking through the ethical questions raised for the education system by post-modernism. Deleuze and Guattari's notion of "minority literature" is outlined, adapted, and applied to the field of education. "Minority teaching" is the term that is used to indicate a position within the educational system that is open to critical reflection upon questions concerning power relations and subjectivity.
The next three sections of the thesis are devoted to analysis of the components that characterize "minority teaching": political immediacy of one's actions, the existence of collectivity, and the invention of new forms of expression. In each case, a form of "memory-work" is employed to illustrate these concepts. "Memory-work" involves critical reflection upon the individual's participation in the formation of her subjectivity. Transcripts of taped conversations, dreams, and journal entries that relate to each of the three concepts are some of the sources for this research. Stories from the subject's history serve as examples of "moments when we blink" - times when we are newly conscious of how we have constructed ourselves as subjects of our own discourse.
The final section of the thesis reflects upon the effect of this research project on the subjectivity of its author. The production of a thesis is itself a disciplining practice, yet through the writing of this work, the subject has managed to create for herself new possibilities for thinking and living. Foucault's interpretation of the tradition of "caring for the self' is used to frame a space for the subject to work with an ethical awareness of her participation in the formation of the subjectivity of her own and others' selves. In her teaching practice, the subject finds evidence that opportunities exist for her students and herself to think together about issues of power and subjectivity. The thesis ends with the observation that there is no conclusion to the process of "caring for the self." The thesis is considered to have reached completion because it has achieved its purpose: new thinking is now possible.