The Educational Challenge of Unraveling the Fantasies of Ontological Security

ABSTRACT

In this article we address the current context of intensified racialized state securitization by tracing its roots to the naturalized colonial architectures of everyday modern life—which we present through the metaphor of “the house modernity built.” While contemporary crises are often perceived to derive from external threats to the house, we argue that in fact these crises are a product of the violent and unsustainable practices that are required in order to build and sustain the house itself. As the structural integrity of the house increasingly comes under strain, there are different possible responses, three of which we review here. We conclude by asking what kind of education might enable us to imagine and practice alternative formations of existence in a context where the house appears to be crumbling, and, indeed, has always been a fantasy.

Notes

¹ These phrases were coined by Vanessa Bowen and Krystal Lake, respectively.

² We focus on the United States in this paper, but note that the recent amplification of these discourses and practices of securitization, and accompanying political shifts, are not limited to the U.S. context.

³ We recognize that others have used the house as a metaphor, in particular Lorde (1983) and in the Marxist concept of “base-superstructure,” both of which could be fruitfully put into conversation with our paper.

⁴ For instance, the murders of unarmed Black people by police, and the disappearance and murder of Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people are ongoing and yet rarely spark an ethical crisis for the rest of the population that calls the legitimacy of the state or social order into question (Silva, 2016).

⁵ A sign with this slogan was seen by one of the authors at a Women’s March on January 21, 2017; it comes from Hillary Clinton’s postelection concession speech.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sharon Stein

Sharon Stein is a PhD candidate in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. Her research examines the social foundations and political economy of (higher) education, in particular as they relate to local and global colonial patterns of knowledge production and power relations, and how these inform different imaginaries of justice.

Dallas Hunt

Dallas Hunt is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia. His research looks at the intersections of Indigenous studies, urban studies and Indigenous literature. He is Cree and a member of Wapsewsipi (Swan River First Nation) in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta, Canada.

Rene Suša

Rene Suša, PhD, is currently a researcher for the Musagetes Foundation. His research focuses on critiques of modernity and the modern subject based on postcolonial, decolonial and pscyhonalytical thought. More specifically he is interested in the educational challenges of engaging with the totalizing onto-epistemic assumptions, investments and desires that re-inscribe modern subjectivities.

Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti

Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti, PhD, is a Canada Research Chair in Race, Inequalities and Global Change at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her research examines historical and systemic patterns of reproduction of inequalities and how these limit or enable possibilities for collective existence and global change.