A thousand tiny pluralities: children becoming-other than the requirements of postsecular neoliberal policy recognition

ABSTRACT

This paper critiques the idea that secular education policy can neutrally recognise children’s non/religious identities at school. It also empirically analyses how one child becomes restricted by, and eludes, classed, gendered and adult-centred moral codes enacted through local school recognition. The concept of policy assemblage is first used to problematise postsecular, market-led enactments of non/religious school community recognition transnationally. I argue postsecular policy enactments in Ireland and elsewhere produce viable and non-viable forms of non/religious school community, thus containing, rather than facilitating school plurality and (re)creating social hierarchies. However, drawing on Deleuzian ideas of becoming and partial objects, I argue children are not determined by the sense-making moral codes of the policy assemblage. To demonstrate this argument, I map instances of how one girl alters and eludes the meanings of austerity, choice and authenticity moral codes. I do not privilege this girl as an example of child resistance, as I argue against using children as barometers of policy authority and secularist authenticity. Instead, I contend that alongside naming and opposing policy’s unjust effects, we need to cultivate attention to our capacity to affect and be affected by the partial objects (e.g. moral codes) and becomings of postsecular neoliberal policy assemblages.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood
• Deleuze
• postsecular
• religion
• school

Acknowledgements

The author sincerely thanks the participants, his co-researcher Yafa Shanneik and also Gavin Deady for their work on the project. He thanks Ian McGimpsey, the reviewers and the editor for their valuable comments on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Use of the terms ‘Ireland’ and ‘Irish’ are limited here to the Republic of Ireland context.

2. Amongst other nationally focused measures, the Minister of Education and Skills recently announced a plan to end the ‘baptism barrier’ which has historically legally entitled oversubscribed Catholic schools to give enrolment priority to Catholic children.

3. ‘Machine’ refers not just to mass media/technologies or consumer/faith objects but to the machinic, multiply connecting corporeal, social, and technological assemblages constituting instances of subjectivation (Guattari, 2006).

4. ‘Make more money’ is a reference to the tradition of children receiving money as a Communion coming-of-age gift.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Irish Research Council [Starter Collaborative Award].

Notes on contributors

Karl Kitching

Karl Kitching is a lecturer in the School of Education, University College Cork. His recent published work includes the book The Politics of Compulsive Education: Racism and Learner-Citizenship. He is currently publishing work on childhood, schooling and socioreligious change drawing on postsecular ethics, and the concept of ‘a thousand tiny pluralities’.