Renegotiating desire in North America: risky education

Abstract

This article assumes that desire, like fear, is an inescapable human condition; both are conditions that construct us as subjects of social relationships, and are capable of being embedded in discourse, episteme and institutions. This article is framed around three questions. The first: how can desire be understood and applied to the various processes of education? The second: what are the possible effects of foregrounding desire as the unit of analysis for education in the moment of historical and cultural plurality that characterises North America? The third: what possibilities does a foregrounding (of desire) open for the study of comparative education?