Critical Posthumanism, The Chrysalids, and Educational Change

ABSTRACT

This paper comprises a re-reading of the 1955 novel by John Wyndham, The Chrysalids, in conversation with philosopher Rosi Braidotti’s formation of critical posthumanism. The author argues that such re-readings of curricular fixtures within secondary English classrooms constitutes a necessary pragmatic intervention in a school system often reluctant to re-examine its canonical texts. The author highlights the way The Chrysalids illustrates the transition from theocracy to liberal humanism but also invites the possibility of a posthumanism through its ending. Finally, the author considers the democratic and emancipatory foundations of education and their de facto humanist projects in conversation with posthumanist theory. The author concludes by suggesting that changes in texts, ways of reading, and the foundations of education are urgent amid the current socio-environmental moment.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical posthumanism
• The Chrysalids
• foundations of education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This notion of a pervasive agency is a common feature of the ‘new’ materialisms that underpin Braidotti’s posthumanism. From this perspective, all matter is capable of acting and being acted upon. Some go further under the name vital materialism to suggest that all matter is alive (Bennett 2010). It is important to note here that though this form of materialism is ‘new’ to the world of western philosophy, it has been present in the world’s wisdom traditions and in Indigenous knowledges since time immemorial (Todd 2016). Some remain highly critical of new materialism for that reason, while others frame critical posthumanism as an allied paradigm (Bignall 2022). This remains a point of tension for me, one about which I have written elsewhere (see Downey 2022b).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adrian M. Downey

Adrian M. Downey is an Assistant Professor in the faculty of education at Mount Saint Vincent University. He holds undergraduate degrees in music and education from Bishop’s University, a MAEd focused on curriculum theory from Mount Saint Vincent University, and a PhD from The University of New Brunswick.