Towards a Politicized Notion of Citizenship for Science Education: Engaging the Social Through Dissensus

Abstract:

This theoretical article draws from the political thought of Jacques Rancière to trouble some taken-for-granted conceptions of citizenship education. Rancière's notion of politics and dissensus (as opposed to consensus) can lay the groundwork for a version of citizenship that challenges what is deemed sensible, visible, who is counted in communities and on what grounds. This version of citizenship, based on politics and dissensus, disrupts the taken-for-granted social order and seeks to establish equality for those who are what Rancière calls “the part of no part.” In science, math, and technology education this means rethinking how we approach social and political issues and civic identities, where consensus seeking and nonactivist choices for students prevail. I conclude the article by outlining examples of science education research that work to “redraw the lines” of the social (the social being the stakes of the political); in particular, the Idle No More movement, which is at the forefront of both scientific and political activism in the geographic space known as Canada.

Résumé:

Cet article théorique se fonde sur la pensée politique de Jacques Rancière pour secouer les conceptions reçues sur la formation à la citoyenneté. Les notions de Rancière sur la politique et la dissension peuvent servir à tisser le canevas d’une version de la citoyenneté qui défie ce qui est perçu comme sensé et visible, ceux qui comptent dans les communautés et sur quelles bases. En enseignement des sciences, cela signifie repenser nos façons d’aborder les questions sociales et politiques et les identités civiques là où prévalent la recherche de consensus et les choix non activistes chez les étudiants. Je termine l’article par une discussion sur le mouvement Idle No More, qui est au premier plan de l’activisme aussi bien social que scientifique au Canada.

Notes

¹The term inequity can be preferable to inequality especially when the distinction between fairness and sameness is concerned. In this article I employ equality as a radical democratic principle whereby each person/group can have rights, make claims, and take equal part in establishing the grounds for claims. The notion of radical equality plays a key role in Rancière's political theorizing.