Childhood, Science Fiction, and Pedagogy
Children Ex Machina
Editors: Kupferman, David, Gibbons, Andrew (Eds.)
Free Preview- Crosses disciplinary boundaries by drawing on a variety of methodological approachesExtends contemporary definitions of science fiction in questions regarding pedagogy and childhood studiesCalls for a reconsideration of childhood in ways that challenge dominant development and globalization discoursesQuestions conventional approaches to constructions of childhood prevalent in the social and political imaginaries
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- About this book
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This book invites readers to both reassess and reconceptualize definitions of childhood and pedagogy by imagining the possibilities - past, present, and future - provided by the aesthetic turn to science fiction. It explores constructions of children, childhood, and pedagogy through the multiple lenses of science fiction as a method of inquiry, and discusses what counts as science fiction and why science fiction counts.
- About the authors
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David W. Kupferman is an Assistant Professor of Social Foundations of Education at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He is interested in employing trans-disciplinary methods that engage with socio-cultural constructions of pedagogy and why they matter. Recent writings have put forward poststructural and pop cultural critiques of neoliberal education reforms and the ways in which contemporary educational discourse and policy legitimize or delegitimize particular schooling subjectivities. His first book, Disassembling and Decolonizing School in the Pacific: A Genealogy from Micronesia, is available from Springer as part of their Contemporary Philosophies and Theories in Education Series (Vol. 5), and was nominated for a Critics Choice Award by the American Educational Studies Association in 2013. He has published articles in Postmodern Culture, Journal for Cultural Research, Global Studies of Childhood, and Postcolonial Directions in Education, among other journals. He is the Immediate Past Chair of the Foucault and Contemporary Theory in Education Special Interest Group at AERA, and is an Associate Editor of Policy Futures in Education.
Andrew Gibbons is an early childhood teacher, teacher educator, and associate professor at the School of Education, Auckland University of Technology. His research focuses on the construction and experience of the early childhood teaching profession drawing upon the philosophy of early childhood education and the philosophy of technology. His book The Matrix Ate My Baby (Sense) critiques the role of new media in early childhood education. In Education, Ethics and Existence: Camus and the Human Condition (Routledge, co-authored with Peter Roberts and Richard Heraud), he explores the contribution of Albert Camus for the critique of schooling. Andrew is Editor in Chief of ELearning and Digital Media, Executive Editor of the Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory and Associate Editor of Educational Philosophy and Theory. - Reviews
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“This insightful and creative book makes a strong, original contribution to the field(s) in that it presents quite ‘outside of the box’ content and theoretical perspectives in original, creative fashion(s) which make them highly accessible. These intellectual perspectives will enthuse readers of the content to push beyond the boundaries of the normative theoretical and practical perspectives as they intellectualize their own personal perspectives and those of others and their respective fields (e.g., childhood studies; early childhood education) of study and professional interest(s)” (Richard T. Johnson, Professor, University of Hawaii)
“This book by David W. Kupferman and Andrew Gibbons begins from the premise that the machine creates childhood. It uses science fiction as the method of inquiry to explore the social imaginary of childhood to explore posthumanist ethics and new subjectivities of children. Inspired by Kant’s Aesthetics as a first philosophy the authors explore the literary works of Le Guin, Asimov and Bradbury, and movies like Ridley Scott’s Alien to rethink and reconceptualise childhood. The book is worthy on all kinds of levels for the way it explores popular culture and the connections it draws between science, identity, and childhood studies. Highly recommended.” (Michael A. Peters, Distinguished Professor, Beijing Normal University)
- Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Why Childhood Ex Machina?
Pages 1-15
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Franken-Education, or When Science Runs Amok
Pages 19-39
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The Monstrous Voice: M.R. Carey’s The Girl with All the Gifts
Pages 41-56
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Toy Gory, or the Ontology of Chucky: Childhood and Killer Dolls
Pages 57-75
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Through the Black Mirror: Innocence, Abuse, and Justice in “Shut Up and Dance”
Pages 79-92
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Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Childhood, Science Fiction, and Pedagogy
- Book Subtitle
- Children Ex Machina
- Editors
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- David Kupferman
- Andrew Gibbons
- Series Title
- Children: Global Posthumanist Perspectives and Materialist Theories
- Copyright
- 2019
- Publisher
- Springer Singapore
- Copyright Holder
- Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
- eBook ISBN
- 978-981-13-6210-1
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-981-13-6210-1
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-981-13-6209-5
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-981-13-6212-5
- Series ISSN
- 2523-3408
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XV, 229
- Number of Illustrations
- 1 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour
- Topics