Nicola Robertson
Bio: I earned my PhD from the University of Strathclyde in 2022 and I am currently employed in the Strathclyde Institute of Education as Teaching Fellow in Education Studies. My PhD thesis “Images of a World: Is Propaganda Pedagogical?” conceptualises educational content, formed via the process of pedagogical reduction, as a particular image of the world; and propaganda as a kind of pedagogical reduction in which control of interpretation is more tightly employed. I am currently pursuing research interests in Philosophy of Education; Technology and Education; and Popular Culture.
Current Research Projects & Forthcoming Publications
Crystallising Philosoophy, Education and Popular Culture: A Seminar Series. Hosted by Strathclyde Institute of Education 2023/2024.
Robertson, N. & Chen, J. (Eds.) (In Preparation). Autobiographical Writing, Fan Fiction and Education. Lexington Books (Education and Popular Culture book series). Expected end date 2024.
Robertson, N. & Prajapati, V. (Under Editorial Review). Adult Education: Learning to do, or learning to be? To be included in a forthcoming book The Handbook of Adult Education (S. Clancy, N. James & K. Orr, eds.).
Robertson, N. (Under Editorial Review). The University as a Metaversity: Pedagogical Reductions and Constructions. To be included in a forthcoming book Technology and Higher Education.
Vijayita Prajapati
Bio: A lifelong learner, avid reader and work in progress. I am curious about alternative lifestyles and hopeful that different futures where capitalism and economic ravages can be controlled and my child and the future generations will have different choices and ways of living, being and thinking.
My Research
"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias." —Oscar Wilde
Isn't it interesting to note that every age and stage of humanity has had microcosms of experimental radicalists who chose to be different, think different and aim to live differently. The motivations to form a new way of living could have stemmed from beliefs about humanity, beliefs about god or faith, beliefs about the way the world should be or even an escape from the conventions, traditions and rigidity of the systems. These experiments have been fictional like in the case of Thomas More's Utopia, and also real like New Lanark, the Kibbutz, Jonestown, Osho Communes and many more. Some outlasted the founders and have global reach and some utopias faded away.
But even today there are people seeking alternative ways of living and creating a community that experiments in forming a society with a difference. The motivations today range from spiritual beliefs, ecological beliefs, need for like minded individuals and more. It is with an intention of participating in an experiment of hope, that intentional communities are born and its members gravitate towards the ones that align with their belief system or values. Some become models of success, some become lessons for the others, but the quest continues.
If one could consider an “Intentional Community” to be at an intersection of utopian studies, sociology and community studies the questions that arise are what makes an intentional community successful or sustainable and how is it that some communities last and most fade away. My assumption is that at the heart of every intentional community is an informal education system that lays the foundation for the transfer of knowledge, skills and values that could lead to people staying on or creating an impetus and encouragement for more people to join the communities and grow. This informal education system goes beyond literacy, numeracy or skill development and focuses on what the values of the community are, what it means to be a collective and what is agency and citizenship that is involved that enables people to learn to live together.
I am focusing on a few Intentional Communities that have been around for more than 50 years, ( Acrosanti, Auroville, Damanhur, Findhorn) that still have actively growing members and are considered to be reputed models for Intentional Communities, and would like to focus on this informal education that forms a part of the sustainability of these communities which are values led and emphasises the collective versus the individual. I would like to explore the narrative of the second generation commune residents and try and understand what they have absorbed, learnt and understood about life in the Intentional Communities and how that has shaped their worldviews.
UNESCO defines learning cities as a city that promotes lifelong learning for all through inclusion, involvement of families, communities, industry and technology to enhance individual empowerment & social inclusion. If we consider Intentional Communities to be model cities in miniature and are able to extrapolate some of the learnings and adapt them to regional natures and needs, we might be able to get an authentic attempt at creating communities of value. Additionally, the research may provide loopholes and systemic failures that could be avoided in order to have better sustainability and longevity.
JIA LIU 刘佳
Bio: I am about to become an education research student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. I am interested in various educational research areas such as what the old generation have done to develop the young generation’s cognition of the world at an early stage and prepare them for the procedure of formation of the self and identity.
Aim of my research project
My aim is to acquire a holistic understanding of pedagogical development by contrasting the common understanding of education in European countries and China, as well as exploring more perspectives of education theory under different cultures and histories, based on the fact that Chinese educational theories have received little attention in the past. I would like to receive comments and advice relating to different perspectives of my project. I hope that my research will be beneficial for those who are interested in the same kind of comparison.
About my study
To compare education in Europe and China, I have chosen two books – John Amos Comenius’ Orbis Sensualism Pictus and the Chinese Classic Three-word Canon 三字经 – both of which seem to understand the education of children to be based on a representation of the world through pictures and words.
The first book, Comenius’ Orbis Sensualism Pictus (published in 1658 in Latin and German), represents the world in properly ordered pictures with explanations. This book consists of 150 lessons and in each lesson an image and an explanation of the image both in Latin and English (in the English language edition of this work) are presented. As Comenius said in the preface of the book, “it is a little book […], yet a brief of the world, and a whole language”.
In contrast to this picture book, in China, one of the most famous traditional education materials used for preschool children is the Three-word Canon 三字经 because it is easy to understand and remember for its poem-like structure. Like Comenius’ work, this book covers different fields of the world like literature, history, philosophy, astronomy and geography, humanistic principles, morality and filial piety, so it can be used to educate children in different dimensions. For example, at the beginning of the book, the author has revealed the reason why we need to educate children properly: “Men are born with good and similar nature and differ when they are older due to different upbringing environment and education background. 人之初, 性本善. 性相近, 习相远.” That is to say, when people are born, they are innocent and good-natured; however, through different ways of being educated and life experiences, they may develop different ways of living and personalities. Therefore, much emphasis lies on the importance of a ‘good’ education.
Although there are similarities between both books, they also are numerous differences, which need to be explored and explained. For example, one of the many differences is that the Three-word Canon 三字经ranks the elements of education distinctively (e.g. “Stress piety more than your lore. Learn some numeracy. Know some literacy. 首孝悌，次见闻. 知某数，识某文.”) That is to say, loving and respecting your parents and brothers is more important than knowledge. As for knowledge, one should learn some numeracy and literacy. We can see in China’s traditional education that the notion of obedience is the most important element of studying for the new generation in society, which maybe explains the successful implementation of lockdown policy in China during the pandemic in Spring 2020.
Yuting Jia 贾宇庭
Bio: I have a background in Education, Statistics, Business and Management. In recent years, I will explore educational theory to answer my confusion. I firmly believe that educational theory is the foundation of education studies as a discipline (education (scientific (knowledge, science) or not, the question depends on how we define these words)). Whatever the argument, theory (or theorising) is the basis of education studies. And only a theory that draws from culture and history has the potential to give educational studies an expression of its own. Also, this will, certainly, always be an open-ended discussion.
Topic:
A considerable number of scholars have attempted to begin a dialogue between the continental and Anglo-American educational traditions. To seek potential and new insights into the concept of education. Such an effort is exciting. The horizon, however, is open and can be extended. This project will discuss the concept of education from the perspective of Wang Shouren, in order to complement the work on East Asian educational traditions in English.
The concept proposed by Wang Shouren is one of the key components of Chinese culture. Confucius, Mencius, Zhu Xi and Wang Shouren, are the four great philosophers in the history of Confucianism. He was one of them. Also, he was a Chinese statesman, and general, whose thoughts had a profound influence on China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Moreover, there are some familiar Chinese concepts associated with him, such as "mind is principle 心即是理" and "unity of knowing and acting 知行合一". These concepts help us to clarify our thinking and advance our powers of self-formation. In addition, these concepts have the potential to broaden the horizons of the field of philosophy of education, as well as prompt us to construct the theory of education.
Finally, I expect that the end of this project will achieve a kind of systematic synthesis. I will get a temporary state of consistency in this practice and theory. In other words, the project will form a whole (systemic) with (Wang Shouren), epistemology and methodology (Hermeneutics). Unlike fragmented studies.
Louis Waterman-Evans
Bio:
I am a PhD candidate at Karlsruhe University of Education in the subject of Erziehungswissenschaften (Education Sciences/ Studies). My journey to this point has been far from linear, but the easiest reference point is when I worked as a teacher of mathematics at a London secondary school. That role imbued a love of teaching, but it also felt very unbalanced: there was a lot of doing but no time for thinking, reflecting or researching. What was the purpose of all this teaching? Was there a theoretical backdrop to it, or was my role as teacher confined to questions solely of method? What did the philosophers and scientists have to say about it? Seeking answers to these questions was the impetus behind my master’s degree in Education Studies, which I completed in 2020/21 at the University of Strathclyde. Subsequently teaching on that same course, whilst also having the time and space to further my own research interests, confirmed to me the appeal of research and teaching working together harmoniously in a virtuous circle. Thus, embarking on my own PhD adventure seemed like a logical next step.
PhD research area:
My research will offer a theoretical perspective(s) on two key concepts, ‘nature’ and ‘pedagogy’, as well as their shared conception, ‘nature pedagogy’. My interest in ‘nature’ is best contextualised by my work (and leisure!) outside of academia. Each summer, I work as a hiking guide leading groups in the Alps and Scottish Highlands. I also enjoy running, climbing and hiking in the mountains as much as possible in my free time. Spending time in the mountains, ‘in nature’ one might say, alone or with others, feels somehow formative, edifying, at times educational. And I’m continually reflecting on this: What exactly is this ‘nature’ that seems to be so beneficial? And what relation(s) to/ with ‘it’ are bringing about these positive changes?
The latter of those questions hints to my second concept of focus (by attending to relations and how acting on these relations can bring about improvements): ‘pedagogy’. Choosing the concept of pedagogy emphasises the theoretical focus of the research, as opposed to practice (which would be the case if the concept were ‘education’, for example). For many, pedagogy is simply ‘the method and practice of teaching’ (alas, if only it were that straight-forward!), but it is in fact a contested term. My research will draw on historical and inter-/ intra-/ transcultural perspectives to enrich English-speaking discourses on pedagogy.
Further narrowing is required. ‘Nature’ and ‘pedagogy’ are both very broad terms. Romanticism holds appeal as a ‘way in’ to conceptualising ‘nature’. The Romantics proposed a harmonious conception of nature, unifying external nature ‘out there’ with the internal, human nature: we are a part of the very nature we seek to understand. Such a conception appeals as a rebuttal to today’s mechanistic conception of nature, seen as ‘object’ to be investigated, exploited and extracted by human ‘subject’. Perhaps such a conception might go some way to addressing some of the challenges faced today in the Anthropocene/ Chthulucene. My proposal follows accordingly.
Proposed research project:
Pedagogical implications of a Romantic conception of nature.
I would caveat this by adding that I am also cautious of narrowing too fast, too soon. Determining the research question too quickly would narrow the scope of my horizons. Therefore, whilst the proposal suggests a focus on Romanticism, this is still subject to change!
Other research interests: I have also written about Bildung and its Danish counterpart dannelse, as well as a brief flirtation with posthumanism in my Master’s thesis. In general, I am interested in theoretical and historical perspectives in education studies, particularly those which are inter-/transcultural and inter-/transdisciplinary.