Education in Radical Uncertainty: Transgression in Theory and Method (New Directions in Comparative and International Education)

"In Education in Radical Uncertainty , Stephen Carney and Ulla Ambrosius Madsen return to the philosophical and social critique of Jean Baudrillard and relate his work to the field of education, particularly to comparative studies of youth and schooling in different parts of the world. The book explores how the initial interest in Baudrillard's work has been replaced by skepticism, and how the field of educational studies has been complicit in marginalizing his influence. The authors argue that labelling Baudrillard as the most extreme of the post-modernists is both misguided and unfortunate, denying a generation of education researchers an engagement with insights that are both profound and challenging. They do so by exploring three of his key ideas: simulation leading to spectacle and seduction; integral reality leading to disappearance; and evil, reversibility and return. The authors situate Baudrillard's works in the broader context of works by other post-foundational theorists, such as Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, as well as exploring them in relation to empirical studies. Considering ethnographic work with youth in three quite different contexts - Denmark, South Korea and Zambia - the authors use a range of data to bring the different field studies alive and to contrast them with conventional portraits of the Global South. Encompassing both theoretical and methodological innovation, Education in Radical Uncertainty provides inspiration for scholars and students attempting to approach fields of comparative education and youth studies anew."-- Provided by publisher Drawing upon the long tradition of recalcitrant thought in Western humanist scholarship, this book rethinks education and educational research at a time of intense social transformation. By revisiting a range of post-foundational ideas and developing their own methodological experiment, Stephen Carney and Ulla Ambrosius Madsen reimagine the possibilities for the comparative study of education. Exploring the experiences of young people in Denmark, South Korea and Zambia, this book illustrates how these very different contexts are increasingly connected by common narratives of purpose, as well as overheated promises of success. Focusing on the writings of Jean Baudrillard, the authors examine them in the context of works by other theorists of modernity, to explore processes of simulation and disappearance that are shaping life worldwide. In the process, the authors paint a rich portrait of education and schooling as a site of joy, hope, pain and ambivalence. Encompassing both theoretical and methodological innovation, Education in Radical Uncertainty provides inspiration for scholars and students attempting to approach the fields of comparative education, education policy and youth studies anew. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Series Editors’ Foreword Introduction: By Way of Explanation  Chapter 1: A Thousand and One Disturbing Little Stories1 Chapter 2: Education in/and the Global Chapter 3: Into the Darkness Chapter 4: Writing as Method In Extremis Chapter 5: A World in/of Fragments Chapter 6: Comparative Education and Radical Uncertainty Notes References Index