Reconfiguring Human, Nonhuman and Posthuman in Literature and Culture

Abstract

The time has come for human cultures to seriously think, to diligently conceptualize, and to earnestly fabulate about all the nonhuman critters we share our world with, and to consider how to strive for more ethical cohabitation. Reconfiguring Human, Nonhuman and Posthuman in Literature and Culture tackles this severe matter within the framework of literary and cultural studies. The emphasis of the inquiry is on the various ways in which actual and fictional nonhumans are reconfigured in contemporary culture -although, as long as the domain of nonhumanity is carved in the negative space of humanity, addressing these issues will inevitably clamor for the reconfiguration of the human as well.

Connecting Pedagogical Interactions in the Twenty-First Century Classrooms: The Role of the Learners’ Perspective in Knowledge Production in the Curriculum Transformation in South Africa

“…The understanding of knowledge established from this perspective highlights that knowledge is time and context specific and therefore knowledge is fallible and not everlasting. Similarly, the constructivism and progressive philosophical ideas support the view of knowledge as a process, which is driven by socio-economic needs and demands [29,30]. The issue of knowledge in the classroom should be assessed in terms of relevance to the current socio-economic needs of the nation or society, worthiness to provide solutions to the current and future problems in the society.…”

“…The advocates of the constructivist theory assert that learners have their points of view and perspectives to life and reality resulting from the process of adaptation in their environment [35]. To the constructivist theory, learning is a process of becoming and it is through mastery of abilities, knowledge, and skills that the learners attain self-realisation, meaning that the learner seeks to find answers to the questions and solutions to the real-life problems [14,24,29,32,33] in the same viewpoint assert that it is in the nature of the learner to ask questions about their surroundings, and the relationships between entities that constitute their world. The researchers in theory recommend that learners should be exposed to real-world problems rather that abstract realities, for them to construct their knowledge by means of explorations, investigating, problem-solving, trial and error, and experimentation [18,29].…”

“…To the constructivist theory, learning is a process of becoming and it is through mastery of abilities, knowledge, and skills that the learners attain self-realisation, meaning that the learner seeks to find answers to the questions and solutions to the real-life problems [14,24,29,32,33] in the same viewpoint assert that it is in the nature of the learner to ask questions about their surroundings, and the relationships between entities that constitute their world. The researchers in theory recommend that learners should be exposed to real-world problems rather that abstract realities, for them to construct their knowledge by means of explorations, investigating, problem-solving, trial and error, and experimentation [18,29]. In the same narrative, ([27], 7) argues that the nature of knowledge and characteristics in a progressive and pragmatic context, meaning knowledge that reflects the past, present and projecting the future possibilities are; engaging, existential, expressive, evolving, experimental, anti-entropy, and entertaining.…”

“…The conceptualised interactions demonstrated in the diagram, indicate the worlds or dimensions from which the participants create their own meaning of the content knowledge. According to constructivist and phenomenologists' theories, the teacher should allow learners to engage with the content knowledge and to build up new understandings, and if learners are to construct their own understanding of the content knowledge, teachers should capitalise on the learners' prior knowledge and imaginations [18,19,29] and encourage learners to interact with knowledge for an in-depth understanding and creation of new knowledge, and this should be done through asking simple questions, for example, 'How did you know about that? Did anyone approach this problem in a different way?…”

“…The constructivist theory warns that imposing knowledge to learners as fallible and conclusive deprives learners the opportunities to develop intellectual skills; logic, evaluation, critical thinking, hypothesising and creative thinking [7,23,29,33]. The Piaget theory on human cognitive development revealed that at a formal operational stage, children can think hypothetically and critically about things around them, therefore an exposition of knowledge that acts against this principle is viewed in this work to be oppressive and manipulative to the young generation.…”