Being receptive to different ways of being and knowing not only entails learning something new. It also, and perhaps most importantly, requires a process of ‘unlearning’ of dominant norms and structures. But can we actually unlearn persistent epistemic structures like for instance sexism, racism or eurocentrism? And what would it take to do so?
The potential of unlearning
On the one hand, this project is a philosophical investigation into unlearning, departing from the work of the postcolonial feminist thinker Gayatri Spivak. While in earlier work, Spivak puts forward the notion of ‘unlearning’ as a necessary process, in later work she questions its possibility and warns against unlearning becoming a solipsistic or naïve endeavor. Engaging postcolonial, feminist and queer understandings of learning and unlearning, the project investigates the philosophical potential and limits of the notion.
Practical implications of this research
On the other hand, the project is an action research project which attempts to set in motion a collective process of unlearning within a concrete educational setting. Working with an ‘Unlearning Collective’ of teachers and students, and making use of experimental, creative and arts-based methods, the action research project opens up a horizon for collective experimentation with unlearning.