Conference Program

The ecological paradigm proposes an open conception of human subjectivity in which the boundaries separating us from alterity, whether human, animal, plant, or artificial, become thresholds of mutual exchange that enable practices of conjugation. In order to understand the trajectories of subjectivation, it is essential to question the ways in which exchange with the other-than-self occur, problematizing the concept of the threshold as a nodal point of heterogeneous and highly complex dynamics.
Taking Gert Biesta's pedagogy of interruption and sociomaterial theories in education as a reference point, this contribution aims to reflect on the processes that characterize the threshold space, reinterpreting them in terms of a constant alternation between interruption and interconnection and focusing on how the interplay between these two movements shapes the becoming of subjects. From this perspective, it becomes crucial for pedagogy to consider how such interaction might be configured to promote the democratization of educational processes and individual learning paths. Reinterpreting the concept of threshold in the light of Biesta's thinking, it can be understood as an event in which an interruption occurs, meaning a discontinuity that calls on the individual to respond, allowing subjectivity to come into being. The exchange at stake is between humans, as the ‘other’ to whom one must respond is human.
Sociomaterial theories allow us to reinterpret Biesta's concept of interruption within the broader construct of networks. The network, as contextual and situated, may also be considered an event in which not only humans but also non-humans actively participate, both as internal referents, i.e., co-actors in the dynamics of exchange, and as external referents, i.e., bearers of interests with respect to the dynamics activated. From this perspective, thresholds can be identified as those (potentially infinite) nodes within the network where different forms of alterity interact, undergoing processes of interruption — understood as an encounter with what is other-than-self — interconnection, and transformation. In this sense, interruption and interconnection are co-implicated, since the condition of possibility for the latter is to go through the encounter with alterity.
A further point of convergence between Biesta’s perspective and sociomaterial approaches concerns the unpredictability of interaction. The configuration that interruption assumes, as well as the quality of the interconnections activated, cannot be defined a priori but are expressed on a contextual basis, also giving space to creative and unexpected forms of existence.
Starting from here, this contribution aims to question these dynamics, explore how they occur in widespread education and intentionally designed educational processes, paying attention to the articulation and quality of the connections activated. Such an exploration might helpo to critically interpret the educational events taking place in order to understand how to redesign them to promote democratic education.
In this sense, recognizing both humans and non-human entities as active referents – both internal and external to the educational process – giving rhythm to interruptions in order to activate new connections, leaving space for emerging subjectivities without imposing predetermined trajectories, may represent promising pedagogical moves to promote subjectivation, shared responsibility, and the emergence of democratic thinking.