Dissertation
Aesthetic experience and social-emotional empowerment in John Dewey's naturalistic pragmatism: implications for critical pedagogy
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2021
DOI: 10.17077/etd.005819
Abstract
Aspiration for humanity grows especially for the oppressed that are discouraged from being human. Karl Marx saw the dehumanization of labor in modern capitalist society, and Frantz Fanon observed that modern colonialism and imperialism obliterated humanity. These ideological traditions are against modern rational thought and claim the liberation of humanity. Marx observed how industrial workers were exploited by the bourgeoisie and how it led to oppression and dehumanization. The people had a hope that the French Revolution (1789-1799) would bring freedom and equity, but the emerging industrial society was the opposite of what they expected. The Enlightenment tradition based on modern rationalism brought to an end of the royal regime, but at the same time it aggravated social stratification and inequality through industrial and scientific advancement. Those who had the ownership of the modern means of production gained political and economic power and hegemony. The Marxist analysis, which assumes the binary of oppressor and oppressed, contributes to revealing the exploitative aspect of systemized oppression such as colonialism. It has also contributed to critical pedagogy that strives for decolonial education.
However, this study challenges the Marxist foundation of critical pedagogy and decolonial education with John Dewey’s naturalistic pragmatism. Dewey used naturalistic pragmatism to explain what it means to be human and suggested how education could contribute to such humanization. His argument for human liberation is distinct from that of Marxism. This study firstly examines how Dewey’s naturalistic pragmatism buttresses the discussion of human liberation and decolonial education.
In addition, this study examines a pedagogy that could contribute to education for empowerment based on Dewey’s naturalistic pragmatism. Recent studies in social science have shown the educational benefits of aesthetic experience. However, few studies present theoretical and philosophical explanations of why the aesthetic experience is closely related to the formation of the self and why it could be significant, especially for the postcolonial self that has experienced systemized oppression. This study sheds new light on the postcolonial self and its re-formation through the act of expression, as a kind of aesthetic experience. Based on Dewey’s theory of aesthetics, this study suggests arts-integrated critical pedagogy for liberatory education.
For the application of the ideas of aesthetic experience into education for social-emotional empowerment, I conducted a qualitative case study in a marginalized area of postcolonial Kenya. Given my preceding theoretical examinations, Dewey’s naturalistic pragmatism is concerned with human liberation and is applicable to the postcolonial contexts, and the act of expression as aesthetic experience can be a meaningful pedagogical approach to those under the lasting effect of systemized oppression. In this application, I propose that visual art education is an educational practice to cultivate the social and emotional capabilities of students, which are significant to their empowerment.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Aesthetic experience and social-emotional empowerment in John Dewey's naturalistic pragmatism: implications for critical pedagogy
- Creators
- Hyunju Lee
- Contributors
- Gregory E Hamot (Advisor)David B Bills (Advisor)Leslie A Locke (Committee Member)Hyaeweol Choi (Committee Member)Ain A Grooms (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Educational Policy and Leadership Studies
- Date degree season
- Summer 2021
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.005819
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- viii, 97 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2021 Hyunju Lee
- Language
- English
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 90-97).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
This study examines the ways in which modern imperialism and rationalism have fueled systemized oppression as well as how decolonial theorists such as Frantz Fanon responded to the oppressive power with the Marxist tradition. It further examines the limitations of the ideas and attempts to answer the following question with John Dewey’s naturalistic pragmatism: How would education contribute to the empowerment of people under the lasting effect of systemized oppression? Based on Deweyan naturalistic pragmatism, this study suggests arts-integrated education as a critical pedagogy that strengthens the agency and social engagement of a marginalized group of students. This study illuminates not only the different strands of decolonial thinking that can lend insights to decolonial education in the present day but also pedagogical implications for social and emotional empowerment.
- Academic Unit
- Educational Policy and Leadership Studies
- Record Identifier
- 9984124761002771
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