Towards a Pedagogics of Epiphany

Abstract

This article begins by focusing on critiques of the ideology and practice of neoliberalism in universities, nation-wide and globally. The argument proceeds to analyse alternative or counter-neoliberal strategies of reading, writing, and teaching propounded by selected scholars. My analysis reveals that, although these scholars argue the necessity of developing and putting into practice pedagogical strategies that contest those that are driven by the neoliberal agenda, they do little more than gesture toward implementation of these. By way of redressing this lack, I present a case study that indicates specific tactics for “slipping under the neoliberal radar”. This leads to a discussion of what I consider to be a crucial academic concern – the practice, or the art, of reading, as expressed by George Steiner (1978), John Williams in his novel Stoner (1965), and Éammon Dunne in an analysis of this novel (2016). It is my intention to show how these texts inspired me to concoct what I call a pedagogics of epiphany. I conclude my argument by explaining what I mean by this concept, and the ways in which its implementation might reflect a simultaneously radical and circumspect orientation toward the ongoing project of “doing academia differently”.

Keywords

• Neoliberal hegemony
• critique
• art of reading
• radicalising pedagogics
• epiphany