Adult Education as a Heterotopia of Deviation : A Dwelling for the Abnormal Citizen
(2016) In Adult Education Quarterly 66(2). p.103-119- Abstract
- We argue that municipal adult education (MAE) can be seen as a place for displaced and abnormal citizens to gain temporary stability, enabling their shaping into desirable subjects. Drawing on a poststructural discursive analysis, we analyze policy texts and interviews with teachers and students. Our analysis illustrates how two distinct but interrelated student subjectivities are shaped: the rootless, unmotivated, and irresponsible student; and the responsible, motivated, and goal-oriented student. The difference is that the latter of these subjectivities is positioned as desirable. MAE provides a temporary place in time, a heterotopia of deviation, allowing students to escape precarious employment. The heterotopia places the students in... (More)
- We argue that municipal adult education (MAE) can be seen as a place for displaced and abnormal citizens to gain temporary stability, enabling their shaping into desirable subjects. Drawing on a poststructural discursive analysis, we analyze policy texts and interviews with teachers and students. Our analysis illustrates how two distinct but interrelated student subjectivities are shaped: the rootless, unmotivated, and irresponsible student; and the responsible, motivated, and goal-oriented student. The difference is that the latter of these subjectivities is positioned as desirable. MAE provides a temporary place in time, a heterotopia of deviation, allowing students to escape precarious employment. The heterotopia places the students in a positive utopian dream of the future. A utopia is not a real place, and what is to become of the students after finishing MAE is not determined; the students themselves should shape it. If they fail, in line with a neoliberal governmentality, it is their own fault. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/fc21376d-e78a-4688-91da-fbef69296b71
- author
- Sandberg, Fredrik LU ; Fejes, Andreas ; Dahlstedt, Magnus and Olson, Maria
- publishing date
- 2016
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- heterotopia of deviation adult education Foucault power citizenship precarious employment poststructuralism
- in
- Adult Education Quarterly
- volume
- 66
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 16 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84977540252
- ISSN
- 0741-7136
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- fc21376d-e78a-4688-91da-fbef69296b71
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-27 16:32:08
- date last changed
- 2022-11-21 03:39:20
@article{fc21376d-e78a-4688-91da-fbef69296b71,
abstract = {{We argue that municipal adult education (MAE) can be seen as a place for displaced and abnormal citizens to gain temporary stability, enabling their shaping into desirable subjects. Drawing on a poststructural discursive analysis, we analyze policy texts and interviews with teachers and students. Our analysis illustrates how two distinct but interrelated student subjectivities are shaped: the rootless, unmotivated, and irresponsible student; and the responsible, motivated, and goal-oriented student. The difference is that the latter of these subjectivities is positioned as desirable. MAE provides a temporary place in time, a heterotopia of deviation, allowing students to escape precarious employment. The heterotopia places the students in a positive utopian dream of the future. A utopia is not a real place, and what is to become of the students after finishing MAE is not determined; the students themselves should shape it. If they fail, in line with a neoliberal governmentality, it is their own fault.}},
author = {{Sandberg, Fredrik and Fejes, Andreas and Dahlstedt, Magnus and Olson, Maria}},
issn = {{0741-7136}},
keywords = {{heterotopia of deviation adult education Foucault power citizenship precarious employment poststructuralism}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{103--119}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Adult Education Quarterly}},
title = {{Adult Education as a Heterotopia of Deviation : A Dwelling for the Abnormal Citizen}},
volume = {{66}},
year = {{2016}},
}