“Never underestimate the educational value of eccentricity” – a slightly reworked line from Biloxi Blues (motion picture starring Matthew Broderick, 1988) – very well represents my basic sentiments towards teaching, pedagogy, higher education, and coexistence in general. Not that I consider myself particularly eccentric – but the dimension of ‘eccentricity’ that I find intellectually and practically productive lies in the tension between it and ‘conformity’ – conformity as it invariably sneaks into our doings, beings and thought-processes.
In this sense, every ‘text’- every piece of literature, philosophical-theoretical perspective, image or film that we comparatively investigate is considered such an ‘eccentricity’ manifesting its own account of, or perspective on, a norm-system, whether we find it thematically targeted in the text itself, or in ourselves. To give two examples from well-known texts: apart from it being a lovely love-story, Pride and Prejudice may be viewed as a multi-facetted revolt against ingrown cultural norms, and Foucault’s deconstruction of Las Meninas lays bare the artistic vocabulary of Velazquez’ painting to present for us an avenue into the Renaissance world. In the above meaning of ‘eccentricity’ both works embody contentious representations of social life which we in turn appropriate critically as we attempt to understand ourselves. Thus, texts and images inevitably invite us to discuss important issues that surround our lives, such as gender-relations, cultural values and coexistence, sexuality, value-systems, etc.
Professionally, I do not subscribe to any particular epistemological orientation, e.g. post-modern, structuralism, feminist, historicism, Darwinism – but find intriguing elements in them all. Not least, bridging their insights is a stimulating, critical task.
Consequently, discussion, reading and writing analyses and interpretations are acts of critical thinking that enable us to understand ourselves and to engage the contexts we seek to reveal. Pedagogically, I value an inductive, student-centered method based in students' inquiry but guided by my studied sense of problems inherent in the material. In that manner we start with the text/s and our critical reactions to it. I encourage students to consider the perspective of ‘eccentricity’ as they read, i.e. to take as little as possible for granted, and to be ready to let texts and thoughts lead them into discovery, in particular when texts contrast their own senses of value.
Integrating
technology in course and classroom activities is an excellent way of engaging
students and material. A particular psychological or sociological issue
may be addressed through e.g. taking a literary text from an earlier time
period and complementing it with a contemporary movie. The different genres
together illuminate problems and answers. In my classes students give
formal multimedia presentations (in our informal classroom environment)
that promote their analytical and pedagogical skills, useful in a variety
of work contexts. Blogging weekly reading responses are also an effective
method for students to structure the results of their reading and to prepare
for classroom interaction. It enables online interaction outside the classroom,
inasmuch as the web media offers an array of contextual avenues.
In short, the classroom is about setting people free in intellectual and
social self-discovery promoting communication skills and knowledge. An
ambitious, and not at all straight-forward and uncomplicated task.
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