Current philosophical perspectives
Pre-conference – 3rd of March 2026 –
Education and democracy are each other’s preconditions. With the ongoing threats to democratic systems, the question of the state of education is urgent. In this pre-conference, we aim to scrutinize the possibility of resistance in education as well as the role of education as a form of resistance.
In the field of philosophy of education, the discourse about post-critical pedagogy, for example, or also receptions of Hartmut Rosa’s work, have contributed with insightful perspectives. Still, the productive and important role of resistance has fallen behind in times of troubled democracy and ideologies. Against this background, we aim to initiate and discuss new approaches for philosophy of education in the face of troubled democracies.
Prof. Carl Anders Säfström is invited as our keynote speaker. Säfström has longstanding interest in questions of teaching and emancipation. He will address the complexity of resistance in and with education. After Säfström, two additional scholars will provide a response. Prof. Inga Bostad from UiO will contribute to the discussion with perspectives from her research about resistance in literary studies. Docent Claudia Schumann will shed light from a feminist perspective on resistance and education. PhD Flavia Devonas Hoffmann will open and end the pre-conference with a workshop about education and the embodiment of resistance.
Register by sending an email to birgit.schaffar[a]helsinki.fi. The pre-conference is free of charge, welcome!
Program
13.30 – 14.00 Coffee and snacks
14.00 – 14.10 Welcome, Birgit Schaffar, president of NSPE
14.10 – 14.20 short resistance warm-up by Flavia Devonas Hoffmann
14.20 – 15.20 Keynote, Carl Anders Säfström (45min + 15min discussion)
15.20 – 16.00 Response by Inga Bostad (20min + 15min discussion)
16.00 – 16.20 Coffee break
16.20 – 17.00 Response by Claudia Schumann (20min + 15min discussion)
17.00 – 17.30 resistance-workshop by Flavia Devonas Hoffmann
17.30 – 18.00 sum up
18.30 Dinner
About the contributions
Prof. Dr. Carl Anders Säfstrøm, Maynooth University, Kildare, Ireland
Title: Thanks, but no thanks! On the nature of resistance/resistance as an event of
education”
At what point does resistance occur?
Is resistance negation or confirmation or both?
What does resistance say about that which is resisted?
Where and when does resistance take place?
I will be referring to Judith Butler and Jacques Rancière, but I may also dwell into some risky examples, concerning the educational messages of Bobby Sand, Irish republican who died in prison as a consequence of a hunger strike. Sands claimed that resistance has to be shared by all (oppressed) people and not be confined by following one leader, and/or Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction, who wrote her doctoral dissertation in education, among other things arguing for an active civic resistance.
Prof. Dr. Inga Bostad, University of Oslo, Norway
Title: Resistance as suspension of dogmas
Is resistance dependent on encountering constraints on freedom? And could resistance towards dogmas in itself invite a new way of thinking education today?
In this response to Carl Anders keynote I will reflect on the complex intertwining of resistance and power that shows resistance either as a response to power or that resistance invoke power or empowerment.
My argument in this response is two-fold: I will argue that resistance in education is to be understood as a way of living nurtured by narratives and imaginations fostering suspension of dogmas, at the same time resistance in education rests on a fragile contract between freedom and restrictions. This dilemma concerns resistance as a culture of openness (a space of appearance (Arendt)) versus resistance as adapting and absorbing expressions of plurality. Education for resistance is therefore a risky task: It is embedded in democracy, as it expresses the right-based values of a society, but at the same time it challenges the existing structures, values and norms of current democracies and educational systems.
Dr. Claudia Schumann, Söndertörn University, Sweden
Title: Resistance as affective and epistemic. The work of education in an age of democratic backsliding
In my response to Carl Anders and Inga Bostad, I want to examine resistance as both an affective and epistemic practice. Public education is one of the few democratic institutions explicitly tasked with cultivating the capacities, dispositions, and shared understandings which underpin democratic life. As a unique shared social space which can foster the affective bonds and critical knowledge practices necessary for sustaining inclusive and participatory democratic communities, public education is a crucial site for developing forms of resistance against the current acceleration of democratic backsliding. For this, we need to challenge both the emotional regimes as well as the knowledge distortions that enable democratic decline. Affective resistance involves redirecting emotions toward solidarity, care, and ethical responsibility, while epistemic resistance cultivates judgment, critical inquiry, and the capacity to interrogate anti-democratic narratives. Together, these practices illuminate how educators can foster ways of feeling and knowing that sustain democratic life, renewing commitments to critical judgment, plurality, and collective answerability.