The world is changing rapidly. Technology is interwoven with our lives, the climate crisis looms, and our understanding of what it means to be “human” is evolving. In this context, posthumanist research in education offers a radical and necessary shift in perspective. At its core, posthumanism challenges the traditional human-centered view of the world. It asks us to consider our interconnectedness with the “more-than-human” – animals, plants, technologies, and the environment. It moves away from the idea of the human as a fixed, autonomous entity and instead focuses on relationships, entanglements, and the process of “becoming.”

This approach is vital in education because it provides crucial tools for navigating today’s complex challenges. It encourages us to rethink our relationship with the planet and foster ecological awareness, navigate the ethical and pedagogical implications of technology, recognize that learning emerges from complex interactions between humans and non-humans, raise important questions about our responsibilities to the more-than-human world, and challenge hierarchical thinking to promote more equitable learning environments.

Key figures like Rosi Braidotti have shaped this field. Braidotti’s work emphasizes the need for a nomadic subjectivity, one that is fluid and adaptable. She advocates for a posthuman ethics that embraces difference and interconnectedness, exploring the concept of the posthuman subject as a non-unitary, relational entity, emphasizing “becoming-with” rather than individual autonomy. As she states, “The posthuman condition invites us to think ourselves beyond anthropocentric humanism, and to re-think the ethical and political implications of our embeddedness in a technologically mediated and ecologically vulnerable planet.” Donna Haraway’s concept of the “cyborg” has also been profoundly influential, challenging traditional boundaries between humans, animals, and machines. She stresses the importance of situated knowledge and the need to embrace our hybrid identities. Her “Cyborg Manifesto” disrupts binary oppositions and advocates for a feminist politics that embraces technology and hybridity, famously stating, “We are all chimeras, theorized and fabricated hybrids of machine and organism; in short, we are cyborgs.” Karen Barad’s “agential realism” further deepens our understanding of interconnectedness, emphasizing that phenomena emerge from “intra-actions” between different entities. Their work argues that reality is not composed of pre-existing objects, but rather emerges from the dynamic interplay of matter and meaning, as they put it, “Matter is not a thing but a doing, a congealing of agency.”

However, posthumanism is not without its critics. Concerns include the potential for dehumanization, the abstract nature of the theory and its difficulty in practical application, the potential neglect of existing social and political inequalities, the difficulty in defining and interpreting non-human agency, potential ethical ambiguity, and concerns from indigenous scholars about the appropriation of their knowledge and lack of acknowledgement of the ongoing damage caused by colonialism.

Despite these critiques, posthumanist research offers a valuable lens for understanding education in a rapidly changing world. It encourages us to think critically, challenge assumptions, and create more ethical and sustainable futures. By acknowledging the interconnectedness of all beings, we can move beyond human-centric perspectives and create learning environments that are more inclusive, equitable, and responsive to the needs of the planet. This is a field that is growing and changing, so remember to look into current journals and publications to stay up-to-date on the latest research.