Reading For Childhood in Philosophy and Literature: An Ethical Practice For Educators STEPHANIE A. BURDICK-SHEPHERD Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 COPYRIGHT 2014 STEPHANIE BURDICK-SHEPHERD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Abstract Reading For Childhood in Philosophy and Literature: An Ethical Practice For Educators STEPHANIE BURDICK-SHEPHERD Despite the ubiquitous presence of children in society, the dominant discourse of childhood does not admit room for much of the complexity that the condition of children presents. This project shows that reading for childhood in philosophy and literature makes space for re- imagining childhood as a complex and valuable concept that impacts both the experience of children and their relationships with others and the world. This project situates childhood as a magnified time of growth and development, a unique aspect of human life. At the same time childhood cultivates an interest in and with others, it is also a constructed concept. This inquiry engages this complexity by a reading of rich descriptions and inquiries of childhood in texts of philosophy and literature. These foundational texts are: Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile, John Dewey’s Democracy and Education, Simone De Beauvoir’s Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, Vivian Paley’s The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Helicopter, and Harriet Cuffaro’s Experimenting with the World. Childhood in the texts functions to complicate and reframe conventional and historical interpretations of childhood. The readings in the project challenge a conventional rendering of childhood that serves to distance childhood from its wider community. Childhood is reframed as a concept of inclusion of the other, particularly the adult educator. The project expands scholarship examining how adult interactions with childhood manifest changes in conceptual understandings or practices. The project concludes that cultivating habits of reading for the concept of childhood assists educators in engaging their teaching practice meaningfully. Uncovering the complexity of the concept of childhood invites educators to uncover such ethical aspects of the educational relationship as responsibility, recognition, acceptance of difference, acknowledgement of power dynamics, freedom, and growth. In this context childhood functions as an ethical construct - a guiding value - in education. Multiple ways of viewing and reflecting on the concept of childhood illuminate possibilities for renewing and reengaging these ethical aspects within an educational context. Table of contents Dedication iii Acknowledgments iv Preface ix Making a space for childhood: Reading for childhood in philosophy and literature 1 Reading for childhood 6 Methods 7 History of childhood 14 Encountering childhood in texts of philosophy and literature 23 Reading Rousseau: Imagining childhood 28 Inviting the imagination 31 Reimagining childhood 36 Educating the imagination 42 Prolonging childhood, preserving the imagination 48 Contradictions and contributions 51 Struggling with Rousseau 57 Reading Dewey: The necessary participation of childhood in democracy 59 Rhythms of experience 60 Cultivating an interest in childhood 65 Rhythms of childhood: suffering and imagination 70 The necessary participation of childhood in democracy 77 Struggling with Dewey 84 Reading Beauvoir: A not-so-serious childhood 86 Ethical considerations 87 Beauvoir on lived experience: Disclosure as philosophical practice 90 Beauvoir on childhood 97 Writing and reading: Exercising a not-so-serious childhood 114 i Struggling with Beauvoir 120 Reading Woolf’s The Waves: Finding drops of childhood 122 Making sense of a play-poem 124 Descriptions of childhood in The Waves 127 Childhood as a lens on history 137 Childhood and communion: Recovering community 142 Struggling with Woolf 148 Conclusion: Reading for childhood with educators 150 Review of the project: Childhood in relation 151 Reading for Childhood with Educators 160 Including readings of childhood in teacher education programs 171 Struggling with the Future 175 Bibliography 180 ii Dedication Dedication “Mama, but where was I?” “You hadn’t been born.” “I know. But where was I?” “You just weren’t there yet, you didn’t exist.” “But I was there.” “Well, maybe you were in my imagination?” “Yes. And now I am real.” “Yes, now you are real.” “And we can imagine a story.” “Yes, and we can imagine a story.” “Mama, tell me a new story.” ~ Fiona, may we learn to tell our stories together. ~ iii Acknowledgments Acknowledgments Childhood is often viewed as a gift or a blessing. Philosophical inquiry is also a gift. Philosophical inquiry gives the gift of making meaning from what is often the chaotic twirling mess of the everyday. Neither childhood nor philosophical inquiry occurs within a vacuum. This project would not have been possible without the support, guidance, and constant gifts of friends and family. I am grateful for the guidance and support of my advisors, Professors David T. Hansen and Professor Megan J. Laverty. The hours spent in their offices and their multiple years of correspondence have been generous gifts of knowledge and consideration. Megan Laverty has stayed with me through the course of this project without hesitation or wayward glance. She has challenged my thinking, strengthened my construction, and buoyed my spirits. She has hosted me as a student and constant friend. David Hansen has enriched my life through art, conversation, and reflection. He has never stopped encouraging me to make this a project that is my own. To my thesis committee, Professor Sandra Schmidt, Professor James Stillwaggon, and Professor David Kennedy, I thank you for your support, critique, and the willingness to work with me despite the 2500 miles of distance between us. I am blessed to have educators from my own childhood who encouraged me to grow. Particular thanks must go to Leslie Burklow for making my young life in public school engaging, creative, and above all bearable. Ms. Lovett very early on recognized that all children need friendship. Yvonne Abel, Annie Helwig, Bonnie Rupe, and Richard Orndorff funded my love of literature and the written word. iv Acknowledgments As I stepped from childhood and entered young adulthood there were always educators and guides that encouraged my imagination, creativity, and foundling wisdom. Professor Jack Furlong was influential in my choice of philosophy as a major and a way of life. Professor Peter Fosl made sure I knew early on the difference between sophistry and wisdom. Professor Ann Sharp was never afraid of laughing out loud. She championed women as scholars and children as thinkers. Professor Maughn Gregory is one of the most reflective professors I have ever had the pleasure with studying. Professor James Stillwaggon has been a constant source of intellectual engagement throughout my graduate student studies and it was my pleasure to engage with him through this project as a reader. Professor David Kennedy challenges me to consider life differently and less seriously. It was a gift to be able to invite him to this committee. Professor Nadia Kennedy told me that I needed to present at conferences and make my voice heard. I am grateful for the support of Jessica Hochman and Terri Wilson for modeling strength as students and mothers. Jeffrey Frank deserves mention as a constant model of perseverance and friendship. He offered many wise words across an office space. Thank you Avi Mintz for sharing leadership experience and providing Philosophy and Education students everywhere with engagement through G.S.C.O.P.E. To Arianna Stokas, Kazuaki Yoda, Guillermo Marini thank you for sharing food and friendship with me. Many thanks to Bhuvindner Vaid, who never ceases to make me laugh and who is a most hospitable host. Mark Jonas, Martha Crowley, Daniel Hendrickson, thank you for insightful reading and comments. Carmen James, thank you for your hospitality. Cara Furman, Ana Cecelia, thank you for persevering as women in Philosophy. Those that whom go on the graduate school journey are more than colleagues. Thank you Cristina Cammarano, Alice Jung, Givanni Ildefonso, Gonzalo Obellerio, and Winston Thompson v Acknowledgments for allowing me the pleasure of reading, writing, and learning to listen with you. Givanni, Alice, and Christina you are ‘the girlas’ and without you I would not have finished this project. Thank you for tea and china plates, proving that fragility, grace, and beauty does not negate power and thoughtfulness. A special thank you to Rachel Rizzo, who has been unfairly burdened with carrying my paperwork throughout the halls and caverns of Teachers College. Without her nothing about this project would be official. I am indebted to intuitional support from Transylvania University, Montclair State University, and Teachers College, Columbia University. Joe Oyler. Richard Odiwa, Marta Pires. Paula Angerami and Laura Ayam, thank you for an amazing week actively engaged in philosophy in Mendham, New Jersey. Paula and Laura there is nothing like the experience spent laughing and thinking in three languages. Patricia Lowry, thank you for guiding me through the first months of motherhood. Thank you for being a first friend in the cold state of NJ. Thank you Harsha Patel for helping me reconnect my body and mind. Sarah Chesters, thank you for engaging my early drafts when this project was in its infancy. And for those friends of childhood and young adulthood, some who I have not seen in ages but constantly remind me of who I was and who I can still be, know that you are with me. Sarah Bell and Mary Engola, you are such strong mothers. Courtney Willis, you taught me to believe in guardian angels. Thank you Jessica Young for reading every single word of chapters III and IV. I am grateful that Erin Smallwood stopped by one day and said ‘be my sister’ and treated me as if vi Acknowledgments that were so. Jenny, you will not know how you changed my life.