Ruskin and Pedagogical Ethics: A Lesson in Performance
As promised, I am going to leave space in my blog for my other passion, Victorian literature.
As an historical figure, John Ruskin has always fascinated me. Ever since my M.A when my professor at the time related Ruskin's #weddingnightfail story to the class (the one about the pubic hair fear, given by Ruskin biographer Mary Lutyens). I was hooked. However, as Robert Hewison says here: "The whole pubic hair nonsense is like a great big wall preventing people from understanding Ruskin." Nevertheless as a budding Victorianist, I told myself, that I needed to find out more about this man who could best be described as the quintessential polymath eccentric.
Over the past few years, I have been particularly fascinated with Ruskin's pedagogical ethics and how he expresses these ethics through performance. Sharon AronofskyWeltman has very deftly articulated the importance of performance in The Ethics of the Dust, notably in her work Performing the Victorian. My specific interest lies in the intersection of pedagogy, ethics and performance in this text. It is unfortunate that 19th century literature survey classes often study selections of Modern Painters when discussing Ruskin, for in The Ethics of the Dust Ruskin gives a template or blueprint of the efficacy of performance as pedagogy and pedagogy as performance.
One of the most fascinating sections of The Ethics of the Dust, is when the Old Lecturer instructs his students (who are also referred to as "little housewives" in the subtitle of the text) to perform as atoms in order to recreate a crystalline structure. The Old Lecturer acts as a stage director, controlling how these atoms interact in this performance and thus laying bare an ethics of societal interaction which is gendered. He teaches the importance of maintaining bodily integrity (literally and metaphorically) through the student's own performance. Every student is an equal participant, every student embodies the lesson.
Many mid-to late-Victorian texts speak to the larger importance of performative pedagogy. The modules, the lessons, the pedagogical architecture that these texts create should resonate for all instructors, especially those who actively search for ways to expand beyond confines of classrooms as a space.
The virtual classroom, online instruction, and blended formats do not exist in isolation from the pedagogy that Ruskin relates in 1875. Ruskin's vision is useful and pertinent today as a paradigm for the PD or edtech networks we build in our daily practice. Thus, this text deserves to be revisited and I would happily facilitate any discussion.
For an online version of the text go here
As an historical figure, John Ruskin has always fascinated me. Ever since my M.A when my professor at the time related Ruskin's #weddingnightfail story to the class (the one about the pubic hair fear, given by Ruskin biographer Mary Lutyens). I was hooked. However, as Robert Hewison says here: "The whole pubic hair nonsense is like a great big wall preventing people from understanding Ruskin." Nevertheless as a budding Victorianist, I told myself, that I needed to find out more about this man who could best be described as the quintessential polymath eccentric.
Over the past few years, I have been particularly fascinated with Ruskin's pedagogical ethics and how he expresses these ethics through performance. Sharon AronofskyWeltman has very deftly articulated the importance of performance in The Ethics of the Dust, notably in her work Performing the Victorian. My specific interest lies in the intersection of pedagogy, ethics and performance in this text. It is unfortunate that 19th century literature survey classes often study selections of Modern Painters when discussing Ruskin, for in The Ethics of the Dust Ruskin gives a template or blueprint of the efficacy of performance as pedagogy and pedagogy as performance.
One of the most fascinating sections of The Ethics of the Dust, is when the Old Lecturer instructs his students (who are also referred to as "little housewives" in the subtitle of the text) to perform as atoms in order to recreate a crystalline structure. The Old Lecturer acts as a stage director, controlling how these atoms interact in this performance and thus laying bare an ethics of societal interaction which is gendered. He teaches the importance of maintaining bodily integrity (literally and metaphorically) through the student's own performance. Every student is an equal participant, every student embodies the lesson.
Many mid-to late-Victorian texts speak to the larger importance of performative pedagogy. The modules, the lessons, the pedagogical architecture that these texts create should resonate for all instructors, especially those who actively search for ways to expand beyond confines of classrooms as a space.
The virtual classroom, online instruction, and blended formats do not exist in isolation from the pedagogy that Ruskin relates in 1875. Ruskin's vision is useful and pertinent today as a paradigm for the PD or edtech networks we build in our daily practice. Thus, this text deserves to be revisited and I would happily facilitate any discussion.
For an online version of the text go here
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