Comic absurdity and profane acts in education

ABSTRACT In this theoretical and provocative paper our aim is to problematize universal ideals, and the closely related belief in educationalization, that frame education today. Inspired by the ethico-political work of Agamben ([2007]. Profanations. New York: Zone Books), and his focus on profane acts of play, and Zupančič's ([2008]. The odd one in: One comedy. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press) psychoanalytical adaptation of Hegel's ‘concrete universal', we illustrate how universal ideals and beliefs often ‘fail' in comic absurd ways when they are performed in concrete practices. By analyzing different examples, which stem from the research literature, we describe how such ‘failure' looks. We argue that it is important to engage with the comic absurd as doing so can reveal how educators, politicians, and policymakers contribute to the (re)production of failures within the socio-symbolic (educational) order. However, such an engagement may enable us to ‘fail better’ in education if we also allow ourselves to question, challenge, and perhaps change this order by means of profane acts.