Comic absurdity and profane acts in education

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.