Beating the barrel of inclusion: Cosmopolitanism through Rabelais and Rancière – A response to John Adlam and Chris Scanlon

Abstract

This article is a response to John Adlam and Chris Scanlon's argument about refusal and exclusion in social care services, as explored in this special issue. It builds on the distinction they establish, in reference to the figure of Diogenes, between metropolitan and cosmopolitan models of inclusion, by examining these models through the work of two writers: Rabelais and Rancie`re. Rabelais, the sixteenth century novelist, compared his writing to the actions of Diogenes when the latter rolled and beat his barrel around the city walls of Corinth, in parodic imitation of the citizens' busy work, preparing for religious warfare. Through this comparison, Rabelais puts into question claims about the justice of colonisation as a strategy to institute 'the common good', in the form of an inclusive (Christian) social order. In a move with certain parallels, Jacques Rancie`re, the contemporary French philosopher, explores the 'hatred of democracy' which underpins endeavours to make people equal, through state intervention, notably education. His concept of equality as a starting premise, rather than an end point, allows an exploration of the perverse effects of the system of education, and its claims to 'include' while continuously identifying the failures of the excluded. The psychosocial dimension of these dynamics are explored by drawing on several Lacanian ideas, including the subject's fear of indistinction from the (m)other, and the desire to secure social identity through founding exclusions and prohibitions. The conclusion explores how Lacan's notion of traversing the fantasy, as the aim of psychoanalytic treatment, bears relation to the concept of cosmopolitanism, including how such a traversing might be lived by education and social care practitioners.

Going spiral? Phenomena of ‘half-knowledge’ in the experiential large group as temporary learning community

“…I return now to the question of the topographical difference between concentric circle and spiral arrangements of the chairs in the room. My colleagues and I have explored the dynamics of 'metropolitan' systems of care and of government, concentrating upon the ways in which such systems and discourses exclude the out-group by the terms on which inclusion is offered by the in-group (Pelletier 2011;Scanlon and Adlam 2011b;Scanlon and Adlam 2013). We have made particular use of the figure of Diogenes the Cynic, who, when asked where he came from, replied 'I am a citizen of the world' ('kosmopolites') (Diogenes Laertius 2005, 6.63).…”

Deconstruyendo la noción de inclusión: Un análisis de investigaciones, políticas y prácticas en educación

“…Desde el concepto de educación inclusiva, la igualdad corresponde a la identidad y no reconoce las diferencias, homogeneizando los sujetos a través de la institución escolar (De la Rosa, 2015; Dussel, 2004). En cambio, desde el concepto de inclusión social, la igualdad debe ser un punto de partida asumido al principio del proceso educativo y no una cualidad que se demuestra al final del proceso escolar, a través de los mecanismos de evaluación (Pelletier, 2011). Pelletier (2011) se refiere al filósofo francés Jacques Rancière, al sostener que la democracia se construye históricamente con base en las desigualdades.…”

“…En cambio, otros estudios hablan de inclusión social, insistiendo en su articulación permanente con la exclusión social, condición para la existencia de una comunidad democrática (Graham y Slee, 2008;Knight, 1999;Lindblad y Popkewitz, 2001;Pelletier, 2011). Forjan el concepto de inclusión/exclusión social como problematización de un fenómeno social dual que abarca la dimensión educativa, pero que no se reduce a esta.…”