Possibilities for teaching English in posthuman times

Abstract Possibilities for teaching English in posthuman times This chapter argues that there is a need for a paradigm (and philosophical) shift to ways of thinking that are ?more than human? (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012; St. Pierre, 2011, 2013) in the teaching of English. The chapter draws on posthuman theories, specifically how ways of doing/being/knowing are produced through the interactions of human (bodies and language) and nonhuman elements (such as time, space, materials, plants, technologies etc). It suggests literature as a site for interaction and enquiry and suggests that there is potential in a posthuman approach for both teachers and students to shift thinking and teaching beyond anthropocentric and logocentric enquiries to more nomadic, multiple spaces of enquiry. Through Max Porter?s Lanny (2019), the chapter explores how posthuman theories might help shape enquiry for teachers and students by asking fundamental questions about our relationships with our world: technological, environmental, political, ethical and material. It considers how enquiries into the ?intra-actions? (Barad, 2007) of humans and nonhumans can be productive of different knowledge(s), relationship(s), and reality(ies) that speak more to the lived experiences of young people and less to the narrowed ?functionality? of the current curriculum, embedded in discourses of linear progress, subject knowledge mastery and achievement. It offers suggestions for ways into working with posthuman enquiry within English.