Ronald (2004). Transhumanism: The Most Dangerous Idea? https://reason.com/2004/08/25/transhumanism-the-most-dangero/ (accessed 03/02/2020)
Boller, Alessandra/Voigts, Eckart (2019). “‘What Counts as a Livable Life and a Grievable Death?’ – Critical Posthumanism and Cloning in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and Caryl Churchill’s A Number.” In: Bartosch, Roman/Hoydis, Julia (eds.). Teaching the Posthuman. Heidelberg: Winter, 151–174.
Braidotti, Rosi (2014). Posthumanismus. Leben jenseits des Menschen. Frankfurt am Main: Campus.
Callus, Ivan/Herbrechter, Stefan/Rossini, Manuela (2014). “Introduction: Dis/Locating Posthumanism in European Literary and Critical Traditions.” In: European Journal of English Studies 18.2, 103–120.
Csicsery-Ronay, Istvan (1999). “Review: Till We Have Interfaces.” In: Science Fiction Studies 26.2, 312–323.
Dublin, Max (1992). Futurehype: The Tyranny of Prophecy. New York: Plume.
Foucault, Michel (1977). Überwachen und Strafen – Die Geburt des Gefängnisses. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Fukuyama, Francis (2009). Transhumanism. https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/23/transhumanism/ (accessed 03/02/2020)
Greenfield, Susan (2015). Mind Change. How Digital Technologies Are Leaving Their Mark on Our Brains. London: Rider.
Herbrechter, Stefan (2019). “What Makes Us Human? Teaching Posthumanism in Secondary School.” In: Bartosch, Roman/Hoydis, Julia (eds.), 75–100.
Hassan, Ihab (1977). “Prometheus as Performer: Towards a Posthumanist Culture?” In: The Georgia Review 31.4, 830–850.
Hoydis, Julia (2019). “Posthuman Lessons from the Past and the Future. Narrating Otherness between History, Folklore, and Technology.” In: Bartosch, Roman/Hoydis, Julia (eds.), 175–205.
Huxley, Julian (1957). Transhumanism. https://web.archive.org/web/20160625132722/http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/more/huxley (accessed 03/02/2020)
International Theological Commission (2002). Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God. www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html (accessed 03/02/2020)
Jones, Steve (1998). Gott und die Gene. Die Berichte der Bibel und die Erkenntnisse der Genetik. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe.
McKibben, Bill (2003). Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age. New York: Henry Holt.
Ludwig, Christian/Shipley, Elizabeth (2019). “Reading and Creating the Posthuman in the Primary and Secondary Classroom.” In: Bartosch, Roman/Hoydis, Julia (eds.), 45–74.
Miller, Merrill (2020). So, What Are We Now? Posthumanism and Transhumanism in Music Videos. https://webstu.onu.edu/emedia/content/so-what-are-we-now-posthumanism-and-transhumanism-music-videos (accessed 03/02/2020)
More, Max (1990). Transhumanism. https://web.archive.org/web/20110216221306/http://www.maxmore.com/transhum.htm (accessed 03/02/2020)
Nayar, Pramod (2014). Posthumanism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Newman, Stuart (2003). “Averting the Clone Age: Prospects and Perils of Human Developmental Manipulation.” In: Journal of Contemporary Health Law & Policy, 19 (2), 431–463.
Rees, Martin (2003). Our Final Hour. New York: Basic Books.
Rifkin, Jeremy (1983). Algeny: A New Word – A New World. New York: Viking Adult.
Rödig, Andrea (2014). “Jenseits des Menschen.” In: NZZ Digital, 17.07.2014.
Snaza, Nathan/Weaver, John (2014). “Education and the Posthumanist Turn.” In: Snaza, Nathan/Weaver, John (eds.). Posthumanism and Educational Research. New York: Routledge, 1–14.
Thaler, Engelbert (2018). “Singer-Songwriters – Poetries, Pop-try, Poe-try.” In: Thaler, Engelbert (ed.). Singer-Songwriters – Music and Poetry in Language Teaching. Tübingen: Narr, 13–24.
Thaler, Engelbert (2016). Shorties – Flash Fiction in Language Teaching. Tübingen: Narr.
Thaler, Engelbert (2014). Teaching English with Films. Paderborn: UTB.
Thaler, Engelbert (2012). Englisch unterrichten. Berlin: Cornelsen.
Thaler, Engelbert (2008). Teaching English Literature. Paderborn: UTB.
Lessons in Relatability
Posthumanism and Literacy Learning
Roman Bartosch
This chapter critically assesses the potential of posthumanism for educational discussions of literary learning, especially in the context of digitization and literature and media pedagogy. It revisits the notion that posthumanism helps us rethink the porous boundaries between humans, animals and machines, and argues that the current digital transformation of education, by contrast, focused on what critics have described as transhumanisation. It therefore suggests a productive dialogue between both perspectives and argues for the centrality of literary and cultural learning in this regard. Focusing on the pedagogic potentials of novels and internet memes alike, it argues that these media underline the importance of empathetic perspective-taking, reconceptualized as relatability in the English classroom as well as the virtual world of the web.
1. Introduction
In a 2017 paper on teaching climate change, ecocritic Greg Garrard remarked that with regard to students today, “relatable” might be “the top candidate for the neologism most hated by English profs” (Garrard 2017: 123). He was referring to the tendency in more or less inexperienced readers to read a literary text on an affective level and on an affective level only, without critical or historical distance, and solely interested in whether a character was likeable or not. For the purpose of this chapter, this anecdotal remark will help us reflect on the value of relatability, especially in literature and culture pedagogy and the teaching of English. For this, it is important to recall that already in 1977, the theorist of literary education, Jürgen Kreft, has described this tendency of egocentric and uncritical reading in learners as “stubborn subjectivity” (1977: 379). His model of reading competence suggests that learners have to overcome stubborn subjectivity in reading for the sake of a more diligent way of analytical understanding and the eventual application in formal educational contexts. I want to take these two observations and revisit their educational valence in the context of this volume’s concerns about Teaching Transhumanism.
This chapter will proceed as follows: after a brief survey of the conceptual history of post- and transhumanism, it discusses the notion of literary learning, especially in its allegedly humanist appearance as a form of empowerment for critical thought and reflection and in light of current – maybe transhumanist? – forms of the digital. In particular, I will discuss the role of literary learning for media competence – I call that “media competence without new media” – and for aesthetic learning beyond the confines of traditional forms of, say, great books. The latter concern informs the section on “literary learning without literature”. The idea of relatability will be discussed as a potentially pivotal element of readerly reception and affective response as well as a teaching