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Death by Numbers: A Response to Backer, Sarigianides, and Stillwaggon
Author(s) -
Taubman Peter
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
educational theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1741-5446
pISSN - 0013-2004
DOI - 10.1111/edth.12230
Subject(s) - melancholia , feeling , psychoanalysis , curriculum , sociology , psychology , criminology , epistemology , law , social psychology , philosophy , pedagogy , political science , mood
In this response essay, Peter Taubman considers the relationship between melancholia and Freud's notion of a death drive. Taubman explores how audit culture sustains melancholia and intensifies the death drive, ultimately deadening our psyches by erasing memory, disparaging feelings, shutting down thought, and ignoring history. Taubman concludes with a suggestion that educators once again integrate discussions of Eros, or love, in their approaches to curriculum and teaching.