Faculty Publications

What is Humanization for Postdigital Critical Pedagogy?

Document Type

Article

Keywords

critical pedagogy, humanization, GenAI, postdigital

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Educational Theory

Abstract

In recent years, scholars working in the tradition of critical pedagogy have warned that the field is failing to maintain its relevance in our postdigital age, where the boundaries between humans and technology have grown blurrier. In this article, I take up such warnings by arguing that critical pedagogy can be reinvigorated for the postdigital age by making-kin with insights from critical posthumanism. By focusing on Freire's notion of humanization, I explore the problems that emerge for traditional critical pedagogy in the postdigital age, arguing that a postdigital critical pedagogy must embrace the notion of post-humanization if it is to maintain its usefulness. I argue that postdigital critical pedagogy must reject the threads of human exceptionalism and assumptions surrounding tidy distinctions between humans and technology that run through Freire's conceptions of humanization in order to reinvigorate the tradition for our postdigital age.

Department

Department of Educational Foundations and Professional Experiences

Original Publication Date

2-23-2026

DOI of published version

10.1111/edth.70087

Link to Full Text

Comments?

Share

COinS