UNESCO Summer School 2023 Reflection.

– Luba Kozak
My experience at the UNESCO Summer School was truly incredible and I am grateful for this unique learning opportunity. Attending the summer school allowed me to meet with scholars from around the world to share knowledge about global issues of social inclusion, political discourse, and education. We engaged in meaningful conversations about some of the challenges we have been facing in the field of education and connected over common, shared experiences. I will forever cherish the life-long friendships I was able to establish with such brilliant thinkers.

The summer school included daily sessions taught by leading sociologists and political scientists who provided invaluable insights into contemporary social issues, like identity and immigration. From these sessions, I gained valuable insights into leading text analysis software systems like Word Sketch and MAXQDA, which advanced my research skills and demonstrated new methods for analyzing articles that will be useful to me. There were also mentors available who offered valuable feedback and advice for students about their developing papers, which I was able to take advantage of to flesh out some of my ideas and improve my writing style. For example, Dr. Marthinus Conradie from the University of the Free State (South Africa) generously shared with me write techniques that he has learned over the years on how to write more concisely and structure my arguments in a more compelling way. Over the course of the summer school program, scholars were encouraged to practice presenting our papers to each other, which further advanced my presentation and communication skills. The exchange of knowledge during the program significantly expanded my perspective on pedagogy and social inclusion, concepts I am now extending to animals which is the topic of my doctoral research project. After completing the UNESCO Summer School program, I was honored with the title of being a UNESCO Janusz Korczak Chair Fellow (2023).

I presented my paper, “Ethically Studying Pet Culture in Art: Using Ethics of Care in Pedagogy,” at the concluding Mid-Term International Conference of The Research Network 10 (Sociology of Education) of the European Sociological Association (ESA). My paper explored the connection between art history, pedagogy, ethics, and animal studies to question the way animals, especially pets, are traditionally interpreted in Western art education. I argued that by critically rethinking how human-animal relations are perceived and taught in art, we can learn to acknowledge the presence of animals as more than just symbols will not only restore a sense of non-human identity and agency, but also achieve a deeper understanding of social wellbeing for both marginalized non-humans and humans. My rational stemmed from an activist perspective in which animal welfare is linked to a broader understanding of social welfare, and therefore underscores the need to ethically rethink art pedagogy and the speciesist politics it perpetuates by overlooking the lived experiences of non-human beings who humans have lived with and the lessons we can derive from interspecies coexistence that arises from the practice of pet ownership.

My paper was inspired by inspired by recent scholarship in animal studies within the field of pedagogy (Saari 2000; Pedersen 2019). Scholars Christine Ballengee-Morris and Patricia Stuhr (2001) emphasize the integration of power, history, and self-identity within education as components of cultural experience, acknowledging the influence of these aspects on contemporary perspectives and values, but do not extend these considerations to non-human animals. By employing an ethics of care framework as my methodology and engaging in more inclusive critical theories, like ecocriticism, to examine animal subjects, I argued that re-evaluating our understanding of pets in visual culture has the potential to offer new perspectives on Western human-animal relationships. Moreover, it can play a pivotal role in fostering a more inclusive and sustainable society (Lloro-Bidart & Banschbach 2019). This paper will not only be integrated into my dissertation but will also be submitted to the upcoming Sociology Study journal and the UNESCO Chair Book Series for publication.

The ESA conference was an amazing opportunity to meet other scholars from across the globe who presented on various topics and projects, which allowed me to learn more about exciting happenings and research. Dr. Taiwo Afolabi (CRC Research Chair and Director of C-SET) presented a moving keynote about research with senior citizens, exposing me to a new kind of theatrical presentation style. Additionally, presenters at the conference presented on other topics like climate and sustainability, university enrollment challenges, and the impact of Covid-19 on student experiences. Another topic I found of interest was centered on the devastating impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which was very important for me to hear since I identify as a member of the Ukrainian diaspora. I was deeply moved by Dr. Mark Brennan and Jamison Malcolm’s presentation, titled “Empowering Communities to Overcome Crises” which focused on youth and police engagement in the USA. This particular project echoed the topic of the Policing, Community, and Dialogue project that I was a part of at C-SET and inspired me to think about new ways to continue developing that research agenda to include the perspectives of youth. Furthermore, I was eager to hear more about their current ongoing project that is concerned with the experiences of Ukrainian refugees and appreciated the opportunity to discuss it in more detail with the presenters during the break.

Works Cited:

Ballengee-Morris, C., & Stuhr, P. L. (2001). Multicultural Art and Visual Cultural Education in a Changing World. Art Education (Reston), 54(4), 6–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2001.11653451.

Lloro-Bidart, T & Banschbach, V. (2019). Animals in environmental education: Interdisciplinary approaches to curriculum and pedagogy. Palgrave MacMillan.

Pedersen, H. (2019). The Contested Space of Animals in Education: A Response to the “Animal Turn” in Education for Sustainable Development. In Education Sciences, 9(3), 211. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9030211.

Saari, M. (2020). Education for Total Liberation: Critical Animal Pedagogy and Teaching Against Speciesism. Educational Studies. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.