Challenges of Democratic Citizenship

Mimesis, rescue or destruction of a citizen?

Authors

• Hanna-Maija Huhtala Oulun yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.108000

Keywords:

Adorno, democracy, education to democracy, mimesis

Abstract

In this article, I examine how the concept of mimesis, related to imitation and central in Adorno’s philosophy, can be utilized in educational debates about democratic citizenship. In Adorno’s view, at its best, mimesis allows the individual to develop into her own autonomous, unique personality. In the harmful form of mimesis, the individual loses herself into the collective. The article is motivated by the observation that the mainstream of theories of democracy for education and learning emphasizes rational agency based on consciouss and individual autonomy. My intention is not to question the importance of these dimensions in building democratic citizenship. Rather, my aim is to bring, alongside the previous ones, a perspective that reaches a human side, which is not taken into account in previous debates. The perspective I propose, mimesis, considers individual as a being deeply interacting with her environment, whose (conscious and unconscious) learning processes are multifaceted and intertwined. In the article, the subject is seen as an active actor and a mimetic learner in the web of interdependencies –in good and in bad.