The Pedagogy of Primo Levi

Dear Colleagues,

As I enter the final stages of writing up my thesis, I am wistfully dreaming of how best to use my free time once I have (all being well) completed the examination and completed the DProff programme.

One particular daydream is to spend time thinking through what a pedagogy of Primo Levi looks and feels like. For a number of years I have taken time to slowly read through a portion of Levi's writing, and have began Carol Angier's magisterial biography. I have re-read the few books I started, and re-read also the first 10-15 pages of biography, because everything I encounter is so profound I am not sure I have understood or comprehended it.

As my thesis has touched upon issues of ontology and epistemology drawing upon literature of freedom and liberation, I feel the need to look at Levi anew, in terms of asking how and whether it is possible to devise a philosophy of his knowledge to inform educational methodology and practice.

I will happily spend the rest of my days on this project :)

Whilst doing the student thing of doing anything other than what you are supposed to, I have come across a revelatory book, Approaches to Teaching the Works of Primo Levi:
https://tinyurl.com/ycmfn4n8

Whilst this books sits more under the heading of literary studies it looks like the perfect place to start my exploration.

There are other books also that look valuable as part of this endeavour, and I hope to link this new focus in my on-going contribution to activist education.



If anyone has ideas for reading on Levi and pedagogy please post it here.

In Solidarity

Ian