This collective volume examines the paradigm shift from traditional, neoliberal, individualistic, monologic, logocentric and cognitivist-oriented pedagogical and psychological approaches towards embodied and experiential, heuristic and discovery-based, narrative and dialogic, playful and polyphonic, and multimodal and performative frameworks for learning and development. It places particular emphasis on active participation, emotional engagement, creative agency, and the creation of polyphonic spaces of meaning and inclusive environments for education, learning, knowledge and personal development.
Across the volume’s twenty chapters, authors from a range of academic disciplines present innovative methodologies, research approaches and methods of analysis relating to voice, play, school democracy, fairy tales, song, alternative sexuality, the “philosophical listening” to disputes between young children, and the doll as a dialogic and narrative medium for social-emotional regulation. The volume also explores museum education, music education, drama education, psychomotor education, creative movement and literature-based education, as well as traditional learning practices of the Baka people, among other topics, highlighting the importance of democratic environments grounded in trust, acceptance, inclusion and creative coexistence.
The work proposes an epistemological and methodological perspective in which the body, emotion, art, narrative and dialogue serve as multimodal means of encounter, expression and the co-creation of meaning, social awareness, collective wellness, well-being and liberation from restrictive norms. It fosters each person’s ability to participate actively, create collaboratively and grow within democratic and inclusive communities of learning and life.
