Pedagogies of mattering: Re-conceptualising relational pedagogies in higher education

This article engages posthumanist theory to propose a rethinking of the concept of relational pedagogies within higher education (HE). The significance of relationships within learning and teaching, has recently begun to resurface within HE discourses as a means to offer a counter-view to an uncaring marketised HE system. However, this article argues the case for a broader and more ethically affirmative concept of relational pedagogies. In order to do so, we work with posthumanist theory as a route to considering relational pedagogies as involving the more than human: objects, bodies and materialities. Our argument examines the significant implications such a reconceptualization offers for ontology, epistemology, and ethics, and provides a new and more inclusive lens for understanding relationality within HE.