Learning through magic? Diffractive analysis of Children’s experiences across post-structuralist,post-Freudian,and post-materialist perspectives

Abstract

This paper is a diffractive analysis of post-qualitative research focused on children’s learning that was carried out in Chile during 2020 and 2021. Twenty-five visual production interviews were conducted with children between 7 and 11 years of age from a variety of geographical and socio-cultural contexts. The data are crystallized and diffracted in the light of various authors who represent post-structuralist, post-Freudian, and post-materialist perspectives. Magic is defined as a tool for resistance and negotiating power dynamics (Foucault), as a bridge between conscious and unconscious (Jung and Winnicott), and as bringing forth potential virtual states (Barad and Deleuze).