Britzman (2002) thinks through Sedgwick’s work in critical theory with the psychoanalytic writings of Klein. This chapter is all about “theory kindergarten.” Britzman opens her essay by asking, “What are the stakes for theory when the problem of psychological significance can exaggerate or foreclose the fault lines of knowledge?” (122). Because I am still trying to understand exactly what Britzman means by “theory kindergarten,” I have decided to leave relevant quotes that explore this term:
- “Over the course of this essay, I explore more closely the workings of phantasy and how it wavers between aggression and reparation for, in much of what Sedgwick offers to us, this double movement of thought and so, of theory, is crucial for her method of taking the side of the discarded content, repairing the splitting made severe and grotesque through the exclusionary processes of binary operations, and even for reconfiguring the psychological significance of our work in theory kindergarten” (123)
- “In theory kindergarten, our objects have more than one use: we have theories we always use, theories we sometimes use, and theories we would never step foot in, even though we must use these in order to disclaim them….If we each must build at least three places in order to know where we are, if it takes three theories to make one theory, the joke may well be on us: Where exactly are we when we make theories we never step foot in? What makes theory important news? Why do we have theory at all? “ (129).
- “This is another sort of theory kindergarten: We must make mincemeat of knowledge before it makes mincemeat of us” (131).
- “Klein makes some very startling and, for some, outrageous claims about where knowledge comes from and about what comes before we have the tenacity to engage something like it. She claims to think with infants, finding negativity at the heart of their phantasy life, constructing a very different version of theory kindergarten and a very different position for the theorist” (134-135).
To be direct, what does Britzman (2002) mean by theory kindergarten? What are the implications of theory kindergarten on critical theory and psychoanalytic theory? Is this simply how knowledge begins and for what purpose? What sorts of theories do we never set foot in? What impacts does this have on anthropological methods and practice?