Simone Spera
Domaines de recherche
Parcours universitaire et professionnel
[English version below]
Ayant obtenu un master en Ethnologie et anthropologie sociale à l'EHESS en 2019, Simone Spera s'intéresse à la tradition des pédagogies émancipatrices au Liban entre les années 1960 et 2020, à partir des programmes d’alphabétisation des adultes avec la méthode de Paulo Freire jusqu’aux écoles en forêt et démocratiques fondées plus récemment. Sa recherche interroge la dimension utopique de ces projets éducatifs, entravés mais aussi déclenchés par les crises économiques et les violences politiques qui ont jalonné l’histoire du pays.
Simone Spera est membre du programme ANR IMAGIN-E (Alter-citoyens au Moyen-Orient. Inventer les résistances en temps de violence).
After obtaining a master's degree in Ethnology and Social Anthropology at the EHESS in 2019, Simone Spera is doing research on the tradition of emancipatory pedagogies in Lebanon between the 1960s and the 2020s, ranging from adult literacy programmes with Paulo Freire’s method to present-day forest and democratic schools. His research tackles the utopian dimension of these educational projects, which have been hampered as much as triggered by the economic crises and political violence punctuating the country’s history.
Simone Spera participates in the ANR program IMAGIN-E (Alter-Citizens in the Middle-East. Inventing Resistance in Times of Violence).
This ethnography of a primary school twinning programme in Marseille questions the use of social mixing at school as a means of developing students’ socio-emotional skills. The gap between cooperation and empathy skills of the children in the programme invites an analysis of the pedagogical approaches that regulate these encounters between students of contrasting socio-economic backgrounds, as well as of the power relations at play. While these children cooperate successfully on their joint projects, genuine mutual recognition struggles to emerge insofar as their experience of inequalities is not taken into account.