I would prefer not to: imagination as a language procedure

Abstract

This text rehearses an exercise in committed thinking that seeks to experiment with a shift in how imagination is usually invoked in the educational and curricular field. Rather than conceiving it as a mental faculty oriented toward the projection of futures, I draw inspiration from Gilles Deleuze’s reading of Herman Melville’s novella Bartleby, the Scrivener, adopting the formula “I would prefer not to” as an ethical-political operator capable of destabilizing the imperative grammar of pedagogical language, which is sustained by a functional, projective, and teleological reason. The aim is to challenge hegemonic forms of language that permeate educational practices and theorization through three threads: (1) Bartleby’s enigmatic refusal as a language procedure; (2) a critique of the grammar of desires that structures educational discourse; and (3) imagination as stuttering — a vibration of language that interrupts its functional uses, opening space for other forms of sensitivity and listening.