Island pedagogies on Bragdøya: Potentials for embracing uncontrollability and resonance

According to the German sociologist and political philosopher Hartmut Rosa, the project of modernization has turned the world into an adversary and a ‘point of aggression’. He instead advocates engaging with the world's uncontrollability through resonance . To explore how early childhood education can respond to this call, we examine a distinctive pedagogical setting. The study is based on a sensory ethnographic investigation of a group of children and educators in southern Norway who travel by boat three times a week to the small, uninhabited island of Bragdøya. We employed videography, observational notes and conversations with children and educators to immerse ourselves in the island's distinctive daily life. This multimodal article integrates theoretical argument and empirical analysis by incorporating images and video clips to facilitate affective and sensory engagement. Our analysis suggests that this pedagogical setting nurtures dispositional resonance by rendering some aspects of children's daily lifeworld un-visible , un-reachable , un-controllable and un-usable – a contrast to the modernist impulse to dominate the world. Coupled with the temporal and spatial expansion offered on the island, these aspects give children opportunities to partake in resonant experiences of being with the world. Our study highlights the distinctive features of what we term island pedagogies and aims to inspire further reflection on the significance of temporal–spatial architecture for fostering resonance within institutional life in early childhood education.