Pedagogy After Authenticity

Authors examine how a new form of identity technology is changing how college students learn and what professors can do about it. Following the work of scholars Hans-Georg Moeller and Paul D’Ambrosio (2021. You and Your Profile: Identity After Authenticity. Cambridge University Press.), who trace a series of cultural and historical developments regarding how humans think and talk about identity using a concept they call technologies of identity, authors conduct a postphenomenological analysis of technologies of identity within higher education by focusing on teaching practices. The technologies of identity examined are sincerity (e.g., students are driven by future professional roles), authenticity (e.g., students are driven by discovering their true potential), and profilicity (e.g., students are driven by being seen as being seen as successful students). In the classroom, authors show how technologies of identity influence instructional strategies, power relations, authority, and values, among others. In particular, authors focus on profilicity, a recently named identity technology that plays an important part in identity in the 21st century, and which authors maintain deserves pedagogical attention and focus. Authors conclude with instructional strategies that complement profilicity and recommend future directions in educational research on the topic.