How to Teach International Studies through the Arts

Abstract

Abstract This chapter proposes three ways to include the arts in the international studies classroom: to refresh the pedagogical materials as sources for handling international issues, to invite students to become creators in dealing with international topics, and to perform aesthetic action as knowledge production by other means. These three perspectives aim at strengthening the students’ capability to think and create beyond the academic exercises they are used to practice. Linked to the teaching dimension of the aesthetic turn in IR, they also take into account the emotional conceptions that could enrich our pedagogical practices. Because in the end, to be “ready to learn from life” means to recognize the role of sensitivity in the international realm, beyond rationality.