The development of memory in the pedagogical process of conscientization according to Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

This work addresses the development of memory in the pedagogical process of conscientization (awareness/consciousness-raising) according to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Beyond the acquisition of physiological memories over the chronological duration of human life, it investigates their action in the teaching-learning process of the artist as a being capable of lending their body to theatrical characters. The artist acquires the capacity to learn to use the body, their instrument of work, to directly access memories in the temporal projection of the characters that figure on the theatrical stage. Given the recollections stemming from sensory development, the body apprehends, in the scenic act, the movement for the transmutation of the human persona into the theatrical work of art itself. For the scenic action to be faithful to the theatrical composition, memory must, in the actor's body, make meaningful expressions of imitation aimed at appearance. In this endeavor, we investigate the pedagogical development conceived by Rousseau in Émile, or On Education to establish the physical and intellectual movement up to the scenic peak, whether it occurs in the theater or in society. In addition to the pedagogical novel, we will use the Letter to D'Alembert on the Theater, the Essay on the Origin of Languages, the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men, and On the Social Contract. For the intimate characterizations of the figures, we will use the triad that brings life to the persona of the composer who is Rousseau himself in his writings: The Reveries of the Solitary Walker, The Confessions, Dialogues: Rousseau Judge of Jean-Jacques, and finally, the concept of theatrical words in the Dictionary of Music. Thus, these works will reveal a wide range of characters that compose the Rousseauist theatrical plot, which configures the pedagogical, the political, and the aesthetic. Since the theater is limited to a temporal, textual, and figurative space, given the prescribed circumstances for its existence, it is necessary to understand the role of consciousness in the face of aesthetic education.