Abstracts

Sivan Handelsman (Bio)

Phenomenology of Visibility in Teacher-Student Relationships and Theater Pedagogy

The concept of visibility from a phenomenological perspective traverses the axis between object-subject, teacher-student, and actor-audience. This stems from phenomenology's foundational principle: the intentional structure, characterizing consciousness as perpetually related toward objects, thereby establishing an essential relational movement between two poles—the viewer and the viewed. Pimentel examines Heidegger’s approach to the interplay of gazes between the being and the divine, terming it the “Theater of gazes.” Pimentel argues that Heidegger deconstructs the metaphysical dichotomy between viewer and viewed, reconceptualizing the gaze as reciprocal relationality. Heidegger analogizes the divine gaze to a stage boundary within which all present entities appear, while the divine gaze itself remains concealed, manifesting through these entities’ visibility. The human gaze thus embodies the capacity to disclose Being while simultaneously responding to its gaze. Correspondingly, student visibility constitutes both an embodiment of and response to the teacher’s gaze. Consequently, teacher and student, as a viewer and viewed, remain inseparably intertwined as poles of the intentional structure, with the teacher’s gaze serving as a constitutive factor in student visibility. Within educational discourse, visibility predominantly functions as a representational category, particularly regarding multiculturalism and identity politics. However, phenomenologically, the concern centers on individual student visibility as it manifests within teacher consciousness. This approach seeks to expand pedagogical gaze beyond empirical institutional knowledge—specifically, categorical divisions that prematurely label students according to quantifiable parameters. These classifications constitute each student as “other” relative to the teacher’s gaze, potentially fixing them within these roles. Theater pedagogy implements in practice phenomenological principles by revealing concealed dimensions of students’ inner world through practices involving fictional characters and circumstances. Thus, it enables active practice of being-seen while bracketing tacit visibilities and liberates the student from his otherness toward his potential possibilities.