Rancière and the demise of the book

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the future of the physical book, and everything we know and perhaps hold dear about it as an object. As something treasured, stored, loved and remembered. It draws as inspiration and data upon a question posed by Preston (2014): ‘Is the demise of the book imminent?’, and the debate held by members of Mirandanet over a couple of days in response to the question. It is a paper that deals with the books hypothetically anachronistic existence within the digital world of technology. Through the identification and exploration of the benefits and drawbacks of Rancière’s theoretical approaches, their relevance to social issues will be highlighted through a folkloristic perspective. Given this relevance, Rancière’s ideas are applied to the field of educational theory and practice, and an interpretation of ‘the demise of the book’ is offered.