The Familiar, the Uncanny, and the Resonant: The Educative Potential of Familiar Things and Places

Alienation from others, from one’s surroundings, and from one’s self is a central problem within modernity. In the tradition of phenomenological-existential philosophy, this alienation is not primarily attributed to material scarcity but rather to a deterioration in our relationships with the world. Overcoming this alienation requires a renewed relationship with the familiar surroundings of our everyday lives, engaging the cognitive, affective, and existential dimensions of experience. In this paper, we explore how a capacity for resonant learning often emerges when the familiar is disrupted or seen anew. We explore how familiar things and places cultivate an educative potential, revealing the interplay between stability, transformation, and the ways we come to know and feel the world around us.