This dissertation first develops a theoretical tool to identify the ways "textures of colonial presence" can appear in acts of literature and carry discourses of risk, including into the debates about education. It then applies that tool to a literary analysis of two new materialist texts from the contemporary trend in ecocritical thought to blur "the ecological" with "the social" in a sort of ecosocial-ism: Jane Bennett's (2010b) "Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things" and Karen Barad's (2007) "Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning." Arising from this analysis are the ways social and ecological risks are transferred and transformed through the literature, and, especially with the aid of "surprise," as a means to attend to the suffering occurring alongside the presence of increasing risk from climate crisis. This dissertation concludes by inviting the incompatibilities brought by the meeting of social inequities, the unequal burdens and variability of personal risk, and risks surrounding climate crisis. It considers what an endurance of those incompatibilities, as well as a theory of incapacity, could contribute to curriculum studies as it grapples with what is to become of education amid climate crisis. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]