Elusive Validation: A Transcultural Currere

Abstract

If what Margaret Atwood said, “In the end, we’ll all become stories” is true then why mustn’t we apply Nodding’s (1991) idea of stories directing and changing our lives through collaborative dialogue (entering in and out of one’s environment, gather data and reflect) and use collaborative autobiographies and reflexive narratives to provide opportunities to theorize a particular moment, dialogue with it, and examine possibilities for change. What is at stake for the amateur transformative intellectual? Teaching as phronesis within the paradox created by knowledge economies. If one can take the disequilibrium with a pinch of salt and look at the bigger picture (envisioning an alternative future or what is possible rather than merely accepting what is probable), then fixed ritualistic beings like myself can willingly undergo the transformation process (thinking of old situations in new ways resulting in new lines of action) in order to fully and holistically understand who we are as individuals and teachers and what is controlling what we do and to what effect. Through this autobiographical method of currere, I explore, analyze and dialogue with my personal professional knowledge in the hopes of experiencing liberation through Pinar’s ideas of “the regressive”-data collected from the past through reflection and free association and “the progressive”-looking forward to what may be a possible future.