Watching with two eyes
the place of the mythopoetic in curriculum inquiry
pp. 11-29
in: Timothy Leonard, Peter Willis (eds), Pedagogies of the imagination, Berlin, Springer, 2008Abstract
This chapter begins with a discussion of Macdonald's understanding of the mythopoetic as a methodology for creating curriculum knowledge. Next, the authors link the mythopoetic to two schools of hermeneutic thought alluded to by Macdonald in his earlier work. They explain how these two schools produce a schism in curriculum studies that leads in one direction toward the works of critical theorists (as demystifying), and in another direction toward the works of interpretivists (as demythologizing). They then develop the argument that both of these hermeneutic schools use mythopoetic expression to articulate their ideas. The authors conceptualize the mythopoetic by examining myth as a source of knowledge that shapes our routine actions, and by examining the expressive powers of language that invokes the poetic and uses it to communicate mythic knowledge. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the authors recognize those who embody the mythopoetic in their writing, including curriculum theorists identified with both critical and interpretive approaches, as well as those who live with children in classrooms. These writers help us both to understand the mythopoetic as a force in curriculum, and to experience its power to shape our sensations, feelings, and impulses to act.