Bergamo Conference, The

The Bergamo Conference is an annual meeting of curriculum theorists and practitioners at the Bergamo Center in Dayton, Ohio. The conference started as a series of annual meetings beginning in the early 1970s that were hosted by various curriculum leaders at their home institutions with the first one being hosted by William Pinar at the University of Rochester. Subsequent meetings were held at or near other major universities in the Midwest and in the East. By the late 1970s, the meetings briefly found a home at the Airlie House, a rather rustic conference center outside Washington, D.C. These early years of the conference were marked by major presentations by leading figures in the field of curriculum theory, many [Page 77]of whom had been highlighted by Pinar in his book Curriculum Theorizing in 1975. These theorists included James Macdonald, Dwayne Huebner, Maxine Greene, Paul Klohr, Ted Aoki, and the students whom they had influenced and mentored into the field.

By 1983, the conference sought a permanent home, and through the efforts of administrators and faculty at the University of Dayton (Ohio), the Bergamo Center, which was affiliated with the University of Dayton, was identified as that site. From 1983 to 1993, the Bergamo Center (and hence, the Bergamo Conference) became the primary location for both established and emerging leaders in the field of curriculum theory to present thoroughly articulated as well as nascent theoretical positions in a supportive and engaging environment.

The influence of the presentations made at the Bergamo Conference cannot be overestimated. Ideas and theoretical positions that were frequently ignored or rejected by mainstream conferences such as American Educational Research Association (AERA) or ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) in the 1970s became central themes of the Bergamo Conference and subsequently redirected the field to such an extent that by the early 21st century they had become highly visible at AERA, its Special Interest Groups (SIGs), and most professional education organizations. These ideas and theoretical positions included such methodologies and theories as qualitative research, autobiographical and phenomenological research, gender studies, critical theory, hermeneu-tics, postcolonialism, and so on. The Bergamo Conference provided a forum and incubator for new, emerging, avant-garde research, and it literally redefined the field of curriculum theory in the last quarter of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st century.

Like many cutting edge organizations such as the Progressive Education Association, the Bergamo Conference experienced its periods of growth and decline. From its halcyon years of the early 1980s to mid-1990s, its attendance declined from a high point of over 400 attendees to a low of under 100 attendees in the middle of the first decade of the 21st century.

After a 5-year hiatus when the conference met at a different site, the conference returned to the Bergamo Center in 1999. The conference organizers sought to sustain both the original intent and purpose of the conference sessions, and they were largely successful in doing so by attracting a new generation of graduate students and faculty just entering the field. The Bergamo Conference continues to attract an audience of curriculum theorists eager to present new ideas and perspectives and to allow for supportive critique of emerging theory. The rich history and influence of the Bergamo Conference appears poised to continue into its fifth decade.

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