Journal of Curriculum Theorizing

The Journal of Curriculum Theorizing (JCT) has served as the major publication for reconceptualist curriculum theorists since its inception in the late 1970s. Initially, the journal served as a vehicle for publishing particularly noteworthy papers presented at the curriculum theory conference that in 1983 became known as the Bergamo Conference. Interspersed with the conference papers during the first few years of the journal were original manuscripts by some of the leading figures in reconceptualist curriculum theory such as William Pinar, Paul Klohr, James Macdonald, and Ted Aoki as well as the generation of curriculum theorists, such as Janet Miller and Madeline Grumet, who had been mentored or influenced by these scholars as they completed their doctoral studies in the 1970s and early 1980s. The first issues of JCT might be considered primitive, aesthetically and technically, by today's standards, but the journal carved out an important theoretical niche and filled a void that had been left by more established curriculum journals such as Curriculum Inquiry and Educational Leadership.

The JCT has always viewed itself as a voice for curriculum theorists who were exploring new and uncharted territory in the field. The journal generally eschewed traditional forms of inquiry and research and allowed its authors to be both experimental and intellectually curious. Manuscripts drew largely from philosophical, historical, sociological, theological, and psychoanalytic paradigms and when a research design was used, it was qualitative. Although these modes of inquiry are commonplace today, in the late 1970s and 1980s they were far from the norm and were only occasionally evident in the traditional, mainstream educational journals of the time. But that was the primary mission of the journal: to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange.

By the late 1980s and 1990s, JCT began to utilize more aesthetically oriented formats on both the cover pages and in the articles. Original drawings, artwork, photographs, and other types of illustrations appeared. The journal began to divide articles by sections such as “Literary Anthropologies,” “Curriculum Forms,” “Hermeneutic Portraits,” and “Cultural Product Reviews,” in addition to the usual four or five articles. This division allowed writers and readers the opportunity to explore alternative approaches to curriculum theorizing while providing a place for new theoretical perspectives to emerge.

This organizational structure has continued through the 1990s and into the current format, although new section titles have evolved including “Biblio-Revenance,” “Childhood and Cultural Studies,” “International Curriculum Discourses,” “Literacies,” “[Popular] Cultural Matters,” “Reading Between the Lines: Perspectives on Contemporary Cultural Texts,” “Reconceptual Inquiries in Practice and Politics,” “Post-Structural Lines of Flight,” “Studies in Philosophy, Ethics and Education,” and “Feature Articles.” The most recent section titles suggest that the journal is organic, vibrant, and constantly changing to reflect changes in the field and more avant-garde directions.

Although the subscriptions for JCT have been primarily from university libraries and attendees of the Bergamo Conference, the readership has remained steady over the past 30 years despite the emergence of new journals focusing on curriculum studies, international curriculum perspectives, and [Page 509]curriculum and pedagogy. The JCT has established and maintained a strong niche in the field of curriculum theory and has provided a voice for several generations of curriculum theorists.

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