Mythopoetics

Mythopoetics is the study of myths and their dysfunctional aspects found in the field of curriculum studies. The researcher-mythopoet reports findings in poetic form. A myth in this context is an answer to an unanswerable question that has become a part of what is accepted as true. One such myth is that spirit is religious and hence unacceptable as part of the curriculum in the public schools because it violates the separation of church and state. When spirit is thought of as the dynamic principle, which is the life-force of all, it is not religious. In fact, it is a critical aspect of curriculum. Hence, to exclude the spirit in curriculum studies is dysfunctional. The methodology for studying myths and their dysfunctional aspects is demythologizing. The process of demythologizing has four major dimensions: (1) the substantive, (2) the syntactical, (3) the philosophic, and (4) the formal.

The substantive dimension is the study of the history and substance of myths by which education functions. Research in this field focuses on dysfunctional aspects of myths. The goal of such studies is understanding myths and determining what causes them to be dysfunctional. Another example of myths and their dysfunctional aspects that mythopoets have demythologized is that when scores in reading, math, and science go down, the best way to correct the decline is to do away with art, music, and physical education. Scientifically and practically this solution is not valid; hence, it is a dysfunctional aspect of the myth. The most poignant aspect of the substantive dimension in mythopoetic curriculum theory is the study of what Carl Jung called the spirit as a dynamic principle of the life-force in us all.

The syntactical dimension of demythologizing is the inquiry process. Mythopoets take a multiple paradigmatic approach to assist in the inquiry process. This approach uses a series of stream metaphors to explicate the paradigms. Each phase of the stream metaphor addresses the role of the researcher, methods of inquiry, research subjects, objects and research goals. The paradigm that includes the objective, quantitative and documentary is called rational-theoretical; the researcher is on the edge of the stream being the objective observer/experimenter.

The research goals of the mythopoet in this paradigm are generalizations, predictions and causal probabilities. The paradigm called mythological-practical has the researcher in a boat in the stream and acting as participant observer. The research goals here are naturalistic generalizations, action, and theories. In the evolutionary-transformational paradigm the researcher becomes the stream and studies self and interactions with others. The goals in this paradigm are change, healing, and transformations. In the critical-normative paradigm the researcher having experienced the other paradigms becomes critic and revisionist-activist. Participants in the feminist movement think and act primarily in this paradigm in which awareness, emancipation and demystification are the research goals. The mytho-poet is most often the bricoleur working in each-all of these paradigms and selecting appropriate research methods for the tasks at hand.

When thinking-acting in the philosophic dimension the researcher has multiple world views. The one that mythopoets use most is phenomenology where primary experiences are basic reality. Heuristic inquiry, autoethnography, autobiography, and hermeneutics are commonly used methods (epistemologies) of inquiry to gain [Page 594]under standings and affect-effect transformation-change and healing.

...