[DOWNLOAD] "Speaking As an Alien: Is a Curriculum in a Third Space Possible?" by Journal of Curriculum Theorizing " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Speaking As an Alien: Is a Curriculum in a Third Space Possible?
- Author : Journal of Curriculum Theorizing
- Release Date : January 22, 2006
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 211 KB
Description
As an international person, every time I fill out any official form, I am reminded of my status: an alien. Studying and teaching in a foreign country as an alien, I position myself in "a third space" (Wang, 2004) which embraces contradictions, ambiguity, and "aporia" (Derrida, 1993) to address the complicated issue of identity across the conflicting doubles of culture and gender so that new subjectivities can be generated. If cacophony in the curriculum field (Marshall, et al., 2000), I would argue, is not leading to fragmented disarray but moving towards a shifting realm in which imagination and inspiration can be sparked, can we gesture towards conflicting directions to cultivate the birth of new theories and perspectives? Being an alien in terms of curriculum identities and personal identity points me towards a new space beyond unity, dichotomy, or separation. Such a new space, which I would like to term a "third" space, is what I am going to discuss in this essay from the identity of the teacher especially in dealing with diversity issues. Walking into the university classroom teaching multicultural education, I thought that as a person neither white nor black, not even an American, I might be able to have a third space beyond the dichotomy of black/white to teach critically. My illusion was broken on the very first day of my class. A third space can not be assumed; it must be created. For me as a Chinese woman who teaches in an American educational field, the very status as an alien in multiple senses opens up a complex site on which I must try to dig tunnels in order to come out reaching new grounds. Such is also the challenge to educators who are situated in multiple worlds of both themselves and their students in a general sense. To take this challenge, I am going to elaborate on the possibility of generating a curriculum in a third space which signals mutual transformation and creation.