Becoming a “Mythologist”: Barthes’ Mythologies and Education

• In Event: Myths, Knowledge, and Conceptualizations of Curriculum

Abstract

With the entrenchment of a neoliberal world order it may be as urgent as ever for educators to confront the abundance of myths in school and society that working to keep such an order in place. This paper outlines a call for educators to become what Roland Barthes (1972) calls mythologists. Educators and students can engage in ‘(de)mythologizing’ as a way to interrogate educational texts, practices, and phenomena that seem to present themselves as natural, commonsensical understandings of the world. This paper is intended lay the foundation for a collaborative archive of myth writing surrounding education compiled by educators and students through reflective practice and creative writing/research

Author

• Jesse Bazzul, OISE/University of Toronto