Poetics of Curriculum, Poetics of Life: Arts-Based Research and Multiperspectival Poetic Inquiry

• In Event: Pushing Methodological Boundaries and Performing Dissertation Writing

Abstract

Mary-Elizabeth Vaquer explores poetics of curriculum and poetics of life through arts based research and multiperspectival poetic inquiry. She particularly explores six major areas: poetry and philosophy, poetry and social class, poetry and social imagination, poetry and public intellectuals, poetry in popular culture, and poetry in schools. She starts each chapter of her dissertation with one of her own poems followed by multiperspectival analyses and discussions on one topic of her concerns intertwined with her autobiographical reflections, and end with one of her own poems. Her literature reviews run throughout her dissertation.

Mary-Elizabeth Vaquer illuminates that poetry creatively engages individuals in reflecting upon the past, acting upon the present, and imagining the future. Bowers (1995) provides commentary on the way that today’s educators look at creativity...as being universal..., a special way of knowing and expression that emerges from within all individuals. Appelbaum (2008) sums up the problem of a life devoid of the poetic approach when he says that “we are fostering a type of person who lives by borrowed words rather than by one’s own innate sense of the unutterable, by the stirring in one’s own heart which no language can declare” (p. 10). Poetry can act as a balm for the mind by engaging these stirrings of the heart in an attempt to express what is thought to be unable to be expressed. Poetry gives a voice to those whose voices may be too quiet to be heard. Mary-Elizabeth Vaquer attempts to present poetry as relevant and even purposeful for those who may think there is no need for poetry in their lives. Mary-Elizabeth Vaquer illuminates that poetics of curriculum leads to poetics of life which engenders poetics of justice.

Author

• Mary-Elizabeth Elise Vaquer, South Effingham High School