Theorizing Mimesis Across Social Studies Contexts of Mimicry, Imitation, and Simulation

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 4:55 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Promising Practices in Social Studies Teaching and Learning (Table 20)

Abstract

Social studies education (SSE) commonly uses copying pedagogies (i.e., simulations) to help students develop a deeper understanding of self, others, curriculum, and society. This paper argues that simulations are eminently mimetic (i.e., theoretical orientation concerned with relationships between representation and reflection/concealment Ijesseling, 1990; Lawtoo, 2019]) and abound with overlooked opportunities to engage with double logics that traverse academic disciplines. Primarily, we theorize how mimetic concepts (e.g., protean, pharmakon/Janus-faced [Lawtoo, 2022, in press]) can be capacious in providing needed nuance and texture to simulatory approaches to SSE through the demarcation of two specific mimetic registers: mimicry and imitation.

Authors

• Bretton A. Varga, California State University - Chico

• Erin Adams, Kennesaw State University