Mission (Im)possible: A Critical Genealogy of the Mission Statement Genre and Its Limits

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Material-Discursive Pedagogies and Curriculum

Abstract

This paper uses a Foucauldian genealogical approach to trace the emergence of school mission statements as instruments of governance. Framing them as products of efficiency discourses and corporate logic, it examines how educational research legitimizes mission statements as expressions of institutional identity. Drawing on empirical studies and theoretical concepts such as governmentality and Foucault’s “will to knowledge,” the paper argues that mission statements contribute to knowledge-power that shapes institutional conduct and individual subjectivities. The study shows how the genre has become normalized in education, thereby fixing institutional identities and limiting possibilities for reimagining schools. By exposing the constructed nature of the mission statement, the genealogy invites reflection on the potential for a post-mission statement future.

Author

• Courtney Martinez, Teachers College, Columbia University