Historical Inquiry as Everyday Practice: The Internal Past

• In Event: Race, Gender, and Power in Reimagining the History of American Curriculum

Abstract

The relationship between the present and the past belies a complexity that has been for too long taken for granted. This paper seeks to escape the grand narratives that comprise dominant discourse by utilizing inter/cross disciplinary analytical frameworks which will allow for historical curricular inquiry that replaces linearity with porosity and simultaneity. I argue that to investigate history without remaining connected to its residue in the present too often serves to fortify dominant discourse through the provision of a required narrative. Paper draws from a number of theoretical orientations from across disciplines (e.g. Gramscii, de Certau, Zerubavel), in order to piece together an appropriately refracted lens through which to contemplate the way the past operates internally and in the present.

Author

• Ann G. Winfield, Roger Williams University