Presentation given as a part of the EDCP 2014-2015 Seminar Series, “International Perspectives in Curriculum and Pedagogy” hosted by William E. Doll Jr., Donna Trueit and William Pinar.
Bildung, Currere and the Task of Remeberance from Norm Friesen on Vimeo.
ABSTRACT: Franz Kafka opens his intimate “Letter to his Father” by admitting that he simply cannot come to terms with his own upbringing –“because… the magnitude of the matter goes far beyond the scope of …memory and understanding.” Nonetheless, the method of currere –like other autobiographical methods– encourages educators to undertake “a subjective reconstruction of academic knowledge and lived experience.” Kafka’s concerns are used, perhaps paradoxically, to frame a similar educational “task of remembrance” by German scholar Klaus Mollenhauer. This presentation explores Mollenhauer’s understandings of Bildung and remembrance with the hope of opening up a space of dialogue between Continental and North American educational thought.