Currere, community, and self: the work of understanding and becoming

Ivon Prefontaine

doi:10.70116/30654572145

Vol. 3 · Issue 3 · 2026 Oct 1, 2026 Special Issue: 50th Anniversary of Currere

Currere, community, and self: the work of understanding and becoming

Ivon Prefontaine Corresponding The King's University iprefontaine@zagmail.gonzaga.edu Canada

Pages327-339 PublishedOct 1, 2026 LicenseOpen Access

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VOL 3 · ISS 3 · 2026 Special Issue: 50th anniversary of Currere View issue

Abstract

In this inquiry, I explore the lived experience of learning to use currere and examine my intellectual interests. Drawing on Pinar’s method of currere, the inquiry explores how meaning emerges across temporal moments to reveal new understanding about the self. Rather than offering generalizable claims, the inquiry contributes existential insights into currere as always becoming—an ongoing engagement with my lived history, embodied lived experience, and ethical responsibility. Using stream-of-consciousness writing, reflective and descriptive narrative, the inquiry reveals currere as a recursive, embodied, and relational practice rather than a linear method. Findings suggest intellectual interests are sedimented in lived experiences and traditions even when unacknowledged. The progressive moment of currere resisted me until I began writing in the present tense rather than the future tense. This exploration reveals the importance of an ethical, relational presence and complicated conversation in sustaining currere as praxis.

Keywords

#Currere #autobiography #teacher education #William Pinar #Madeleine Grumet #complicated conversation

References

Briggs, J., & Peat, F. D. (1999). Seven lessons of chaos: Spiritual wisdom from the science of change. Harper Perennial.
Camus, A. (1955). The myth of Sisyphus (J. O’Brien, Trans.). Vintage Books.
Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Rowman & Littlefield. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9798216425137
Freire, P. (2014). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed (R. R. Barr, Trans.). Continuum.
Gadamer, H.-G. (2004). Truth and method (J. Weinsheimer & D. G. Marshall, Trans.). Continuum. (Original work published 1960)
Grumet, M. R. (2015a). Autobiography: The mixed genre of private and public. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 220–243). Educator’s International Press.
Grumet, M. R. (2015b). Existential and phenomenological foundations. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 40–64). Educator’s International Press.
Grumet, M. R. (2015c). Toward a poor curriculum. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 84–112). Educator’s International Press.
Hanh, T. N. (1991). Peace is in every step: The path of mindfulness in everyday life. Bantam Books.
hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/para.1994.17.3.270
hooks, b. (2002). Communion: The female search for love. William Morrow.
Illich, I. (1970). Deschooling society. Marion Boyars.
Le Guin, U. K. (1997). Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A book about the way and the power of the way. Shambhala Publications.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Wilson, Trans.). Humanities Press.
Oliver, M. (1990). House of light: Poems. Beacon Press.
Palmer, P. J. (1983). To know as we are known: Education as a spiritual journey. Harper & Row.
Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life (10th anniversary ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Pinar, W. F. (2011). The character of curriculum studies: Bildung, currere, and the recurring question of the subject. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137015839_9
Pinar, W. F. (2015a). Political-spiritual dimensions. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 113–141). Educator’s International Press.
Pinar, W. F. (2015b). Preface (1976). In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. xiii–xvii). Educator’s International Press.
Pinar, W. F. (2015c). Self and others. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 8–39). Educator’s International Press.
Pinar, W. F. (2015d). Subjective reconstruction and the rehabilitation of habit. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 191–219). Educator’s International Press.
Pinar, W. F. (2015e). The method. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 65–83). Educator’s International Press.
Pinar, W. F., & Grumet, M. R. (2015). Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed.). Educator’s International Press.
Postman, N., & Weingartner, C. (1969). Teaching as a subversive activity. Delta.
Robinson, K. (2009). The element: How finding your passion changes everything. Penguin Books.
Seeger, P. (1962). Where have all the flowers gone? [Recorded by Pete Seeger]. On The bitter and the sweet [Album]. Columbia Records.
van Manen, M. (2014). Phenomenology of practice: Meaning-giving methods in phenomenological research and writing. Left Coast Press.
Wang, H. (2024). Awakenings to the calling of nonviolence in curriculum studies. Peter Lang. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/b21283
Whitehead, A. N. (1967). The aims of education and other essays. Free Press.

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§ 06 — Related

[1] Briggs, J., & Peat, F. D. (1999). Seven lessons of chaos: Spiritual wisdom from the science of change. Harper Perennial.

[2] Camus, A. (1955). The myth of Sisyphus (J. O’Brien, Trans.). Vintage Books.

[3] Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Rowman & Littlefield. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9798216425137

[4] Freire, P. (2014). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed (R. R. Barr, Trans.). Continuum.

[5] Gadamer, H.-G. (2004). Truth and method (J. Weinsheimer & D. G. Marshall, Trans.). Continuum. (Original work published 1960)

[6] Grumet, M. R. (2015a). Autobiography: The mixed genre of private and public. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 220–243). Educator’s International Press.

[7] Grumet, M. R. (2015b). Existential and phenomenological foundations. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 40–64). Educator’s International Press.

[8] Grumet, M. R. (2015c). Toward a poor curriculum. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 84–112). Educator’s International Press.

[9] Hanh, T. N. (1991). Peace is in every step: The path of mindfulness in everyday life. Bantam Books.

[10] hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/para.1994.17.3.270

[11] hooks, b. (2002). Communion: The female search for love. William Morrow.

[12] Illich, I. (1970). Deschooling society. Marion Boyars.

[13] Le Guin, U. K. (1997). Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching: A book about the way and the power of the way. Shambhala Publications.

[14] Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Wilson, Trans.). Humanities Press.

[15] Oliver, M. (1990). House of light: Poems. Beacon Press.

[16] Palmer, P. J. (1983). To know as we are known: Education as a spiritual journey. Harper & Row.

[17] Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life (10th anniversary ed.). Jossey-Bass.

[18] Pinar, W. F. (2011). The character of curriculum studies: Bildung, currere, and the recurring question of the subject. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137015839_9

[19] Pinar, W. F. (2015a). Political-spiritual dimensions. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 113–141). Educator’s International Press.

[20] Pinar, W. F. (2015b). Preface (1976). In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. xiii–xvii). Educator’s International Press.

[21] Pinar, W. F. (2015c). Self and others. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 8–39). Educator’s International Press.

[22] Pinar, W. F. (2015d). Subjective reconstruction and the rehabilitation of habit. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 191–219). Educator’s International Press.

[23] Pinar, W. F. (2015e). The method. In W. F. Pinar & M. R. Grumet (Eds.), Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed., pp. 65–83). Educator’s International Press.

[24] Pinar, W. F., & Grumet, M. R. (2015). Toward a poor curriculum (3rd ed.). Educator’s International Press.

[25] Postman, N., & Weingartner, C. (1969). Teaching as a subversive activity. Delta.

[26] Robinson, K. (2009). The element: How finding your passion changes everything. Penguin Books.

[27] Seeger, P. (1962). Where have all the flowers gone? [Recorded by Pete Seeger]. On The bitter and the sweet [Album]. Columbia Records.

[28] van Manen, M. (2014). Phenomenology of practice: Meaning-giving methods in phenomenological research and writing. Left Coast Press.

[29] Wang, H. (2024). Awakenings to the calling of nonviolence in curriculum studies. Peter Lang. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3726/b21283

[30] Whitehead, A. N. (1967). The aims of education and other essays. Free Press.

Currere, community, and self: the work of understanding and becoming

Abstract

Keywords

References

License

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