“Thinking back through our mothers”: A curriculum of organic relationality

Abstract

The feminist motif “thinking back through our mothers” calls us to claim the mother’s heritage, not to identify with her, not to repudiate her, but to become ourselves in a middle ground. In this article, the thread of thinking back through our mothers for a curriculum of organic relationality crosses different times and places and includes different racial, sexual, class, linguistic, and national contexts. I weave this thread thematically along three major lines. First, I explore the role of interconnectedness and relational dynamics as central to such a curriculum. Second, I discuss creative tensionality between mothers and daughters as generative and having implications for reclaiming the classroom in a space of simultaneous un/attachment, un/burdening, and non/belonging. Third, I argue that nonviolent relations across differences is the site for building a curriculum community that welcomes the alterity of the other and grows compassionate relationships. While drawing upon diverse women writers and feminist curriculum scholars, I also weave in autobiographical stories about my mother, who is a retired teacher educator in China. While this ongoing weaving does not lead to one singular blended product, gratitude despite difficulty emerges as one path to claim the maternal legacy.

Keywords:

• Curriculum
• organic relationality
• gender issues in education
• mother–daughter relationship
• diversity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 I use the term “Indigenous” since it is a broad term, even though I use it mainly in the context of the US, except in the last section of the article where I also refer to the Canadian context. Other terms, such as Native, Native American, or tribal nations, are also used in the article as I follow the usage of the sources from which I cite to make the term consistent with the author’s context and preference. Even in the US context, authors use different terms. Since there is no uniform term that everybody accepts, I choose to respect the author’s choice.

2 The autobiographical stories about my mother are woven throughout the article and are formatted as block quotes as juxtaposition. It has become accepted writing format to indicate the juxtaposition of narrative and theoretical writings in curriculum studies literature. In juxtaposition, theory and story do not have to completely correspond to each other, but mutually inform each other while allowing excesses to exist (Miller, 2005). The purpose for using autographical writings about my mother is not to offer a complete picture of her gendered life, which is not only impossible in an article but also runs the risk of objectifying her. Instead, this arrangement is for theory and life to speak back to each other to enrich discussions nonlinearly.

3 These women include: Linda Aranaydo (Muscogee Creek), Mary and Carrie Danna (Western Shoshone), Angela Gonzales (Hopi), Joy Harjo (Muscogee (Creek)/Cherokee), LaDonna Harris (Comanche), Sarah James (Nee/Tsaii Gwich’in), Debra LaFountaine (Ojibway), Rosalie Litter Thunder (Lakota), Lurline Wailana McGregor (Native Hawaiian), Beatrice Medicine (Lakota), Ella Mulford (Navajo), June Quick-to-see Smith (Salish Flathead), Audrey Shandoah (Oneida), Joanne Shenandoah (Northern Cheyenne), Gail Small (Northern Cheyenne), Faith Smith (Ojibway), Forence Soap (Cherokee), and Octabiana Valenzuela Trujillo (Pascua Yaqui).