Sr. Irene Has a Penis
Currere Leads to Freedom
Keywords:
Currere, shame, the learner, freedom, consciousness; mental illnessAbstract
The four-step process of currere is designed to shed light on the intellectual stimulants which influence the present ponderings of a teacher. A teacher begins currere by reflecting on an episode in her history. The next stage requires combining the past episode with a look into the future and asking “What could be?” In the third stage of currere, the teacher the material uncovered in the first two stages. The final step synthesizes the reflection (Pinar, 1975; Rose, 2017; Wang, 2010).
In this currere, the author begins with a memory from childhood of her mother and father communicating an important idea in an unconventional way because they suffered with profound mental illness. Childhood memories steeped in the mental illness of her parents remind the author of the writings of Gloria Anzaldúa.
In the spirit of Maxine Greene (1995), the author continues her regressive and progressive exploration through the insights gained when evaluating her favorite books from her early school career: The Scarlet Letter and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The author discovers that the exercise of currere leads to a burgeoning consciousness and new freedom.
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