Staying Rooted

Using Currere to Connect Multicultural Center Practices With Faculty Teaching in Student Affairs and Higher Education Courses

Abstract

This paper is grounded in Pinar’s (1975) currere as a methodological and conceptual approach for examining how my experiences in multicultural centers continue to shape my teaching as a professor in a student affairs in higher education program. Rather than offering a linear autobiographical narrative, I use currere to reflect on how my past as an undergraduate student employee in a multicultural center, my development as a scholar-practitioner, and my present role as a faculty member at the same institution are interconnected. Through this approach, currere informs how I understand my teaching, my relationships with students, and my sense of responsibility within the classroom at a historically white institution.