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This book presents a game-changing approach to critical intercultural pedagogy by reclaiming myth as a stimulating tool for deliberate and productive disorientation.
Moving beyond archaic relics or simple deconstruction, the author argues that myths, from the Finnish Kalevala to student-created (digital) narratives, are dynamic forces for both epistemic resistance and renaissance today. Readers will discover how myths can disrupt reductive binaries, challenge neoliberal agendas and give space to marginalised epistemologies. Venturing from canonical texts to classroom experiments in co-creation, this book offers an original framework that aims to replace the search for 'cultural truths' or sterile and Western-centric debates between 'essentialists' and 'non-essentialists' with a practice of curious humility.
Urgently relevant,
Myth as Disorientation for Critical Intercultural Pedagogy is indispensable reading for students, educators and scholars seeking to transform intercultural perspectives through creative, reflexive and ethically grounded praxis.
List of contents
1. A different beginning 2. The Kalevala revisited: Theorising and problematising myths for intercultural pedagogy 3. Classroom practice: Chinese Minzu myths of love and friendship 4. Student-created myths: New narratives for interculturality? 5. Myth as a method: Disorientation and renewal in intercultural pedagogy
About the author
For over 25 years,
Fred Dervin has contributed to redefining intercultural communication, education and research. The University of Helsinki scholar challenges conventional paradigms with interdisciplinary insight, inspiring scholars, practitioners and students to critically rethink and creatively reshape interculturality for our complex worlds. A defining characteristic of his 300+ publications is his commitment to the continuous re-examination of his own work.
