Barros, S.R.
Deciphering Babel: Dis/locations of the professional self and the second language curriculum
(2013) Qualitative Report, 18 (52).
Abstract
In the following (auto) ethnographic study, I draw from Burdick’s (2012) analogy of qualitative research as “auto-archeology” and from parrhesia (Foucault, 1988) as a rhetorical device of self-definition and preservation to explore the interplay of power and identity within the context of second language education discourses. Specifically, I focus on the ways in which, through the creation of particular performative strategies, two educators working within the context of Liberal Arts institutions negotiate, construct and resist the everyday pressures and implied prejudices often associated with the curriculum and instruction of second languages in the United States. I conclude this study by arguing that the examination of how institutional power is reflected in teachers’ narratives is essential to the achievement of a better understanding of the lack of solidarity among the professoriate as well as the disconnect between authority, theory and praxis in the exercise of the second language profession.
Author Keywords
Autoethnography; Identity; Language education and democracy; Parrhesia
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