Teaching and research as blurred translating

Authors

Keywords:

currere, teaching, qualitative research, practice, relationship, translating, language

Abstract

Through a form of currere, this essay traces the author’s journey to conceptualize her teaching and qualitative educational research as “blurred translating.” Practices of blurred translating are in motion and unfinished (hence, blurred) attempts to move and speak across and between languages and lives, words and worlds. These internal and inter-personal practices foster understanding across languages, identities, knowledges, and voices while acknowledging power and positionality. Drawing on stories, essays, research literature, poetry, and language and translation theories, the author argues for the relevance of this concept in an era of standardized curriculum and for those with social justice commitments. Both a responsibility and an impossibility, the messy risk of the practice of “blurred translating” engages us with a multiplicity of worlds and words as we work in relationship in the entanglement of lives, learning spaces, and research.

Author Biography

Shannon K. McManimon, SUNY New Paltz

I have a Ph.D. in Culture and Teaching from the University of Minnesota and am assistant professor in the Department of Educational Studies and Leadership at SUNY New Paltz.

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Published

2019-05-20