Living Inquiry: Me, My Self, and Other

Authors

  • Karen Meyer

Abstract

Belonging to the world means sharing otherness with every one and every thing there is. Hanna Arendt pointed out the paradox of human plurality: We share the sameness of being human in a way that none of us is the same as another. Still, we lack a human culture that reveres difference, reducing it to a shortfall. Moreover, as worldly beings we 'make home' on Earth and thus inhabit a human-made world of things we consume and use, which dictates our relationship with Earth and non-human entities. The following essay exemplifies Living Inquiry, a course I developed for inquiry into our 'worldliness' that encompasses both how we see the world, given our prejudiced eyes, and phenomena we experience in daily life. I discuss teaching this course with graduate students, inner-city teachers, and young adolescents. As well, I provide an example of such inquiry related to a course theme, self/other.

Author Biography

Karen Meyer

Karen Meyer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia. Her teaching and writing engage what she calls Living Inquiry, which focuses on awareness in order to understand how we, as individuals and communities, interpret and act within the world.

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Published

2010-04-19