A Grim Fairy Tale: a Mythopoetic Discourse on Taboo, Trauma and Anti-Oppressive Pedagogy
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A Grim Fairy Tale: A Mythopoetic Discourse on Taboo, Trauma and Anti-oppressive Pedagogy by KEVIN HARVEY KIRKLAND B.Mus., The University of Alberta, 1985 M.A., California State University, 1999 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Faculty of Education The Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry We accept this dissertation as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA March, 2004 © Kevin Harvey Kirkland, 2004 ABSTRACT This dissertation is a critical, performative exploration and analysis of mother-son incest as a site for educational inquiry. Particular attention is given to the sexual abuse of gay males. The text challenges and re-enacts personal and social perceptions of taboos as spaces of silence, trauma, and transformation, drawing on discourses of anti-oppressive pedagogy and narratives of healing. My views of anti-oppressive pedagogy, influenced by Freire, Kumashiro, and others, trouble taboos as personal, political, and cultural narratives. This inter/play of texts serves to acknowledge painful histories associated with incest and, on a conceptual level, to explore secrets, silences and shame around sexual abuse inbedded in cultural curriculum. Curriculum stems from currere meaning "to run," as in a course, and narrative stems from narrare meaning to make known. When both terms are juxtaposed they suggest a running from knowing. What if traumatic sexual abuse histories were placed at the center of pedagogical inquiry? Presented as a work of fiction, my dissertation is informed by an extensive literature review of mother- son incest. The image of a mother as a perpetrator of sexual abuse is antithetical to mythohistoric constructions of motherhood. Literature on incest reveals that men are less often viewed as abuse victims, that gay men experience much higher histories of abuse than heterosexuals, that homosexuality and early childhood sexual abuse may be correlated, and that both homosexuality and sexual abuse remain acutely silenced topics in education. All of this generates a lifelong sequelae of problems for male survivors. Trauma necessitates a critical and creative reconsideration of educational research as a site of narrative inquiry and healing. The methodology I employed is mythopoetics presented in the form of a fairy tale within a play. Drawing on the fairy tale genre's tradition as a vehicle for imparting moral and ethical messages, the encompassing play creates a forum for dialogue and disruption of the tale. Music, art, and photographs are integrated into the text to augment the mythopoetic presentation. Mythopoetics becomes an avenue of make believe and a framework for anti-oppressive pedagogy. If education is about learning new ways of being and becoming in the world, we need to re/collect difficult subjects in order to transform lived experiences of learners. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Tables iv List of Figures v List of Songs vi Preface vii Acknowledgments viii Dedication ••••••• x' ACT I: On a Clear Day I Program Notes 61 ACT II: A Grim Fairy Tale 65 Program Notes 115 ACT III: The Manifesto: Out Spoken 116 3.1 Prince Eddy's Manifesto 142 3.2 The World is Language 143 3.3 The Undiscovered Country 144 3.4 The Myths Behind Incest Myths 149 3.5 Problematizing Traditional Myths 160 3.6 Mythologization 161 3.7 Medicalization 161 3.8 Disappearance 162 3.8 Taboo 165 3.9 Mothers as Perpetrators 167 3.10 Table I: General characteristics of female perpetrators of sexual abuse 172 3.10 Table 2: Problems Stemming from Mother-Son Incest 174 3.10 Table 3: Key Factors Deterring Treatment of Sexually Abused Gay Males.... 180 Program Notes 289 ACT IV: The Moral of the Story 190 Program Notes 226 Works Cited 230 LIST OF TABLES TABLE I. General characteristic of female perpetrators of sexual abuse 172 TABLE2. Problems stemming from mother-son incest 174 TABLE 3. Key factors deterring the treatment of sexually abused gay males 180 iv LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE I. Prince Eddy at the Threshold 70 FIGURE 2. Playing the King 72 FIGURE 3. Long live the Queen 74 FIGURE 4. Captive Audience 77 FIGURE 5. Speak No Evil 81 FIGURE 6. Gently Down the Stream 83 FIGURE 7. The Spell of the Pomegranate 88 FIGURE 8. The Happy Prince 90 FIGURE 9. The Wanderer 92 FIGURE 10. Returning to the Source 108 FIGURE 11. The Coronation I 13 v LIST OF SONGS I. Young at Heart 45 2.1 Want a Girl 81 3.1 Don't Want to Know 101 4. The Open Window (instrumental) 105 5. On a Clear Day 191 6. River Bed 201 PREFACE This is a work of fiction informed by social taboos and pedagogical silences. The illustrations and poetry are the original works of the author, and all photographs are from the author's personal collection of himself as a child. All persons, places and events depicted herein are imaginary. Any resemblance to actual incidents or to persons living or dead is purely intentional. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Deepest love and gratitude to my partner Brent Hocking who has sailed with me through both the smooth and stormy rivers of life. It was your influence and belief in me that I could embark on doctoral studies, your idea that I could explore these issues as a dissertation, and especially your courageous support that inspires me and teaches me the beauty of your love. You mean everything to me. Dr. Carl Leggo (Department of Language and Literacy Education, UBC, committee chair): poet, performer, pioneer, pen pal, purveyor, paragon, preceptor, paraclete—from parakletus, literally meaning "to call alongside of, advocate, comforter. Certainly, a holy man. Thank you for walking alongside me through this journey. Thank you for bringing my life to words. Dr. Erika Hasebe-Ludt (Faculty of Education, University of Lethbridge, committee member): for your wisdom, warmth, compassion, inspiration, thorough editing, for your humanity and kindness, your scholarly imagination, for seeing before and beyond. Dr. John Xiros Cooper (Department of English, UBC, committee member): for not batting an eye when I walked into your office and said I wanted to do a dissertation on mother-son incest, for knowing the undercurrents of Shakespeare's Hamlet, for your love of Rilke and of music, for wondering about what is not seen. Dr. Sonya Corbin Dwyer (Faculty of Education, University of Regina, external examiner): heartfelt thanks for challenging my thinking, deepening my engagement with the text, and asking questions that will linger long beyond the 'finished' product. Dr. Rita Irwin (Curriculum Studies, UBC, University Examiner): thank you for sharing your personal and academic experiences, for knowing the importance of dialogue in creating knowledge. Dr. Norman Amundson (Educational S Counselling Psychology S Special Education, University Examiner): thank you for thought-provoking queries, insights, ponderings, for knowing the interplay between therapy and education. Dr. Peter Gouzouasis (Curriculum Studies, UBC, Chair of the Defense): for your enthusiasm over my "frozen improvisation," your passion for music, and for facilitating what was a wonderfully memorable defense gathering. Dr. Karen Meyer (Curriculum Studies, UBC): for your visionary spirit and vocation in creating the Centre for the Study of Curriculum and Instruction, for opening up the possibility for other areas of study to occupy a space within education, for welcoming me in and calling me to do the work that sought expression. My sister Carol: for proclaiming "I'm not keeping secrets anymore" on that fateful Remembrance Day, 1999. You have been a lifeline, ally, confessor, advocate—we've been able to rant and rave, cry and laugh, and most of all, grow closer than ever. My brother Glen, who has always looked out for me as a father would, with love and kindness and concern, for exploring the undiscovered country of our childhoods, for your poetry and love of language. My brother Bill, for deepening our connection these past few years and being willing to talk about even the most difficult of subjects; for believing. My sister Julie, for believing, for surviving and thriving as you do. Leah Rosling, sister of the Sacred Order. Dearest friend, confidante, sage, mystic, holy woman, compassionate soul, embodiment of hallowed sound and image. Rolf Brulhart: dear friend, colleague, conspirator, yodeler, coffee pal, insurer. Thanks for being such a good friend! Dr. Sharon Ronaldson, who traversed the waters of the dissertation from day one to finish with wit and wisdom. Thanks for sharing three amazing years of studies with me. Dr. Eva Knell: for all the many compassionate roles you have played in my life—from physician to "sister," ally and friend. Thank you! Dr. Lynn Fels: for opening spaces of possibility in your class on performative inquiry; for your enthusiasm, validation, and honouring that is embodied in your teaching and your presence. Dr. Kogila Adam-Moodley, for opening me up to the politics of memory, the parallels of the personal and national, on speaking the unspeakable. Dr. Susan Edgerton, for intersecting trauma and education and inviting connections between lived experience and pedagogical approaches. Avraham Cohen (therapist/counselor): for seeing me as I truly am, for not pathologizing my process, for being an advocate and ally beyond the days of our weekly interactions. Dr. Cynthia Lopatka (psychologist): for asking the unaskable, for naming the unnamable, for speaking the unspoken, for transforming the immutable. Doug Matear (therapist/educator at the B.C. Society for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse): thank you for seeing me to the other side; for your influential guidance, the EMDR, even the Body for Life. You brought invaluable growth and thriving to my life. Paul Whitehead and George Passmore (therapists at the B.C.