Voices of the establishment or of cultural subversion? The Western canon in the curriculum

Bibliographic Data

ID11952240
AuthorsKevin Williams (0000-0001-5209-1395, Institute of Education, St Patrick's Campus, Dublin City University , Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume55
Issue4-5
Pages864-877
Publication date2021-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Philosophy of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0309-8249 • E-ISSN: 1467-9752
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/1467-9752.12588
OpenAlexW3200727223
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited10

The argument of this paper is that many texts of the Western literary canon rather than being vehicles of establishment values are critical of these values. Teaching these texts allows educators to challenge the interests of those who hold power in society as well as conventional sexual morality and gender stereotypes. Many important works of literature, in addition to denouncing hypocrisy, self-righteousness and all forms of exploitation, undermine occidental cultural preconceptions regarding the status of European civilisation and attitudes to religion and male–female relations. Yet there is an ambivalence in some texts that deal with racism and Europe's colonial legacy, and this ambivalence is also considered

Aesthetics · Ambivalence · Argument (complex analysis · Civilization · Curriculum · Hypocrisy · Morality · Pedagogy · Political science · Power (physics · Righteousness · Sociology · Subversion · Theology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Gender Studies · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious Education and Schools · Social Psychology

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