KAQI

clicks	1433
Vol (number)	1(1)
title	Reconstructing Subjectivity through Currere:Despair and Reconstruction
author(s)	Jung-Hoon Jung(University of British Columbia)
Keywords	currere, autobiographical theory, subjectivity, anxiety
Abstract	This article was to show how self-understanding through currere can be a way of reconstructing one’ subjectivity. This kind of self-understanding requires holistic study of one’s experience and the historical, cultural, and political context in which one has been living. Currere is a way to reach a wider understanding of one’s educational experiences. Using the method of currere, I studied the source and meaning of the despair and anxiety I experienced. The writing and analysis process revealed how objectified and conditioned I was (specifically, my attitude toward my education) by constraining external forces of Korean educational environment. The conditioned ego gets lost when the constraining structure disappears since the conditioned ego cannot sustain itself on its own. It experiences anxiety: I experienced anxiety. Studying and contemplating what Kierkegaard called the “dizziness of freedom” provided me with the opportunity to free the conditioned ego. In other words, it was a way to cultivate my subjectivity through an awakened autobiographical consciousness which can smoothly interact with the unpredictability and uncertainty of our existence. The one who has autobiographical consciousness communicates with himself or herself and cares for the damaged ego. Since the self is co-authored by others in the world, understanding the self is a continuous and recursive process. Currere recovers one’s sensitivity to his or her original physical, emotional, and intellectual status. This article testifies to how currere can be used for what Earle called “ontological autobiography.” I first share my subjective reconstruction through currere as an existential issue, discussing my breakdown and paradoxical elements of existence, the dialectic of anxiety, and the dialectical relationship between myself and the world.
file	질적탐구1권1호_02_정정훈.pdf