BETWEEN THREADS AND COCOONS

the curriculum as a silk writing

Abstract

This article proposes to conceive the curriculum as a "silk writing", drawing on Derrida's metaphor of the silkworm to challenge traditional conceptions of curricular production and experience. From difference and deconstruction philosophy, the article invites to an epistemological detachment, a critical and reflective engagement in regards to the collective and inventive curricular writing that challenges the current centralized logics in the curriculum theory field. The theoretical proposal outlined in the article aligns with a post-structuralist approach to the curriculum field, one that not only questions but also challenges the current dichotomies in the schools and curriculum practice. By claiming the recognition of all school individuals as curriculum-makers, the article engages in dialogue with Derrida, particularly his insights of trace, différance, and event, as well as a critical dialogue with major curricular theories, highlighting the threads that compose everyday school life —gestures, narratives, listening practices, and affections — as elements of curriculum-making. In this sense, far from offering strict solutions, the article proposes a study, reflection, and a listening toward the other, envisioning the school as an undecidable, unpredictable environment, one that becomes both shelter and metamorphosis, akin to the cocoon that welcomes the unexpected as an ethical power, political, and aesthetic in the curriculum composition.