Nakem pedagogy (soul consciousness) and constitutive elements of nakem praxis

Abstract

This dissertation develops a foundation for Nakem (Soul Consciousness) Pedagogy--a pedagogy centered on the use of stories and storytelling. By framing stories as empirical truths rather than anecdotal evidence I develop an educational methodology called Social Biography. Social Biography situates the individual/collective story as part of a social narrative and builds a critical framework that sees in the architecture of stories a political, economic, historical and social relational dimension. Through a theoretical inquiry I trace the genealogy of thought that led up to my articulation of Social Biography as incorporated in Nakem Pedagogy. Popular (grassroots) education, Indigenous Studies, and Critical Pedagogy are the three disciplinary threads that make Nakem Pedagogy. In addition, this dissertation develops a philosophical theory of the three constitutive elements that make up Nakem Praxis--Language, Body, and Land. In Language I indigenize and acculturate Christian Liberation Theology into Ilokano Indigenous cosmology. With language as the spiritual lens, I develop a theory of the Body as the locus of embedded story--as a "text" that allows us to read the world. Furthermore, like the Body, the Land as pedagogical space allows for stories to emerge and re-member it to our consciousness, while enlarging the walls of the classroom. This pedagogical articulation challenges Western normative and institutionalized educational practices. The results of the Nakem Pedagogy create a more dynamic and organic educational process that incorporates the living component of one's identity. Nakem Pedagogy, through the use of Social Biography, ultimately calls for an ethic of relationality in our educational framework. Its aim is to restore an affirmative view of our identity with regard to our self-becoming and historical self-hood.