Imagining A to Z: U is for Unlearn Master Myths

The Hob, Plymouth England (iPhone)

U is for Unlearn Master Myths

Keri Facer (2011) defines myth as that which

"comes to act as an unquestioned cultural resource, to function as a dominating narrative that allows educators, policy-makers, parents and designers, without too much reflection, to make decisions and take action in the present" (Kindle Locations 240-242).

Roland Barthes (1957) tells us that myth is

"a type of speech...a system of communication...Myth is not defined by the object of its message, but by the way it utters this message" (p. 107).

James Gee (1996) describes master myths as prevalent stories we have internalized as truths, as the way it is, as what is normal.

Such mythologies are influential in our lives. They shape what we think is possible and not; truthful or false, and normal and abnormal. 

The imagination, oddly enough, may be limited by these mythologies that tells  us how to behave, how to be.  Last week I was in England and one of the things I wanted to do was to make images of people playing 'on the street'.  I did not want to capture images of organized play (football, etc.).  I spent a good portion of two days roaming about looking and I found just three accounts of public play:

• three boys on skateboards
• an elderly couple and their dog and a ball
• a mom and two small children each with a scooter

One of the master myths we live with is that as we age and mature we become more respectable, less likely to be silly, playful or messy--especially in public.  This myth makes me wonder how such a truth limits our imagination. For example, a friend tells me that she grew up in a home where making visual art was not done because it caused too much of  a mess.

"I couldn't leave anything out. Everything had to be put away right after playing. Our house had to be presentable at all times in case someone dropped in."

Not only did the house have to be presentable, but I imagine the inhabitants, especially girls and women needed to be presentable, neat, pretty at all times.

Take a look at the mythologies in this older advertisement aimed at girls. What is suggested as 'normal'? How is cleanliness and beauty aligned?



Or take a look at this more recent commercial:



Why is being clean situated as critical, essential?



So today I am wondering about what myths I need to unlearn?  I'm wondering which ones get in the way of creating? Imagining? Being?



Note: In this series of post during the month of April, I am participating in the A to Z blogging challenge, with each day focusing on a letter.  In order to bring some cohesion to this process--releasing the imagination is the focus of each post.

Celebrating Women: Literary Works By Women

The Yellow Wallpaper (M.A. Reilly, 2011)

This is not meant as a complete list of literary works by women about women, but rather a handful of books I hope you might enjoy.

Allende, Isabel. 2005. Eva Luna: A Novel. New York: Dial. (Novel).

Anzaldúa, Gloria E.  and Ana Louise Keating. 2002. This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformations. London: Routledge. (Poems, Letters, Stories, Essays).

Atwood, Margaret. 1986/1998. The Handmaid’s Tale.  New York: First Anchor books. (Novel).

Browder, Catherine. 1993. The Clay that Breathes. Milkweed. (Short Stories).

Butler, Judith. 2006. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London: Routledge. (Theory).

Cheung, Fiona. 2010. The Scent of the Gods. University of Illinois Press. (Novel).

Chopin, Kate. 1899/1994. The Awakening and Selected Stories. Piublic Domain. (Novel, short stories).

Colette. 2002. My Mother’s House and Sido. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Memoir).

de Monteflores, Carmen.  1995. Singing Softly/ Cantando Bajito.  Aunt Lute Books. (Novel).

Erdrich, Louise. 2009. The Plague of Doves. New York: HarperColllins. (Novel).

Fuller, Margaret. 1994. The Portable Margaret Fuller. New York: Viking. (Essay).

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. 1891/2006.  The Yellow Wallpaper.  Public Domain. (Short Story).

Glancy, Diane. 2011. The Dream of a Broken Field. University of Nebraska Press. (Essay).

Gordimer, Nadine. 2012. No Time Like the Present.  New York; Farrar, Straus & Giroux. (Novel).

Hoffman, Alice. 2012. The Dovekeepers: A Novel. New York: Scribner. (Novel).

hooks, bell. 1997. Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood.  New York: Holt. (Memoir).

Ivins, Molly. 2004. Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America. New York: Vintage (Essay).

Jewett, Sarah Orne. 1896/2006. Country of the Pointed Firs. Public Domain. (Novel).

Johnson, Josephine. 1934/1992. Now in November. New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY. (Novel).

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Bean Trees. New York: HarperCollins. (Novel).

Lopez-Medina, Sylvia. 1993. Cantora. New York: Ballantine Books. (Novel).

Lorde, Audre. 1986.  Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press (Essays, Speeches)

Menchú, Rigoberta. 2010. I, Rigoberta Menchú, An Indian Woman in Guatemala. New York: Verso. (Testimony).

Mohr, Nicholas. 1985. Ritual of Survival: A Woman’s Portfolio. Arte Publico Press. (Short stories and novella).

Morrison, Toni. 2005. Love. New York: Vintage. (Novel).

Naylor, Gloria. 1983. The Women of Brewster Place. New York: Penguin. (Novel).

Norris, Kathleeen. 2001. Dakota: A Spiritual Geography. Mariner Books. (Essay).

O'Brien. Edna. 2002. The Country Girls. New York: Plume. (Novel).

Olsen, Tillie. 2003. Silences. New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY.

Parker, Dorothy. 2006. The Portable Dorothy Parker. New York: Penguin. (Short stories, poetry).

Quindlen, Anna. 2006. One True Thing. New York: Random House. (Novel).

Rhys, Jean. 1992. Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: Norton. (Novel).

Smiley, Jane. 1991. A Thousand Acres. New York: Anchor. (Novel).

Tyler, Anne. 1996. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. New York: Ballantine. (Novel).

Urquhart, Jane. 2012. Sanctuary Line. Emblem Line. (Novel).

Viramontes, Helena Maria. 1996. Under the Feet of Jesus. New York: Plume. (Novel).

Williams, Terry Tempest. 1995. An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field. New York: Vintage. (Essay).

Wolf, Naomi. 2002. The Beauty Myth: How Image of Beauty are Used Against Women. New York: Harper. (Research, essay, documentary)

Woolf. Virginia. 2005. A Room of One’s Own. Mariner Books. (Essay).

-------------------. 2002. The Common Reader. Mariner Books. (Essay).

Xiao Hong.2006. The Field of Life and Death & Tales of Hulan River. Translated by Howard Goldblatt. Cheng & Tsui.

Yezierska, Anzia. 2003. The Bread Givers: A Novel. New York: Persea. (Novel).

Zitkala- Sa. 1921/2010. American Indian Stories. CreateSpace. (Short stories).