Through careful examination of Ted Aoki’s life and work within its historical, societal and intellectual context, this text advances a new appreciation of the national distinctiveness of Canadian curriculum studies. The book draws unique comparison between Aoki’s writings and Heidegger’s concept of "being-in-the-world." In exploring Aoki’s narratives on momentous life events, the author attends to the interwoven, dynamic and poetic essence of the scholar’s intellectual formation and identifies a critically reflective style of theorizing. By contextualizing Aoki’s narrations on his momentous life events, the text engages with Aoki’s critical reflective and unique style of theorizing and foregrounds the prominent influence of Heidegger’s phenomenology and writings on Aoki’s thinking. A major contribution to understanding Aoki’s curriculum scholarship, this book is an important resource for researchers and post-graduate students working across curriculum studies discourse.

This volume highlights lived experiences, personal inspirations and motivations, which have generated scholarship, and influenced the research and teaching of scholars in the field of curriculum studies. Offering contributions from new, established and experienced scholars, chapters foreground the ways in which the authors have been influenced by the mentorship and work of others, by personal challenges, and by the contexts in which they live and work. Chapters also illustrate how scholars have engaged in variety of methodological and autobiographical processes including narrative and poetic inquiry, autoethnography and visual arts research. Through a range of contributions, the book clarifies the origins and legacy of contemporary curriculum studies and in doing so, provides inspiration for beginning scholars and academics as they continue to find their voices in academic communities. Offering rich insight into the experiences and scholarship of a wide range of scholars, this volume will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers with an interest in curriculum studies, as well as educational research and methodologies more broadly.