Story As Renewal: Depth and Decolonization
Today, at a webinar hosted by the M.A./Ph.D. Mythological Studies Program and the Office of Admissions at the Pacifica Graduate Institute, titled “Drinking Deeply of Life: An Introduction to Mythological Studies,” I spoke about my pedagogy and approach to myth. How do I, as an Anzaldúan woman of color scholar invested in decolonial and indigenous perspectives, relate to and theorize myth? I am sharing an excerpt from my presentation below in part because I found myself anticipating the displacement and appropriation of some of these ideas outside the worldview within which they are energized.
“Within indigenous participatory worldviews—which I invite each student to lean into and become curious about as I teach—each telling of the story renews the story. Renewing the stories renews the world. Storytelling is not a frivolous activity within a participatory framework. It is deeply necessary. I see stories and myths very much as linked to the Earth—they rise from the Earth. Our psyches need stories that rise from the Earth—that remind us of our place upon the Earth, and our kinship with the more-than-human worlds. It is these stories that retain a living, dynamic, contextual connection with the Earth that can awaken in us the impulses that help us repair our world—amidst so much fragmentation, homogenization, normativization.
From a depth psychological perspective, stories and myths can provoke our wounds and shadows—and then alchemize them—they can act as activating agents, guiding us towards individuation and wholeness.
Transformative learning, which I value, also means that myths and stories are not there merely to be received and revered, but to actively open us up to our own transformation. I see myth studies very much as a path of courage—inviting us to bring our whole persons—emotions, embodied knowing, intellect.
But it is not enough today, I believe, to talk about transformation without acknowledging colonial histories. Which means that we honor each story and myth as emerging in a particular time, place, and context. The stories and myths of the so-called other cultures are not merely meant to be consumed, neither are they there merely to help the Cartesian self in its self-glorifying ends.
How might the relationship with the “other” transform us?
How might our stories beckon to us the futures the Earth deserves?”
Part of this work for me, I briefly noted, entails experimenting with innovative methodologies—so that our ancestral/inner/integrative knowing is released, and so that we become the people the present, the past, and the future needs.
To be honest, when I was first invited to teach in January 2020, I had no idea how much meaning and excitement teaching would come to hold for me. It is a sacred path.