Myth as Disorientation for Critical Intercultural Pedagogy: From the Kalevala to the Realm of (Digital) Imagination

This book presents a game-changing approach to critical intercultural pedagogy by reclaiming myth as a stimulating tool for deliberate and productive disorientation. Moving beyond archaic relics or simple deconstruction, the author argues that myths, from the Finnish Kalevala to student-created (digital) narratives, are dynamic forces for both epistemic resistance and renaissance today. Readers will discover how myths can disrupt reductive binaries, challenge neoliberal agendas and give space to marginalised epistemologies. Venturing from canonical texts to classroom experiments in co-creation, this book offers an original framework that aims to replace the search for ‘cultural truths’ or sterile and Western-centric debates between ‘essentialists’ and ‘non-essentialists’ with a practice of curious humility. Urgently relevant, Myth as Disorientation for Critical Intercultural Pedagogy is indispensable reading for students, educators and scholars seeking to transform intercultural perspectives through creative, reflexive and ethically grounded praxis.