Karin’s talk is called “Starting a Conversation on Decolonizing Mythology”
Oftentimes as mythologists, a narrative or an image enchants us and we forget that mythic artifacts do not exist in isolation but are embedded in human culture with all the problematics that entails. This discussion starter aims to reveal issues, problems, and potential methods for decolonizing our field. As a field of inquiry, Mythology comes into existence during the cultural juxtapositions created by colonialism during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The colonized became objects of study for Europeans, who documented the cultural habits, sacred beliefs, arts, and other cultural artifacts of non-European cultures even as the Europeans strove to Westernize and destroy these cultures. In many instances, the mythic artifacts mythologists explore come from the ongoing exploration of native people, people from non-Western backgrounds, and other marginalized cultures. I intend to provide a brief background on the theoretical work by Faye V. Harrison on decolonizing anthropology, David Miller on mythoclasm, and Joel P. Christensen on decolonizing a myth class for what I hope will be a brainstorming session using the Kumeyaay Birds Songs as our mythic artifact and addressing the problematics inherent in my own mythic exploration of this tradition.
About Karin
Karin Zirk, Ph.D. is a mythologist, activist, and writer, whose first novel, Falling From The Moon, was released in early 2020. She earned her doctorate in Mythological Studies with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute where her dissertation focused on using mythic artifacts and journal writing to enhance well-being in family caregivers. She facilitates in-person and online workshops using mythic artifacts and creative expression to explore both individual and cultural challenges facing the world. Her collection of poetry, Notes from the Road, chronicled her years traveling the USA in a Volkswagen camper van. She is a longtime advocate for a Southern California creek and attends peace and healing gatherings. When not engaged in her passions, she works in Information Technology.