Currere and Psychoanalytic Guided Regression: Revisiting the Kent State Shootings

This book revisits the 1970 Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre, using a new approach of currere and psychoanalytic guided regression. Drawing on a variety of interviews with those who were present at the events or who have close connections to the aftermath, the author engages in what he terms a doubled currere. This includes weaving a description of currere and narrative work with the actual storytelling of the subjects in order to build bridges and positive meaning through allegory and through inquiry that honors the narrative and re-energizes the field. Using a combination of the interviews, analysis and synthesis, the book re-activates and re-vitalizes the events, crucially engages with the notion of alterity, and unpacks the singularity of the past in its distinctive complexity. Carrying themes of hopeful ambiguity, it demonstrates how positive change can be guided, and positive insights engendered. Constructing a new remembrance of these tragic events and offering a distinctive and unique study utilizing currere, it will appeal to scholars of curriculum and instruction, as well as psychiatrists, psychologists, and historians.