[Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context

[mike cole]

Aria--- I had not read the Spivak article, although the question she asks
is one I have been asking myself for half a century. And, I would add,
under what conditions?

I found the article here in case others share my ignorance.
mike

http://www.mcgill.ca/files/crclaw-discourse/Can_the_subaltern_speak.pdf

On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Aria Razfar <arazfar@uic.edu> wrote:

> Larry,
>
> The specific stance that is amplified by the intersections of "third
> space" post-colonial theory, sociocultural theory, and "testimonio" is
> somewhat apparent in the language choice. There is no English equivalent
> because there cannot be an English equivalent. At least, there cannot be an
> "English-Only" equivalent. It represents a movement toward an indigenous
> stance on voice, agency, knowledge, certainty, validity, language choice,
> and learning. I say a "movement toward" because Spanish itself carries
> similar baggage especially within the Latin American context. This is the
> rationale for why some use the Aztec idea of Nepantla instead of "Third
> Space" (e.g., Rochelle Guiterrez, Gloria Anzaldua). "Testimonio" further
> complicates what it means for "subalterns" to "reclaim voice" through the
> dominant voice. This is the heart-wrenching question raised by Spivak, "Can
> the subaltern speak?" Both the altern and the subaltern need to "step
> outside" the inscribed institutional roles, together in order to move "to
> the roots of our being human together." Spivak was specfically critiqueing
> "the Western intellectual" voice wondering if it truly could be a tool of
> liberation. It seems like a "core" identity question as we move through
> various historical entanglements seeking answers to ontological questions
> of self in relation to other. Also looking forward to this type of
> re-search.
>
> Aria
>
>
>
>
>
> Aria Razfar, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture
> Director of Graduate Studies, Curriculum and Instruction
> University of Illinois at Chicago
> 1040 W. Harrison St. M/C 147
> Chicago, IL, 60607
>
> Director of English Learning through Mathematics, Science and Action
> Research (ELMSA)
> www.elmsa.org
>
> Webpage: http://education.uic.edu/personnel/faculty/aria-razfar-phd
> Tel: 312-413-8373
> Fax: 312-996-8134
>
> This is the heart-wrenching question raised by Spivak, "Can the subaltern
> speak?" Both the altern and the subaltern need to "step outside" the
> inscribed roles, together in order to move "to the roots of our being human
> together." It seems like a "core" identity question as we move through
> various historical entanglements seeking answers to ontological questions
> of self in relation to other. Also looking forward to this type of
> re-search.
>
> Aria
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-l-bounces+arazfar=uic.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:
> xmca-l-bounces+arazfar=uic.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Larry Purss
> Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2014 10:08 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context
>
> Aria,
> I want to repeat and amplify your suggestion :
>
> It is important to clarify what is meant by "third space" and its
> analogous concepts in various schools of thought (e.g., liminality, double
> consciousness, third place, etc.). The post-colonial uptake of third space
> (e.g., Said, Bhaba, Spivak) within the sociocultural theory is a very
> specific stance and this might be the moment for that conversation as well.
>
> To focus on the *third space* as a VERY SPECIFIC stance.
> I would like to become clear on the centrality of *witnessing* as central
> or the re-search fades away.
> Also terms such as *mutuality* contrasted with *reciprocity* or
> *transactions*.
>
> Testimonios as neither subjective [alone] or objective [alone] but a
> hybrid MODE that is a form of witnessing.
> I would also suggest the theme of *gift* as more than transaction or
> echange [in continental philosophy traditions] is relevant.
>
> There is a *spirit* and a moral virtue within this form of witnessing as
> *third space* that plays around with notions of *trans* as moving across
> forms [horizons] as trans-versals [or trans-verse-als] .
> I have an intuition that this type of witnessing is radical, going to the
> roots of our being human together.
>
> Aria, I look forward to further re-search Larry
>
> On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 12:00 PM, Aria Razfar <arazfar@uic.edu> wrote:
>
> > For those of us working with Kris' sociocritical perspective, third
> > space has been a valuable construct for thinking about collective
> > learning zopeds and consciousness for that matter. It is important to
> > clarify what is meant by "third space" and its analogous concepts in
> > various schools of thought (e.g., liminality, double consciousness,
> > third place, etc.). The post-colonial uptake of third space (e.g.,
> > Said, Bhaba, Spivak) within the sociocultural theory is a very
> > specific stance and this might be the moment for that conversation as
> well.
> >
> > Aria
> >
> > Aria Razfar, Ph.D.
> > Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture Director of
> > Graduate Studies, Curriculum and Instruction University of Illinois at
> > Chicago
> > 1040 W. Harrison St. M/C 147
> > Chicago, IL, 60607
> >
> > Director of English Learning through Mathematics, Science and Action
> > Research (ELMSA) www.elmsa.org
> >
> > Webpage: http://education.uic.edu/personnel/faculty/aria-razfar-phd
> > Tel: 312-413-8373
> > Fax: 312-996-8134
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> > [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Kris Gutierrez
> > Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2014 2:56 PM
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context
> >
> > Annalisa, Manuel initiated the last uptake. (I think others have
> > clarified that now :)
> >
> > Mike C., Miguel Zavala, Larry Purss and I posted some thoughts before
> > the holidays.  For me it is useful to connect Manuel’s recent post to
> > those earlier thoughts/conversations.
> >
> > Some very quick very unedited thoughts following up on Manuel’s post:
> >
> > Michael G., Mike C. correctly points out that the
> > testimonios/autobiographies were not research techniques but
> > generative tools that were indeed a part of the interconnected set of
> > practices that created a collective zoped—a third space if you will.
> > I try to elaborate this idea in the Scribner Lecture piece
> > (sociocritical literacies).  My own work on Third Space, the
> > collective work of the instructional team of MSI, ongoing
> > conversations with Mike C. and Yrjo over the years at the lab, and
> > their work certainly informed this idea of a collective zoped,
> > collective third space  (See Engeström, 1987, 1994 in particular;
> > Nicolopoulou & Cole, 1993; Tuomi-Gröhn & Engeström, 2003; Tuomi-
> > Gröhn, Engeström, & Young, 2003; Chaiklin, 2003, Moll, 1990; Moll &
> > Greenberg, 1990 as key examples that certainly inform this work as well.
> And LSV and Bakhtin are ever present).
> > These, I think, are useful references, all cited in the article.
> > Shirin Vossoughi’s recent MCA piece also is very relevant to this
> discussion.
> >
> > Some relevant excerpts from the sociocritical article,
> >
> > "To illustrate these points and their relation to a collective Third
> > Space, let us examine the MSLI more closely.
> > The activity system, the MSLI, has a specific internal logic organized
> > around expanding the students’ sociohistorical and educational ecology
> > through the collective imagining of a new educational and
> > sociopolitical future.
> > To avoid the “interactional reductionism implicit in much
> > Vygotskian-inspired research” (Nicolopoulou & Cole, 1993, p. 284), the
> > specific interactions and practices of the MSLI are understood as what
> > Nicolopoulou and Cole call a “genuinely collective reality” (p. 284).
> >
> > Here we see the [Migrant] institute as an example of the Third Space,
> > a collective zo-ped, at the larger level of activity the object of
> > which is the sociohistorical reconstruction of what it means to be a
> > migrant student.
> > This movement involves a process of becoming conscious “historical
> actors”
> > (Espinoza, 2003) who invoke the past in order to re-mediate it so that
> > it becomes a resource for current and future action (p. 154)."
> >
> > Testimonios and their embodiment in Teatro del Oprimido (Boal’s
> > Theatre of the Oppressed that Manuel introduced to us and the program
> > and that he and Vossoughi elaborated) were key means of
> > developing/inciting a new social and pedagogical imagination and for
> > imagining new futures with/for the migrant students, their
> > communities, and indeed for all of us, as Manuel so thoughtfully
> > writes. Teatro served as a collective problem-solving space—a space
> > where the playful imagination helped to make inequities and the roots
> > of social problems visible, while providing an opportunity to re-frame
> > events, re-mediate and enact an imagined future collectively (such as
> > flying collectively/social dreaming).  I hope Manuel and Shirin jump
> > in and elaborate these thoughts.
> >
> > Re: Research design:  For me, Migrant was in Yrjo and Mike's approach,
> > a formative experiment; what I term social design experiments—a
> > designed based research approach that foregrounds equity, diversity,
> > historicity, and re-mediation, for example. As Susan Jurow and I wrote
> > and presented at the ICLS conference this summer (a piece that we
> > expect will be part of a larger set of papers with Mike C., Yrjo and
> > Annalisa, and Bill Penuel), social design experiments: aim to make
> > possible a sustainable and dignified life for all humans; address the
> > challenges of leveraging cultural diversity and reducing social
> > inequality; and call for the co-design of new tools and futures with
> > members of non-dominant communities, as but a few key design
> > principles.
> >
> >      Absolutely, research as re-searching—searching for the answer to
> > a question you have searched for repeatedly without success! Well
> > said, Miguel Cole! Thanks, for your thoughts, Michael Glassman!
> >
> >      more on sociocritical literacies, later.   kris
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Kris Gutierrez
> > gutierkd@gmail.com
> >
> > Kris D. Gutiérrez
> > Professor
> > Graduate School of Education
> > 5629 Tolman Hall #1670
> > University of California, Berkeley
> > Berkeley CA 94720-1670
> >
> > Distinguished Professor
> > Learning Sciences and Literacy
> > School of Education
> > University of Colorado, Boulder
> >
> >
> > > On Dec 30, 2014, at 9:50 AM, Annalisa Aguilar <annalisa@unm.edu>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hello!
> > >
> > > Sorry for being silly here, but I couldn't help but see that so far
> > > on
> > this thread, there have been appearances by:
> > >
> > > mike, Annalisa, Michael, Luisa, and Miguel!
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>


-- 
It is the dilemma of psychology to deal with a natural science as an object
that creates history. Ernst Boesch.