[Xmca-l] Re: Time for a Generational Change

[Andy Blunden]

I will add my appreciation to what others have said, ... but 
words almost fail me. No-one, no-one in my life has taught 
me as much as Mike Cole, and dare I say that if I managed a 
little real development late in life it was thanks to Mike 
Cole and this amazing list. The amount of work which goes 
into the kind of care Mike has given to moderating this 
list  and personal correspondence is breathtaking and I will 
be forever grateful for that. And when I refer to what Mike 
"taught" me, this was almost always only by creating 
expectations. I think very often Mike didn't even understand 
what I was saying, but somehow despite this, he gave me the 
kind of guidance that I think everyone craves. Thank you, Mike.

For my own part, the horizons of my interests are closing in 
on me these days, the energy for reading new theories and 
philosophies has almost dried up. I am reading many more 
novels than treatises these days. So it is doubtless timely 
to extend my thanks to all the wonderful correspondents on 
xmca who have given me a hand up over and over down the years.


Andy


------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Blunden
http://home.mira.net/~andy
http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making 

On 25/10/2016 4:35 AM, mike cole wrote:
> Hear Yee XMCA -O-Phytes.
>
>
>
> Having removed myself from the active faculty of LCHC which is now in the
> capable hands of Angela Booker and Stephan Tanaka, the time has come for me
> to step back from the doings of MCA and XMCA.  At MCA the new editorial
> team of (in reverse alphabetical order, Jennifer Vadeboncoeur, Bonnie
> Nardi, Victor Kaptelinin, and Natalia Gajdamashko) has taken over as
> editors, and begun the process of carrying the enterprise into a new
> generation. I will remain as a kind of "editor for special projects" for
> the journal and will continue to participate in XMCA.
>
>
>
> But with respect to XMCA it is past time for me to give up what David
> Kellogg has called my "pastoral" role in seeking to coordinate and develop
> discourse focused around provocative articles that appear in the journal.
> The original idea was to provide authors with rapid feedback and public
> recognition instead of having to wait the 2-3 year cycle of replying via an
> authorized journal.
>
>
>
> The reality, as you know, is somewhat different - a mélange of topics that
> intersect, loop back on themselves, and leak out into the semiosphere.
>
>
>
> Luckily, Alfredo Jornet has offered to try his hand at the pastoral role,
> and will be recognized on the journal masthead as *MCA Forum Mediator*.
> Alfredo brings to the task his early career in Spain, his later career in
> Norway, and his present career in Victoria. And all of this international
> experience before has started "his career." Brave soul. Alfredo and the
> editors are considering a variety of options for the future of the journal,
> including importantly, its status as a new medium promoting rapid exchange
> of the news between otherwise isolated scholars with complementary
> interests.
>
>
>
> My participation in xlchc and then xmca has been central to my adult
> education, and I appreciate what I have learned here more than words can
> suffice to explain. There are not so many academic ecologies in the world,
> so enduring those that do spring up seems a worthwhile way to promote its
> reproduction.... keeping in mind Phillip White's reminder that the future
> of development is not predictable at the level of everyday experience.
>
>
>
> As I see it, there are two major failures in this effort over the years.
> The first is the enormous imbalance in the gender representation of the
> participants. With a few periods where the exceptions ended up proving the
> rule, female voices have been conspicuously absent. Academic "guy talk" has
> dominated. Understanding and, if possible, re-mediating that sad set of
> circumstances seems like a major task for the future.
>
>
>
> Second, MCA discourse does not accumulate. The discussions are more like
> chaining than the development of new concepts. As in the Sakharov -
> Vygotsky blocks experiment, we talk about green triangles then blue
> triangles then blue squares, each a legitimate line of inquiry, but
> constantly changing criteria/topics as we go. Every once in a while we
> ascend to the level of pseudo-concepts (these are the cases that evoke the
> most controversy it seems to me). My fond hope is that Alfredo and our
> sometimes engaged tech gurus will provide a more supportive environment for
> the creation of "truce concepts" -- agreement on a broad set of
> principles/empirical embodiments and a research program that identifies the
> limits of the theory and the most fruitful lines of inquiry.
>
>
>
> Thus spake
>
> mike
>
>