[Xmca-l] Re: My thoughts about ISCAR

[James Ma]

Thanks Mike for useful information.

What I've found most interesting is that a great deal of Peirce's
pragmatism (more exactly, pragmaticism) can be packed into his semiosis.

James

21 September 2017 at 20:05, mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu> wrote:

> Hi James-
>
> Thanks for your take on ISCAR. Your note reminded me of earlier discussions
> of
> Peirce and Vygotsky on xlchc/xmca and I found this earlier exchange
> involving the
> ideas of Arne Raeithel and Alfred Lang.
>
> http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Mail/xmcamail.2016-06.dir/msg00109.html.
>
> Understanding the affinities and differences between LSV and Peirce seems
> to be right up there with similar comparisons involving Spinoza,
> Halliday/Hasan/Bernstein, Bakhtin, and many more.
>
> Sure is more than enough to try to get one's mind around!!
>
> mike
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 20, 2017 at 11:05 PM, James Ma <jamesma320@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The 5th ISCAR Congress was hailed as a great success in taking a
> 360-degree
> > view of the landscape of cultural-historical activity research,
> > accentuating the state of scholarship in practice.  The ontogenesis of
> > Vygotsky alongside his cultural-historical school of thought was so well
> > contextualised, illustrated and communicated that I felt I “knew” him.
> > While travelling in Canada after the congregation, I was still
> preoccupied
> > with thoughts about Vygotsky and how his theory had been approached or
> > approximated and what might have been led to as a way of developing
> > cultural-historical activity research.
> >
> > It might seem that an unquestioning assertion of Vygotskyan legacy would
> > frame cultural-historical activity research not only as act of gaining
> > proximity to Vygotsky but also as an attitude invested in *exhausting*,
> > *exploiting* or even *worshiping* his work.  How can the ingenuity and
> > inspiration of his insights nourish the landscape of cultural-historical
> > activity research?  How might cultural-historical activity research be
> > henceforth set to continue well into the future, thus informing many
> facets
> > of our modern life?  These questions are of no easy matter, as Malcolm
> Reed
> > points out in his prologue for the Congress:
> >
> > “Like any landscape we have cultivated, we need also to learn what and
> whom
> > we have depleted and used to extinction, and count that cost and commit
> to
> > reparation and rediscovery.”
> >
> > This reminds me of the opening remarks by Leslie Smith, Julie Dockrell
> and
> > Peter Tomlinson (who edited “Piaget, Vygotsky and beyond” published after
> > the Piaget-Vygotsky Centenary Conference held in Brighton, England, in
> > April 1996):
> >
> > “There is sometimes a tendency to interpret the work of Piaget and
> Vygotsky
> > in a polarised way, as if the work of one had nothing in common with that
> > of the other.”
> >
> > Arguably, any theory has its limitations and shortcomings, and neither an
> > unquestioning acceptance of new trends nor an unquestioning refusal of
> old
> > traditions can succeed in the end in that it allows no room for
> evaluation.
> > Vygotsky might well be seen as someone like C. S. Peirce whose philosophy
> > was meant for those who want to explore and discover – as Peirce put it:
> > “Those who want philosophy ladled out to them can go elsewhere. There are
> > philosophical soup shops at every corner, thank God!”
> >
> > I’m a linguist by avocation.  I see Vygotsky within the linguistic turn
> in
> > philosophy, which leads me to contemplate his ideas in the light of other
> > thinkers.  When I first came across Vygotsky’s idea that the structure of
> > speech is *not* the mirror image of the structure of thought, I wasn’t
> > particularly impressed.  Vygotsky posited thought as undergoing
> > reconstruction and reconfiguration before vocalisation, but this was
> > already foreshadowed in Saussure’s work.  For Saussure, thought without
> > language is a vague, uncharted nebula – there are no pre-existing ideas
> and
> > nothing is distinct before the appearance of language.  Later I found
> > Saussure and Vygotsky balancing each other with different focuses:
> Saussure
> > on structure, Vygotsky on action, and Peirce on process and action.
> >
> > I’ve proposed a methodological approach that synergises different
> theories
> > by placing otherwise disparate perspectives in dialogue.  Rather than
> > simply contrasting different theoretical roots or orientations, a
> > synergistic approach allows me to draw out the profound *sameness* of
> > differences between theories.  I use “sameness” to refer to ontological
> and
> > epistemological confluence or complementarity that provides a basis for
> > mutual amelioration and consolidation.  This is exemplified in “The
> synergy
> > of Peirce and Vygotsky as an analytical approach to the multimodality of
> > semiotic mediation” *http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2014.913294
> > <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2014.913294>*).  In synergising
> > different theoretical positions, a *tour d’horizon* for
> cultural-historical
> > activity research may be brought forth.  I feel this is to some extent
> > alluded to in Jennifer Vadeboncoeur’s epilogue for the Congress in terms
> of
> > “impeccable research”.
> >
> > Just to add that the term “synergy” first came to my attention through
> the
> > work of Eve Gregory on children learning English as an additional
> language
> > in the UK, referring to the reciprocity of learning between sisters and
> > brothers as “a synergy whereby siblings act as adjuvants, stimulating and
> > fostering each other’s development” (see “Sisters and brothers as
> language
> > and literacy teachers: synergy between siblings playing and working
> > together”, *Journal of Early Childhood Literacy*, 2001).  The use of
> > “synergy” in my work was also inspired by Anne Edwards’ writing on the
> > resemblance of Vygotsky, Mead and American pragmatism in *Cambridge
> > Companion to Vygotsky* (edited by Harry Daniels, Michael Cole and James
> > Wertsch in 2007).
> >
> > On account of “semiotic methodology in the making” as highlighted by
> > Alberto Rosa and Jaan Valsiner (see *The Cambridge Handbook of
> > Sociocultural Psychology*, 2007), I feel Peircean pragmatism and
> semiotics
> > can render impetus to Vygotsky-inspired cultural-historical activity
> > research, bringing to the fore the importance of evaluating and
> > re-evaluating theory in the light of changing social, economic and
> > political conditions in modern society.
> > James
> >
> >
> > *_____________________________________*
> >
> > *James Ma*  *https://oxford.academia.edu/JamesMa
> > <https://oxford.academia.edu/JamesMa>   *
> >
> > *RECENT PUBLICATIONS*
> >
> > Semiotising the student perception of learning outcomes in British higher
> > education  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2016.1189234
> >
> > Lev Vygotsky and his theory in a nutshell
> > http://www.scrss.org.uk/publications.htm#2016
> >
> > The synergy of Peirce and Vygotsky as an analytical approach to the
> > multimodality of semiotic mediation
> > http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2014.913294  (This article is in the
> > Journal’s “Most Read Articles” 1st place
> > http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showMostReadArticles?
> > journalCode=hmca20#.Va9Q7tFRF9A
> > and in the “Class of 2015 Educational Research”
> > http://explore.tandfonline.com/content/ed/class-of-2015/
> > educational-research-history-of-education-education-policy-
> leadership-2015
> > )
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 15 September 2017 at 21:53, Alfredo Jornet Gil <a.j.gil@iped.uio.no>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Dear all,
> > >
> > >
> > > Issue 3 of Mind, Culture and Activity has been out for a while now and
> it
> > > is time to have one of the articles discussed here at xmca. We have
> > > selected one that deals with a topic that interests me a lot and I am
> > > confident will be interesting to many: the role of play and performance
> > in
> > > personal development and social change.
> > >
> > >
> > > Carrie's paper starts with a beautiful vignette from a workshop
> bringing
> > > youth from poor communities together with business people to jointly
> play
> > > and perform. The next section ?abruptly brings us back to Vygotsky's
> > > writings about play, ?and these then serve as the backdrop to a revisit
> > to
> > > the opening workshop. The analyses and the discussion invite us to
> > > understand development "not as a set of stages that a people pass
> through
> > > on their way to adulthood, but as the collective creation of stages
> > > (environments) where people can perform who they are becoming."
> > >
> > >
> > > Carrie has been kind enough to accept joining us in the discussion, and
> > > she will introduce her article much better in a few days, while we all
> > get
> > > the time to read and bring up any questions or comments we might have.
> I
> > am
> > > sending this early, though, ?to give people a few days in advance to be
> > > able to start looking at the article, which I hope will catch the
> > interest
> > > of many. Good read! And good weekend,
> > >
> > >
> > > Alfredo
> > >
> >
>