Re: Contexts, Chapt.9

Francoise Herrmann (fherrmann who-is-at igc.apc.org)
Sat, 7 Oct 1995 17:06:30 -0700

Hi Mike, I think that what makes the analysis Vugotskyan is the
emphasis as you suggest on joint MEDIATED activity, and I am
highlighting the "mediation" part, while you highlighted the
"joint" part. My understanding now, after having read that
chapter, and perhaps gleaned a little before that, is that it is
almost axiomatic in Vygotskyan theory that action is mediated by
language. And because of this essential premiss and view point on
human activity, a whole new world of description and observation
opens up where the language use can become a primary unit of
analysis. It follows for me then that this is also joint activity
because unless the Speaking Subject is an island, the fact that
s/he is speaking implies communication and joint activity (as if
by definition of how language is). That makes for the Societal
part of the Speaking Subject I suppose. And as the book "The
Societal Subject" says:

"No person is an island, but essentially a part of the greater
whole we call society. Yet every person is an individual and a
subject in her own right. The duality of this statement -expressed
in the title of this book- is one of the primary challenges to
psychology".

-The pre and post sessions as far as I can see also involved joint
activity, that is of the five sessions two were used for pre and
post. Like a different net thrown on the same data, with one
important difference. With the pre and post test net you have to
have some kind of pre-determined idea of what it is that you are
coding for; what it is that counts as successful performance. In
contrast with an analysis of mediated action, it is the action in
an of itself that is of relevance and I think that one cannot
really know in advance what it is that will be salient.

-With respects to the issue of institutionalizing educational
practices, I thought as I read your question to Bill, and Bill's
response, that perhaps some of the issue is a little like
"Castro-ism" without Fidel. Is there Castro-ism without Castro,
and if so what forms does/can it take? In the book "Urban
Sanctuaries" which I read, for example, the single most important
factor that accounts for the success of all the programs is the
WIzards and in particular "how they do it" rather than "what" they
actually do. Of course we can learn from them and try to walk in
their footsteps, but it seems that the bottom line has a lot to do
with the relationships the are established, the affective and
passionate desires to do good and the beliefs that fuel all of
this into concrete realizations. These thoughts connect real well
with Bill's question about the implementation of practices. But
somehow I think that we also need optimism and "faith" that beyond
the Wizards, there will be new Wizards (i.e.; factoring in the
fact that no-one is forever, while problems like poverty and
negative educational practices are longstanding, though perhaps
getting better.)

Francoise Francoise Herrmann fherrmann who-is-at igc.org