Unidentified subject!

Judy Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Thu, 1 Feb 1996 21:00:00 -0500

Dear Eugene, Francoise,

Eugene wrote:
Accepting of observant model by a participant can
>destroy the participant model -- that was my point. Anything else was
>thinking aloud about ecological and cultural consequences of such
>destruction. Sorry, if the incomplete character of my writing was unclear.

Your writing wasn't unclear; I found the point you made
difficult to understand, since I assume a model of participation that is
probably a patched-together version of multiple models....

Eugene also wrote:

I like Judy's term "double stance" as
>doubtful, "ironic" second thought about whatever you do. It can be
>considered as evidence of critical thinking or as destabilization of
>traditional cultural patterns (there are so many descriptions of "the right
>way" in available in modern middle class culture). Does anybody know a
>study on that?

I responded as follows, before reading Francoise's message:
It's an extremely interesting point, that the doubled stance may be taken
as a sign of critical thinking or a sign of cultural destabilization.
I suspect that much of the time [but not all the time] it is both.
The multiple orientations ("ways of being/doing")that vie for loyalty
at any single moment (a sign of cultural fragmentation or rupture or
transition, perhaps?) disallow taking any one stance, any one way,
for granted.

And Francoise wrote:

>I dont know that one can seperate being a mom, being a researcher in
>interaction. Thrown in as baby and mom, in interaction, I still
>think that the researcher is there. Perhaps sometimes without
>researcher running in consciousness, perhaps sometimes running in
>consciousness. I would think that it would really depend on what
>it is that is happening. Is this a contemplative moment? Is this
>a feeding or nursing time? Is this a talking time? How old is the
>baby?

I agree completely, and the question of what's salient when in the
shifting context explains much more than what I tried to say in my
response to Eugene. However, I think that the "doubled" stance as I
used it should be distinguished from the many undoubled stances
we have available to us. Unfortunately, I find it extremely difficult
to rise to the concrete on this issue. Others have done so quite
well, however: to name one who first interested me in the project of
making the "doublings" available to me more explicit is Pat Williams,
in her "diary of a law professor," _The Alchemy of Race and Rights_.

- Judy

Judy Diamondstone
diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
Rutgers University

.................................................
Eternity is in love with the productions of time. -- Wm. Blake