it seems to me, Eva, that in fact every posting has an ad
hominem affect. that we as beings with emotions that are in fact
inseparable from our intellect, respond to all stimuli with emotions -
dominant discourse is deeply infused with ad hominem critique -
it seems to me however that the style of dominant discourse prileges
particular forms, and labels as deficit discourse that doesn't fit those
forms - but all forms are replete with calls to particular emotional
responses.
we all recognize the slam, the snip, the jab in standard
academic discourse - the reliance on latinate words - we see it, and
yet, precisely because of the emotions how difficult it is to respond .....
i've read your paper "Contact, Community and Mulilogue" first as a
way of better learning about activity theory - and now i'm going to go
back and read it again to see how activity theory accounts for the
emotions woven together with the intellect.
phillip