Elizabeth thoughtfully wrote:
"Avoid telling jokes that depend for their humor on ridiculing another
person or a group to which you do not belong."
And another:
"Avoid assuming an accent or expressing stereotypical attitudes or
behaviors that mock members of groups to which you do not belong."
And I was thinking about the kind of humor that may sit well here,
especially as I was walking to my office on a Saturday!
So I thought, let's see jokes about professors who work on Saturdays,
teachers who try to trick their kids only to to get tricked by them,
writers who loose themselves in their work and forget what is real, or who
alternately in the Pygmalion Myth, fall in love with their own work!
To me these scenarios make us laugh and reflect and may even trigger a big
of melancholy. They show us the direction that we may be headed toward, or
become cautionary tales for ways we do not wish to become.
Someone said "there is truth in jest" - and to me this is, perhaps the most
important reason to take Mary and Elizabeth's advice and make fun of
"ourselves," and what "we" know, rather than folks who are different from
"us." Here I am attempting to highlight what brings us together, this
academic discussion. And this is why, given Elizabeth's comments, we
should all be thoughtful about "our community" and our own personal ethos,
personal contribution.
It brings us back to fundamental questions:
how are communities made?
how are they lost?
who participates?
who is excluded?
how are communities normed?
how do they change over time?
how do they sustain invited conversation and engagement?
how do they reflect embedded social beliefs and practices? and on and on
Jennifer
_______________________________________________
Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Curriculum and Instruction
Montana State University
120 Reid Hall, Department of Education
Bozeman, MT 59717
Office: (406) 994-6457
Fax: (406) 994-3261
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