Anna writes:
>So, basically, my question is how is it that people can be so myopic to
>huge
>tectonic shifts in the world around them? What does it take to see that
>the
>world is crumbling? After all people themselves create societal changes,
>they are the actors, not puppets in the process, so how is it that they
>are
>often not aware of this role of theirs? Is it that we rather do not WANT
>to
>see what is about to happen? Thank you, Helena, for bringing a larger
>context - that gives rise to our motives and goals and also shapes the
>ways
>we interact with each other also on this list - to the fore.
i wonder if it is myopia, or more simply (not so simply, really, the power
of an ideology?)
some State organizations produce magnificent ideologies,
where a nation can exist "in spite" of change, challenge, politic, global
conflict.
more than a few nations practice this.
how easy is it for an academic to practice and, at the same time,
NOT pick sides?
while international communities may be more interested in international
research,
inevitably, really, doesn't the authority inevitably point towards
"America?"
Military, economic and ideological authority go a long way in influencing
Other
communities.
I think it's easy to be overwhelmed with US academics, and to
be unaware of the content of other publications, as an assumption of
they're "not" seeing
the effects of militarism and transnational globalization.
i read int'l journals in development and agriculture, for example, for a
year,
and found a distinctly different perspective, one filled with a foreboding
of
globalization and rampant capitalism. and in quite concrete contexts of
irrepressible influence of military and capitalist ideologies.
i'm not suggesting we all don't read widely, but that it's a mistake to
generalize "US" or "WE" or"THEY"
when we all represent such a broad community, perhaps.
sexism is, like racism, and classism, fairly global,.
globalization capitalizes on these inequities to colonize new
economies.
for change to really take place, there would have to be a concerted effort
of interdisciplinary influences.
the truth is, to me, that we can't even change our academic assumptions
and practices, let alone change the world's.
i'm not a total cynic. i believe in making change in the smallest forms,
being kind to strangers i encounter,
being helpful to those who i can help or guide towards more useful
assistance, and so on.
but it is arrogant, really, to think that "we" or "they" can do anything
significant,
when so much politic determines an economic of professionalism and so on.
it doesn't seem to me to be realistic.
but perhaps that's MY myopia.
better to adopt a pet from the local animal shelter, big a Big Brother or
Sister. Be a volunteer. Raise money for the poor,
give blood. and so on.
diane
>
************************************************************************************
"Things do not change: people change."
Henry David Thoreau
*************************************************************************************
diane celia hodges
university of british columbia, centre for the study of curriculum and
instruction
vancouver, bc
mailing address: 46 broadview avenue, pointe claire, qc, H9R 3Z2
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