Dear people:
Now that a little time has gone by I want to reply to Merja's message, which
I'm copying below. The report of what has happened to Andrei Brushlinsky (the
image of this small man being murdered) stabbed me to the heart, and it's part
of the story of how things have changed in the last ten or fifteen years.
Mike and Anna have filled in that picture better than I ever could, out of
their own personal experience and knowledge, making (I hope I'm not borrowing
something I haven't earned) my point better than I could have. The world's
balance of power has changed, maybe things are going to get better and maybe
they won't -- yet; either way, each of us now speaks to the rest of us from a
different position in this flowing river of time and change than we did even
two years ago.
To Merja -- yes, to keep striving for a multi-voiced conversation;
"forgiving"? -- I'm not so sure. I think that what we need is a whole lot of
context, made explicit in our messages. It feels to me as if where a few years
ago xmca was a group of people travelling along in a raggedy parade across
some unknown territory, talking back and forth about what they were finding as
we proceeded, calling each other's attention to stuff we saw -- now, it's
dark, and we can't see each other any more. So someone in Brazil, or Finland,
or Canada, can't really see what's going on in the US right now ( not that WE
can see it clearly either!) and vice versa; we're kind of talking on cell
phones to each other in the dark. So this means it's really important to put
into our messages a whole lot of specific contextual clues.
Just going back to the back-and-forth between Diane and Mary and Eric for a
while, about that joke; I don't want to reawaken that discussion, but in order
for us to figure out what was going on we should have been bringing in the
differences between US and Canadian feminism, and what has happened to US
feminism since the 1980s. That kind of contextualization was a piece of that
discussion that might have helped us understand how that interaction got so
heated up.
For me, the readings last spring of Yrjo's LBE was a great experience. It took
me a hugely long time to read that book, but it made me think that this was
really an actual explanation of how learning happens. (Yrjo wasn't shy about
contextualising stuff, either, though.) I got behind on the reading and after
a while xmca was way ahead of me.
Regarding diversity: one of my current University of Illinois projects has to
do with bringing together Building Trades Unions (plumbers, electricians,
carpenters, etc.) with Community Development Organizations (that sometimes do
construction) and churches in order to bring more minorities into the
unionized building trades AND to do organizing for the trades in minority
communities. Seems to me that there are possibly some questions in common
between this project and Mike's diversity among faculty question. I'd be
interested in making some comparisons, if people are curious.
Helena
Helen
isn't your analysis just the reason to keep on striving for a multivoiced
and 'forgiving' conversation.
to philip
I would not use the word afraid as an explanation for many of us finns being
silent lurkers in xmca-list. maybe overwhelmed describes my feelings better.
the speed of feedback and the thoughtfulness of the postings...
but we discuss the issues often among ourselves, when we have processed and
translated the new inforamtion into the finnish language.
and most of us in the center for activity theory in helsinki are doctoral
students, still a lot to learn learn....
so please keep on posting.
merja
______________
My message --
Gary D Shank wrote:
> speaking of anomie and the state of the union, check this out from
> satirewire
>
> if you dont laugh, then the terrorists have truly won :-)
>
> gary
> shank@duq.edu
>
> ANGERED BY SNUBBING, LIBYA, CHINA
> SYRIA FORM AXIS OF JUST AS EVIL
> Cuba, Sudan, Serbia Form Axis of Somewhat Evil; Other Nations Start Own
> Clubs
>
> Beijing (SatireWire.com) - Bitter after being snubbed for membership in
> the "Axis of Evil," Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had
> formed the "Axis of Just as Evil," which they said would be way eviler
> than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of his
> State of the Union address.
>
> Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new axis as
> having, for starters, a really dumb name. "Right. They are Just as Evil...
> in their dreams!" declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. "Everybody
> knows we're the best evils... best at being evil... we're the best."
>
> Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded,
> although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil.
>
> "They told us it was full," said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
>
> "An Axis can't have more than three countries," explained Iraqi President
> Saddam Hussein. "This is not my rule, it's tradition. In World War II you
> had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So you can only have
> three. And a secret handshake. Ours is wicked cool."
>
> THE AXIS PANDEMIC
>
> International reaction to Bush's Axis of Evil declaration was swift, as
> within minutes, France surrendered.
>
> Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain triumvirate status in
> what became a game of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan, and Serbia said
> they had formed the Axis of Somewhat Evil, forcing Somalia to join with
> Uganda and Myanmar in the Axis of Occasionally Evil, while Bulgaria,
> Indonesia and Russia established the Axis of Not So Much Evil Really As
> Just Generally Disagreeable.
>
> With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling
> up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the Axis of
> Countries That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be Asked to Host the
> Olympics; Canada, Mexico, and Australia formed the Axis of Nations That
> Are Actually Quite Nice But Secretly Have Nasty Thoughts About America,
> while Spain, Scotland, and New Zealand established the Axis of Countries
> That Be Allowed to Ask Sheep to Wear Lipstick.
>
> "That's not a threat, really, just something we like to do," said Scottish
> Executive First Minister Jack McConnell.
>
> While wondering if the other nations of the world weren't perhaps making
> fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axes, although he
> rejected the establishment of the Axis of Countries Whose Names End in
> "Guay," accusing one of its members of filing a false application.
> Officials from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges.
>
> Israel, meanwhile, insisted it didn't want to join any Axis, but
> privately, world leaders said that's only because no one asked them.
>
> <http://www.satirewire.com/news/jan02/axis.shtml>
>
> On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Mike Cole wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi Don-- Perhaps things are quiet on xmca because no one can say anything
> > useful about the problem of how to increase divesity in the academy.
> >
> > Perhaps it is owing to anomie associated with the state of the union
> > address.
> >
> > Seen any ryzhomes (sp?) recently?
> > mike
> >
> >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Mar 01 2002 - 01:00:18 PST