Re: solo vs. joint activity

vera p john-steiner (vygotsky who-is-at unm.edu)
Wed, 3 Apr 1996 07:48:40 -0700 (MST)

I agree that the notion of internalization without an equal emphasis on
externalization is limited, and this unequal emphasis is part of the
reason, I think, that it is so often crticized.
Imn the most recent issue of MCA, the discussions around Hutchins' new
book provide a particularly stimulating discussion of the
internal/external issues.
Vera

On Mon, 1 Apr 1996
pprior who-is-at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu wrote:

> >Asking about how new learning and new activities might take place in the
> >context of solo activities, Ana writes:
> >
> >"A possible answer would be, that "internalization" of concepts is in fact
> >"fictionalization" of joint mediational tools, i.e. it is an activity of
> >transformation of actual mediational tools into fictional mediational tools.
> >Once freed from the actual situation, these mediational tools can be used in
> >previously impossible ways (although, like in any play, not entirely without
> >rules!!)."
>
> I understand Bill's response (citing Wertsch and Bakhtin for the tensions
> between stabilitities and instabilities and de Certeau's notion of tactics
> of use) to mean that mediational means by their nature are variable or
> multifunctional, so solo activity is not a special or complex case, it is
> just one normal outcome of internalization.
>
> I think another issue here is that in many cases internalization is not and
> cannot in principle be complete because what I am learning is how to *act
> with* artifacts. For example, when I learn to play the piano, I don't
> internalize the piano--and the piano is a sociohistorical object that
> emobodies musical theories (as the gamelan embodies other theories) , the
> practice of individual performance, particular craft practices, particular
> social locations (e.g., is it a Steinway grand or a shortened electronic
> keyboard?), etc.
>
> The other issue that that I think is important is externalization. A lot
> of activity, even "solo" activity, involves externalizations. Writing is a
> good example. I'm externalizing now, drawing on what I have internalized
> earlier, but my writing also is mediated by the evolving textual
> artifact(s) I produce. For that matter, speech and piano playing are also
> externalizations of this kind.
>
> I guess my sense is that activity is always joint because it is embedded in
> histories, which is not to deny that the person (mind and body) is
> miraculously capable of learning and transforming.
>
> Paul Prior
> p-prior who-is-at uiuc.edu
> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
>
>
>

---------------------------------
Vera P. John-Steiner
Department of Linguistics
Humanities Bldg. 526
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
(505) 277-6353 or 277-4324
Internet: vygotsky who-is-at triton.unm.edu
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