Diane,
I like the idea of not trying to win an argument as one individual against another, but trying to develop arguments collectively -- The two senses of the word in that prior sentence being as 1) dispute, and 2) a subject matter development. I think for each of us this takes some suspension of what we hold to be true in order to hear each other. We've tried here several times in the past to move in this direction, and have failed. But there have also been successes -- although what those were seem to vary from one person to the next.
Perhaps this ideal develops a primary contradiction within many of us -- the reasons we come to xmca. With our own institutional pressures to succeed fueling the fire, it is academic practice to push our own views, to get them 'out there'. And this militates strongly against hearing each other. It brings to mind the tragedy of the commons scenario described by Garret Hardin -- the personal desire to "get ahead" can be disruptive of shared conversational space.
To echo Jennifer, must we contend with issues of power and privilege in the setting where we exchange emails?
The sense I am making of your post is that it envisions a way for us to conduct our discourses, and the upcoming LBE text could be a place to make some progress in this direction. Based upon what I have seen of academic mailing lists, I have a measured optimism for reaching the ideal immediately, but perhaps we can learn as we go along. I'd like to hear more of what you have in mind.
bb
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