RE: [xmca] Wertsch, context, deja vu: RE: LSV-& Dialogical Self -- context (withunrelated bonus non-irony irony)

From: Bremme Don (dbremme@whittier.edu)
Date: Sat Aug 19 2006 - 12:26:30 PDT


Regarding context and self, "inside"/"outside" I've found the following provocative. (I got into this as a result of its listing a previous xMCA thread, by the way, so this is merely re-presenting, in re: Mike's question quoted here):

Dorothy Holland, William Lachiotte Jr., Debra Skinner, and Carole Cain I<<dentity and Agency in Cultural Worlds.>> Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998

Apologies of this is tangential to the Wertsch currently under discussion.

Don

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu on behalf of Tony Whitson
Sent: Sat 8/19/2006 12:05 PM
To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu; mcole@weber.ucsd.edu
Subject: [xmca] Wertsch, context,deja vu: RE: LSV-& Dialogical Self -- context (withunrelated bonus non-irony irony)
 
Mike, your concern about "context" reminded me of a previous thread, in
which you asked:

> If the personality is the highest form of sociality, the unit of
> analysis for understanding the "whole person," what does it mean to
> talk about relationships BETWEEN the personality
> and its social context? Is context outside and personality inside? Really?

My response is below (In fact, I'm sending this message as a response in the
earlier thread, not the new one). I am almost finished with the Wertsch
chapter, and there's a whole lot worth discussing in that short chapter. If
I can work it in around my course preparation, thesis-reading, etc., I will
be joining in this weekend; partly by extending my comments from the earlier
thread.

First, I have to break to get some lunch.
Here's where the "bonus irony" comes in:

I am taking a camera with me so I can stop on my way to the grocery store to
photograph the sign in front of the local Assemblies of God church that
(still, I hope) says, "It's hard to stumble when you're on your knees!"

At first I thought that was ironic, since it could be read in a whole
different spirit than intended.

Then I realized the only ironic thing is that it's NOT ironic: My "different
meaning" is in fact not really different from the one intended.

What do you think? (& consider this instance in terms of Wertsch & Lotman,
around pp. 24-26 in the chapter).

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Whitson [mailto:twhitson@UDel.Edu]
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005 11:11 AM
To: mcole@weber.ucsd.edu
Cc: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: LSV-& Dialogical Self -- context

Mike, There is sometimes a perplexing resistance to recognizing the kind
of question you are raising.

For example, when Derrida says "Il n'y a pas d'hors-texte",
there are many who perversely repudiate him as saying that there is no
reality outside of verbal texts. In fact he has insisted that it would be
better to translate his claim as "there is no 'con-text'" (rather than
"there is no reality outside of texts"). As you are asking, Derrida is
contending that the reality we're dealing with is an
interwoven textile/textuality such that an analytical separation between
an "inside" and "outside" rends apart the structured interweaving that we
need to see if we want to understand what we are looking at.

On Sun, 13 Feb 2005, Mike Cole wrote:

> Odd what sparks discussion here.
>
> I have also been reading Valsiner and will go back to it through this
lens.
>
> I found the following statement odd.
> The two [Stern-individualism and Vygosk] are brought together in
> Valsiner's theory, which highlights the sign-constructing and
> sign-using nature of all distinctively human psychological processes.
> Arguing that the individualistic and the cultural traditions differ
> largely in emphasis, Valsiner unites them by focusing on the intricate
> relations between personality and its social context, and their
> interplay in personality development.
>
> If the personality is the highest form of sociality, the unit of
> analysis for understanding the "whole person," what does it mean to
> talk about relationships BETWEEN the personality
> and its social context? Is context outside and personality inside? Really?
>
> mike
>
>
>
> On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 14:38:27 +0100, George <researcher@safe-mail.net>
wrote:
>> Dear Phil,
>>
>> I do not have Engeström's et al. book. Would you happen to have an
>> electronic copy of Davydov's article? or know a link - although I
>> searched an could not find anything?
>>
>>
>> On Feb 13, 2005, at 12:53 PM, Phil Chappell wrote:
>>
>>> Davydov's essay: Davydov, V.V. (1999) The content and unsolved
>>> problems of activity theory, in Engestrom, Y, Miettinen, R and
>>> Punamaki, R-L "Perspectives on Activity Theory" Cambridge University
>>> Press
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> George
>> (Hansjoerg von Brevern)
>>
>> -------------------------------------
>>
>> Research in e-Learning Objects, e-Learning meta data standards,
>> didactical activity, Systemic-Structural Activity Theory, and
>> Socio-cultural Theory
>>
>>
>
>

Tony Whitson
UD School of Education
NEWARK DE 19716

twhitson@udel.edu
_______________________________

"those who fail to reread
  are obliged to read the same story everywhere"
                   -- Roland Barthes, S/Z (1970)

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