[Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context

[Larry Purss]

Kris, with the caution that I may be going too far off course I am going to
situate the theory of "the Third Space" within a larger notion of "genre
theory" [see section III: "Literacy" Chapter 6: "Genres" in Raymond
Williams book *Marxism and Literature*
Williams wrote:
"Genre has in fact, until recently, been a term of classification which has
brought together, and then often confused, several different kinds of
generic description. Renaissance Theory, defining 'species' and 'modes'
within a general theory of 'kinds', was much more particular but was, on
the other hand, insufficiently historical. It was indeed to cope with
historical combinations of different LEVELS of organization, that the
looser concept of 'genre' was adopted. But, in its later stages especially,
this single advantage was surrendered and genre-theory was left with
largely abstract and diverse collocations." [page 183]

As I read your section on *rising to the concrete* THROUGH the hybrid
*testimonio* I experienced a "felt structure" of entering a new, novel,
SPACE which opened up an imaginal place of social dreaming that I am
relating back to "renaissance theory" and "genre theory" but honouring the
imaginal enacting of particular specific concrete social AND subjective
spaces/places which *carry us" across thresholds [both metaphorical AND
literal].

I am attempting to situate your "creative" development of third spaces as a
hypothetical "theory" as both imaginal and concrete SIMULTANEOUSLY. At this
point we can bring in Mike Cole's exploration of the *imaginal* as
*gap-filling* as existing at and across the thresholds [boundaries,
borders]. I also can imagine "third spaces" as this place of the "gaps" or
the "gutters". Always historically moving processes, within particular
social situations of development.
However, I do wonder if your exploration of "nondominant" hybrid genres of
testimonio [BOTH auto biography AND intersubjective] as  specific examples
or cases of particular risings to imaginal social dreaming and returning to
ground IS IN FACT an aspect of a much larger and vaster "turn".  A
turn [and re-turn] to historically honouring  "hybrid" forms of
sociocritical literacy emerging as responses to the contradictions of the
dream of the self-regulated [and self-contained] person.

In other words, I am suggesting your movement into "third spaces" IS
RADICAL [going to the root or the founding ofour notions of human nature.
Larry
On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 10:36 PM, Kris Gutierrez <gutierkd@gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Larry, thank you; you raise so many important things to think about.  I
> will read your post again more carefully and respond and ask you more, as
> you push the thinking here.   Kris
>
>
>    Kris Gutierrez
> gutierkd@gmail.com
>
>  Kris D. Gutiérrez
> Professor
> Graduate School of Education
> 5629 Tolman Hall #1670
> University of California, Berkeley
> Berkeley CA 94720-1670
>
>  Distinguished Professor
> Learning Sciences and Literacy
> School of Education
> University of Colorado, Boulder
>
>
>   On Dec 15, 2014, at 6:08 PM, Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Kris,
> I have been engaged with your explorations of new ways or paths of creating
> *hybrid third spaces*.  Your comment that forming third spaces:
>
> "involved  intentional moves that 1) brought together and reorganized
> different discourses, cultural practices, histories, and genres that were
> generally considered incompatible or in tension with one another; 2)
> preserved and foregrounded their tension; and 3) sought to maintain the
> value, history, and integrity of the everyday  vis-à-vis the dominant form,
> especially in light of historical power relations.  The syncretic
> testimonio is such an example. A nod here to Cindy Cruz’s powerful and
> informing work on testimonio.
>
> (I have a new piece in press which you read, Mike, that attempts to
>
> elaborate the syncretic approach."
>
> Kris, I hope we can organize THIS thread to stay with your attempts to
> "elaborate the syncretic approach".  Your section of the paper on page 149,
> 150 *Rising to the Concrete* gives a clear example of the hybrid nature of
> your playing with academic and everyday language and not privileging the
> scientific language.
>
> I believe your work is returning to a time when our language games were not
> so divided into fact/fiction modes. Your elaborating "ecologically valid"
> genres "DEVELOPED IN THE COGNITIVE, SOCIAL, AND HISTORICAL PRACTICES OF ALL
> THE PARTICIPANTS" captures the radical mashing together of the young and
> the old as "syncretic testimonio" Honouring the everyday language on an
> equal footing with the scientific *styles* of writing. THIS mashing up as
> "hybrid text" including BOTH autobiography and intersubjectively developed
> texts.
>
> I read this *new* way or path as a return to rhetorical, persausive ways of
> composing meaning. Raymond Williams describes epochal *styles* of orienting
> to the world that begin in structures of feeling [he considered the term
> *structures of experience* but preferred *structures of feelings* to
> capture their felt *structure* as a set of elements that are mashed
> together].
>
> Our current dominant *style* structures the scientific genres as *factual*
> while the imaginal [social dreaming etc] are *merely* subjective and
> personal and idiosyncretic.
> Kris, your "syncretic testimonio" is seeing through the impoverishment of
> THAT dominant genre and playing with forms that are BOTH subjective
> [autobiography] AND intersubjective as historically effected consciousness.
> You are working within a nondominant ecology but you are gesturing toward a
> much more radical turn that the dominant culture must take.  Raymond
> Williams within the Marxism and Literature tradition is working also for
> these radical turns. I personally also see the hermeneutical turn as
> compatible with your stated goal to develop a program oriented towards a
> form of "cosmopolitanism" [see page 148 of Kris' article]
>
> This paper is a wonderful example of "rising to the concrete" or
> imaginatively "rising off the ground and returning to the ground" [an
> imaginal path of social intersubjective dreaming]
>
> Larry
> On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 12:51 PM, mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu> [?] [?][?][?]
>
> So much for trying to organized xmca discussion by threads! It hard to keep
> track of the jumble of the email flow! I assume those who are following the
> KrisRRQ thread will see this.
> reveling in the rain
> mike
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 11:42 AM, Kris Gutierrez <gutierkd@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
> Luisa, thanks.  I have always been a lurker on XMCA but can never keep
> with all the discussions.    I’m hoping the discussions will get us into
> the questions you raise and I’m happy to post references and pdfs too
> (e.g., Tejeda’s decolonizing and Espinoza’s article on Educational
> Sanctuaries).  Espinoza’s social dreaming is discussed in the RRQ article
> and I’ll look to see where else he might have written about it.  I don’t
> know when the syncretic piece will be out but will check.  Thanks for
>
> your
>
> interest.
>
>
> In particular, I hope we can also discuss the ways the social imagination
> (embodied and realized through Boal's teatro del oprimido, historicizing
> pedagogies, and syncretic texts, etc.) were central to the  ubiquitous
> "future oriented" organization of the activities that Mike points
>
> out—that
>
> is, the process of becoming historical actors.
>
>
>
> Kris
>
>
>
> Kris Gutierrez
> gutierkd@gmail.com
>
> Kris D. Gutiérrez
> Professor
> Graduate School of Education
> 5629 Tolman Hall #1670
> University of California, Berkeley
> Berkeley CA 94720-1670
>
> Distinguished Professor
> Learning Sciences and Literacy
> School of Education
> University of Colorado, Boulder
>
>
> On Dec 12, 2014, at 11:25 AM, Luisa Aires <laires11@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Professor Kris Gutierrez
>
> It is delightful to see you here in XMCA :-)
>
>
>
> I must confess that after reading your post, I am going to read your
>
> text again because you added so much interesting information about MSLI
> program (for example, I didn´t know that MSLI had strong links with 5th
> dimension).
>
>
> I would like to learn about Chicano/a and ethnic studies, Tejeda’s
>
> decolonizing framework and pedagogies, and Manuel Espinoza’s notions of
> social dreaming. How can we access the most important references of those
> theories?
>
>
> One more question (we need to take advantage of your presence here ;-):
>
> when and how can we access your new piece about syncretic approach?
>
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Luísa A.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Department of Education and Distance Learning, Universidade Aberta
> Centre of Studies on Migrations and Intercultural Relations (CEMRI)
> R. Amial, nº 752, 4200-055 Porto, Portugal
> laires@uab.pt <mailto:laires@uab.pt>
> www.uab.pt <http://www.uab.pt/>
>
>
> 2014-12-12 17:55 GMT+00:00 Kris Gutierrez <gutierkd@gmail.com <mailto:
>
> gutierkd@gmail.com>>:
>
>
> I don’t know if this went through last night.; so I’m reposting.
>
> apologies if you get it twice
>
>
>
> On Dec 12, 2014, at 12:45 AM, Kris Gutierrez <gutierkd@gmail.com
>
> <mailto:gutierkd@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
> Re: Mike/Miguel,  (Mike, XMCA has a weird email address for me and I
>
> am unable to post; would you post if it doesn’t come through?)
>
>
>         Miguel, who has deep knowledge of an important time in the
>
> Migrant Program (MSLI), rightly points out that the development of
> sociocritical
>
>
> literacies/  syncretic approaches to learning must be understood in
>
> the context of the larger designed ecology and its history.  And I can’t
> begin to do
>
>
> it justice here.  But here are some reflections.
>
> Building on a decade of earlier designs that brought together Freire
>
> and cultural historical theoretical perspectives, and Chicano/a and
>
> ethnic
>
> studies
>
>
> to create new forms of teaching  and learning, and theorizations of
>
> the Third Space that preceded the development of the month long migrant
>
>
> program, MSLI was designed as a hybrid space organized around an
>
> historicizing pedagogy, informed, deepened, and augmented by
>
>
> Tejeda’s robust decolonizing framework  and pedagogies, and Manuel
>
> Espinoza’s notions of social dreaming and the importance of students
>
>
> becoming historical actors who could "who invoke the past in order to
>
> re-mediate it so that it becomes a resource for current and future
> action.”  Their
>
>
> work is key to understanding the MSLI ecology. Our long-term 5th
>
> Dimension work (UC Links), its theoretical underpinnings, and the
> pedagogical
>
>
> approaches to undergraduate education and learning in informal
>
> contexts were also a part of the mix, as most of the MSLI instructional
> team also
>
>
> was involved in 5th D work. Of significance, all MSLI staff had
>
> extensive knowledge of CHAT, critical pedagogies, social theories,
> disciplinary
>
>
> learning, as well as direct experience with and in immigrant,
>
> migrant,
>
> and non dominant communities, their histories, repertoires, lived
> experiences,
>
>
> and possibilities.
>
> There are many other important contributions of others I could
>
> elaborate here that contributed to the iterative design, re-mediation,
>
> and
>
>
> implementation and sustainability of this program, including
>
> Miguel's.    Consider Shirin Vossoughi’s recent MCA article, Social
> Analytic  Artifacts
>
>
> Made Concrete,”  in  which she  beautifully elaborates the ways
>
> social analytic artifacts served as  tools “that deepened and propelled
>
> the
>
> collective
>
>
> analysis of  social problems”  for migrant students and the
>
> instructional teams.
>
>
>      Our collective efforts and design were oriented toward
>
> transformation and change and had multiple aims: sociopolitical,
>
> cultural,
>
> educational,
>
>
> including reframing education and learning in ways that brought the
>
> everyday and scientific (school-based) concepts into conversation with
>
> one
>
>
> another (a different kind of conversation to be sure).  The goal in
>
> this regard was to put  scientific and everyday concepts on a more level
> playing field
>
>
> such that scientific concepts were not placed in an hierarchical
>
> relationship with the everyday.  Disciplinary learning and critical forms
> of literacy were
>
>
> placed in conversation, their tensions made the object of analysis
>
> —all toward the production of more meaningful and expansive forms of
> learning.
>
>
> Mike and Yrjo have written important work on this, and, Carol Lee’s
>
> work is another robust example.
>
>
> And, of course, there is a history of work among researchers in the
>
> sociocultural tradition who have attended to the consequential nature of
> everyday
>
>
> knowledge and practices in expansive ways (e.g., Scribner & Cole,
>
> 1973; Lave, 1988; 2012; Lave  & Rogoff, 1984; Rogoff, 2003, as key
>
> examples
>
> of
>
>
> work that informs this thinking, including ongoing conversations and
>
> collaborations with and weekly meetings at LCHC with Mike, Yrjo,
> Olga,Vasquez
>
>
> and others).
>
>
>      Our approach to consequential learning involved the development
>
> of syncretic approaches to literacy and social scientific thinking. The
> design
>
>
> involved  intentional moves that 1) brought together and reorganized
>
> different discourses, cultural practices, histories, and genres that were
> generally considered incompatible or in tension with one another; 2)
> preserved and foregrounded their tension; and 3) sought to maintain the
> value, history, and integrity of the everyday  vis-à-vis the dominant
>
> form,
>
> especially in light of historical power relations.  The syncretic
> testimonio is such an example. A nod here to Cindy Cruz’s powerful and
> informing work on testimonio.
>
> (I have a new piece in press which you read, Mike, that attempts to
>
> elaborate the syncretic approach).
>
>
> A footnote on the sociocritical article.  The RRQ Sociocritical
>
> Literacy article was the publication of my AERA Scribner Lecture (2005
>
> for
>
> the 2004 Scribner Award for my work on the Third Space; the lecture and
>
> its
>
> published piece were my attempt to further theorize the Third Space,
>
> using
>
> MSLI as a robust example.
>
>
> Hope this provides more context and food for thought.  excuse typos
>
> and lapses, it’s late.  Kris
>
>
>
> Kris D. Gutiérrez
> Professor
> Graduate School of Education
> 5629 Tolman Hall #1670
> University of California, Berkeley
> Berkeley CA 94720-1670
>
> Distinguished Professor
> Learning Sciences and Literacy
> School of Education
> University of Colorado, Boulder
>
>
>
> On Dec 11, 2014, at 6:49 AM, mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu <mailto:
>
> mcole@ucsd.edu> <mailto:mcole@ucsd.edu <mcole@ucsd.edu> <
> mailto:mcole@ucsd.edu <mcole@ucsd.edu>>>> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for the additional info.
> All makes sense to me.
> Mike
>
> On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, Zavala, Miguel <
> mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu <mailto:
>
> mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu> <mailto:mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu
> <mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu>
> <mailto:mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu <mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu>>>>
> wrote:
>
>
> While the focus is on public education, any space is amenable for
> analysis.  We sometimes get issues from parent organizers, student
> organizations, interviews of students fighting for social justice
>
> in
>
>   college campuses.  Formal, non-formal, institutional,
>
> non-institutional,
>
>  etc. will work.
>
> If the submission focuses on 'praxis', on responses and resistance
>
> to the
>
>  neoliberal privatization of education, any space and sustained
>
> activity,
>
>  etc. is worth looking at-- but a connection should be drawn to how
>
> it
>
>   deliberately responds to neoliberalism and its messy tentacles,
>
> perhaps
>
>  highlighting possible worlds and social dreams.
>
> A connection can definitely be drawn between sociocritical studies
>
> and
>
>  this topic, certainly.  I believe the work we did in MSLI (I was an
> integral member of MSLI for 3 years) was in many ways creating
>
> alternative
>
>  spaces and social dreams; in a way it was a bottom-up approach of
>
> building
>
>  consciousness and I think Freire would have been proud of our work.
>
> As
>
>  lead instructor, Carlos Tejeda's decolonizing pedagogies framework
>
> lead to
>
>  some beautiful, creative activity in that space, for many years.
>
> As
>
> an
>
>  instantiation of sociocritical literacies, I would say the work
>
> Kris
>
>   outlines is definitely a great example of "responses to
>
> neoliberalism" and
>
>  was here and there a part of our talk/framing as we moved
>
> pedagogically.
>
>
> As an editor of the journal, the 'constraint' we do have is that
> submissions be written for a general audience; I know that is
>
> ambiguous.
>
>  Keep in mind that the articles get read by our members in ARE,
>
> their
>
>   students, they are sometimes used as political education in
>
> conferences,
>
>  in some instances reading circles in non-formal community settings.
>
> -Miguel
>
>
> On 12/10/14 10:24 PM, "mike cole" <mcole@ucsd.edu <mailto:
>
> mcole@ucsd.edu> <mailto:mcole@ucsd.edu <mcole@ucsd.edu> <
> mailto:mcole@ucsd.edu <mcole@ucsd.edu>>>
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
>
> How broad is your mandates, Miguel? Does it extend to after
>
> school?
>
> Seems
>
>   like it would help to know the kinds of efforts you consider
>
> exemplary
>
>   classics.
>
> Does this topic fit in with sociocritical studies?
> Mike
>
> On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, Zavala, Miguel <
> mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu <mailto:
>
> mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu> <mailto:mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu
> <mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu>
> <mailto:mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu <mizavala@exchange.fullerton.edu>>>
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
>
> XMCA List Family,
>
> I am relaying a call for manuscripts on a pressing issue
>
> impacting
>
>    education everywhere. We conceptualized the idea of a grassroots
> journal in
> 2007 and it has grown, albeit slowly. Here's the latest call.
>
> Thanks!
>
> -------------------
>
> Regeneración, the Association of Raza Educators Journal
> Volume 6, Issue 1 (Spring 2015)
>
> CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
> Deadline: February 15, 2015
>
> The theme for our next issue:
> "Resisting The Neoliberal Privatization of Education: Reclaiming
> Teachers'
> Unions, Education, and Epistemologies"
>
> Undeniably, ever since the World Bank declared education a
>
> trade-able
>
>   service--trumping the idea that education is a basic human
> right--education
> and teachers have been increasingly under attack by corporations,
> venture
> philanthropists, and a growing managerial middle class, who
>
> function
>
>   within
> a neoliberal ideology that places insurmountable faith in markets
>
> and
>
>   the
> expansion of capitalism globally into all facets of everyday
>
> life.
>
> We
>
>   believe that the neoliberal project to de-fund and privatize
>
> public
>
>    education interlocks with the idea of a racial-colonial State.
>
> Thus,
>
>   it is
> no coincidence that neoliberal experiments to privatize public
>
> education
>
>   have materialized in large urban districts, such as Chicago, New
>
> York,
>
>   Los
> Angeles, etc., where we find a significant number of Raza, Black,
>
> and
>
>   other
> historically marginalized peoples.
>
> In this issue of Regeneración we seek both analysis and praxis,
>
> that is
>
>   texts that help us understand more deeply how neoliberalism is
>
> manifest
>
>   in
> particular geographic, social, and cultural spaces. As well, we
>
> are
>
>    looking
> for texts that provide examples of resistance to the corporate
>
> takeover
>
>   of
> public education. How are urban and other communities responding
>
> to the
>
>   attacks on education and teachers? What grassroots and strategic
>
> spaces
>
>   are
> created that provide alternatives to neoliberalism and
>
> capitalism?  How
>
>   are
> teachers' unions being reinvented? What role does the fight for
>
> Ethnic
>
>   Studies present as a counter to the neoliberal attack?
>
> FORMAT: Submissions may come from students, educators, parents,
> community
> organizers, or organizations; we also welcome scholarly
>
> submissions that
>
>   are written for a general audience.  Formats may include
>
> testimonios,
>
>   essays, poetry, art, personal narrative, as well as analytic and
> empirical
> studies.
>
> LENGTH: 700-3000 words
>
> SUBMISSION DEADLINE: February 15, 2015
> PUBLICATION DATE: April 15, 2015
>
> If you have any questions please contact:
>
> razaeducators@yahoo.com
>
> <mailto:razaeducators@yahoo.com> <mailto:razaeducators@yahoo.com
>
> <mailto:
>
> razaeducators@yahoo.com>>
>
>  <javascript:;>
>
> <javascript:;><mailto:razaeducators@yahoo.com <mailto:
>
> razaeducators@yahoo.com> <mailto:razaeducators@yahoo.com <mailto:
> razaeducators@yahoo.com>> <javascript:;>
>
>  <javascript:;>>
>
>
> To access past issues of Regeneración:
> http://www.razaeducators.org/archives_newsletter.html <
>
> http://www.razaeducators.org/archives_newsletter.html> <
> http://www.razaeducators.org/archives_newsletter.html <
> http://www.razaeducators.org/archives_newsletter.html>>
>
>
> The Association of Raza Educators
> www.razaeducators.org <http://www.razaeducators.org/> <
>
> http://www.razaeducators.org/ <http://www.razaeducators.org/>><
> http://www.razaeducators.org <http://www.razaeducators.org/> <
> http://www.razaeducators.org/ <http://www.razaeducators.org/>>>
>
>
>
>
> --
> It is the dilemma of psychology to deal with a natural science
>
> with
>
> an
>
>   object that creates history. Ernst Boesch.
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> It is the dilemma of psychology to deal with a natural science with
>
> an
>
>  object that creates history. Ernst Boesch.
>
>
>
>
> Kris Gutierrez
> k.gutierrez@me.com <mailto:k.gutierrez@me.com> <mailto:
>
> k.gutierrez@me.com <mailto:k.gutierrez@me.com>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Kris D. Gutiérrez
> Professor
> Graduate School of Education
> 5629 Tolman Hall #1670
> University of California, Berkeley
> Berkeley CA 94720-1670
>
> Distinguished Professor
> Learning Sciences and Literacy
> School of Education
> University of Colorado, Boulder
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> It is the dilemma of psychology to deal with a natural science with an
> object that creates history. Ernst Boesch.
>
>
>