[Xmca-l] Re: 2 questions on "the self" in culture, neuroscience and education

[Shirin Vossoughi]

Hi Samuel,

On the 2nd question, two articles came to mind. One by Matusov on
internalization vs. participation models of development, which also
addresses some of the historical and cultural context of various approaches
to learning. And one by Biesta which critiques what he calls the
"learnification" of education as getting away from questions of purpose,
values and relationships. Both are attached.

I have been thinking about some of these issues in relation to current
constructionist/constructivist responses to didactic, teacher centered
models, which I think re-center the individual in both generative and
problematic ways, and tend to understate the role of pedagogy/mediation.
I'd be interested in discussing these issues and articles further.

Shirin



On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 5:31 AM, Samuel Paul Louis Veissière, Dr <
samuel.veissiere@mcgill.ca> wrote:

>
> Hi all,
>
> I have two questions about how modern euroamerican notions of the bounded,
> teleological 'selfish' Self may have uncritically found their ways into 1)
> neuroscience and 2) education.  I am familiar with anthropological and
> philosophical literature on persons and selves, but not in neuroscience and
> education.
>
> 1) Does anyone know of a good critique of Default Mode Network imaging
> studies? DMN is usually associated (in the brain), with our sense of 'ego'
> or 'self'. Wondering if there is, e.g., data from non euro-american
> cultures, or from people who are enculturated/enskilled in different models
> of personhood? A good critique of eurocentric biases in the neural turn in
> general would be good too.
>
> 2) Any good critiques of current 'learner-centred' dogmas in education?
> Nothing wrong with decentring knowledge and meaning-making, of course, and
> I am not looking for conservative teacher-centred backlashes - rather, I am
> interested in the notion that learner-centred pedagogies may also be
> self-centred, or ego-centred in the sense that they cater to (and as such
> shape) not just bounded selves, but selfish, entitled selves, along with a
> battery of other social pathologies we can expect in anomic contexts.
> Philosophically, I also feel there may be a problem with the push toward
> 'self-realization'. Intentionality may be universally teleological in the
> sense that it is goal-directed and tends toward 'aboutness' more than
> 'thingness', but I am interested in pedagogical literature that is
> Being-centred, and not Becoming-oriented. The point here is that if
> selfhood is characterized as an asymptotic quest toward a
> never-quite-'there' end-goal, but not a state of being, it follows that one
> is never satisfied. This easily feeds into more consumeristic models of
> happiness, etc, etc.
>
> Thanks for taking the time to consider my questions!
>
> cheers,
>
> Samuel
>
>
> Samuel Veissière, PhD
> Visiting Professor | Transcultural Psychiatry, Cognitive Science, &
> Anthropology
> Department of Psychiatry | Department of Anthropology | McGill University
> 1033 Pine Avenue West - Room 103 |Montreal, Quebec | H3A 1Y1
> Tel: (514) 506-7094 | Fax: (514) 375-2498
> Email: samuel.veissiere@mcgill.ca
>
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