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

[Peter Smagorinsky]

The indigenous scholar from whom I heard the term decolonization is Cherokee (N. American tribe). Neither east nor west, which seems a false dichotomy to me.

Peter Smagorinsky 
Distinguished Research Professor of English Education 
Department of Language and Literacy Education 
The University of Georgia 
315 Aderhold Hall 
Athens, GA 30602 

Advisor, Journal of Language and Literacy Education                                                       
Follow JoLLE on twitter @Jolle_uga


Personal twitter account: @psmagorinsky

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Aria Razfar
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2015 2:22 PM
To: 'eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity'
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context

Francine,

"Postcolonialism" and "Orientalism" definitely demonize the West, and self proclaimed "subalterns" do all the speaking and the "West" does all the listening. Decolonialism is the realization that this stance might have been necessary but it clearly isn't sufficient. The cases you mention illustrate that, where so-called "oppressed" become oppressors themselves. I am espousing continued two-way communication and dialectic interaction on more symmetrical grounds. There is no need to undermine "the West" or "save the East" or vice versa. I am imagining the outcome of "going East" for the "Western" intellectual the emergence of a West that see itself as East, and an East that sees itself as West otherwise it is perpetual antagonism and "culture wars" as you describe. I'm not sure about your characterization of the roots of the internet.  

Aria   

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
[mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of larry smolucha
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2015 12:46 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context

Message from Francine:

How can you have a dialectic or a discourse with the 'other'
(i.e. the so-called Western intellectual) when the rhetoric of postcolonialism, decolonialism, and  Orientalism demonizes the West?
At the very same time, that ISIL, el Shabbab, Boko Haram, are the oppressors massacring thousands of Christians and Muslims, - and it is the West that has to intervene to save these innocent lives. 

You are espousing a one way communication in which self-labeled subalterns want to do all the speaking, and have the people they have designated as their oppressors do all the listening. 

There is also the irony, that the internet is a product of Western technology
- wasn't the world wide web designed by the U.S. military? If it is O.K. to use  Western 'tools' to undermine the West , then this is not decolonialism but merely culture wars.



> From: arazfar@uic.edu
> To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2015 11:44:30 -0600
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context
> 
> Greg and Annalisa,
> 
> The question you raise, and a point made earlier by Peter, seems to me 
> the outcome of post-colonial literature. This is why there is a need 
> for the "Western intellectual" to "go East." This was the conclusion 
> of Edward Said's "Orientalism" and other post-colonial theorists. 
> Since the time of Napoleon, the "Western intellectual" had been going 
> east, engaged in "subaltern studies" for the purpose of conquest and cultural domination.
> He/She must now "go East" to hear/listen to the "other" in order to
reclaim
> its self and embrace a pedagogy of "decolonization." If the "Western 
> intellectual" is the oppressor, then "going East" to "hear" is his/her 
> pedagogy. I believe this was at the at the heart of Freire's "Pedagogy 
> of the Oppressed" as well. A pedagogy that is just as "critical" and
liberatory
> for the so called "oppressor" as it is for the so called "oppressed." 
> This is a dialectic missing in today's critical, ethnic, and "subaltern"
studies
> programs.   
> 
> Aria    
> 
> Aria Razfar, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture Director of 
> Graduate Studies, Curriculum and Instruction University of Illinois at 
> Chicago
> 1040 W. Harrison St. M/C 147
> Chicago, IL, 60607
> 
> Director of English Learning through Mathematics, Science and Action 
> Research (ELMSA) www.elmsa.org
> 
> Webpage: http://education.uic.edu/personnel/faculty/aria-razfar-phd
> Tel: 312-413-8373
> Fax: 312-996-8134
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
> [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Annalisa Aguilar
> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2015 11:02 AM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Sociocritical Literacies and more context
> 
> Hi Greg,
> 
> You know, I think you are on to something there. 
> 
> As long as there isn't a subsequent Oppression of the Pedagogy of the 
> Oppressors, I think it could work!
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Annalisa
> 
> 
> On Jan 3, 2015 9:21 AM,  Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Seems to me that Spivak's "Can the subaltern speak?" is just as much a 
> question of "Can the Western intellectual hear/listen?"
> 
> Makes me wonder about articulating a Pedagogy of the Oppressors.
> 
> -greg
> 
> 
>