[Xmca-l] Re: Time for a Generational Change

[Kris Gutierrez]

Vera, you said it beautifully, thank you. And while Mike tells me every chance he gets to "slow down," it’s your turn now, Mike. I know you are writing more and more but hope you also get to spend more time in your “garden”—both literally and metaphorically.  

This is personal but am confident my sentiments are shared widely. 

Despite my complaints to you about how gendered this space is, it was your voice and posts that I continually looked for and would read with care, save for another read later, and then would call you when I wanted more!.  You always modeled on xmca, in the Lab and in our co-taught classes, how to provoke, inspire, and support all at the same time, as well as to understand why it is so important to seek and know the history of ideas, to cross boundaries and borders, and to be dissatisfied with anything less than the best we could do, especially with and for others.  

XMCA benefitted from your tireless devotion to expansive forms of learning and care.  You are a true community organizer.

But no one, as Andy also said, has taught me more; not even a close second.  From my ugly written drafts to my best prepared talks, you were there in person as was your work, ideas, and critique (and sometimes scolding:), in ways you also have been on this space for so many generations of scholars. You are the only person I know who could give a “two word” review of a draft that would trigger a complete revision! 

 I share this here because the same thing was true on XMCA; it was your brief but ever thoughtful, packed comments and questions that so many of us appreciated on XMCA.  You never made XMCA your stage; instead, it was our intellectual playground (even for the lurkers). A good model to follow! 

What a legacy XMCA, MCA, LCHC, 5thD, and etc. etc. Thank you for inviting us always into these transformative spaces and thank you for making XMCA such an indispensable everyday resource.   

I know you will still be posting and pushing us to think on XMCA.  There is a lot more work to do and you have helped set the agenda. I am hopeful about the next generation of scholars who will push us to imagine and re-imagine (in the Mike and LCHC sense) this space in ways that that continue what you set out to do, as well as push us to engage in the never-ending task of making this activity system (as in all activity systems) more collective, inclusive, equitable, expansive, playful, and humanistic. 

We will continue to learn with you! 

Mil gracias, Mike.  Un abrazo fuerte!   Kris (excuse typos)


Kris D. Gutiérrez
Carol Liu Professor 
Graduate School of Education
University of California, Berkeley
5629 Tolman Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-1670
gutierrkd@berkeley.edu




> On Oct 24, 2016, at 10:39 PM, Vera John-Steiner <vygotsky@unm.edu> wrote:
> 
> Dear Mike,
> 
> It is hard to say "thank you" to a person who has given so much to so many of us. Your commitment to our community which you have constructed, encouraged,led, and at times, gently chided,is unparalleled. I join those who have already written and those who are still trying to find the words to express our collective and personal gratitude for keeping the discourse alive. You have given many of us an intellectual home, and encouraged us to believe that at a time when dignified exchange of ideas and debate are rare, it is still possible, when ably nourished.
> 
> Warmest wishes for a slowing down time.
> 
> Gratefully,
> 
> Vera  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2016 5:31 PM
> To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: Time for a Generational Change
> 
> I will add my appreciation to what others have said, ... but words almost fail me. No-one, no-one in my life has taught me as much as Mike Cole, and dare I say that if I managed a little real development late in life it was thanks to Mike Cole and this amazing list. The amount of work which goes into the kind of care Mike has given to moderating this list  and personal correspondence is breathtaking and I will be forever grateful for that. And when I refer to what Mike "taught" me, this was almost always only by creating expectations. I think very often Mike didn't even understand what I was saying, but somehow despite this, he gave me the kind of guidance that I think everyone craves. Thank you, Mike.
> 
> For my own part, the horizons of my interests are closing in on me these days, the energy for reading new theories and philosophies has almost dried up. I am reading many more novels than treatises these days. So it is doubtless timely to extend my thanks to all the wonderful correspondents on xmca who have given me a hand up over and over down the years.
> 
> 
> Andy
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Andy Blunden
> http://home.mira.net/~andy
> http://www.brill.com/products/book/origins-collective-decision-making 
> 
> On 25/10/2016 4:35 AM, mike cole wrote:
>> Hear Yee XMCA -O-Phytes.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Having removed myself from the active faculty of LCHC which is now in 
>> the capable hands of Angela Booker and Stephan Tanaka, the time has 
>> come for me to step back from the doings of MCA and XMCA.  At MCA the 
>> new editorial team of (in reverse alphabetical order, Jennifer 
>> Vadeboncoeur, Bonnie Nardi, Victor Kaptelinin, and Natalia 
>> Gajdamashko) has taken over as editors, and begun the process of 
>> carrying the enterprise into a new generation. I will remain as a kind 
>> of "editor for special projects" for the journal and will continue to participate in XMCA.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> But with respect to XMCA it is past time for me to give up what David 
>> Kellogg has called my "pastoral" role in seeking to coordinate and 
>> develop discourse focused around provocative articles that appear in the journal.
>> The original idea was to provide authors with rapid feedback and 
>> public recognition instead of having to wait the 2-3 year cycle of 
>> replying via an authorized journal.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The reality, as you know, is somewhat different - a mélange of topics 
>> that intersect, loop back on themselves, and leak out into the semiosphere.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Luckily, Alfredo Jornet has offered to try his hand at the pastoral 
>> role, and will be recognized on the journal masthead as *MCA Forum Mediator*.
>> Alfredo brings to the task his early career in Spain, his later career 
>> in Norway, and his present career in Victoria. And all of this 
>> international experience before has started "his career." Brave soul. 
>> Alfredo and the editors are considering a variety of options for the 
>> future of the journal, including importantly, its status as a new 
>> medium promoting rapid exchange of the news between otherwise isolated 
>> scholars with complementary interests.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> My participation in xlchc and then xmca has been central to my adult 
>> education, and I appreciate what I have learned here more than words 
>> can suffice to explain. There are not so many academic ecologies in 
>> the world, so enduring those that do spring up seems a worthwhile way 
>> to promote its reproduction.... keeping in mind Phillip White's 
>> reminder that the future of development is not predictable at the level of everyday experience.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> As I see it, there are two major failures in this effort over the years.
>> The first is the enormous imbalance in the gender representation of 
>> the participants. With a few periods where the exceptions ended up 
>> proving the rule, female voices have been conspicuously absent. 
>> Academic "guy talk" has dominated. Understanding and, if possible, 
>> re-mediating that sad set of circumstances seems like a major task for the future.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Second, MCA discourse does not accumulate. The discussions are more 
>> like chaining than the development of new concepts. As in the Sakharov 
>> - Vygotsky blocks experiment, we talk about green triangles then blue 
>> triangles then blue squares, each a legitimate line of inquiry, but 
>> constantly changing criteria/topics as we go. Every once in a while we 
>> ascend to the level of pseudo-concepts (these are the cases that evoke 
>> the most controversy it seems to me). My fond hope is that Alfredo and 
>> our sometimes engaged tech gurus will provide a more supportive 
>> environment for the creation of "truce concepts" -- agreement on a 
>> broad set of principles/empirical embodiments and a research program 
>> that identifies the limits of the theory and the most fruitful lines of inquiry.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Thus spake
>> 
>> mike
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
>