[Xmca-l] Re: AERA Session: Being/Becoming an Activist Scholar: Lessons From Cultural-Historical Activity Research
Helena Worthen
helenaworthen@gmail.com
Sun Apr 1 21:34:08 PDT 2018
Either we live differently, or we don’t live, I’m afraid. It’s going to be close.
To my mind, the critical struggles are local. But these are the toughest ones to get engaged in — the ones that affect people like oneself. For an academic, someone who wants to be part of a good educational program, the local fight has to be for the conditions under which that is possible. So it’s not indvidual, it’s collective, and it takes place in an activity system that is embedded in another system (or confronts such an activity system) that wants to sell diplomas, prestige, etc and degrade education. The purposes of the two systems are different and conflicting.
This is hard to do because you don’t get promoted in the second system if you’re seriously engaged in the first.
I continue to like Activity Theory becuase is clarifies some of these relationships.
H
Helena Worthen
helenaworthen@gmail.com
Berkeley, CA 94707 510-828-2745
Blog US/ Viet Nam:
helenaworthen.wordpress.com
skype: helena.worthen1
> On Apr 1, 2018, at 10:07 PM, Peg Griffin <Peg.Griffin@att.net> wrote:
>
> That's what I see, too, Helena, here. The Black Lives Movement has mutually recognized internal variations (including Black Lives Matter). In variability, as a psychology trained friend used to say, there is hope. I see the youth recognizing each other from other sections, consciously building on ties to past activism (troublemakers, as John Lewis says) as well as reciprocal nurturing from contemporary events (even ones that pop up inthe Senate and House) as they nevertheless persist and re-claim their time! Besides the boost to elders that newer aspects of movements bring with them, there are also new and likely effective tactics and recruitment that spur more dedication, creativity, motivation and, dare I say, movement?
>
> A young woman cashier at my local grocery store, uses the term "badges" to refer to what I call my pins (from different resistance issues and organizations ). I'm taking on that terminology!
> As a part of getting dressed, I choose and arrange the badges; they silently answer the old union question, "What side are you on, my sister/brother?" and I often learn a lot from the answers other people give.
> PG
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Helena Worthen
> Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2018 11:17 AM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: AERA Session: Being/Becoming an Activist Scholar: Lessons From Cultural-Historical Activity Research
>
> None of these movements are brief and none of them are over. Occupy isn’t over; the smaller, more specific targeted efforts are still going. Black Lives Matter isn’t over by a long shot. The young Marchers may grow up, but so did we, but they won’t go away. The Weathermen and other SDS folks are writing their books about what they learned, what they did wrong, etc — good reflections on the past.
>
> We’re in Kathmandu right now, where after 10 years of fighting, there is a Constitution and a delicate peace and the possibility of some actual economic development that may occur alongside movements towards equality across caste, language and ethnicity and gender. Everyone we talk to is exhausted from the years of war (and 10 years is not long; compare Viet Nam) but at the same time, although not exactly hopeful, at least expecting peace in the immediate future, and the opportunity to build something.
>
> Helena
>
>
> Helena Worthen
> helenaworthen@gmail.com
> Berkeley, CA 94707 510-828-2745
> Blog US/ Viet Nam:
> helenaworthen.wordpress.com
> skype: helena.worthen1
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> On Apr 1, 2018, at 5:41 PM, Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org> wrote:
>>
>> I know that dream. It's a train for me, somewhere in London, or I'm on
>> foot in Melbourne ...
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> Andy Blunden
>> ttp://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm
>> On 1/04/2018 9:28 PM, HENRY SHONERD wrote:
>>> Greg, David, and All,
>>> Let’s keep on eerie for a moment: I just had a recurrent dream, I
>>> awoke at 4 in the morning and, as is often the case, I won’t be getting back to sleep for another half hour. The dream is that I am on a public mode of transportation, this time a bus, and I am feverishly headed somewhere, not knowing exactly where, but in this case it’s west (I’m pretty sure) on Central, yes Central, the name of the main east/west thoroughfare here in Albuquerque, but not Albuquerque in my dream. I have just made a mad scramble to get on this bus. Suddenly it turns south, which is not the direction I want to go. I scoot forward and ask the driver if this is where we will stay headed and he assures me we’ll be back going west in a minute. Suddenly the bus gets an unobstructed view from a cliff that overlooks a beautiful panaorama. Then just as suddenly we are edging over the edge of the cliff. Drivers change, the danger is averted, we’re on our way again, and I wake up. This is a recurrent dream, though it takes place in various places. This one reminds me (now that I am awake) of a small city in Spain I visited with my wife and son in 2009 famous for bullfighting, on the way west from Seville to Lisbon, In my waking life we had a destination, in my dream I did not.
>>>
>>> This gets us back to the subject line with Berzemenov. David juxtaposes motives and outcomes. Is life, either individually or collectively, about the journey or the destination? Do we have to know AND agree, either individually or collectively, with the destination?
>>>
>>> I’m headed back to bed. I’m debating whether to send this post. If I do, I will probably regret it. But I promise, either way, that I am not making up the dream. It really happened. And it is a recurrent dream: headed somewhere, don’t know where and never find out before I wake up (in this case) or go to another dream or back into a different stage of sleep. What’s different about this version of the dream is how beautiful a moment I had at that overlook. The same sort of the beautiful moment at our march in Albuquerque last weekend, a waking moment we were sharing as young people, motivated by the recurrent, senseless slaughter in schools here in the U.S., were trying to wake up the adults. When will we wake up?
>>>
>>> Henry
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Mar 31, 2018, at 10:31 PM, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I'm still not quite sure I understand what the pointer to Bezmenov
>>>> was all about, but I do notice some eerie connections between
>>>> Bezmenov's little speech and Ted Nugent's recent rant about the
>>>> March for our Lives kids (and esp. the Parkland students):
>>>> http://13wham.com/news/nation-world/ted-nugent-parkland-survivors-mu
>>>> shy-brained-children-who-have-no-soul
>>>> Just noticing.
>>>> -greg
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Mar 31, 2018 at 9:51 PM, David Kellogg <dkellogg60@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Francine:
>>>>>
>>>>> First of all, we are all useful idiots. Just for example, Bezemenov
>>>>> was a "useful idiot" for the John Birchers. And John Birch himself
>>>>> was a "useful idiot".
>>>>>
>>>>> Secondly, the Larry Kohlberg studies were rightly criticized at
>>>>> book length by Carol Gilligan (and at somewhat shorter length by
>>>>> Yongho Kim and myself in "Rocks and a Hard Place", in Language and Education in 2015.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thirdly, one of the things that makes people activists, as opposed
>>>>> to amateur news therapists, is that we focus on the desirability of
>>>>> outcomes and not just motives. If the study of morality over
>>>>> history tells us anything, it is that only bad outcomes ever come
>>>>> from pure motives. Progress, like development, is always complexly motivated.
>>>>>
>>>>> David Kellogg
>>>>> Sangmyung University
>>>>>
>>>>> Recent Article in *Early Years*
>>>>>
>>>>> The question of questions: Hasan’s critiques, Vygotsky’s crises,
>>>>> and the child’s first interrogatives
>>>>> <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09575146.2018.1431874
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Free e-print available at:
>>>>> https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/6EeWMigjFARavQjDJjcW/full
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sun, Apr 1, 2018 at 12:29 PM, Larry Smolucha
>>>>> <lsmolucha@hotmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> message from Francine:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Here are some points for activist/scholars to consider regarding
>>>>>> the 1984 interview with Soviet KGB defector Yuri Berzmenov.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Here's the link (again):
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://youtu.be/K4kHiUAjTvQ
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [https://i.ytimg.com/vi/K4kHiUAjTvQ/hqdefault.jpg]<htt
>>>>>> ps://youtu.be/K4kHiUAjTvQ>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yuri Bezmenov - KGB Defector on "Useful Idiots" and the True Face
>>>>>> of Communism<https://youtu.be/K4kHiUAjTvQ>
>>>>>> youtu.be
>>>>>> The USA is at this moment a destabilized nation on the way to
>>>>>> crisis. In this interview from 1984, Yuri Bezmenov articulates the method.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just for starters,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 1. Yuir Bezmenov provides a working model for destabilizing a
>>>>>> nation involving processes such as demoralization, abandonment of
>>>>>> rational discourse, instigating crises, and normalization under
>>>>>> the new social
>>>>> order.
>>>>>> 2. This interview is from 1984 so it is also old news of Russian
>>>>>> "interference."
>>>>>> 3. Apparently, there is no actual citation from Lenin of his having
>>>>>> used the term "useful idiots' to describe the manipulation of
>>>>>> unwitting traumatized people by someone with ulterior motives. The
>>>>>> recently traumatized high school student March for Life activists
>>>>>> are vulnerable
>>>>> to
>>>>>> such manipulation. No one knows whether the movement will fizzle
>>>>>> out out or even produce voters on election day. Certainly a few
>>>>>> student activists might have found their calling.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The nerve of me posting something like this that interrupts what
>>>>>> could have been a seamless narrative on XMCA. But as scholars,
>>>>>> this is an interesting opportunity to study this (and learn) from
>>>>>> this social phenomenon (March for Lives). I remember (years ago)
>>>>>> Dr. Jack Getzels at the University of Chicago talking about a
>>>>>> study of student activists in
>>>>> the
>>>>>> 1960's that found some of the most committed student leaders
>>>>>> scored at
>>>>> the
>>>>>> highest level of Kohlberg's stages of moral development but just
>>>>>> as many were anarchists at the lowest level. Are activist/
>>>>>> scholars or activist/teachers all of one type?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ________________________________
>>>>>> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
>>>>>> <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of mike cole
>>>>>> <mcole@ucsd.edu>
>>>>>> Sent: Friday, March 30, 2018 6:45 PM
>>>>>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>>>>>> Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: AERA Session: Being/Becoming an Activist Scholar:
>>>>>> Lessons From Cultural-Historical Activity Research
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Francine-
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What sort of lesson would you like us to take from Mr. Bezmenov's
>>>>>> interviews?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> mike
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 10:21 AM, Larry Smolucha
>>>>>> <lsmolucha@hotmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Message from Francine Smolucha:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This link has an interview that would be of interest to
>>>>>> activist./scholars
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> https://youtu.be/K4kHiUAjTvQ
>>>>>> [https://i.ytimg.com/vi/K4kHiUAjTvQ/hqdefault.jpg]<htt
>>>>>> ps://youtu.be/K4kHiUAjTvQ>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yuri Bezmenov - KGB Defector on "Useful Idiots" and the True Face
>>>>>> of Communism<https://youtu.be/K4kHiUAjTvQ>
>>>>>> youtu.be
>>>>>> The USA is at this moment a destabilized nation on the way to
>>>>>> crisis. In this interview from 1984, Yuri Bezmenov articulates the method.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> [https://i.ytimg.com/vi/K4kHiUAjTvQ/hqdefault.jpg]<htt
>>>>>>> ps://youtu.be/K4kHiUAjTvQ>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yuri Bezmenov - KGB Defector on "Useful Idiots" and the True Face
>>>>>>> of Communism<https://youtu.be/K4kHiUAjTvQ>
>>>>>>> youtu.be
>>>>>>> The USA is at this moment a destabilized nation on the way to crisis.
>>>>> In
>>>>>>> this interview from 1984, Yuri Bezmenov articulates the method.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ________________________________
>>>>>>> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu
>>>>>>> <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu on behalf of Carrie Lobman
>>>>>>> <carrie.lobman@gse.rutgers.edu>
>>>>>>> Sent: Friday, March 30, 2018 9:33 AM
>>>>>>> To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
>>>>>>> Subject: [Xmca-l] AERA Session: Being/Becoming an Activist Scholar:
>>>>>>> Lessons From Cultural-Historical Activity Research
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello XMCAers,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am very pleased to be chairing this timely and important
>>>>>>> session at
>>>>>> AERA
>>>>>>> in a few weeks (Monday April 16). The idea for Being/Becoming an
>>>>>>> Activist-Scholar <http://tinyurl.com/ybdkh6kw> was born at last
>>>>>>> years conference in San Antonio where I felt a shift as more and
>>>>>>> more people, particularly graduate students, were identifying as
>>>>>>> activist scholars
>>>>> or
>>>>>>> were seeking to engage in activism. I believe as socio-cultural
>>>>>>> and activitists we have much to offer this conversation and a
>>>>> responsibility
>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> lead and teach.
>>>>>>> What Is a 21st-Century Activist Scholar to
>>>>>>> Do?<http://tinyurl.com/
>>>>>> ybdkh6kw
>>>>>>> tinyurl.com
>>>>>>> To the naïve mind revolution and history seem incompatible. It
>>>>>>> believes that historical development continues as long as it
>>>>>>> follows a straight line. When a change comes, a break in the
>>>>>>> historical fabric, a
>>>>> leap—then
>>>>>>> this naïve mind sees only catastrophe, a fall, a rupture; for the
>>>>>>> naïve mind history ends until back again straight and narrow. The
>>>>>>> scientific
>>>>>> mind
>>>>>>> on the contrary, views revolution as the locomotive of history,
>>>>>>> forging ahead at full speed; it regards the revolutionary epoch
>>>>>>> as the
>>>>> tangible,
>>>>>>> living embodiment of history. A revolution solves only those
>>>>>>> tasks
>>>>> which
>>>>>>> have been raised by history; this proposition holds equally true
>>>>>>> for revolution in general and for aspects of social and cultural life.
>>>>>>> (Vygotsky as quoted in Leviathan, 1982). Socio-cultural theory
>>>>>>> was born
>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> activism. It emerged in the early, most improvisational moments
>>>>>>> of the Russian Revolution, and one of its continuing provocations
>>>>>>> is that it
>>>>>> does
>>>>>>> not claim to be objective or apolitical. Vygotsky and his
>>>>>>> followers
>>>>>> located
>>>>>>> thei
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I was thrilled that Kris Guitierrez, Lois Holzman, and Anna
>>>>>>> Stetsenko agreed to be our featured speakers as they each bring a
>>>>>>> long history of rigorous scholarship and activism but from with
>>>>>>> different frameworks, activities and communities. These three
>>>>>>> presentations will jumpstart a conversation with an invited panel
>>>>>>> of emerging and established scholar activists who will
>>>>>>> collectively interview and respond to the
>>>>>> presentations
>>>>>>> and lead a discussion with the audience.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Please get the word out as widely as possible.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://tinyurl.com/y7zguva7
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Carrie
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Carrie Lobman, Ed.D.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Chair, Department of Learning and Teaching
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Graduate School of Education
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Rutgers University
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> www.gse.rutgers.edu<http://www.gse.rutgers.edu>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> www.eastsideinstitute.org<http://www.eastsideinstitute.org<h<
>>>>> http://www.
>>>>>> eastsideinstitute.org<http://www.eastsideinstitute.org<h>
>>>>>>> ttp://www.eastsideinstitute.org<http://www.eastsideinstitute.org>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> www.performingtheworld.org<http://www.performingtheworld.org<
>>>>> http://www<
>>>>>> http://www.performingtheworld.org<http://www.performingtheworld.or
>>>>>> g<htt
>>>>>> p://www>.
>>>>>>> performingtheworld.org<http://www.performingtheworld.org>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
>>>> Assistant Professor
>>>> Department of Anthropology
>>>> 880 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
>>>> Brigham Young University
>>>> Provo, UT 84602
>>>> WEBSITE: greg.a.thompson.byu.edu
>>>> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
>>>
>>
>
>
>
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