On Saturday, Nov 15, Jay had asked, " I would _really_ like to
hear from people their candidates for 'popular' works (written in language
and style relatively easily accessible to a relatively wide readership)
that they think have also made a significant number of readers begin to
make sense of some social phenomenon in genuinely new or different ways??
work that goes against the comfortable and familiar ideological grain, but
does so in language that seems easy and accessible ...
"Such as ...?"
And I thought of two voices on xmca - and wondered briefly about
the gender connection. But the two voices are Eva and diana.
I remember very vividly when Eva once wrote a story about child
care in a playground surrounded by apartments, and mothers who, seeing
other mothers _doing_ childcare, would send their children out the door,
availing themselves - unasked - of free childcare.
I waited for huzzahs, but none in particular were forthcoming.
Yet, she has perservered, and I for one am very glad for it. Her prose -
for me - is more akin Polish Nobel prize winner for poetry - whose name I
can say aloud but haven't the foggiest of how to write it. My apologies
to the poet.
And your voice, diane, is just as wonderfully vivid - and like
Eva's, closer to poetry than academese, which can so floridly burble
across my screen.
Anyway - I'm focused on your question "nevertheless, aren't there
ways to start thinking about how the university can be of use to society,
instead of how society can be of use for the university?"
My present squabble is about the genre that the writings of a
teacher as inquirer must be presented. The other faculty members come
from more disciplined academic roots than myself - I'm basically an
elementary school teacher - and they want the teachers to write in the
structure that they write in as formal researchers. I protests that
teachers are not part of the academic community, and don't especially
want to be identified as such, and have a particular distain for the
writing style of academic journals - which they are supposed to imitate
for this class of teacher as inquirer.
So, thanks for your encouragement - even though what you wrote
wasn't particularly directed towards this disagreement - I'm just
awfully glad you're out there troublemaking.
phillip