mike writes
>
>Diane-- I am obviously extremely interested in the historical context
>of the texts we are reading for all the reasons you mention and some
>you do not. So, for example, the way in which the purges of the 30's
>made Luria's entry into medical school a necessity for survival and
>the war made the work of the entire approach of vital national
>interest are VERY relevant to reading the texts, as are the orientations
>of the people toward the state and society.
>
of course,
i knew this. :)
>
>
> Where I start to get uneasy is in beginning to mix poorly grounded
>and fragmentary stories that circulate among the people involved with,
>for example, "facts" such as the creation of a joint laboratory in
>Kharkov at which many of these people, including AL&L located themselves.
by the same token, or - on the other hand - anecdotal evidence has as much
"validity" as
any text, in that each is provoked in some way by its historicity,
organized by historical frames no longer present - there is no Truth about
history,
but for the fragments we cull together from various sources and personal
resources.
>
> The glass is too dark for me and even the parts that appear to be
>translucent appear distorting.
>mike
>
the risk, i am hearing, is of having a prrevious image altered, the ideas
constructed are being distorted with anecdotal claims - which are always
hard to listen to, at times impossible to believe -
but i suppose, from my perspective, reckoning with history is not
necessarily about maintaining a truth for the past,
but about recognizing its fragmentary qualities as fragililities, subject
to altered perspective, challenged by difference -
if i've learned nothing, it's that beliefs rarely change. knowledge might
shift, in relation to other knowledge, but deep down our belief structures
structure our selves - i can understand, given your history with these
histories, that the
personal becomes problematic.
i didn't mean to suggest you didn't want to account for textual histories,
of course.
and thanks for clarifying the difference -
(krist i'm polite eh?)
cheers,
diane
**********************************************************************
:point where everything listens.
and i slow down, learning how to
enter - implicate and unspoken (still) heart-of-the-world.
(Daphne Marlatt, "Coming to you")
***********************************************************************
diane celia hodges
university of british columbia, centre for the study of curriculum and
instruction
==================== ==================== =======================
university of colorado, denver, school of education
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