Our understanding of "intelligence" or other related notions has moved
from one of Xcentric (X=dominant cultural group) "deficit" to the
sociolinguistic and cultural relativistic notion of "difference"... and
perhaps we should move onwards to a further understanding of the issues
in terms of "domination". The cite posted by Mike emphasized the need to
look at these issues in their practical contexts, and as we do so, we
would inescapably need to look at issues of domination and subordination
in the real life pratical situations from which observations of
"difference" are made.
To use a hypothetical metaphor:
IF it is from a Chinese/Japanese/...-centric perspective, then there'll be
something called a "chopstick deficit" in the Westerner; there's
something wrong in or missing from the brain (of the said group) that
control the motor skills of the fingers and the hand...
Outrageous as it is... this kind of X-centric "deficit" position on
intelligence has not completely died out yet...
If it's from the perspective of the sociolinguist and cultural
anthropologist, it's just a difference in the use of mediating tools in
the dining practices of the Chinese/Japanese/... and non-C/J/... groups...
there's nothing wrong/deficient in the brain of the latter group...
Well, this position sounds much more palatable, but suppose when we look
around us, there're only chopsticks available and no alternative tools
available, and if college admission and the job market require one to be
well-versed in the C/J/... ways of dining... I don't see how we can stay on
the neutral grounds of "difference" without moving on to look at
practices of domination. And these domination practices are invariably
tied with job market and economic and global economic forces...
Well, what do you think?
Angel
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Angel M.Y. Lin
Doctoral Candidate
Modern Language Centre
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
252 Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON M5S 1V6, Canada
E-Mail: MYLIN who-is-at OISE.ON.CA
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Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When ... we stand face to face in the cyber space? ...
--Adapted from: The Ballad of East and West, Rudyard Kipling
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