> in the 1930s, Lewin visits the US hoping to suck up some with Dewey, 'cause
> Dewey is hot in Europe...Lewin runs into Washington, hooks up with John
> Collier, appointed as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, specifically to deal
> with
> racism and the conditions of the reservations.
>
> Lewin tags along. "Watcha doin' John? Huh? Whatcha doin' now? Hey. Can I use
> that? Hey. Can I quote you on that?" and Collier & Dewey worked on
> developing progresive schools for Indian-americans;
well, this just stood me on my head! (a sometimes comfortable
place to be)
because it is Collier who coined the term 'action research', which
he wanted done by the classroom teachers who were teaching
Indian-americans - and Lewin later used for community action groups in
the late forties / early fifties.
another odd connection is that Collier attended Janet's classes at
College de France (or perhaps the Sorbonne and Janet was in
correspondance with Vygotsky in the twenties) at the turn of this century,
and when Collier returned to New York became involved in community action
groups and even organized the first multicultural celebration in this
country - circa 1910.
connections - Forster was right - 'only connect'.
thanks diane and Nate for the additional information - so illuminating
phillip
phillip white pwhite who-is-at carbon.cudenver.edu
/////////////////////////////////\
A relation of surveillance, defined and regulated,
is inscribed at the heart of the practice of teaching, not
as an additional or adjacent part, but as a mechanism that
is inherent to it and which increases its efficiency.
Michel Foucault / Discipline & Punish
\///////////////////////////////////////