Anna,
Your note prompts me to report finally!
It was truly a very special and solid conference, very well organized and
seminal in some ways. I can't do it justice but here is a 1st try.
We were welcomed the 1st nite with a 1st class reception at the old
Biltmore yatch Club rivaling any othe prior ones i've been to. They had
simul. translation in English and from Russian in a U.N. type of convention
center. We were treated extremely well, the hotels and transpotation very
good, folks were free to go anywhere and several visited schools in
session during the week.
There was a lot of restoration projects which are saving unique colonial
architecture. The visit was intense overall
Davydov key note was excelent, including a historical account of CHAT,
complete with baby/youthful pictures of the troika and 2nd generation. He
spoke of the the key requirements of a cultural psychology, paying homage
to J. Bruner who was not able to make it, as the top exemplar of the CP
field. Maturana was another keynoter, Michelle Fine was also excellent,
Ellice Forman debunked psychobiology in a very elegant fashion, Arias, in
spite of sheer exhaution, presented an interesting account of how CHAT has
been applied in practices ranging from preschool to mental health community
centers, and we also broach methodological issues in the field, the
necessity of bridging qualitative and quantitative, dispeling the myth that
only the former is consistent with chat....etc
Another salient theme and set of sessions dealt with the theory to practice
or practice to or as as theory critiques of much of the current practices
of the chat approach. Seth Chaiklin and Marianne H. and their work on
identity was also well received. Another topic was intersubjectivity and
the problems with the external vs. internal.
Praxis as methodology and LSV's dialectical approach (Lopez Garcia) and the
goals of education were adrressed. Labarrere Sarduy suggested appropriation
of means not just for particular sorts of problem solving but to generate
developemntal processes as they key goal....
Cubans attended from all the provinces with a lot of action research. Chat
seems to be more firmly established in teacher education there than in
other places like here where I work....
I attended a session with a really well done microgenetic study in Las
Villas of how children learn chess. Others appeared to present on themes
that mirrored what has been done/noted elsewhere such as "Warning:
Construction Zone zpd...etc
which suggests that the embargo and language barrier has kept many from
staying on top of the field. yet, it was interesting to see how
independently, many of the same themes and issue that concern various
groups in Europe and No. America have been or are being addressed there.
The effect of globalization was addressed in various panels, so was the gap
being created by technology.
Cubans working with CHAT represented the majority although this was not
exclusively a CHAT conference so other aspects of Human Development,
including piagetian approaches were included. The Cuban colleagues were
eager to establish working contacts with our delegation and vice versa,
many are now in contact,
I am collaborating on a project with arias and students re. identity
formation from a Chat lens.....involving Cubans in Cuba and in the U.S.
They have a center in soc. where they study Cuban Families who emigrated
to Fla..
There seemed to be a tendency for many to focus on Vygotsky only and ignore
others when referring to chat, and like in other places, perhaps LSV a a
rallying point for newcomers initially gives way to the more "scientific"
chat concept...
The abstracts are being revised and along with some papers, should be
posted in out CHAT sig website.
later this year.
Davydov agreed to share his paper and allow the Cubans to translate it so
that along with others selected, a volume can be published or a special
issue. Many of the Cuban academics presenting had studied with Galperin,
Elkonin etc. and are very well read in the classic CHAT works. While
Russian was their second language, English is now favored with the younger
generation.
Arias drafted a tree / map showing how CHAT has evolved from the troika to
that second generation showing the ramifications of CHAT in the US, various
european countries etc..which needs constant updating.
Finally they have also put together what is the L S Vygotsky Chair at the
University of Habana with the idea that it can be occupied by different
CHAT faculty internationally, inclusive of a visiting professor type of
arrangement, etc. so that for example , the chair is occupied for a year or
two or three by one or more
We brought 22 or so U.S, academics, Ratner's two presentations were very
well received along with Kris Gutierrez' and Jennifer Vadeboncoeur's..
Others came from Aruba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Chile, Denmark over 60
countries they mentioned.
Clearly, a main motive for HOMINIS was to share with the international CHAT
community and reduce their isolation with respect to participation and
representation, particularly in the literature. A lot of their work is not
know outside and vice versa.
We discussed using tools ;like XMCA and the CHAT sig website to open
things up in terms of intellectual/research exchanges.
As the 1st major conference ( I estimate over 400 attended) the event was
successful in spite of many who canceled their plans toward the end.
They hope to have HOMINIS II in 2001
pedro
We can try to upload the program and abstracts soon if i has some tech
help..knewAt 12:25 PM 2/10/00 +0100, you wrote:
>Dear xmca-ers,
>
>Writing the previous message i remembered that we did not hear anything
>about the conference in Havana/Cuba, 1-5 nov. 1999, organised by Guilermo
>Arias (or did i miss it?).
>I could not realise my plan to attend this conference.
>Does any of you who attended this conference make some report about it? Or
>maybe some conference procedings have been made? I'd love to hear about it.
>(Special interest: special education).
>
>Anna Strumphler
>Anna Strumphler, e-mail: W.deVries@net.HCC.nl
>Amsteldijk 28 tel.: (31)20-6719906
>1074 HT Amsterdam
>The Netherlands
>
>
Pedro R. Portes, Ph.D
Professor of Educational
& Counseling Psychology
(502 852-0630/ fax 0629)
http://www.louisville.edu/~prport01
"Psychosocial strength, ...depends on a total process
which regulates individual life cycles, the sequence of generations,
and the structure of society simultaneously: for all three have
evolved together" p.141 Erik Erikson (1968)
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