I took most of the following reading list from Yrjo's 1998 UCSD course,
"Comm. 261: Mediational Approaches To Culture And Mind: Foundations Of
Activity Theory"
(Prof. Yrjö Engeström, Winter 1998, University of California/San Diego,
Department of Communication:
http://www.communication.ucsd.edu/courses/syllabi/261.W98.html)
I snipped some and tucked in a few of the readings that came up from our
recent discussions (marked with "+"), and I also put in a few of my own
from the readings that interested me (marked with "="). To this untrained
eye, it seems like Sessions 1-4 are fairly solid. Sessions 5+ get into
topical areas that are probably more open to debate.
I also went back to the archives to read the thread that Elina started
around "kernels of meaning" and this course. This came just before I joined
the list, and I found it very helpful in trying to understand the broader
intent of the course.
Elina wrote on 11-Aug-02: "I am always in between two radically different
approaches to building the bridges of understanding: the first assumes that
there are "true meaning" of some original ideas of CHAT and one has to
reconstruct the origins of these ideas before we can go any further ...;
the second is radically different, it is built on the assumption that there
is no possibility to reconstruct universal truth and the "kernel of
meaning" is in the constant negotiation of present contexts and meanings,
practices and research findings."
http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Mail/xmcamail.2002_08.dir/0061.html
I like that as a reminder to keep that tension alive in thinking about
texts & contexts, that is how we & the tools we use structure our
interactions in this seminar.
I'm happy to share my independent study write-up with other graduate
students who might be interested. It uses this as a base but then goes off
to focus on my particular interests.
David
===============================
DRAFT
Foundations of Activity Theory
*** Session 1 ***
Revolutionary roots: Marx
Readings:
Marx, K. (1844). Alienated Labour and Private Property and Communism. From
The Economico-Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844.
Marx, K. (1845/1888). Theses on Feuerbach
Marx, K. (1867). Capital (chapters 1.1; 1.2; 7.1; 7.2; 13, 14, 15.1; and
15.4)
*** Session 2 ***
Philosophical roots: dialectics
Readings:
Il'enkov, E. V. (1977). The Concept of the Ideal. From Philosophy in the
USSR: Problems of Dialectical Materialism.
Il'enkov, E. V. (1977). Dialectical Logic (chapters 10 and 11)
=Il'enkov, E. V. (1982). The dialectics of the abstract and the concrete in
Marx's 'Capital'. Moscow: Progress.
*** Session 3 ***
The first generation of CHAT: Vygotsky and the idea of mediation
Readings:
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society (chapters 1 through 6)
+Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and Languange. (chapter selection?)
Davydov, V. V. & Radzikhovskii, L. A. (1985). Vygotsky's Theory and the
Activity-Oriented Approach in Psychology. From Culture, Communication and
Cognition, edited by J. V. Wertsch
Scribner, S. (1985). Vygotsky's Uses of History. From Culture,
Communication and Cognition, edited by J. V. Wertsch
*** Session 4 ***
The second generation of CHAT: Leont'ev and the concept of activity
Readings:
Leont'ev, A. N. (1981). Problems of the Development of the Mind (part II,
pages 156-326)
Leont'ev, A. N. (1978). Activity, Consciousness and Personality (chapters 3
and 4)
*** Session 5 ***
Epistemology and learning [=not quite sure about this...]
Readings:
Davydov, V. V. (1990). Types of Generalization in Instruction (chapter 7)
+Wells, G. & Guy Claxton (2002). Learning for life in the 21st century:
Sociocultural perspectives on the future of education.
*** Session 6 ***
CHAT and cultural psychology
Readings:
=Luria, A. R. (1982). Cognitive Development. (chapter selection?)
Cole, M. (1996). Cultural Psychology (chapters 5 and 6)
*** Session 7 ***
Theory as practice: The collective-institutional challenge
Readings:
Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by Expanding (chapter 2 from page 29 to page
91; all of chapter 3)
(maybe Lincoln & Guba, Kemmis & McTaggert here?)
*** Mentioned on XMCA: ***
Luria, A. R. (1976). Working Brain. (chapter selection? which session?)
Lincoln, Y.S. and Guba, E. G. (2000). Paradigmatic controversies,
contradictions, and emerging confluences. In K.D. Norman & Y.S. Lincoln
(Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.) (163-188). Thousand
Oaks: Sage.
McTaggert & Kemmis on Participatory Action Research.
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