Dear everybody-
I think that Vygotsky was a "super modernist" and did not move beyond Marx
on the issue of postmodernism vs modernism. His all investigations of
cross-cultural psychology (together with Luria) was very much modernist. His
approach to development as an objective stage-like cultural process was
modernist. His view on spiral development/progress of cultures was
modernist. His uncritical emphasis on literacy, schooling,
decontextualization and science was modernist. I do not think that Vygotsky
tolerated cultural diversity because for him it was just slices of the
historical progressive development of societies. Vygotsky studied children,
people with disabilities, and adults from "primitive" societies with "the
super goal" (cf. Stanislavski) of making everybody middle-class
intellectuals like himself associated with the normalcy and progress (cf.
his notion of "scientific thinking").
However, paraphrasing Lenin, Vygotsky was "smart modernist" (together with
Marx and Hegel). His foci on culture, practice, activity, society,
mediation, and history were pregnant with postmodernism and relativism. As
Nate and others correctly point out, it is so easy reinterpret Vygotsky in
postmodern light. But he did not make that step. In my view, he did not do
anything more than Marx did before him.
In this regard, it is interesting to compare Vygotsky with Bakhtin who lived
in the same time (and later) but clearly moved beyond modernism.
What do you think?
Eugene
-----Original Message-----
From: lev [mailto:vygotsky who-is-at nateweb.info]
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 8:56 PM
To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: Vygotsky and Postmodernism
I think Vygotsky was very clearly situated in modernism, but also has been
interpreted creatively into a postmodern context. In addition to Holzman,
I think Dot Robbins has done some creative work in this area.
Particularly in early childhood education, Vygotsky has been interpreted
post modernly. I think "Deconstructing Early Childhood Education" uses
Vygotsky constantly in her critique. Beth Graue in her book on research
interprets Leont'ev, Vygotsky and Mike Cole post modernly. Much as this is
because in early childhood there is a strong biological / individual focus.
Vygotsky becomes attractive because he un-naturalizes processes like
development.
But overall, I think he clearly falls in the modernist camp. Most of his
work was in very concrete activity settings, education, defectology etc.
lobman@rci.rutgers.edu wrote:
Hi,
Several weeks ago, in response to a thread about the arts in teacher
education, I talked about a professional development project I had
created where early childhood teachers received training in
improvisation. I was invited to write a chapter on this project for a
book titled "Putting Postmodern Theories into Practice". The book
focuses on the use of postmodern theories in early childhood education
and teacher education.
One of the questions that has come up in my dialogues with the editors
is that they have trouble seeing/understanding Vygotsky as a postmodern
theorist. I am aware that postmodernism means different things to
different people and I am working on how to articulate how I see the
seeds of postmodernism in Vygotsky's writing. He obviously wrote in
modernist terms, but the search for method, the diale! ctics of tool and
result, process/product; his focus on activity; the social construction
of learning and development, performing. all of this seems to be ahead
of his time and to have much to offer the postmodern challenge to truth,
reality, dualism and the need for new ways of understanding and seeing
the world and human life.
This understanding of Vygotsky has been very useful to me as an educator
and a researcher. Do others think similarly and/or have other thoughts
on Vygotsky and postmodernism. Does anyone know of some writing on
this---I've read Newman and Holzman's work and I've read others whose
work is not overtly postmodern, but who I see as having a postmodern
understanding of Vygotsky-ex. Luis Moll's discussion of the creative,
fluid, ongoing process of people creating culture. I would be interested
in what other people think.
Thanks,
Carrie Lobman
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