Dear Dot and All,
Of course you are making those of us who couldn't attend powerfully
envious! Thanks for your reflections and also thanks for using the term
"field", as I have been trying to get at Bourdieu's notion of field and
it just helped me that little bit (layers and layers of meanings!).
Could you elaborate a little on what Mike presented? I'm really
intrigued.
Phil
On 04/10/2005, at 6:36 AM, Dot Robbins wrote:
> Dear Ana,
> Thank you so much for your reflections....I found myself returning to
> a mountain of work, with no perceived time for reflection of Seville.
> Thanks for changing that. It was a deep joy to speak with you, Ana,
> and to connect with others, and a little sadness at not being able to
> hear more presentations....I would like to say that I was profoundly
> touched at the session that Michael Roth organized, especially with
> Bakhurst's positive-critical thoughts on the thrid generation of
> activity theory.....points that really need to be addressed. And,
> Mike's statements, as I told him, touched me to the very core of my
> being. Clearly, we need to ask ourselves who profits from CHAT
> research and practice.....Mike received a question about the
> "romantic" climate in the film the "Butterflies of Zagorsk," a BBC
> production during the 1980s about the blind and deaf institute in the
> former Zagorsk, Russia, where people were trained so that they
> actually could receive higher degrees in psychology!
> at
> Moscow State University. One woman, is a mother of two children, a
> poet, a psychologist....and my mind wandered back to this nostalgia.
> Mike stopped it immediately....he told us that every situation we are
> in can be used for our research (and of course, we know it can enhance
> our own transformation, and that of others). Mike spoke of his work in
> Africa, and how that is his laboratory....and of very large classes in
> California he wants to humanize. I was stunned beyond belief at his
> words, as I am very involved in an orphanage 120 km West of Moscow,
> and to be honest, I have never viewed this situation as my field of
> research, my field of helping to create transformation. And, I
> returned home to rural Missouri truly empowered inside, to start to
> create my research field every day, in the trenches where I live at
> the moment. Mike's speech completely transformed me, as a human being,
> and as a researcher. I learned to stop romanticizing the past, and
> jump into "today," no matter!
> where I
> am, and really live, and also know that I am the one who has profited
> so greatly from Vygotskian-inspired theory and practice. Sevilla was
> wonderful! May some of these notes we are writing reach the
> organizers, and may we show them our gratitude. As well, Seth has
> given more of himself to ISCRAT and ISCAR than many of us
> realize....He is often alone in many areas, and each of us needs to
> jump in more and help him and others with concrete actions. I thank
> all of you for so many things as well. For me, Sevilla is a new
> beginning....And, I really want to thank you, Ana, and Lois (perhaps
> others) for going beyond words to active sessions that allow us to
> move, interact, and become more human.
> warmly,
> Dot
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! for Good
> Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Nov 01 2005 - 01:00:20 PST