Re: [xmca] Book entitled Zones of Proletarian Development

That's really helpful, Margaret

2008/7/24 Margaret Woodruff-Wieding <mwieding@austin.rr.com>

> Well, I certainly wasn't voting against a review by Jonna and Bruce. I
> just wanted all of us to buy the book and start talking about it in our
> regular listserv here. I get a lot out of this listserv. I really like the
> idea of
> different people covering each others backs/vulnerabilities in
> complementary ways. Right now a lot of us
> are struggling with the idea of social situation of development as it
> relates to the learning/teaching/development nexus of issues and so
> conceptions that articulate those thinkers, and/or they articulate seems
> productive.
>

    At the same time, I believe it could be pretty interestingly argued that
while XMCA-ites might *theorize* turning the world upside down, of making
development a process that one does THROUGH/WITH others ( a very good reason
to do unto others as you would have them do unto you), a lot of their work
is either rendered completely irrelevant through marginalization practices
under discussion with respect to journal ratings or
it domesticated to the point of simply proping up early 20th Century
Capitalism.

   Of course there appear to be a distinct absence of well articulared
attractive possible futures out there to choose from. Once upon a time some
people had a vision of a better way of doing things without first having to
die and go to that home in the sky. That is why, if XMCA people think this
book provides tools for thinking about such issues, we should all read and
discuss.

(AND, we can have the two person review also -- assuming it passes our high
quality, highly selective,
A+ rated evaluation system, of course)

Isn't it nice to be able to write here without such fearsome constraints,
but mostly the fear of being ignored,
to contend with?

Maybe you should send around the specs on the book again so people who did
not notice the first time around will notice and obtain.
mike

>
>
>
> To answer your question about what I meant when I said "I am really pleased
> that she (Mastaneh Shah-Shuja) understands the importance of the work that
> people associated with xmca are doing."
>
>
>
> 1. What work are people associated with xmca doing? An alternative
> praxis. On pp. 8-10 of *Zones of Proletarian Development, *Shah-Shuja
> evaluates what she calls "contemporary literature regarding proletarian
> movements" quite critically. She finds Karl Marx, Karl Korsch, Rosa
> Luxemburg, Gramsci, and Hardt and Negri useful, but ignores or dismisses
> many other well-known social critics. She chooses to "begin the
> reconstruction of an alternative praxis" with Vygotsky, Volo¹inov, Bakhtin,
> and proponents of Activity Theory." She explains carefully that "the
> amalgamation of these writers, once encased in a sound historical
> materialist epistemology, transmutes into an approach commensurate with the
> aim of turning the world upside down. Why should this be? Well, for one
> thing, [these authors] seem to intuitively cover up each others'
> shortcomings, as if embarrassed by their fellow-travellers' lack of insight
> into certain fields of investigation. Thus Vygotsky covers up for Bakhtin's
> lack of knowledge regarding development and learning; Bakhtin returns the
> compliment in relation to Vygotsky's rather anaemic conceptualisation of the
> *social;* and contemporary Activity Theorists cement both Vygotsky and
> Bakhtin by providing a framework of analysis for various political and
> economic imperatives. Moreover, all these approaches have a richness about
> their textual and conceptual tool-making kits which makes them productive
> theory-generators across a multiplicity of disciplines."
>
>
>
> Now, that's pretty much what I have understood from months of reading the
> xmca listserv and a number of the recommended essays, as well as some work
> by Vygotsky and by Cole. So, I like it that Shah-Shuja is excited about the
> same work that I find exciting.
>
>
>
> In her list of references at the end of the book, Shah-Shuja cites
> Bakhurst; Blunden; C.H.A.T. (*The Activity System*, 1998); Cole's *Cultural
> Psychology* (1996); *Beyond the Individual-Social Antinomy in Discussions
> of Piaget and Vygotsky* by Cole and Wertsch; Cole's "The Zone of Proximal
> Development" in Wertsch's *Culture, Communication, and Cognition* (1985),
> Wertsch, del Rio, and Alvarez; Wertsch and Tulviste; Engeström; Kozulin;
> Leontiev; Newman and Holzman; Valsiner; van der Veer; van Geert; Veresov;
> Volo¹inov; and eleven items by Vygotsky.
>
>
>
> 2. To what end are people associated with xmca conducting their
> research and writing? Well, as she said, "Turning the world upside down."
> That is, creating a society in which "the free development of each is the
> condition for the free development of all" (Marx [and Engels]
> 1847-48/Middlesex: Penguin, 1986:105, *The Communist Manifesto*). These
> quotes are from pp. 10 and 12 in *Zones of Proletarian Development*.
>
>
>
> 3. As part of what overall idea is xmca work important? Well, surely one
> would have to name more than one idea. First, the idea that what humans
> should be doing is to understand their culture(s) as something that is
> created and transmitted by people working together in activity that is made
> possible by a variety of tools that can be developed only cooperatively.
> Second, the idea that there is something terribly wrong about restricting
> access to understanding this essential human activity by using people's time
> and lives as tools for power and profit instead of helping them to develop
> their capacities through playful educational activity. Following from that,
> the idea that capitalism in its present global form needs to be changed
> because its exploitation of human and natural resources for war and profit
> interferes with people living fully self-actualized lives.
>
>
>
> But please, let me know if I am reading my own Marxism and my own
> philosophy of education into what I read on the listserv. Perhaps I don't
> understand fully.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> Behalf Of Mike Cole
> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:34 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Book entitled Zones of Proletarian Development
>
>
>
> Fascinating! So you are voting for a collective review that is a summary of
>
> the discussion, Margaret?That also sounds interesting even if not a printed
>
> book review. We had the idea of eletronic review section a long time ago,
>
> but this is a new context. (Of cours, this does not
>
> preclude a printed review by Jonna and Bruce, of course)>
>
>
>
> Can you summarize for us what this means: I am really pleased
>
> that she understands the importance of the work that people associated with
>
> xmca are doing.
>
>
>
> What work,
>
> to what end,
>
> as part of what overall idea?
>
>
>
> mike
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 10:30 AM, Margaret Woodruff-Wieding <
>
> mwieding@austin.rr.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > I would appreciate it if we could begin discussing Zones of Proletarian
>
> > Development on the listserv as soon as possible. I have already received
> it
>
> > from Amazon.com and have begun reading it. Although the style is
>
> > unconventional, the author's thinking seems to be clear; if not, I would
>
> > like for someone to point out to me where it is unclear.
>
> >
>
> >
>
> >
>
> > _______________________________________________
>
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>
> > xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>
> > http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
> >
>
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>
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>
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>
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Received on Thu Jul 24 15:07 PDT 2008