RE: [xmca] Re: My ISCAR

As is usually the case at conferences, my most memorable occasions were
informal--talking with people during breaks, over cafeteria food, and at a
couple of restaurants. Far too many to mention here (though the night out
with Emily and Co. from Penn State was at the top of my food chain).

One provocative moment: At one of Jim Wertsch's sessions, he was talking
about the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the US and Russian
perspectives. I'd never even considered the USSR as a reason for bombing
Japan (and don't intend to start a discussion here of the morality of that
decision). Anyhow, Jim pointed out that the official narrative accepted in
the US, embedded in our national narrative, was that we were bombing Japan
because we were protecting democracy from incursion, saving lives with one
mass destruction, and doing our role to move the world into a newer, freer
era of prosperity. But the USSR saw it very differently. Their national
narrative positions themselves as the defenders of their nation against
aggressive and hostile forces from without--Napoleon, Hitler, etc. They saw
the bombing of Japan as a statement by the US that we were not averse to
using WMDs on Japan, so we would not hesitate to use them against the USSR.

It had never occurred to me that the bombing of Japan might at least in part
be a statement to the Soviets, but it does make sense to at least try to see
things from their perspective. A surprising, yet provocative, insight from
the conference that still has me thinking. Peter

Peter Smagorinsky
The University of Georgia
125 Aderhold Hall
Athens, GA 30602
smago@uga.edu/phone:706-542-4507
http://www.coe.uga.edu/lle/faculty/smagorinsky/index.html

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
Behalf Of Mike Cole
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 2:31 PM
To: Duvall, Emily
Cc: eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity
Subject: [xmca] Re: My ISCAR

Wow--- What an experience. And we did not even say hello. argh!

I think Tatiana's work is great too and she has promised a paper for MCA>

Could you unpack the following?:

Views of culture influence psychological phenomenon
Cultural psychology should be focused on explanation
Ratner - negative impact of ZPD

Never saw Carl either. One of so many.
mike

On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 12:08 AM, Duvall, Emily <emily@uidaho.edu> wrote:

> It's hard to pull the week together, to be honest.
> So many people, so many sessions, so little sleep... but here goes some
> stream of consciousness... perhaps it will encourage others to talk in
> more depth.
> At some point I would like to talk a bit more about the work that
> Tatiana shared with me once I have worked with it a bit.
> Truly a gift... thank you for the intro Elina!
> ~ Em
>
> My ISCAR
>
> Monica, my intrepid and talented grad student, and I find the elevator
> to room 4412.
> We don't have to walk up four flights!
> We think it's four flights...
> Home for the next week... :-)
>
> There's Ana...time for wining, dining and...
> CHAT-ting!
> We see Pooh on the way... they call it Pooh, Ana says..
> It's a pile of rocks. We have a landmark.
> The Bear.
>
> Monday I sleep and grade my online class;
> I thought I'd get out to go kayaking
> I say hi to Gordon - I make it out to get a Latte; soy.
> Monica was off to CHADOC.
> We're up half the night talking.
>
> Tuesday it begins in earnest.
> The importance, eh?
>
> Drawing,
> Drawing pictures, arrows, squiggles...
>
> Primacy of the word in psychological development
> 'Seeds of communication' as mother and child smile at each other
> Readiness to take culture in... Zinchenko
> Sensation/acts integrated through affect...
>
> John-Steiner - the complementarity of cognition/affect
> Dialectical relation.
> Cole's brain and culture co-construct
> What about schooling constructing, schooling as culture
> Consequences of schooling
> Neurophysiological
>
> Smagorinsky et al...
> Arts in core curriculum
> Role of affect in writing...
> Mahn: Writing Protocol
> Writing to Learn
> Dialogic interaction, negotiation of meaning, analysis of text
> Promotion of conceptual thinking
> Allowing students to access the concept in their own language
>
> ...ways in, eh?
>
> Putting more faces to names on xmca... Preiss, Connery...
>
> Tuesday night, I head out to sing-along Mama Mia with an old friend from
> high school...
> I skip Carl's fireside chat...
> Later Carl asks me if I prefer singing to Marx?
> 12 years of choir notwithstanding, I think I'm better off with Marx.
>
> Views of culture influence psychological phenomenon
> Cultural psychology should be focused on explanation
> Ratner - negative impact of ZPD
> Think about the etiquette of race,
> Explain the psychology, the perpetuation of oppression
>
> National narrative: Wertsch and the cultural tools that we don't know
> are there
> How they shape... narrative templates, like a schematic
> Narrative power rather than accuracy, but grounded in historical
> episodes
> Example:
> 1. Setting: Russia is peaceful
> 2. Trouble: wonton attack - want to destroy Russian
> 3. Russia: almost destroyed
> 4. Russian heroism & sacrifice = victory
> Ethnocentric narcissism...
>
> Symbolic tools may not help if you don't know how to use them
> Kozulin - must introduce them!
> Mediated learning experience: immigrant/minority students learning new
> ways
> Rigorous mathematical thinking example
> Foster internalization of psychological tools
> The factory metaphor...
>
> USD
> CHAT-ting!
> Taking turns in the Israeli army and the ease of switching between
> English and Afrikaans...
> The trials of living in England if you're not English...
> You know, you just can't get a glass of Riesling in California.
>
> It's Thursday so it must be Dynamic Assessment!
> And it's a Penn State reunion Thorne...
> And then Poehner and Lantolf...
> My introduction to Vygotsky.
> Iddings talks DA... high stakes testing for ESL students
> Poehner talks DA...understanding the object by changing it
> Roth talks DA... problematizing... is there something that can be
> assessed
> Atencio talks DA... try to bring in authentic/world... not just an
> analytic lens
>
> Dinner out - we miss the aquarium.
> CHAT-ting!
> Peter and Leo, Jim and Holbrook, Steve and Matt, and...
> Monica and I are up late again, talking, CHAT-ting.
> She has to listen to my talk rehearsal.
> I should have taped it.
>
> I change it at the last minute...
>
> It's Friday....and MORE DA!
> Some issues with scheduling...
> Kozulin talks DA...cognitive modifiability with adults, new immigrants,
> changing futures
> I talk DA... high stakes testing of reading for children with learning
> disabilities
> Robbins talks DA... zones of potential development
> ... some issues with technology.... timing
> Kotik finds us a room and we gather to talk DA for hours more...
> Lantolf and Poehner talk about their training cd...
>
> The Friday night party...
> Wolfgang tells me about cortisol levels and ADHD...
> Elina introduces me to Tatiana
> My Saturday is planned...
> International song fest after the conga...
>
> Akhutina and I spend the morning together.
> She graciously takes me through her work.
> And I see where I need to go next. This is my high point.
> I see where I have stopped too soon, both theoretically and practically.
> It's the impetus I need to move forward.
> The School of Attention materials are so much deeper than our western
> ways.
> I see how much time we waste.
> How superficial the content in our schools seems.
> Neuropsychology... Isn't this close to where we began with Cole?
>
> My head and heart are full.
> But I manage to catch Rogoff so my cup runnethed over (my grammar
> overrunneth)
> Did you get the handouts Monica?
> And the ethnography...
> Hey, there we are, University of Idaho!
>
>
>
>
>
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Received on Fri Sep 26 11:58 PDT 2008