Re: [xmca] Emotions and methodology

[mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

Hi Mabel-- Thanks for the clarification. The partial note was misleading to
me. I am too ignorant of the specific question to be of help. But the
additional specification should provide a better focused answers from others
for whom knowledge of the distinction is far better than mine.
mike

On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:45 PM, Mabel Encinas <liliamabel@hotmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> As part of my email became public, I decided to write to xmca. Apologies
> for this impromptu...
>
>
>
> First of all, I would like to say that I appreciate very much the
> references, Martin and Michael. Also, thank you very much, Mike for your
> symphathy... I am familiar with Michael Roth's contributions to the field.
> Also, as I was pushed to the public space, I confess that I was lurking when
> his article was discuss some time ago (I think that I even posted something,
> I have been part of xmca for 12 years, mostly lurking and from time to time
> posting). If I do not participate consistently in xmca is because appart of
> my PhD I do not have an institutional/financial estability since I migrated
> to London, so I have too much work. Still, I read the posts when I can.
>
>
>
> As difficult as it might seem, in my personal note to Andy I mentioned that
> I am optimistic and think I can cope with this issue. He diverted his
> response to the topic of emotions (I cannot blame him cause I did the same,
> I mean talked about emotions), but I did not ask about that. I was just
> complaining :(... :)!
>
>
>
> I finished the whole draft of my thesis already, so I will not use Michael
> Roth's techniques, that I discuss in my methodology chapter. In spite of the
> fact that I hope to be close to submission, a strong questioning from one of
> my supervisors just came about, in terms of the issue mentioned, that is
> that I am not actually studying emotions, but their expression. This brought
> me back to discuss with my first supervisor initial points about emotions. I
> was in the field of ICT, and during the phase of analysis of the videos, I
> realised that something was going on in my data that could be related to
> emotions.
>
>
>
> In my personal note to Andy I mentioned how I study emotions:
> The metaphor that I use about emotions is: I study emotions as a thread in
> a tissue. When I say this I imagine this very Mexican colourful textiles. I
> study one of the threads or maybe some of them, that are part of the tissue.
> I follow the thread (studying its micro-history). I can then see how the
> thread goes up or down, or to the right (in relation to my perspective :) or
> to the left, and how sometimes it curves itsef around another thread
> producing a knot. This can only be understood by studying the process. With
> the analysis of my videos, I find evidences that emotions are not only
> linked to ‘motives’, they are, in turns, the goal of action, the driver, the
> ‘nature’ of lived experience, the intention, the motivation, an apparently
> unintentional 'eruption', as well as the communicative resource contributing
> to the construction of alliances or negotiating power relationships, and so
> on.
>
>
>
> I think that Vygotsky explained all these things much better than my
> 'tissue', but he really did not study emotions as such. He broadly discussed
> what had been studied, and in parallel to his discussions of the crisis in
> psychology, he grouped the perspectives in two main approaches.
>
>
>
> My question to Andy was if he could please give me some references about
> the difference-relation between ontological and methodological dualism? I
> was aimed to get some contemporary references to this discussion. I already
> had read Vygotsky. Does anyone has a suggestion, please?
>
>
>
> Thank you,
> Mabel
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:56:07 -0800
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] Hello Other Brain, how are you?
> > From: lchcmike@gmail.com
> > To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> >
> > There was a discussion of this topic around your MCA article a while
> back,
> > Michael. Mabel might be able to use some of the specific techniques,
> which,
> > I recall, were not too demading in terms of technology, to find a bridge
> to
> > what her advisors expect.
> >
> > Martin's sources are right on. But Mabel is going to have to negotiate
> the
> > rocky
> > shoals of her own institutional situation, and invoking XMCA is not
> likely
> > to win her a lot of friends!!
> >
> > mike
> >
> > On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 8:16 AM, Wolff-Michael Roth <mroth@uvic.ca>
> wrote:
> >
> > > In the following piece, we show how emotion (as evidenced in prosody)
> is a
> > > resource for the coordination of social action. Michael
> > >
> > > Cult Stud of Sci Educ
> > > DOI 10.1007/s11422-009-9203-8
> > > Solidarity and conflict: aligned and misaligned prosody
> > > as a transactional resource in intra- and intercultural
> > > communication involving power differences
> > > Wolff-Michael Roth Æ Kenneth Tobin
> > >
> > > here
> > >
> > > On 2009-11-14, at 6:55 AM, Martin Packer wrote:
> > >
> > > I'm going to ignore Andy's request to ignore his message to Mabel,
> because
> > > I'm sure Mabel is not the only person being told this sort of thing.
> The
> > > claim, I suppose, is that emotion is a subjective experience, and
> therefore
> > > something mental, internal, personal, private and so inaccessible to
> other
> > > people, including the researcher, who has access only to the external
> > > 'expression' of that emotion, on the face, in movements, etc.
> > >
> > > Nonsense. How to argue against that view? Take a look at Joe de
> Rivera's
> > > work on emotions as interpersonal movements, towards or away from
> people on
> > > three interpersonal dimensions of intimacy, openness, and status. Read
> Hall
> > > and Cobey (1976) on emotion as transformation of the world. Read Mead's
> > > Mind, Self and Society where he challenges Darwin, insisting that "we
> > > cannot approach them [emotions] from the point of view of expressing a
> > > content in the mind of the individual" (p. 17) because to do so
> presumes a
> > > dualism between consciousness and the biological organism.
> > >
> > > These are some resources that come immediately to my mind. What can
> others
> > > out there recommend?
> > >
> > > Martin
> > >
> > >
> > > On Nov 14, 2009, at 4:42 AM, Andy Blunden wrote:
> > >
> > > You have good muses Mabel (Vygotsky and Marx), pity you
> > >> don't have better supervisors. Your approach, studying
> > >> microsituations as social, is Vygotsky's approach too, I
> > >> think, and excellent one, that is often, I fear, not well
> > >> understood. I am probably the last person to ask about that
> > >> kind of problem as I have a devil of a problem making myself
> > >> understood. Others will know the answers to your questions
> > >> better than me, too. But I will mention a few suggestions.
> > >>
> > >> Mabel Encinas wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> My supervisors are questioning now, that I do not study emotions, but
> > >>> "the expression of emotions". I know how to solidify my argument in
> this
> > >>> bit, but could you please give me some references of where should I
> read
> > >>> about the difference-relation between ontological and methodological
> > >>> dualism?
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >> I guess you have already read Vygotsky's comments on
> > >> ontological vs methodological/epistemological dualism:
> > >> http://marx.org/archive/vygotsky/works/crisis/psycri13.htm#p1367
> > >>
> > >> If you use Google on this one, you will probably find a page
> > >> where I am being attacked by someone called Neville for
> > >> failing to make this distinction. I am far from sure of the
> > >> value of that exchange but you are welcome to read it. I
> > >> would not attempt a short summary of this issue.
> > >>
> > >> I am not sure what you are being accused of about emotions.
> > >> Martha Nussbaum is a Critical Theorist who writes good stuff
> > >> about emotions. And of course everyone reads Antonio
> > >> Damassio, with his distinction between feelings and
> > >> emotions. Certainly, emotions are only present in
> > >> consciousness thanks to their "interpretation" by culturally
> > >> acquired concepts.
> > >>
> > >> ""the expression of emotions" is a strange expression to me.
> > >> Are they using "emotions" to refer to forms of consciousness
> > >> which are "expressed" in high blood pressure, etc? Or are
> > >> they using "emotions" to refer to physiological conditions,
> > >> which are "expressed" in the character of behavior. I don't
> > >> understand. I am sure others will know. Sounds like a
> > >> template accusation.
> > >>
> > >> Andy
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> xmca mailing list
> > >> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> > >> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> > >>
> > >
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