Re: [xmca] Article for Discussion

[Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com>]

I thought I would take the plunge and open up a conversation on this
fascinating and well crafted article.   It is discussing themes close to my
heart and I was looking forward to reading on this topic.

I want to start with a reminder that Mead, in his later years, preferred the
phrase "being IN the perspective of the other" rather than the more familiar
"taking the role of the other".

David Ki suggests that we can consider learning from the perspective of
skills, constructions or dispositions.  This article is an elaboration of
education as forming dispositions.  It is exploring a particular perspective
or bracketing a particular figured world that explains the formation of
dispositions through BECOMING a participant in a practice community.
Andre's article is written from a particular figured world located at Oslo
University College and his discourse framework emerges from this particular
public sphere.  In other words he is writing from within a space or
metaphorical container that is pre-figuring the medical world he is about to
construct as a figured world.  He  exists and is participating IN the
perspectives of others as he writes about the processes of developing
dispositions within educational communities of practice.

With the qualification that Andre is exploring a bracketed figured world
from a particular perspective I want to say how much I appreciated his
linking positional discursive theory with cultural theory to create a more
elaborate sociocultural figured world that sees these alternative
perspectives as COMPLEMENTARY.

The method of analysis is focusing on two alternative constructions of
participating in a community of practice and the objects of analysis are the
retrieved memories OF these alternative perspectives.  Therefore this method
is accessing the participants antecedent memories or
"reflective-functioning" ABOUT the process of becoming actors in figured
worlds.

This bracketed procedure does not address mimesis [see Merlin Donald] which
is bracketing the pre-linguistic aspect of positioning theory which is
another aspect of identity formation.  However, within Andre's particular
figured world perspective which embraces the metaphor of learning as
participation [not acquisition] his article was very helpful in connecting
discursive and cultural perspectives in a more coherent community of
practice figured world.  Identity and world are elaborated as  simultaneous
processes which rejects the notion of a "same context" context and
highlights that the same metaphorical discursive and cultural "space"
simultaneously contains multiple situated contexts

My final thought is David Ke's caution about positioning theory as planting
our feet on the ground as preparation for "launching into action to change
our figured worlds.  I wonder if it is necessary to be contained within a
coherent figured world as an active participant in a community of practice
as a way to to get in position to change our figured worlds.  As we develop
reflective and reflexive perspectives [perspectives on perspectives] Figured
worlds are constituted as an IMPLICIT process but we slowly begin to make
these  processes that form dispositions more explicit [reflective] and
therefore become more able to act to alter our figured worlds.  In other
words must we first become subjected within a figured world in order to
plant our feet on the ground before launching out to change our figured
worlds "intentionally"?  Are perspectives real and objective/subjective?



Larry



On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 10:57 AM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:

> Apologies for dropping the ball on posting the article for discussion from
> our recent poll. The
> article is
>
> Towards a Sociocultural Perspective on Identity Formation in Education
>
> It can be found, gratis, for discussion, at lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA
>
> mike
> __________________________________________
> _____
> 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