I am attaching a pdf of an article by Ole Dreier which provides a kind of precis of his book that Jean refers to. The links to the references to Gibson in her article in part draw upon Ingold, but Ole D has book out on objects with Allan Costall that make those links even clearer. I am seeking help on finding English language work by Gomes that Jean sites with approval; its from a book in Portuguese which makes it a little inaccessible to most of us. And for those of us who wonder what all of this has to do with CHAT, consider the non-coincidence that Alexander Zaporozhets, mentor to VP Zinchenko and part of the circle that included LSV, Luria, and Leontiev, interacted considerably with the Gibsons. 6 degrees of separation? mike On Sun, Jul 8, 2012 at 7:40 AM, Forman, Ellice A <ellice@pitt.edu> wrote: > I agree with Mike. After reading Lave's article in MCA, I realized that I > needed to read her new book to understand her position better. Lave, J. > (2011). Apprenticeship in critical ethnographic practice. Chicago: > University of Chicago Press. I'm just getting started reading it but I'm > glad her article led me to it. She makes it clear that critical > ethnographic practice does not pit writing against activism, as Mike claims > here. Here's one early salient quote: > > "Critical ethnography certainly is engaged in social criticsm and an > integral concern for social justice . . . But critical ethnography has > other entailments and layers of meaning as well. It involves a relational, > historical worldview and metaphysics that question a number of commonsense > understandings. It envisions ethnographic research as a long struggle to > illuminate social life, challenge commonplace theories and their political > implications, and change theoretical practice in the process. This book > pursues a more ample consideration of what we mean by critical ethnographic > practice." (p. 10) > > Right now I'm in the midst of exploring how Lave's early research on > tailoring in Liberia led her to pursue these broader and deeper > investigations of her own apprenticeship in critical ethnographic practice. > > ________________________________________ > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf > Of mike cole [lchcmike@gmail.com] > Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2012 12:54 PM > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity > Cc: Jean Lave > Subject: Re: [xmca] lave in mca > > Lave: Changing Practices > > > > I think it would be a pity if xmca-ites settled for Peter’s > characterization of Jean Lave’s article as a call to activism, and as > pitting writing against activism. I did not interpret Jean’s comments as a > call to march in anti-war-de-jour activities, or join an occupy protest to > slow down corporate greed. > > > > Peter commented, in part: > > *Scribner took it to the streets, marching in the marches and such, and > bully for her. I've got to weigh things differently, I suspect. If I go > protest la guerre-du-jour, holding my sign at the campus gates, is this a > cost-effective action? Or is getting my writing done more important, > especially the public pieces that are read widely, if not terribly > influentially, at least in terms of current policies? (but then, standing > at the campus gates with a sign protesting wars or monied interests > probably has limited payoff as well.) And in my very conservative area, I'd > no doubt pay an additional cost, such as the outcry against my activism for > causes that go against the grain of popular opinion.* > > > > Firstly, the general silence she identified (correctly or not, people who > were there should comment, but it rings true enough to me) was the absence > of “historical specificity and political analysis.” She then linked her > ideas to those of Gramsci in the following way: > > > > *Gramsci’s political account of learning and education (and everything > else) grew out of* > > *his analysis of the “absolute historicism” of philosophy of praxis. He > pointed to the central engagement of state and private institutions of > education in inculcating and defending dominant hegemonic relations of > consent. That is not all that is going on in our complex contradictory > world, of course. But because virtually all ISCAR participants do the work > of these institutions, we also need to carry out the political analysis > that our positions call for.* > > * * > > None of Jean’s examples of the kind of changes in practice that she > advocates focused on marching in the streets or challenging the guerre (S!) > du jour. They did, however, focus on a number of examples (Drier, Ingold, > Gomes, Holland, and her own) all of which involve the scholar, as scholar, > engaging in critical analyses of current research practices within the > professions of which they are a part. > > > > Overall, the message that I took from the talk/essay was that those who > adopt what locally we refer to as a CHAT perspective have commitments to > grounding theory in practices that are supposed to put our theories to the > test. Her recommendation that we worry about educating the educators, whose > practice is education, seems to me completely uncontroversial. Her positive > cases seem uncontroversial as recognizable lines of scholarly research some > of which has been discussed in this forum (we should “take seriously the > understanding of research as craft, and of both learning and changing > identity as aspects of craftsmanship" for example). > > > > I do not know nearly enough about most of the examples that Jean holds up > as potential models to follow. It seems that remedying my ignorance about > those examples would be a productive place to start. For sure, the serious > problems facing all forms of education, but in the case of most of us, > institutionally, the problems facing higher education, are acute and > getting worse very rapidly. Jean’s summary of that situation seems to line > up with my own knowledge of events, but perhaps that is because we are both > present for the dismantling of what was once a great public university. > Much less clear are lines of theory/practice research that would/could make > a difference. > > > Anyway, there is a serious call here for a fundamental, critical, > theory/practice orientation to our work. Answering this call IS a political > as well as an academic act. It may also be a warning that the privileged > lifeworlds of academics that those of us over 30 years of age have > experienced may be in danger of disappearing faster than the ozone layer. > > mike > > (Ps- sorry for the funny font gyrations. Cut and pasted from a word doc.) > > On Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 6:00 AM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu> wrote: > > > I'm going to assume my unappointed role as discussion-launcher for the > > Lave article in MCA that was voted as the feature discussion article on > > xmca. I may not be able to stick around for long, as we're going on > > vacation Saturday in hopes that somewhere on this earth we can find a > place > > that's not as hot as Georgia, USA. > > > > Lave's paper is based on her plenary closing talk at ISCAR in Rome, an > > even I did not attend. As an aside, as long as it's held in > mid-September, > > shortly after our fall academic semester begins, I and others like me > > probably won't attend. It's just too ill-timed to miss 1-2 weeks of > > classes, depending on location, right after getting the semester off the > > ground. > > > > Lave references several ISCAR talks she found compelling, so it's nice > for > > us non-attenders to get a sense of what she found valuable in Rome. > > > > If there's an overriding theme to her paper, it might be that > > cultural-historical researchers ought to be more involved in social > > activism. I was struck while reading the paper by how she could easily > have > > used Silvia Scribner as her role model for the talk, even though SS goes > > unmentioned. A month or so when I wrote to the list about my reading of > her > > collected papers, I noted that her activism on the labor front probably > cut > > into her writing time, although perhaps her career was conducted before > > electronic media made expectations for writing much greater-there were > > fewer journals and fewer book publishers, and writing itself was much > more > > laborious (a point related to the recent discussion of writing) in that > it > > was often undertaken by pen, then retyped, and ultimately less amenable > to > > revision than it is these days. > > > > She urges social activism, although the paper is general enough to allow > > for individuals to take that appeal up in their own ways. Academics are, > to > > some, "above" ideology, and so should avoid the fray; yet most of us here > > would agree with her point that all thinking is ideological, and so being > > an activist on important social issues is a natural extension of our > work. > > If we are all ideological in our thinking, research, and writing, and if > > social issues are shaped by ideology, should we not then contribute to > the > > shape of social issues through what we know via scholarship? (and how's > > that for a Western logical syllogism.) > > > > Scribner took it to the streets, marching in the marches and such, and > > bully for her. I've got to weigh things differently, I suspect. If I go > > protest la guerre-du-jour, holding my sign at the campus gates, is this a > > cost-effective action? Or is getting my writing done more important, > > especially the public pieces that are read widely, if not terribly > > influentially, at least in terms of current policies? (but then, standing > > at the campus gates with a sign protesting wars or monied interests > > probably has limited payoff as well.) And in my very conservative area, > I'd > > no doubt pay an additional cost, such as the outcry against my activism > for > > causes that go against the grain of popular opinion. > > > > I hope these concerns are not too concrete for Lave's fairly abstract > > call-to-peaceful-arms about social activism. For those of us in fairly > > conventional academic positions (Lave's seems to allow for much more > travel > > than mine), activism has to be balanced against other considerations and > > demands on our time and local reputations. At this point, I'm more > > persuaded by the general thrust of her views than of possibilities for > > real-world activism whose consequences are greater than I can produce > > through my writing. > > > > OK, there you go, your turn. > > > > > > __________________________________________ > > _____ > > 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
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