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Re: [xmca] Understanding is no method but rather a form of communication
Just came across the following words that Martin penned in 2008 (and has
perhaps forgotten). I thought they provide a very nice way of thinking
about research that matters. I'd also note that it circles back to the
previously discussed issue of "ontology" (as well as my favorite concern,
the "interaction order") before getting to 'responsible' research that is
capable of enabling change. Anyway, here are Martin's words:
"in sociology, the classic yet always problematic distinction and debate
between ‘micro’ and
‘macro’ is being replaced with the recognition that social order is an
ongoing
accomplishment, one from which both actors and social institutions
continually emerge.
This ‘interaction order’ is a phenomenon of local, situated social
practices, and in a real
sense everything is local (Rawls, 1987, 2005). I will argue that these
fresh approaches to
very basic issues in social scientific research provide new opportunities
for educational
researchers to conduct studies that explore the fundamental linkages
between classroom,
neighborhood, and community. What is involved is a coherent theoretical
framework for
grasping the ontological work that goes on in face-to-face interaction,
together with
methodological techniques that combine the ‘participant objectivation’
(Wacquant, 1989)
of fieldwork with the reflexive examination of ‘fixed’ empirical material
(video- and
audio-recorded events). Such research acknowledges that a researcher can
have a
practical-historical interest (Foucault, 1984) without relinquishing
objectivity.
‘Responsible’ research entails tracing the history of events whose products
are visible in
the present and investigating what is said and done as acts with pragmatic
force rather
than representational or expressive meaning, in order to identify those
places where some
kind of change is possible."
On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 5:31 PM, Cathrene Connery <cconnery@ithaca.edu>wrote:
> That is certainly how I am perceiving Larry's message. So sad to see that
> false dichotomies still polarize us when so much can and needs to be done
> on behalf of children and our society.
>
> Dr. Cathrene Connery
> Assistant Professor of Education
> Ithaca College
> Department of Education
> 194B Phillips Hall Annex
> 953 Danby Road
> Ithaca, New York 13850
> Cconnery@ithaca.edu
>
> On Jul 18, 2012, at 8:20 PM, "Peter Smagorinsky" <smago@uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Larry, it seems you're diminishing practitioner knowledge by labeling it
> "folk," which I associate with superstition and lore. Am I misunderstanding?
> >
> > Peter Smagorinsky
> > Distinguished Research Professor of English Education
> > Department of Language and Literacy Education
> > The University of Georgia
> > 309 Aderhold Hall
> > Athens, GA 30602
> >
> > Advisor, Journal of Language and Literacy Education
> > Follow JoLLE on twitter @Jolle_uga
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> On Behalf Of Larry Purss
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 6:35 PM
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] Understanding is no method but rather a form of
> communication
> >
> > Martin, Peter
> >
> > The question of "folk" understanding and how it links up with the
> understanding of researchers has profound consequences.
> > For example the multiple theories &models and systems of "psychology"
> that have been proposed and configured over the past century dramatically
> impacts the place where I currently work [public schools]
> >
> > Therefore the models we develop change our history.
> > Also, on a personal level, engaging with Gadamer, and other scholars,
> changes what I *see* and how I interact when I go to to work. The "folk"
> notions of psychology, education and development, when translated and
> actualized within academic institutions do change our conduct.
> > Therefore the question,
> > How do the MULTIPLE competing notions of psychology and education
> develop and change institutional practices?
> > This question must engage both "folk" psychology AND philosophical
> psychology.
> >
> > Scholars such as Gadamer and Habermas are engaging in a serious
> conversation about the place of theory and practice and techne as
> contrasting notions influencing "folk" psychology as a form of
> understanding that is taken for granted.
> >
> > Eugene Taylor [who has written a history of dynamic psychology] has
> suggested 3 contrasting notions of psychology that are currently in use.
> > 1] Academic psychology which is biased towards experiment, measurement,
> and empirical statistical notions 2] Clinical practices of psychotherapy,
> which have little overlap to academic psychology.
> > 3] Psychology which informs self-exploration as a person tries to
> develop self-understanding. This 3rd way of understanding psychology is a
> question of developing dis-positions, attitudes, or ways of orienting
> within the world.
> >
> > William James, over a hundred years ago, discussed these multiple
> contrasting notions of psychology and 100 years later we continue to
> generate NEW and novel systems of psychology.
> > It is THIS hermeneutical process of interpretation and translation [the
> multiple theories ans systems of psychology as understanding] which I
> believe scholars such as Gadamer can illuminate through reflection on how
> our folk psychology, is constantly under RE-vision. RE-search is one method
> contributing to the MULTIPLE versions of psychology generated and it is
> THIS hermeneutical understanding of how systems of psychology develop which
> may shed some light on the practice of psychology [and psyche] as a
> historically implicated development. Gadamer would say hermeneutical
> understanding underlies all the multiple ways of understanding psychology
> as theoretical systems of psychology.
> >
> > Peter, I'm not sure if "folk" psychology or "folk" education [as taken
> for granted understanding] can answer questions of WHY is there a
> multiplicity of competing systems of psychology?
> > Gadamer gives a particular answer to this question. I also believe he
> offers a model of reflective practice which can deepen the understanding of
> critical theory and deepen an understanding of "folk" psychology.
> >
> > Larry
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 1:40 PM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> >> Bueno, and my apologies if I misunderstood the intent of your comments.
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> >> On Behalf Of Martin Packer
> >> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 4:37 PM
> >> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> >> Subject: Re: [xmca] Understanding is no method but rather a form of
> >> communication
> >>
> >> Peter,
> >>
> >> I was responding to a post about Gadamer, and I replied not by giving
> >> my own opinion but by describing what someone a lot smarter than me
> >> has said to Gadamer. I'm not trying to say that highly placed
> >> theorists are more important than everyday folk; I have simply pointed
> >> out that some pretty smart people have thought about these issues,
> >> that I find what they have to say helpful, and I've tried to summarize
> what they have said.
> >>
> >> Martin
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Jul 18, 2012, at 3:22 PM, Peter Smagorinsky wrote:
> >>
> >>> Action research, at least from a teacher-research perspective, is
> >> something I've always understood to emerge from participants'
> >> inquiries into their own practice. When teachers write about their
> >> classroom inquiries, they tend to begin with the story of the
> >> question, not what Hegel or Habermas thinks. Yet in this discussion of
> >> action research, the only people given credit for thinking are what
> you've called "researchers"
> >> who can stand back and take in the whole, rather than those with an
> >> emic perspective on their own experiences.
> >>>
> >>> Or, at least, that's how it's come across to me. I know a lot of
> >> teacher-researchers, and have worked from that perspective myself, so
> >> I've been pretty well submerged in their discourse of emic
> >> understanding and distance from other people's detached study of them.
> >>>
> >>> Peter Smagorinsky
> >>> Distinguished Research Professor of English Education Department of
> >>> Language and Literacy Education The University of Georgia
> >>> 309 Aderhold Hall
> >>> Athens, GA 30602
> >>>
> >>> Advisor, Journal of Language and Literacy Education Follow JoLLE on
> >>> twitter @Jolle_uga
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
> >>> [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> >>> On Behalf Of Martin Packer
> >>> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 3:53 PM
> >>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> >>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Understanding is no method but rather a form of
> >>> communication
> >>>
> >>> Could you spell this out a bit Peter? I'm not grasping your point.
> >>>
> >>> Martin
> >>>
> >>> On Jul 18, 2012, at 2:37 PM, Peter Smagorinsky wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> What I find surprising about this whole discussion is that each and
> >> every source invoked is a highly placed theorist. It seems a bit
> >> patronizing to me.
> >>>
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--
Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
Sanford I. Berman Post-Doctoral Scholar
Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition
Department of Communication
University of California, San Diego
http://ucsd.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
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