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Re: [xmca] Qualitative Research
Hi Helena,
Yes, there are moves towards faculty organization at Duquesne, in the face of various steps taken by the administration. There is now a local chapter of the AAUP. It is clear that the rules of the game are changing, and commodification is effecting my own status as well. In ways that I probably shouldn't discuss further before the end of this academic year!
Martin
On Apr 2, 2013, at 4:24 PM, Helena Worthen <helenaworthen@gmail.com> wrote:
> Martin -- speaking of the commodification of academic life --
>
> I looked at your flyer (very nice; I'll ask our library to get it, if they
> haven't already) and saw that you're at Duquesne. It turns out there's a
> conference this very weekend called "Confronting Contingency" sponsored by
> the adjunct faculty association at Duquesne.
>
> It's held in conjunction with the Steel Workers (USW) union, which is
> representing the adjunct faculty. They're trying to get recognition and
> bargain a contract.
>
>
> Loss of full-time jobs being an aspect of the commodification.
>
> Helena
>
>
>
>
>
> On 4/2/13 1:43 PM, "Martin Packer" <packer@duq.edu> wrote:
>
>> Given that the commoditization of academic life requires constant
>> self-promotion, not as a project one commits oneself to but as a
>> necessary aspect of self-reproduction, I am acceding to the requests of
>> the publisher of my recent book, which just received an 'honorable
>> mention' (much better than its negation, a dishonorable silence) in the
>> 2013 Outstanding Qualitative Book Award by the International Congress of
>> Qualitative Inquiry, by distributing the attached flier: 30% discount!
>>
>> Martin
>>
>>
>>
>> On Apr 2, 2013, at 3:01 PM, Martin Packer <packer@duq.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> Michael,
>>>
>>> Thanks, but I am looking for the way that Andy has defined "project"
>>> as the fundamental unit of analysis of human activity.
>>>
>>> Martin
>>>
>>> On Apr 2, 2013, at 11:33 AM, "Glassman, Michael" <glassman.13@osu.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Martin,
>>>>
>>>> How about this,
>>>>
>>>> To project (the verb),
>>>>
>>>> The ability to extend human activity into a larger human arena where
>>>> it can be joined or experienced by more minds.
>>>>
>>>> When I speak louder I project my voice so more can hear and consider
>>>> what I say.
>>>>
>>>> When I write on the Internet I project the workings of my mind so more
>>>> can consider what I am thinking.
>>>>
>>>> When I use a can I project out my own senses so I can have a better
>>>> understanding of the world around me, gaining new perspectives of
>>>> nature.
>>>>
>>>> Project (the noun)
>>>>
>>>> To engage in an aim directed activity that has some intrinsic good
>>>> (circa Dewey 1916) that involves multiple minds/perspectives of
>>>> nature. The project is realized when the aim is achieved, but then it
>>>> is possible to "project" you achieved aim outwards.
>>>>
>>>> Michael
>>>> ________________________________________
>>>> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] on
>>>> behalf of Martin Packer [packer@duq.edu]
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2013 12:22 PM
>>>> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
>>>> Subject: Re: [xmca] Polls are closed: Manfred Holodynsk's article is
>>>> choice
>>>>
>>>> No one can provide me with the definition of "project"?
>>>>
>>>> Brecht, let me return to the material you copied from your doctoral
>>>> thesis. Let's take the opening sentences:
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 1, 2013, at 2:47 AM, Brecht De Smet <Brechttie.DeSmet@UGent.be>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> "The historical process of capital accumulation and proletarianization
>>>>> on a world scale has created forms of wage labor and exploitation that
>>>>> constructed the modern working class as a passive Object of history.
>>>>> Persons who can freely dispose of their labor power, but who do not
>>>>> possess their own (sufficient) means of production are forced into the
>>>>> activity-system of modern wage labor.[1][1] Their activity of wage
>>>>> labor
>>>>> is born out of necessity, and oriented towards the goal of reproducing
>>>>> their natural and social life.
>>>>
>>>> What we find here is your explication of a "historical process" that
>>>> has constructed (I'd say 'constituted,' but let that pass), a class of
>>>> persons. Not simply a crowd (I recall your previous critique!), but a
>>>> class, which I presume you would agree is not simply an aggregate of
>>>> individuals. As a result, you suggest, the actions of individuals who
>>>> find themselves to be members of that class (I presume they didn't
>>>> choose to be working class?) are constrained - people are "forced" to
>>>> sell their capabilities in order to obtain a wage in order to eat in
>>>> order to live. Their goal - "reproducing their natural and social life"
>>>> - is not intrinsic to their activity - "wage labor" - because, as you
>>>> say, the goal exists prior to the activity, and to a great degree the
>>>> activity undercuts the goal - for many it's hard to eat and live under
>>>> the conditions of exploited labor.
>>>>
>>>> All of this is, IMHO, a great analysis! You take into account the
>>>> social world in which people act, and how it constrains their activity,
>>>> you take into account the history of this world, you take into account
>>>> the necessity of reproduction. I just don't see that any of this is
>>>> built on "project" as a unit of analysis!
>>>>
>>>> But probably I'm confused...
>>>>
>>>> Martin
>>>>
>>>>
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