Research as a Political Device

This presentation is an interactive discussion on the structures of research as they are used politically, to keep people in hegemonic power and the order of things. What an interesting concept. Wayland Walker is speaking about these issues, and how various civil rights movements move forward while still maintaining the status quo.

Nice discussion at the beginning of the process about methodological perspectives, and from which frameworks he is working in (such as post-structuralism). Interesting about the concept of speaking differently depending on who is in the room, namely queer space. Have not heard that concept before.

Who makes knowledge in adult education? Interesting ethnographic question about this. This group is usually tenured professors who buy and sell education and training. The ritual acts are known as research. The shamans are peer reviewers. I really like hearing about this. He is continuing about how research takes on almost religious or cultural senses. Academia in the US is a religious sense in qualitative methods is listed as the real, in that triangulation and reproducing coding and such are now issues brings qualitative to quantitative.

Interesting perspective that qualitative work is becoming increasingly quantitative. Mixed methods is increasingly being used, so qualitative will have just enough quantitative. In this way, qualitative is increasingly seen as a step toward quant.

There is a great discussion about packaging funding and grant requests in order to get the funding, and then balance the research and advocacy (in whatever perspective) with it. This can be seen as a political issue. Interesting how much there are discussions about funding. Is that what academia has sunken to, constant talk about money? Perhaps in this way, working out in industry is more straight-forward?

Disrupting the theory/practice binary. Reminds me of the work I do in AHRD.

Are there academics in the trenches in adult education? Are adult educators involved in the fight and the movement for social change?