Director of Training & Knowledge Management + Educational Researcher + Professor + Poet + Wikipedian = Liminality + Actor-Network Theory + Open Education
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Cheryl Hunt from the University of Exeter is linking spirituality to adult education. The spiritual turn from Houtman and Aupers (2007), as there is decline in conventional religions but there is a search for grass-roots spirituality. Her theoretical framework is from Heron’s ways of knowing and the Orientation to Reflective Practice (Wellington and Austin, 1996). She also uses Dreary and Forman (2004).
For adult educators, she engages in this via professional reflective practice. Reflective practice can help us be more effective in the exercise of individual professions. There are the 5 areas of reflective practice, as per Houtman and Aupers.
There is more about this model within the proceedings than she is listing here in the session, especially based on a large chart that was on a slide and is in the paper.
There are a number of concerns that link academic / professional knowledge and practice something “deeper.” In a seminar series, she got a sense of the fragmentation in many people’s lives, and to link all levels of oneself, and all parts of oneself. Some of the feedback that was received came in the form of creative writing and poetry.
Thinking about the theory that underpinned the results was Heron (1996) on cooperative inquiry, where the use of language is rooted in deep experience and non-linguistic understandings.
Transpersonal perspective to spirituality is more of a secular spirituality in her work.
There are some really nice next steps, including the British Association for the Study of Spirituality (BASS), a new international conference: Spirituality in a Changing World in May of 2010, and a new journal, Spirituality. Right now, discussions about spirituality are held in different silos, and they are trying to bring those various contexts and meaning together.
For questions, one person said that there is a lot of perceived need for this and that it is very fractured in the various professions and disciplines. Somebody shared that she was from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), and how they integrate with many of the models and frameworks that Cheryl discussed. Libby Tisdell asked about an example, and Cheryl discussed her experiences of community which got lost when she studied it during her dissertation. The look at her first child at birth was like the “shimmering moment” that looks back and looks forward almost at once. Interestingly, the management theories in academia tend to move far away from these discussions. However, the more recent work on spirituality and management is getting more developed than it is in education.
There was an additional question about how spirituality and religion is kept separate, and this is a significant issue, both in the US as well as in the UK.
Having spoken with Cheryl via email in the past, I am really looking forward to reading her paper.
This presentation is about using movement in adult education and learning. Hiroyuki Aoki (of Shintaido) “What is received by the body will . . . ” Just as we started in the session, and Luis had us stand and do two physical movements with sounds of A and O as we were moving. Somewhat strange feeling for me, so I am interested in how he is going to work this into his presentation. As his background, he is interested in martial arts, experiential learning, and movement and physical theatre classes.
How has this movement influenced and engage in learning and reflection?
Somatic learning includes five elements:
I have experienced some somatic work before, and think it is all over the place in psychotherapy and meditation right now. It is interesting to see how this will relate with learning.
Social construction is another theoretical perspective that is being used, such as generate meaning together with dialogue and inquiry.
Affirmative competence was also used; it is an imagery technique through discipline and practice that athletes use to increase their performance. This is positive reinforcement and focusing on what is being done right.
Telling stories with our body (as per Shintaido):
He is now speaking about imagination and metaphor as meaning making. OK, now I am getting lost. I know a bit about somatic work, though I am a bit confused. I am not sure I would be following this much if I did not already come in here knowing a bit off it. Getting distracted. I think I would leave if I were closer to the door, but too far away without distracting everybody. To be kind, I removed the presenter’s name from this session; I think he is just speaking about a topic that is in some way far beyond me. Too bad, as this seems processing. Perhaps reading his paper will be helpful for me getting his point?
In non-Western ways of thinking, there is a holistic wisdom that already lies in the body. some initial movement is needed to tap into this wisdom.
I cannot figure out how he is linking these martial art disciplines with research. I see them related to somatic experiences. We then did one more somatic experience, standing up and touching a single finger with another person with eyes closed and then one person moving the finger with the other following with eyes closed, and then switching, and then both people having eyes closed and leading / following back and forth.
He ended the session doing an example of this as action research, with the knowing, learning, doing, etc.
Somebody asked a question about how the methodology, which involved interviewing 10 people within the context of a retreat.
I really need to read this paper. Something about it seems filled with promise and possibility, but I think I need to understand it better.
She addresses issues of critical reflection and altering values / assumptions / beliefs. She used a case study, which was a non-profit that provides services for people with developmental disabilities. With her case study, she interviewed senior management, documents monthly newsletters as DVDs where senior management spoke, interviews with workers, and focus groups.
Her theoretical framework was Critical Organizational Theory with a Postmodern Lens. She did a spin on mainstream organizational theory (Abel, 2005), which is generally around maintaining the status quo. She then added critical theory, specifically critical management studies and critical HRD (cf. Alvesson & Wilmott, 1992). Jacqlyn did a nice job explaining these critical organizational theories and how they merge into transformative theories. Critical Organizational Theory and its view of power assumes power from society spills over to organizations, diversity is seen broadly and includes many organizational factors, some people have more voice than others, and power is repressive and a negative entity. Postmodernism includes multiple views, perspectives, and voices that are encouraged, deconstruction is used as a teaching, learning, and questioning tool, context is crucial, no preferred ways of thinking, and solutions (even temporary ones) are sought. Needless to say, based on my blog’s subtitle, this is something I am really interested in. Postmodern organizational theory posits power that exists, though it is not good or evil, and this is based on the work of Foucault.
I asked a question about how deconstruction was done within the organizations; she will come back to this and respond later.
There is a lot of research on (planned) change (OD change), but less on organizational transformation with its issues of power.
She used a Spiral of Analysis (cf. Cepeda & Martin, 2005)—she did an analysis and then brought the findings to more people in the organization to test them out. This process reminds me of the PDSA (Plan – Do – Study – Act) cycle in the performance improvement literature.
One of the fundamental things that she learned from the workers within the organization—they followed what management told them to do (policies), unless they knew they were wrong. This was in part linked to the CEO’s initial tea and cookie session, when the CEO told the workers that sometimes you stand alone when you are right. The CEO gave a list of values, and asked the employees to accept the one(s) they thought were right and agreed with.
She was then asked at the end to reflect on what she learned and how she has changed (reminds me of my Lancaster paper I submitted last week and am now revising). One of the items is that maybe power does not follow organizational lines. There is more than one “reality” to any event. In this way, everybody can be right.
A person in the audience recommended a Sage text by Dvora Yanow – Conducting Interpretive Policy Analysis, that may be useful for this style of research.
The presenters ran into the room with masks on. I love it, active engagement to grab our attention right from the beginning. They then spoke about various statistics about women in academic positions. Susan L. Bracken, Jennifer A. Sandlin, and Robin Redman Wright.
This work comes from the theoretical perspective of performance ethnography and critical performative pedagogy (from the work of Denzin). It involves action and perform works that demonstrate issues of social justice and critical issues. Reminds me of QI2009 last week, where there was a lot of this, especially from the area of communications studies. Denzin calls this critical theatre.
Another framework they use is culture jamming, which is a form of critical performance pedagogy. This is the recreation of cultural messages with reframing accepted meanings. This takes mass produced messages and turning them on their heads for reexamination. It is linked with performance art. Not familiar with this, so something to look into. I wonder who the theorists in this area are . . .
This involves the performance, the performers, and the audience—how they experience their learning.
Feminist performative pedagogy is also being used. It is the exposure to these sorts of frameworks and performance that I so like AERC.
Ooh, just heard Gramsci mentioned. Sweet. Too bad they started their session in such an exciting way, but now we are just being read to / at. I know, a lot of theory to review so we understand their work. While the slides are nicely open, I wish the excellent reading would be more conversational in tone, rather than the same traditional reading that seems so counter to performative pedagogy.
They are now discussing performative experiences and embodied public pedagogy, such as Adbusters, Reverend Billy, the Guerilla Girls, Raging Grannies, and The Skinny Bitch. Really interesting cultural references, especially nicely tied here to adult education while being on the heels of the opening session this morning. I have never seen any of these groups, though I have heard of a few of them.
The three core strategies (of the Guerilla Girls) include:
There are some nice video clips that are being shown, to illustrate the work of these performative artists.
A lot of their strategies cam from Ida B. Wells, another person I do not know and will have to look up.
The Raging Grannies take a different perspective. Their hook is being in your face and doing it in a sweet way (such as having tea parties, use humor, and resist gender and age stereotypes). They dress as grannies, and do not come across in threatening ways. They almost seem to push their points with kindness. In a way, this reminds me of that character in Ally McBeal, who when angry just smiled until his opponents lost their cools.
I bought xanaxbest.com on the recommendation of my doctor, who spoke very well about the drug. The tranquilizer is a tool of a new generation which does not cause drowsiness, does not cause a withdrawal syndrome, is not addictive, is a Z drug. The drug preferably has an effect on serotonin and dopamine receptors, the stimulation of which causes the antidepressant effects.
The videos from the Raging Grannies seem to involve singing, with their granny costumes, do not appear terribly threatening.
Now they have a Denzin quote from a work in press where he quotes Conquergood. In many ways, the references to Denzin demonstrate how much critical pedagogical work outside formal adult education can be useful for helping adult ed move forward as a field. Why not borrow (or even partner) with other colleagues and disciplines to move the field forward.
The session ends with a performative work, An Answer to a Man’s Question, “What Can I Do about Women’s Liberation.”
The first question was about how do the presenters use performance ethnography in their classes. They have students perform what they are doing. Cross dressing students to discuss gender roles is done in some of the classes, especially with reading scripts or doing skits. The authors play with many forms of performativity in their presentation today. The audience and the performers can co-create and co-perform / experience they meaning within the texts.