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Travels around identity: Transforming cultures of learned colonisation
Abstract
This paper is about: developing critical understandings about the nature and origins of one’s personal and professional identity; learning how to transform uncritically internalised and potentially damaging conceptualisations of identity and identity formation; saying why it is important to do so; and considering what kinds of texts can show the processes involved. Becoming critical means not simply accepting that ‘I’ am the person I see in the mirror or the ‘me’ my mother/partner/boss wishes me to be, but actively engaging with the experience of my own living ‘I’. This is especially important for action researchers involved in processes of social transformation, and trying to find ways of living their understandings in practice, which begins with developing capacity in critical self-reflection. Here I tell a story of how this capacity might be achieved, and some of the problematics involved. The story is about how two groups of teachers – one in Ireland and one in South Africa, studying for their higher degrees – and I as their supervisor, managed to find ways of reconceptualising what we thought were our stable identities, how we came to appreciate that those identities were culturally and historically constituted, and how we made our collaborative enquiries public. Thus we found ways of writing new stories about identity and identity formation, which, we hope, will influence new thinking about critical self-reflection in educational practices and research.
... El concepto de "identidad cultural" ha generado numerosas discusiones en el plano sociológico debido a la amplitud de su significado y a la abstracción que requiere su percepción en la realidad. Sin embargo, podemos observar que la inmensa mayoría de los autores relevantes en la materia mantienen la relación que existe entre identidad cultural, cultura y pertenencia a un grupo social determinado (Kijima, 2005;Koc, 2006;McNiff, 2012;O'Connor & Faas, 2012;Steinbach, 2014;Silver, 2015;Velázquez, 2012). ...
... No obstante existe otra corriente de autores que resaltan únicamente el plano espiritual o moral como McNiff (2012), que nos define la identidad cultural como las costumbres, valores y creencias que se comparten con un grupo social y nos dan un sentido de pertenencia al mismo. Estos aspectos serían, la lengua como instrumento de comunicación, las relaciones sociales, los ritos y ceremonias propias o los comportamientos colectivos, es decir, los sistemas de valores y creencias. ...
... Desde un punto de vista antropológico la identidad surge por diferenciación y como reafirmación frente al otro (McNiff, 2012). Así pues, el proceso de adquisición de la identidad cultural surge de la autovaloración y la valoración de sí mismo y de los otros, las cuales permiten al individuo asimilar los rasgos singulares que constituyen parte de su propia conciencia, de aquellos que también integran la social del grupo, y diferenciarlos entre sí (Velázquez, 2012). ...
O fluxo migratorio na Espanha, ambos os imigrantes que recebem e perda de populacao espanhola a outros paises e uma realidade. A populacao marroquina surge como a segunda nacionalidade dos imigrantes que vivem na Espanha o maior em 2014. Depois de Catalunha, Comunidade Autonoma da Andaluzia e a segunda maior proporcao de imigrantes de territorio marroquino espanhol. Para abordar o conhecimento da identidade cultural dos alunos de Marrocos, na Andaluzia, o nosso estudo tem como objetivo determinar a perspectiva dos estudantes marroquinos dos centros de ensino secundario publico andaluz em relacao a sua propria identidade cultural. A populacao do estudo e composta por estudantes marroquinos inscritos nos centros de ensino secundario publico andaluz, atingindo uma amostra final de 891 alunos. Contamos com um tribunal metodologia quantitativa, utilizando o metodo de pesquisa e tipo descritivo. Os principais eixos do nosso instrumento de coleta de dados giram em torno de chegada e trajetoria na Espanha, entre em contato com sua terra natal, os seus pontos de vista sobre as tradicoes marroquinas, aspectos de sua vida atual e sua visao prospectiva de sua vida futura. Os principais resultados do nosso estudo destacam a avaliacao positiva que os alunos das escolas de ensino publico andaluz faz a sua experiencia na Espanha, mesmo para desejar para os seus filhos para continuar no pais; ea importância atribuida a esta continuidade coletiva e transferencia de sentimento marroquino poderosa que eles tem. Em conclusao, podemos dizer que ha um forte senso de identidade marroquino no grupo em estudo, e ainda maior quando se refere ao campo cultural.
... Because this work was conducted in partnership with Papplewick Pumping Station, and made explicit use of art to inform the process of action research, and also as a component of the resulting pedagogical processes, the team also included a group of artists and the educational officer from Papplewick. This was not intended to be a project in which academics imparted knowledge to teachers, and other project members, with the intention that they then shift or adapt their practices in accordance with these new instructions; instead all members of the team were seen as active researchers and producers of knowledge, whose identities and their ways of relating to this project could evolve through a period of dialogue and collaboration (McNiff, 2012). In keeping with this aim the aspiration was to use arts installations to stimulate reflection and dialogue among the research team. ...
... It was, rather, a desire to make explicit and challenge preconceptions, to problematise the aims of the Get Wet project and to form a consensus of values across the team which would underpin our action research. In that respect this was not research which was intended to be neutral or 'value free' (McNiff, 2012); instead the particular values which underpinned this work were intended to emerge from the formation of shared understanding established through a period of reconnaissance which we re-imagined as arts installations. ...
The English education system has recently seen something of a revival of enthusiasm for the use of research both to develop educational practices and to gather evidence about their effectiveness. These initiatives often present action research as a model of individual problem-solving, which, we argue, communicates a limited conception of action research. In this paper we propose an alternative to this ‘problem-solving’ conception of action research that acknowledges the complex, messy nature of action research through the use of arts installations. Specifically, we present the reconnaissance phase of a project which brought together a partnership comprising a water heritage museum, university staff, teachers and artists. A pedagogical adaptation of contemporary installation art theory and practice fostered the exploration of individual and collective understandings of water, and also established a shared approach to curriculum development and ownership of the project among all participants. We propose that this creative practice enhanced and changed the process of reconnaissance; it allowed the group to establish and share commitments to the value of water conservation and generated a wide range of options for our action research.
... All members of host societies, as well as those of origin, have a cultural identity that is the result of the acquisition of a series of qualities or characteristics (values, customs, symbols, beliefs, types of behaviour …) based on their belonging to a specific collective. This article agrees with the widely held opinion that there is a strong relationship between cultural identity, culture and belonging to a specific social group (McNiff, 2012;O'Connor y Faas, 2012;Steinbach, 2014;Silver, 2015;Velázquez, 2012), and especially the relationship between individuals and their community of origin for the configuration of their cultural identity. Deep roots in the society of origin (see Table 3) and time of residence in the society of arrival therefore become essential factors in the construction of individual cultural identity (Fuentes, 2014). ...
The current Spanish society is characterized for an a abundance of immigrants and recently for an emerging migration. The importance of the Moroccan community in Andalusia (Spain) encourages us to contribute for their better integration. It is interesting to know the degree of integration in society and interpersonal relationships. We have used a qualitative methodology with quantitative data, carrying out a stratified sampling to study Moroccan students of ESO. Their life has changed significantly in Spain. However, we estimate important to maintaining their customs and traditions, but we are immersed in a constant process of assimilation of cultural and social norms for the host society. The most common problems are the culture collision, language difficulties, family-school relationships and school segregation. © 2017, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico. All rights reserved.
This study reports the findings of a three-year investigation, which documented the learning experiences of former offenders. My research is informed by a concern about different perceptions of what counts as appropriate provision for Education, Training and Employment (ETE hereafter) offender initiatives that show a tendency to treat ex-offenders in an unhelpful and unproductive manner. Drawing on my own experiences as a former offender, and in later years as a practitioner, mentor and teacher working in numerous provisions since 2004, I contend that the current system of ETE initiatives are, in the main, failing to address the complex and non-conventional learning requirements of those who struggle to adapt to traditional modes of learning. My inspiration for this thesis was grounded in the belief that
for some offenders, including those with substance misuse problems, education can help support and foster a more contented and fulfilled way of living.
My aim was to explore with the men other ways of teaching, learning and service user engagement. I describe how my complicated life history became a valuable pedagogical resource, which enabled me to work in ways that were shown to enrich the life chances and perspectives of other former offenders. My research explores the educational benefits of working in a more caring, compassionate and trusting manner, freed from traditional time restraints. During the previous fourteen years, the people with whom I have worked have highlighted my capacity to connect through authentic communication, as perhaps the most fundamentally compelling aspect of my pedagogy. Rogers (1961) theorised that when positive
regards between persons is unconditional, the human condition is more likely to flourish, as is client growth and development through the quality of relationships. However, the magnitude of this change, if any, cannot be predicted; personal growth and achievement are unique to the person.
This research collected the voices of students in a UK university, better to understand their perception of their ‘moral responsibility’ as trainee early years educators. The UK Early Years Framework states that practitioners will instil in young children an understanding of what is ‘right and wrong’. This is a formidable expectation in itself; yet early years educators are also expected to work ethically, sensitively and respectfully with a wide network of colleagues and stakeholders. This research, carried out through a fully anonymised survey, provided the opportunity for some student teachers to share that where ethical responsibility was concerned, they just didn’t get it. The research found that an understanding was often assumed by tutors and that a more conscious effort needed to be made more explicitly to explore these concepts, and the associated lexicon, within module content.
This chapter explores the benefit of local environment and social knowledge in practitioner-led research in woodlands, alongside some of the obstacles to researching from the field (or woods!). It describes how Good from Woods practitioners developed a research focus, chose, developed and used appropriate methods suited to a woodland context, addressed and overcame some of the barriers to achieving this. It critiques of the fit of certain methods and tools with active, outdoor contexts. The challenges and opportunities of measuring wellbeing in an outdoor setting and with some of the communities natural health services are targeted towards are introduced, prior to their more detailed discussion in the case study chapters. The development of practitioner’s research capacity during Good from Woods provides real-life examples of some of the critical issues raised.
The chapter reports on a project undertaken in Scotland by colleagues from
a Spanish University and a Scottish University, to explore how teachers learn
to become ‘good’ at what they do. Perhaps everyone in teacher education, as
well as parents, is interested in what makes teachers good at what they do but
the voice of ‘good teachers’ themselves is not often heard. Our hope for the
research we undertook and that informs this chapter was that it would help us
understand what characterises good teachers, and lead to improvements in the
pedagogy underpinning qualifying programmes for teachers in Scotland and
Spain, as well as further afield.
Paulo Freire transformed my community development practice with the profound insight that education is politics, offering me the conceptual tools to understand power in society expressed in the stories of ordinary, everyday life and the practical tools to do something about it. He emphasized that his pedagogy had emerged from his own experience in its culture and times. He offered it, not as a blueprint, but as the basis for adapting liberating education in contexts over time and space. This vital perception, that critical pedagogy must be contextualized in its cultural and political times, is the focus of this dialogical paper.
When we start to question stories, asking in whose interests they are told, we see different possibilities for changing the story and therefore changing the world. From a Freirean perspective, this chapter poses the need for a critical living praxis, a unity of theory and action based on lived experience, and proposes that emancipatory action research (EAR) provides us with the “glue” needed to integrate thinking and doing. With social justice at its heart, EAR involves critical consciousness to expose structural discrimination by challenging dominant narratives, a process of denunciation. Creating practical counternarratives of hope and possibility is a parallel process of annunciation, stories that aspire to better societies built on fairness and equality, which inspire participants to act together to change the course of history.
Engaging non-native pre-service English teachers who are still learning the language themselves requires two tasks: facilitating their language teaching skills and scaffolding their language learning. This action research interfaced Facebook and Photovoice technologies in order to empower participants to be proactive in their language learning and teaching skills. Using pedagogy of empowerment and collaboration, the researchers tracked the participants' impressions regarding the interface's role in strategizing their language learning and teaching skills enhancement. Data for this study are the participants' mid- and post-semester feedback, reflection papers, and engagement matrix from the class Facebook page. Results suggest that the instructional design of blending technology (i.e., Facebook and Photovoice), pedagogy of empowerment, and collaboration was effective in empowering participants to take responsibility for their own learning, thereby improving their language learning and teaching skills.
Many contemporary education systems encourage the notion of the teacher as practitioner-researcher as part of their professional learning agenda. Simultaneously, it is acknowledged that practitioner research might be remodelled in local contexts when used to support educational reform. This paper describes respondents’ theories of how a particular cultural phenomenon, ‘kiasuism’, profoundly shapes the type of work teachers do as researchers in Singapore schools. ‘Kiasu’ can be defined as the notion of ‘being afraid to lose out’ and ‘winning at all costs’. In highlighting such insights, this study aims to foster greater cultural and contextual sensitivity by providing a more nuanced understanding of the Singapore context. Twenty participants, including academics, policy-makers and teachers, were involved in this investigation.
School inspection, school self-evaluation and the relationship between them are important themes in current educational policy debates. Many education systems are seeking to find a balance between the, at times, conflicting demands for a robust, transparent and effective system of school evaluation that at the same time allows for professional growth and development within schools. These tensions play out in different ways across different systems and this paper seeks to explore points of commonality and contrast between the Irish and Icelandic experience. The paper begins by reporting research in Ireland which demonstrates that while self-evaluation is theoretically a key component of the national system of school evaluation, in reality there is little sign of it emerging in any significant way in practice in schools. In contrast, research from Iceland is reported which shows that, after a slow beginning, self-evaluation in schools is now bearing fruit in a variety of ways. From these diverse experiences, some conclusions are drawn concerning the conditions under which self-evaluation can become embedded in education systems.
This volume offers an exploration of major changes in the way
knowledge is produced in science, technology, social science,
& humanities, arguing that a new mode of knowledge production
promises to replace or radically reform established
institutions, disciplines, practices, & policies. A range of
features - reflexivity, transdisciplinarity, heterogeneity -
associated with the new mode of knowledge production are
identified to illustrate the connections between them & the
changing role of knowledge in social relations.
Methodological difficulties inherent in attempts to describe
a new mode of knowledge production are discussed, &
implications of this mode for science policy & international
economic competitiveness, collaboration, & globalization are
treated. The book is particularly relevant for those
concerned with educational systems, the changing nature of
knowledge, the social study of science, & the connections
between research & development, & social, economic, &
technological development. The book is presented in 7 Chpts
with a Preface & an Introduction. (1) Evolution of Knowledge
Production. (2) The Marketability and Commercialisation of
Knowledge. (3) Massification of Research and Education. (4)
The Case of the Humanities. (5) Competitiveness,
Collaboration and Globalisation. (6) Reconfiguring
Institutions. (7) Towards Managing Socially Distributed
Knowledge. References accompany each Chpt. 2 Tables. W.
Howard (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all
rights reserved.)
Many definitions of postmodernism focus on its nature as the aftermath of the modern industrial age when technology developed. This book extends that analysis to postmodernism by looking at the status of science, technology, and the arts, the significance of technocracy, and the way the flow of information is controlled in the Western world.
Presents an animal model of how learned helplessness may manifest itself as depression and anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Experience and Educationis the best concise statement on education ever published by John Dewey, the man acknowledged to be the pre-eminent educational theorist of the twentieth century. Written more than two decades after Democracy and Education(Dewey's most comprehensive statement of his position in educational philosophy), this book demonstrates how Dewey reformulated his ideas as a result of his intervening experience with the progressive schools and in the light of the criticisms his theories had received. Analysing both "traditional" and "progressive" education, Dr. Dewey here insists that neither the old nor the new education is adequate and that each is miseducative because neither of them applies the principles of a carefully developed philosophy of experience. Many pages of this volume illustrate Dr. Dewey's ideas for a philosophy of experience and its relation to education. He particularly urges that all teachers and educators looking for a new movement in education should think in terms of the deeped and larger issues of education rather than in terms of some divisive "ism" about education, even such an "ism" as "progressivism." His philosophy, here expressed in its most essential, most readable form, predicates an American educational system that respects all sources of experience, on that offers a true learning situation that is both historical and social, both orderly and dynamic.
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