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The disorienting dilemma versus the event: Adult education, social change, and the theories of Jack Mezirow and Alain Badiou
No full textWe live in appalling times, in which it is almost impossible to remain hopeful; for radical adult educators, it is difficult to know what we should do in response. In this article, I draw on two theorists for possible inspiration. Jack Mezirow’s perspective transformation theory is one of the most widely used of all adult learning theories, but also continues to be critiqued as a theory of social change. Alain Badiou’s theory of the event has not as yet been considered within adult education. I consider whether and how these might help us think through our role in current times
Ageism and Sexism in Films with Older People as the Lead
No full textExamination of ageism and sexism in films can reveal aspects of cultural norms and values. Utilizing content analysis, representations of older people who were the lead in a film were analyzed from a 20-year time frame. Forty-six characters from 28 US and UK films were evaluated employing a screening tool based on five ageism scales. Results indicated that positive stereotypes were found more often, particularly for female leads. Portrayals largely represented a model of “successful aging;” that is, active and without significant health issues. Consistent with past research, women were underrepresented, and people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community were nearly absent, substantiating continued marginalization in film. This study also adds to the substantiative literature by demonstrating that while films perpetuate the neoliberal pressure to maintain middle-age health standards, some shifts toward a more balanced portrayal of older adulthood are occurring. As many countries experience an aging of the population, pressure from the “silver economy” may challenge ageist presentations in film, including the double standard of aging
The possibility of mutual recognition: What we can learn from the tragedy of Achilles
No full textI first began seriously thinking about the term “mutual recognition” after reading bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress when I was a doctoral student in 2007. Since then, it has been central to my pedagogical practice at the City University of New York where I teach beginning and pre-service teachers as well as doctoral candidates. The writings of hooks, alongside those of Paulo Freire and Lisa Delpit, and with a tradition that extends back as far as Socrates, embrace dialogical engagement to guide students to know themselves and each other. With that awareness, as Freire writes, they have the potential to “intervene in their reality” and “emerge from submersion.” Mutual recognition also, vitally, requires teachers, who are in a position of official power in the classroom, and who often come from radically different backgrounds and life experiences than their students, to purge themselves of their beliefs and biases, at least temporarily, so that they can guide their students and themselves in this process of acknowledgment and empathy. This is very difficult to do well. Though much has been written about mutual recognition within educational scholarship, my recent reading of Emily Wilson’s new translation of the Iliad, and the current state of the world which the Iliad well reflects though it was composed over 3000 years ago, impressed upon me the urgency of practicing mutual recognition in the wider world that we share
Water plus what? On the politics of addition in the good economy of climate adaptation
No full textIn this article, I trace the transformation of climate adaptation in Denmark into a good economy. Empirically, I explore a shift in rainwater management from building sewers underground to making cheaper solutions on the surface. Moreover, these solutions are expected not only to handle rainwater but also to “add value,” particularly recreational value. I call this approach the politics of addition, emphasizing that it entails a specific set of principles for doing good while adapting to climate change. Theoretically, I relate this politics of addition to the concept of the good economy. By drawing on the orders of worth perspective, I emphasize how good economies are compromises between multiple versions of the good and that these compromises need to be stabilized through so-called composite objects. Relying mainly on document material supplemented by interviews, I identify several composite objects in climate adaptation, including tools of valuation as well as specific projects. By analyzing these composite objects, I describe how the politics of addition compromises several versions of the good in climate adaptation, eventually promising that adding value will ease “the battle for space” in cities by composing economic, technical, and recreational value into the same facilities
Ordförrådets betydelse för läsning
No full textVårt samhälle ställer stora och varierade krav på individers språkliga och skriftspråkliga färdigheter. Det är en nödvändighet att ha god språk- läs - och skrivförmåga, att vara litterat. En viktig del i att vara litterat innebär att förstå läst text
Barns delaktighet i förskolans dokumentation
No full textI många förskolor brottas man med frågan om hur barnen kan bli eller göras delaktiga i förskolans dokumentation. Pedagogisk dokumentation anses ofta vara ett sätt att göra barn delaktiga. Min studie visar att barn inte nödvändigtvis blir delaktiga bara för att man använder pedagogisk dokumentation, utan att de kan bli mer eller mindre delaktiga oavsett vilken dokumentationsmetod som används
Resurspersonal i skolan – vad visar forskningen?
No full textI skolan ökar användningen av resurspersonal för elever i behov av särskilt stöd. ”Resurserna” innefattar främst elevassistenter, lärarassistenter och fritidshemspersonal, men även andra personalkategorier. Det gemensamma för personalgruppen är att den generellt sett har liten eller ingen utbildning för att möta elever i svårigheter. Trots det är det vanligt att resurspersonal, särskilt elevassistenter, anställs för att arbeta med elever i behov av särskilt stöd, men arbetsuppgifterna är sällan tydligt formulerade
Teachers’ dialect use and the newly arrived learner in a technical VET programme in Norway
No full textFor new speakers of Norwegian, oral comprehension in school is significantly challenged by teachers’ use of dialect in oral communication. It can be argued that this is especially pronounced in vocational education and training (VET), where oral skills are both a foundational learning tool during training, and an integral component of professional vocational competence. This study examines VET teachers’ use of dialect in oral communication and its impact on newly arrived students’ participation and learning. Based on a linguistic ethnographic investigation of the linguistic challenges faced by newly arrived students as they transition to mainstream VET classes, the article highlights pedagogical, linguistic, and ideological dimensions inherent in teachers’ dialect use. The main finding is that teachers’ use of dialect runs the risk of jeopardising students’ oral comprehension, and thus their learning and inclusion in school. We conclude that dialect comprehension is largely taken for granted and that there is an underlying preconception that the default learner in Norwegian school is the learner who has a Norwegian-cultural and Norwegian-language background, including long exposure to the Norwegian dialects. It is high time that this preconception is challenged. Theoretically, the study is situated within the critical sociolinguistic tradition and draws on concepts from theory on language ideologies
Towards Artificial Wildlife: Speciesism and Intelligent Machines
No full textDuring the recent debates on the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), fears have been expressed about the possible dominance of intelligent machines over humans. In this article we explore the foundations on which this dystopian perspective of the threat to human sovereignty posed by the development of AI has been based. The research hypothesis is that the idea of the potential (future) supremacy of intelligent and ultraintelligent machines is based on the same intelligence-driven prejudice as represented by the theory of speciesism. If machines are seen as a new species, they not only differ from non-human animals but also follow a reverse course of development, regarding their relationship with man. Following this line of thought, we claim that a gradual ‘undomestication’ of machines is witnessed; a transition to a new state, which is further evidenced through the examination of the concepts of “autonomy” and “consciousness”. Finally, it is argued that the theoretical background to study and interpret scenarios about machine dominance over humans is already here. It is applied in the field of ethics and in particular, of environmental ethics
Defending and Disputing Human Rights
No full textThis article demonstrates how ethics, understood as the theoretical analysis of morality, contribute to the discussion of disagreements over human rights. It starts with an elaboration on the disagreements between proponents of human rights and proceeds to disagreements between human rights proponents and sceptics. It is argued that there are strong reasons to endorse pluralism of human rights. This endorsement includes both ideational disagreements and material conflicts. However, it does not prevent us from defending human rights as a powerful emancipatory project. Open normative universalism, which views moral as well as legal human rights as socially constructed, is presented as an ethical position that secures the democratic dimension of human rights