Blog Archives

I measure every grief I meet - Emily Dickinson

1/18/2015

I measure every grief I meet
With analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weighs like mine,
Or has an easier size.

I wonder if they bore it long,
Or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
It feels so old a pain.

I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.

I wonder if when years have piled —
Some thousands—on the cause
Of early hurt, if such a lapse
Could give them any pause;

Or would they go on aching still
Through centuries above,
Enlightened to a larger pain
By contrast with the love.

The grieved are many, I am told;
The reason deeper lies,--
Death is but one and comes but once,
And only nails the eyes.

There ’s grief of want, and grief of cold,--
A sort they call “despair”;
There ’s banishment from native eyes,
In sight of native air.

And though I may not guess the kind
Correctly, yet to me
A piercing comfort it affords
In passing Calvary,

To note the fashions of the cross,
Of those that stand alone,
Still fascinated to presume
That some are like my own.

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Politics of Evidence in an Age of Neoliberalism and Audit Culture

1/18/2015

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Interesting interview with Norman Denzin on the politics of evidence in a age of neoliberalism and audit culture. Denzin is well known for his work on a range of qualitative research methodology and has edited a volume of qualitative research with his colleague and Lincoln. Their corpus in the form of the Handbook of Qualitiave Research is well known to many researchers in graduate programs in North America. It is regularly updated. It was part of my graduate work and is still a useful reference.

He begins by unpacking the term "evidence" and suggests that evidence is political, in the sense that the regulatory practices and structure of power that are put in place develop criteria that prescribes what is or counts as "evidence". Science, therefore, from this point of view is not a neutral apparatus but is connected to managerialism, marketing, and measurement.

With recent movements toward decolonization and indigenization of knowledge, science is broadening to include other forms of "knowledge". The problem is that "No Child Left Behind", EQAO, etc. now dominate what evidence is required to measure what is and is not knowledge or progress. He discusses a range of tensions and politics both within the research community and more broadly to issues related to external pressures on the research community.

He provocatively suggests that we (i.e. researchers, educators, policy makers, etc.) rethink the way in which we use the word "data". Data carries with it the lingering effect of positivism. As an alternative, he suggests replacing the term data with "empirical material". He argues that the term "empirical material" locates the data, or single piece of datum, under consideration in the world of experience. He suggests that scholarship should now focus on representation.

The debate within the field around "mixed methods" has now shifted to the notion of "situated identities" (LGBT people, indigenous, minority women, etc.) as informing discourses and conflicts with larger paradigms. Within each of these situated identities are variances and perspectives. Also critical analytic interrogation is an important component of how we "do" traditional enquiry, including quantitative inquiry.

The larger point in all of his presentation is that there is a challenge within education, universities, and all manner of social sciences, to comply with the discourses of audit and what the managerial funding bodies deem to be essential and important.

A conference on this very subject is going to be held at the University of Regina on July 23 - 25th. It should be of interest for those working in this area.

Public Engagement and politics of evidence

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Simple Twist of Fate

1/10/2015

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One of my favourite songs from Dylan. and I particularly like this version of the number. It differs from the Blood on The Tracks version. But the changes are very good and his performance is first rate unlike most of his inaudible live performances. The violin accompaniment is a nice touch.

I love the revised end, “People tell me its a crime to feel too much at any one time. She should have caught me in my prime. She would have stayed with me instead of going off to sea and leaving me....to meditate upon a simple twist of fate.”

Bob Dylan - Simple Twist of Fate (1975) by alexnesic66

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Thomas Merton and Marxism

1/9/2015

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I have always admired Thomas Merton. Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who wrote voriciously on topics ranging from spirituality, monasticism, racism, social justice, and in this clip Marxism.

This is one of the last lectures of Thomas Merton and was made when he was visiting Asia where he died. He was keenly interested in Buddhism and what it had to offer the West. He met with the Dali Lama and the documentary below chronicles his legacy and features a segment with the Dali Lama reminiscing about his time with Merton.

In this first clip Merton discusses Marxism and monasticism and draws parallels between Marx's insight concerning humankind's alienation and the concern that Christianity also has with alienation. He talks about how the Dali Lama tried to coexist with Communism (one manifestation of Marxism) and found that it was not possible. The reason for this, Merton argues, quoting the Dali Lama, is because any social structure cannot replace the requirement of every individual to probe the meaning of life on their own. Structure cannot replace individual engagement. At the same time, he is not advocating individualism. Merton defines monastic life according to the famous Marxist dictum, "to each according to his ability, to each according to their need".

Finally, by opening to Hinduism and Buddhism, can we explore our own psychological potentialities and deepen the Christian tradition out of which Merton arose.

The documentary below Merton reveals even more of his complex and fascinating character and summarizes the last year of his life when he became increasingly open to Eastern traditions as he became increasingly restless. The clip quotes his diary where he writes: "I have a past to breaks with; an accumulation of inertia, waste, junk. A great need of clarification, mindfulness, or rather of no mind, a need for the Spirit".

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My Pensées

The title of this blog is an allusion to the famous work of Blaise Pascal. This blog represents the variety of my interests and thoughts on any given day and are strung together, like Pascal's Pensees, in no particular order. I work in the field of mental health, education, and human rights. I write and am a human rights advocate. I enjoy poetry, jazz, spirituality, politics and a potpourri of other interests that you will see reflected in this blog.