[Announce] Follett Conversation on Creative Democracy: Research Tea

[announce at comm-org.utoledo.edu]

From:           	"Matthew Shapiro" <mshapiro21 at cableone.net>


The Mary Parker Follett Conversation on Creative Democracy 2004
-- October 21-24 Boise, Idaho, USA

Proposed Research Conversation Teams

The following teams have been proposed and are open for
participation. If you are interested in joining one of these
teams, please contact the appropriate team coordinator as soon as
possible. You must be willing to attend the Follett Conversation
in person in order to participate (see the Call for Participants
on our website, www.follettfoundation.org). 

It is highly recommended that you join one of these teams and
participate in the preparatory phase if you plan to attend the
Follett Conversation. However, attendees who have not chosen a
team may find openings at the Conversation event, depending on
the policy of the teams.

Important: The registration deposit of $50 is due by July 1, with
the balance of $175 due August 1. Travel and accommodations are
the responsibility of the attendee. We have hotel recommendations
listed in the Call for Participants, which can be downloaded from
www.follettfoundation.org.

List of Teams (followed by full descriptions)

Team A: Education for Full Participation in a Democracy
Team B: Social Justice Through Literacy
Team C: Imagining a Creative America - A Performance and Town
Meeting Team D: Envisioning an Iraqi Model of Democracy

TEAM A:
Education for Full Participation in a Democracy
Mike Poutiatine, Mark Beattie, Dr. Karen Norum, Colleen Daniel,
Brian Dunlap makalu1 at earthlink.net

We believe that in order to "fulfill the promise of  democracy as
a creative experience, one that releases both personal and social
potential, from the local to the global level," every individual
must be able to participate fully in such a society. Furthermore,
full participation requires a certain amount of shared beliefs
and behaviors-culture, to be short-which society transmits to its
members through a process known generally as "education."

Social institutions of education, therefore, must promote the
beliefs and behaviors necessary for full participation in
democracy in order to release the potential of that promise.

Triggering Question: From this conclusion arises our question:
What does it mean to be educated for full participation in a
democracy?

We propose to pursue this question through study and conversation
in several themes, including but not limited to ·          the
relationship of education and social justice ·          the role
of leadership in democratic education ·          the relationship
between participative democracy and education ·          the
value, necessity, and process of educational reforms

Preparation: To address this question completely some
understanding of the American vision of the public school might
be in order, as well as an understanding of the development of
the public school idea in our national consciousness.

Our team currently consists primarily of students and faculty in
the Gonzaga University Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies,
but we would benefit from collaboration with individuals willing
to join our study. We especially welcome people with expertise or
experience in the thematic areas mentioned above who are willing
to continue reading and dialoguing with us over the coming
months.  We intend to make use of the on-line BlackBoard learning
system as much as we can.  We can enroll others from outside
Gonzaga University in the BlackBoard system.


TEAM B:
Social Justice Through Literacy
Anne Gregory, Carolyn Loffer, Mary Ann Rawley, Jennifer
Snow-Gerono, and Debra Yates agregory at boisestate.edu

The lens of literacy in this theme proposal is used as a means
for studying social justice in teaching and learning. According
to Henkin (1998), literacy offers a vehicle for helping "all of
our students to gain greater understanding and insight into all
the peoples of the world. Literacy can serve as a tool to open
our worlds and help us to better understand and accept all human
beings" (p. 3). Likewise, Gee (1992) offers the notion of
literacy as an "identity kit," where people associate with
particular social groups through the use of language. Gee's
(1992) definition of literacy expands the concept to the act of
reading and utilizing multiple literacies, "Literacy is control
of secondary uses of language" (p. 25). According to Slonaker
(2001), it is through language learning that we gain the
meta-knowledge to critique the multiple discourses we encounter
in our everyday lives. Thus, Gee's definition of literacy
contributes "some degree of being able to 'use,' [and] to
'function' with." language (Gee, 1992, p. 26). This conversation
is geared toward broadening educators' consideration(s) of
literacy and how it may be used to teach for social justice
(Henkin, 1998).

Literacy learning is socially constructed (Comber & Nixon, 1999;
Gee, 1992, 2001). Situated at the center of literacy rests an
adherence to power and power relationships constructed through
interactions and participation in social groups. As literacy
educators, we often invite children to join the 'literacy club'
without considering whose clubs they are, what kinds of
identities are required, and who might be excluded (Comber &
Nixon, 1999; Delpit, 1995). We are mitigating and minimizing the
potential of pedagogy for social justice. This reluctance to
examine the unanticipated effects of school literacy, literacy
practices, and forms of literacy creates a normative rather than
transformative context for learning that enables images and myths
of children and their learning to be generated. Without an
analysis of how language and literacy practices work in social
and political contexts for and against groups, we perpetuate the
stories that have and are continuing to be told about literacy
learning, a normative perspective.

Triggering Question: How do the present and constructed Discourse
structures (i.e., "enacting meaningful socially situated
identities and activities" (Gee, 2001, p. 35)) in classrooms
promote and perpetuate the values, beliefs, and power of the
dominant cultural group?

Preparation:  Originators of this theme would like to see
participants engage in an exploration of literature surrounding
literacy, teaching for social justice, and democratic education
in an effort to build a framework for this conversation prior to
the June start of distance-based inquiry.

New Participants: The team is open to new participants until July
1.


TEAM C:
Imagining a Creative America - A Performance and Town Meeting Tom
Tresser tom at creativeamerica.us

This team would create an event that combines elements of
performance, spoken word, lecture and town meeting. The idea is
to celebrate creativity as a fundamental American value and vital
to the continued vigor of its body politic and economy. The core
of the event is to have participants give voice to their personal
vision of what a Creative America looks like or what it would
require in order for every citizen to be able to express her full
creativity and contribute to the fullest. We capture these
statements real-time on video and by a visual facilitator who
creates a visual synthesis of the statement using icons, cartoons
and text. This is done on large sheets of butcher paper on the
wall - the effect is to create a wall-sized tapestry of the
collective vision statements. This over-sized document becomes a
non-traditional policy statement which my organization folds into
an ongoing series of such statements.

Triggering Question: What would it take for America to be a
country where every person could express or fulfill their
creativity to the max - thus being able to contribute and invent
new possibilities for us all?

Preparation: Read "The Rise of the Creative Class" by Richard
Florida. See www.creativeclass.org.

New Participants: This group would be open to all who wanted to
explore the subject.


TEAM  D:
Envisioning an Iraqi Model of Democracy
Matthew Shapiro
mshapiro at follettfoundation.org

The war in Iraq has ostensibly sought to create a "clean slate"
for political reform in a recently totalitarian nation. But is
there such a thing as a "clean slate" for a complex society with
ancient roots? There is an intention on the part of Westerners to
see established a secular, Western-style democracy succeed in
Iraq. Can such a model succeed there? A competing alternative may
be found in Islamist participatory concepts such as consultative
leadership, consensus, and reinterpretation of traditional
ideals. While an Islamist model of democracy might be more
readily accepted, it may not be any easier to realize than a
Western secular model, because democracy in any form is a way of
life that needs to be learned generation by generation.

Triggering Question: How could a model of creative democracy be
developed that is authentically Iraqi, draws from the diversity
of Iraqi society, and sets an example for other nations
(particularly Islamic nations) undergoing political transition?

Preparation: In our preparation phase, we will consider the
cultural, social, political, and historical context of Iraq
through both common and individual readings. Participants might
divide the task of researching various aspects and then reporting
their findings to the group. Due respect will be given to the
principle that we cannot design a democracy for the Iraqi people;
only they can do that. But we may be able to offer scaffolding
that has added value during this time of conflict and
opportunity.

New Participants: This team is fully open to new participants
until July 1.