Remember little tongue...

 

Just reading an extract from Etienne Wenger's (1998) Communities of practice (page 151): "Who we are lies in the way we live day to day, not just in what we say about ourselves, though that is of course part (but only part) of the way we live. Nor does identity consist solely of what others think or say about us, though that too is part of the way we live. Identity in practice is defined socially not merely because it is reified in a social discourse of the self and of social categories, but also because it is produced as a lived experience of participation in specific communities."

Wow - this is a humbling thought! On a personal and professional level this really hit home and I wanted to take a moment to document this. When I think about all the things I've said to people, said about people, said about myself, not to mention all the things other people have said about me that I know about, all the things people say about me that I don't know about... It made me think about a hymn I remember mum teaching us as kids, "Remember little tongue what you say".

I remember when I was studying for my Masters degree and reading about the inherent political nature of teaching. Everyone has an opinion of what makes a good teacher. Over time, I think most teachers get used to that level of critique. But reading this hit home this morning. Maybe as a result of my ongoing EdD research. One of the things I've learned through my research is that the journey is every bit as much personal as it is professional. Or maybe its a reflection of where I am in my life right now. But the power of this statement is huge, especially when later in the same paragraph you read, "What narratives, categories, roles, and positions come to mean as an experience of participation is something that must be worked out in practice."

("Sarah Stambaugh - boring tongue" by Mike Burns is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.).

This phrase "experience of participation" is repeated a couple of times on this page and it made me think about my experience of being part of various communities.  With my theoretical head on, I could wax lyrical about Crenshaw's Theory of Intersectionality and the communities I was and am involved in, both personal and professional.  But what I realised today was that, when individuals (or members communities) bother me, annoy me, upset me or make me feel unsafe I always react in the same way.  When my experience of participation in any social situation becomes difficult, threatening or scary I walk away often burning bridges as I go.  I don't take the time to work things out in practice.  I run away like a scared child in a playground running away from the bullies.

Now I've given enough space in my blog to personal issues that I've written about before.  But what I learned today isn't about this.  It's about asking the question of what does it say about a person when they have no communities to participate in?  What does it say about their identity?  What does it mean when the size of a community is reduced to a single person?  Or a small group of people who never see each other?  Are they deliberately being rejecting/challenging social norms?  Or have they been isolated/rejected by society?

If, as Wenger suggests, Identity is a complex layering of events of participation and reification by which our experience and its social interpretation inform each other, then a community of one person lends to reification of the self for there is inherently no other frame of reference.  Moreover, the constant negotiation of the self becomes a null and void process since there is no need for such negotiation.  In reference to the dimensions of identity that Wenger refers to, mutuality of engagement is undermined resulting in a return to academic knowledge being equated to a position of personal power or, conversely, not knowing as an academic deficit.  In terms of accountability to an enterprise, our perspective becomes one dimensional and , additionally, in terms of negotiability of a repertoire, we become stuck in historical practices that have ever declining relevance and value.  

("Venn of Identity" by psd is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

Notably, each of these dimensions of identity are derived from his model of dimensions of competence.  In other words, without a community we are unable to display our competence.  If we know who we are by what is familiar, understandable, usable and negotiable, is it possible that non-participation in communities, or infrastructural changes to those communities which render the familiar unfamiliar, incomprehensible and unusable eats at our very competence as professionals?

References

Wenger, E. (1998)  Communities of Practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.