I'm doing a talk on Monday to my School on qualitative research, and my big theme is that qualitative research far too much qualitative research is saying far too little. Ideas, theory and philosophy are being squeezed out by an unhealthy concern for research methods. This point is made far more elegantly here which, if I'd had it when I was writing my talk, would have saved me a lot of time. http://chronicle.com/article/Neuroscience-Is-Ruining-the/150141/ … [Read more...] about The shrinking world of ideas
The Pedagogy of Suffering: Four Fragments
Abstract This paper is a collection of small, formal and informal writings and is part of the early groundwork we have been doing together on the topic of the pedagogy of suffering, a phrase that has certainly given pause to many colleagues we have spoken to. We are trying to understand and articulate how and why suffering can be pedagogical in character and how it is often key to authentic and meaningful acts of teaching and learning. We are exploring threads from both the hermeneutic tradition and from Buddhism, in order to decode our understandable rush to ameliorate suffering at every turn and to consider every instance of it as an error to be avoided at all costs. We also look to these … [Read more...] about The Pedagogy of Suffering: Four Fragments
Phantom limb pain and embodiment
An extract from a recent book review of Cassandra S. Crawford's, Phantom Limb: Amputation, Embodiment and Prosthetic Technology. New York: New York University Press, 2014. Pp. vii + 307. £15.99. ISBN 978 0 8147 6012 3. 'George Dedlow, a fictional nineteenth-century amputee said: ‘About one half of the sensitive surface of my skin is gone, and thus much of [my] relation to the outer world destroyed …’ (p. 110). 'This quote, like much of this book left me thinking. Some of those thoughts flitted around being fascinated, surprised, but also a bit depressed. With that maelstrom of impressions, if you are interested in thinking about the nature of bodies and how our (supposed) relationship … [Read more...] about Phantom limb pain and embodiment