Jared’s Blog

Europeanization, Nationalism and Technology Transfers in Historical Perspective

This week’s readings presented a real intellectual outlook on technology’s influence on nationalism and global transfer of technology on economic nationalism. McQuire (2006) links modernity to the technological achievements of ‘the West’ especially given technology’s instrumental involvement in colonial expansion. A sophisticated society has been made synonomous with a technological society: by contrast a society not emersed by technology has been described as “backwards”

Edgerton (2007) refers to the idea of Techno-globalism as technology creating a “global village” where nations are viewed as temporary vehicles with which techno-globalism operates through.

References:

Edgerton, D. 2007, ‘The Contradictions of Techno-Nationalism and Techno-Globalism: A Historical Perspective’, New Global Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, pp.1-32

McQuire, Scott 2006, ‘Technology’, Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 23 nos 2-3 pp. 253-269

Europe: Out with the Old and in with the New

What is Europe? Indeed as this week’s readings suggest, Europe is a region and a continent. Though as our class debaters realised what exactly is Europe, what are its geographical borders, what is its culture, what are its ideals?

A simple search on Google of “What is Europe” provides many scholarly and opinion articles on what region constitutes Europe. One can find articles debating the legitimacy of certain countries being actively involved in the European Union whilst others present a stark contrast of culture between already defined European nations.

Winston Churchill spoke of the founding “father” of the modern European Idea, Henry Navarre, King of France in saying that he “laboured to set up a permanent committee representing the 15…leading Christian states of Europe” yet in our first reading by Ash Amin (2004) we learn that Europe is “becoming a place of plural and strange belongings” No longer can we define Europe as Christian or as Anglo-Saxon, the traditional idea of the quintessential European is nearly obsolete. 

Interestingly, Joseph Raz (1998) in last week’s reading on Multiculturalism suggests, however, that the European Movement is simply an “integration” of countries of the “Common Market” He defines the European Union as the “big brother” of multiculturalism.

The Old Europe is dying: and to the dismay of many Europeans. The traditional idea of Europe as “civilisation, Christianity, democracy, freedom, white skin” is changing and according to the article it seems that many Europeans are scared of these changes and scared of the increase in foreign workers. There is a general fear of a loss of national identity though an identity that (as was debated) is not always reflected in pan-European events such as the Eurovision contest whereby many countries choose to sing pop-like music in the universal language of English.

Tradition is being held onto steadfast in Europe, as a region not similar to the United States of America or to Australia both defined as nations of Immigrants. Many Europeans are pushing themselves further right on the political spectrum as they elect governments, such as in Austria, that are implementing protectionist policy working towards a preservation of traditional European culture, values and politics.

References:

Amin, Ash 2004, ‘Multi-ethnicity and the Idea of Europe’, Theory, Culture & Society, vol. 21, no. 2, pp1-24

Raz, Joseph 1998, ‘Multiculturalism’, Ratio Juris: An International Journal of Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law, vol. 11, no. 3 pp. 193-205

Multiculturalism vs Pluralism and Identity Politics in between

Calhoun (2002) speaks of identity politics as political activity “organised on the basis of cultural, racial, gender, ethnic or other claims that prioritise a particular group identity and experience.” He alludes this concept to the traditional context of Black activism though more contemporarily we can see its value in what are fast becoming extremely multicultural societies.

Multiculturalism is defined as “the coexistence within the same political society of a number of sizeable cultural groups” these cultural groups often may have influences in political activity. Two examples can be presented to perhaps support this claim:

1. Australia: Australia’s significant Arab population is responsible for numerous protests against the affairs of foreign nations such as the United States and Israel with regards to other Arab States and affairs affecting Islamic and Arab nations.
2. Israel: The Israeli Parliament (Knesset) is made up of 120 seats and numerous parties which represent the needs of particular ethnic groups such as the Arabs, Druze and Jews (depending on religious affiliation – Shepardim, Ashkenazim, Ultra-Orthodox etc).

Whilst by and large the groups of people co-exist in relative harmony their historical ethnicity and religious faith has persuasion on their political ideology. In his argument for homogeneity, Kukathas (1993) suggests that “ethnic or cultural attachments are irrational and archaic, and ought to be eradicated in the course of modernisation.”

Many in the tutorial group argued that multiculturalism has become a by-product of globalisation. This is evident in the ease of travel and communication between countries.

References:

‘Identity politics’ in Calhoun, Craig (ed.) 2002, Dictionary of the Social Sciences, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 222.

Kukathas, Chandran 1993, ‘The Idea of a Multicultural Society’ in Kukathas, Chandran (ed.) Multicultural Citizens. The Philosophy and Politics of Identity, Sydney: The Centre for Independent Studies, pp. 17-30. 
 

France’s Fight Against Linguistic Oppression

Ms Angela Giovanageli spoke this week of French language’s assertiveness to survive the overpowering English language which Nunan (2007) believes will remain the dominant global language for “at least the next fifty years” because of its “pre-eminent position as the language of science, technology, tourism, entertainment and the media.” Agreeing with this sentiment, Giovanageli, in the lecture provided examples of French advertisements in which it is mandated by law that the French language must be used.

Globalisation is often associated with a form of imperialism. Interestingly, Nunan (2007) discusses on page 179 the idea of ‘linguistic imperialism’ whereby invading forces could damage culture through language. It is perhaps therefore evident that the French Government in what some in the tutorial called “French snobbery” is trying to preserve their unique language and culture.

Of course the global world is endangering minority languages though equally, as I said in the tutorial is creating, or at least making it easier for others to learn new languages. I provided the example of Modern Hebrew whereby Jewish immigrants in The Land of Israel in the 1920s adapted Biblical Hebrew to create a new language that would become one of the official languages of the State of Israel in 1948. This language now spoken by many Jews around the world is self-evident that thanks to globalisation and modern technology from our own home we can have easy access to foreign languages, cultures and societies.

References:

Nunan, David 2007, ‘The future of language’, in What is this thing called language? New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 176-188. http://drr.lib.uts.edu.au/file/17985/976001_nunanfuture.pdf

Thanks for watching my vodcast! (And just in case it doesn’t work for you click here to see it on TeacherTube)

To check out the article by Tom March, author of ‘The 7 Red Flags‘ click here. Or if you would like to see our WebQuest feel free to check it out on our wikispace.

A publication by the Australian Communications and Media Authority identifies Australian families with children as ‘media rich’. Our children, for the most part have access to “multiple communications devices”

Some statistics provided are:

• Most families with children aged 8 – 17 have three or more televisions in their home and three or more mobile phones.
• 98% have computers and 97% have a DVD player.
• 9 in 10 family homes with children have the internet 76% of these have broadband.

Despite this the current Australian government continues to blurt claims that we’re behind in this field. Our children are some of the most wealthy in the world both fiscally and with regards to access to various forms of technology. 

We can only hope that much of the worldmeets up to similar standards, especially given so many Australian’s (including myself) choose or will choose to work abroad.

Image source: http://flickr.com/photos/a_mason/7251818/

The ’Digital Natives’ of the 21st Century present a somewhat stark yet enlightening message in this video. Engage them using technology “whatever, whenever, wherever”. Their demands are simple, yet their plight is fearful to many teachers who have simply got lost in this technological world.

One child mentions ”At least once a week 14% of my teachers let me create something new with technology” What of the other teachers? Have they got themselves to blame or have they simply been forgotten and left behind? Who is going to educate them?

Papert in his article The Gears of My Childhood explores the importance of choice and passion in constructionism. The idea that children, on areas with interest can learn with enthusiasm, fun and excitement is illicited to his audience through his own personal anectdote of playing and modelling gears as a child.

The problem is that as prospective teachers we are accountable to ourselves, our student’s, their parents, our employers and (of course) the Board of Studies and the set curriculum. It is over-expecting to assume that every aspect of the curriculum children will have an interest in, so I guess the key to our own success as teachers is to engage children to the best of our ability.

I’ve since discovered (only this year) that maths can be made fun and just wish this prospect had been made sooner to me so  that perhaps I would have had a chance at enjoying maths at school.

Papert suggests we use the computer to “create for themselves something like what the gears were for me.”

In essence he is saying engage student’s through fun and interactive modes of teaching even the most boring of units. What’s available on computers is endless…

The University of Georgia published the article 6 C’s of Motivation which specifically deals with how to increase student motivation within the classroom.

These six C’s:

1. Choice – students get to choose what interests them most.
2. Challenge – making difficult tasks encourages children to strive.
3. Control – “If students are involved in the process of classroom control, they will be more responsible, independent, and self-regulated learners”.
4. Collaboration – encourages student’s to engage sharing their ideas and learning.
5. Constructing meaning – student’s need to know what value the learning has.
6. Consequences – student’s should be able to celebrate their work as a consequence to their achievement.

Are these the soul components to successful student motivation? It just sounds too easy.

And if you’re not convinced you’ll just have to check out Jaqui’s ideas on this.

Now I don’t think there’s one ‘youngen’ around who hasn’t heard the rants of a more senior person about today’s anti-social children who spend more time in front of televisions, computers and other gaming consoles rather than outside playing with friends.

And if you haven’t heard the rants, then you’ve probably heard the reports.

Well, for a fresh daring change, BBC Education team have published an article where they claim (with resources) that Video games ’stimulate learning’

It’s argued that simulation games “developed children’s strategic thinking and planning skills” and contrary to previous claims that it is anti-social children felt one of the most important things is working in teams.