Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revision Previous revision
Next revision
Previous revision
research_report_maggie_buxton [2009-01-22 00:49] 118.93.84.195research_report_maggie_buxton [2020-06-06 11:58] (current) – old revision restored (2009-02-16 01:08) nik
Line 1: Line 1:
-===== Trickser, Transformation and Transdisciplinary Engagement =====+===== Trickster, Transformation and Transdisciplinary Engagement =====
  
  
Line 16: Line 16:
 Environmental and social activists have for years attempted to re-educate humanity to be more responsible for their environment, and more kind to their fellow inhabitants on the planet.  The problem with this work is that much of it is aimed at shifting behaviour level, it is not aimed at shifting mindset, epistemology or consciousness.  And, the challenge at this point in time, is that most of humanity do not even know they have a mindset, let alone have the cognitive capacity to make their epistemology a source of study.     Environmental and social activists have for years attempted to re-educate humanity to be more responsible for their environment, and more kind to their fellow inhabitants on the planet.  The problem with this work is that much of it is aimed at shifting behaviour level, it is not aimed at shifting mindset, epistemology or consciousness.  And, the challenge at this point in time, is that most of humanity do not even know they have a mindset, let alone have the cognitive capacity to make their epistemology a source of study.    
  
-So Foam, and gRig could be seen as subversive tricksters, formed to confound, confuse and ultimately destabilise consensus reality.  The nature of their work is to connect the marginal and foster the surreal.  To take it further, Foam’s notion that we can grow our own world(s) if fully grasped, has the potential to emancipate individuals and groups from a paradigm of apathy, fatalism and co-enabled victimhood. +So Foam, and gRig could be seen as subversive tricksters, formed to confound, confuse and ultimately destabilise consensus reality.  The nature of their work is to connect the marginal and foster the surreal.  To take it further, Foam’s notion that we can grow our own world(s) if fully grasped, has the potential to emancipate individuals and groups from a paradigm of apathy, fatalism and co-enabled victimhood.  This report explores these areas, and attempts to set out an emancipatory framework for the work of gRig using ideas from transformational learning movement, and by examining the qualities of The Trickster.  
 ==== Aim ==== ==== Aim ====
  
 This research project is focussed around discovering **the most effective mechanisms we can use to become more conscious of, and change, our relationship to reality** This research project is focussed around discovering **the most effective mechanisms we can use to become more conscious of, and change, our relationship to reality**
  
-It will connect a number of related disciplines. Transdisciplinary engagement and Hybrid Story-ing are the subject of particular investigation and experimental activity.    +It also has some general aims which include:  
- +  * providing user friendly material that is informative and inspirational to Foam, and to a wider audience that has not encountered these concepts before; 
-The **overall aims** for this process are: +  * encouraging people to grow their own worlds by: writing my blog, facilitating workshops, creating mixed media installations, and discovering and disseminating stories and best practice; 
- +  * facilitating integration of worlds through connecting people and organisations across boundaries in whatever forms feel appropriate to the context 
-  - To provide user friendly material that is informative and inspirational to Foam, and to a wider audience that has not encountered these concepts before +  * supporting and promoting the work of Foam and gRig by increasing knowledge, fostering networks and inspiring their membership
-  - To encourage people to grow their own worlds by: writing my blog, facilitating workshops, creating mixed media installations, and discovering and disseminating stories and best practice. +
-  -  To facilitate integration of worlds through connecting people and organisations across boundaries in whatever forms feel appropriate to the context. +
-  -To support and promote the work of Foam and gRig by increasing knowledge, fostering networks and inspiring their membership+
  
 ==== Method and Scope ==== ==== Method and Scope ====
Line 94: Line 92:
 http://www.un-fiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/expo-of-un-popular-culture.html (item on Greg Broadmore and Weta Studios) http://www.un-fiction.blogspot.com/2008/10/expo-of-un-popular-culture.html (item on Greg Broadmore and Weta Studios)
  
-  * **transdisciplinary facilitation**+  * **[[transdisciplinary facilitation]][[http://lib.fo.am/transdisciplinary_facilitation]]**
  
 +http://un-fiction.blogspot.com/2009/01/trandisciplinary-engagement-and.html
  
 http://www.un-fiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/luminous-green-singapore.html http://www.un-fiction.blogspot.com/2008/06/luminous-green-singapore.html
Line 229: Line 228:
  
  
-In examining the literature it is clear that transformation means different things to different people.  In the sense I am using it, it is a full scale shift in ones consciousnesswhere ones relationship to reality itself is fundamentally different.  Consciousness can be seen to be a state of mind, but also a way of perceiving the world and our place within it.  If we perceive the world to be separate from us, and a place to that can be controlled, and predicted, this leads us to behave in different ways than if we believe ourselves to be part of a complex and continually emerging and evolving web of life.+In examining the literature it is clear that transformation means different things to different people.  In the sense I am using it, it is a shift in ones consciousness. A shift where one'relationship to reality becomes fundamentally different.   
 + 
 +Consciousness is a state of mind, but also a way of perceiving the world and our place within it.  If we perceive the world to be separate from us, and a place to that can be controlled, and predicted, this leads us to behave in different ways than if we believe ourselves to be part of a complex and continually emerging and evolving web of life.
  
 Developmental theorists all describe, in one form or another, transformations in consciousness and evolutionary development from simple to increasingly complex ways of seeing the world (Cranton:77). These movements are involve profound shifts in perspective. Developmental theorists all describe, in one form or another, transformations in consciousness and evolutionary development from simple to increasingly complex ways of seeing the world (Cranton:77). These movements are involve profound shifts in perspective.
  
-What is the relationship between transformation and development?+== What is the relationship between transformation and development? ==
  
-The Online Oxford Dictionary gives two descriptions of the word perspective:+The answer is related to the term 'perspective'.  
 + 
 +The Oxford Dictionary(2005) gives two descriptions of the word perspective:
  
   - a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something; a point of view    - a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something; a point of view 
-  - the appearance of viewed objects with regard to their relative position and distance from the viewer; having a true understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion.(The Oxford Dictionary of English, 2005)+  - the appearance of viewed objects with regard to their relative position and distance from the viewer; having a true understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion.
  
  
Line 245: Line 248:
 This closely relates to shifts in consciousness, and transformative learning experiences where underlying ideas and assumptions that were once hidden, are exposed and seen from a distance. Each time a new set of assumptions are revealed and changed a developmental shift may occur. This closely relates to shifts in consciousness, and transformative learning experiences where underlying ideas and assumptions that were once hidden, are exposed and seen from a distance. Each time a new set of assumptions are revealed and changed a developmental shift may occur.
  
-Examining underlying assumptions is labelled many ways, but ‘meta-reflection’ is one of the most popular terms used to describe this process+Examining underlying assumptions can be labelled many ways, but ‘meta-reflection’ is one of the most popular terms used to describe this process.
  
 Robert Kegan (1994) develops this idea of meta- reflection into five ‘orders of consciousness’, his framework involves increasingly sophisticated subject-object shifts. Object refers to those elements of our knowing or organizing that are sufficiently distinct from us so that we can do something about it. Subject refers to those elements of our knowing or organizing with which we are identified or embedded. We have object, we are subject. At each order of consciousness, what was formerly considered to be subject, and an embedded part of one’s identity, now becomes object, and can be viewed from the outside. These increasing degrees of reflexivity transform us, and allow for emancipation and a degree of choice that was not previously present. At the highest ‘order’ we able to make systems themselves object, including meaning making systems and our relationship to reality itself. Robert Kegan (1994) develops this idea of meta- reflection into five ‘orders of consciousness’, his framework involves increasingly sophisticated subject-object shifts. Object refers to those elements of our knowing or organizing that are sufficiently distinct from us so that we can do something about it. Subject refers to those elements of our knowing or organizing with which we are identified or embedded. We have object, we are subject. At each order of consciousness, what was formerly considered to be subject, and an embedded part of one’s identity, now becomes object, and can be viewed from the outside. These increasing degrees of reflexivity transform us, and allow for emancipation and a degree of choice that was not previously present. At the highest ‘order’ we able to make systems themselves object, including meaning making systems and our relationship to reality itself.
Line 253: Line 256:
 Major shifts occur when an individual encounters an alternative perspective and prior habits of mind are called into question. Educationalist, and transformative learning theorist Jack Mezirow, originally saw this transformational process as a single, dramatic event – a disorienting dilemma – but he and others have since acknowledged that it could also be a gradual process that occurs over time. Major shifts occur when an individual encounters an alternative perspective and prior habits of mind are called into question. Educationalist, and transformative learning theorist Jack Mezirow, originally saw this transformational process as a single, dramatic event – a disorienting dilemma – but he and others have since acknowledged that it could also be a gradual process that occurs over time.
  
-Typically transformative moments are characterised by a recognition of some undeniable truth that flies in the face of – or -puts the lie to some fundamental belief you’ve held, possibly without even knowing it. [Schlitz: 203]+Typically transformative moments are characterised by a recognition of some undeniable truth that flies in the face of – or -puts the lie to some fundamental belief you’ve held, possibly without even knowing it. (Schlitz,2007:203] 
 + 
 +Profound and permanent shifts are often triggered by intense suffering, disruption or crisis. In fact, change is what happens when the pain of remaining the same becomes greater than the pain of changing (ibid: 35].
  
-Profound and permanent shifts are often triggered by intense sufferingdisruption or crisisIn fact, change is what happens when the pain of remaining the same becomes greater than the pain of changing  [Schlitz: 35].+Shifts also occur in moments of profound awe, wonder, or transcendent blissWhen a glimpse of something that is so compelling, so completely beyond what has been realised possible before, can instill in a strong intention to find out more about what happened – no matter what it takes
  
-They also occur in moments of profound awe, wonderor transcendent bliss. When glimpse of something that is so compelling, so completely beyond what has been realised possible beforecan instill in a strong intention to find out more about what happened – no matter what it takes+Two pioneers of psychologyKeltner and Haidt propose that awe has two essential components perceived as vastness and need for accommodation(2003) It may be that some experiences are so vast, so profound, so far beyond what we’ve previously perceivedthat they in effect demand we transform our worldview in order to accommodate themRather than trying to assimilate these experiences into our constricted framework, we are forced to broaden that framework (Schlitz, 2007:68) 
  
-Two pioneers of psychology, Keltner and Haidt propose that awe has two essential components perceived as vastness and a need for accommodation(2003) It may be that some experiences are so vast, so profound, so far beyond what we’ve previously perceived, that they in effect demand we transform our worldview in order to accommodate them. Rather than trying to assimilate these experiences into our constricted framework, we are forced to broaden that framework [Schlitz:68] This broadening helps us grow and evolve as human beings, and allows us more options and a greater sense of agency in the world. In essence it is empowering.+This broadening helps us grow and evolve as human beings, and allows us more options and a greater sense of agency in the world. In essence it is empowering.
  
 == Why is this process a sustainable way of creating shifts in behaviour? == == Why is this process a sustainable way of creating shifts in behaviour? ==
Line 297: Line 302:
 My research led me to a number of different methods and tools, however it was clear that there was great tension between breadth and depth.  On retrospect, it would have been more useful to pick one particular area and carry out an indepth study, rather than survey a number of different areas.   My research led me to a number of different methods and tools, however it was clear that there was great tension between breadth and depth.  On retrospect, it would have been more useful to pick one particular area and carry out an indepth study, rather than survey a number of different areas.  
  
-To some extent I did put more focus on [ARGs] and it is clear from even just a small scale experiment that shifts in perspective did occur, among teachers and the children involved. In most instances this was not life changing, but there was a hint in some of the statements and feedback of possible deeper shifts in perspective. However more research is needed.  +To some extent I did put more focus on ARGs see[[http://lib.fo.am/alternate_reality_game]] and it is clear from even just a small scale experiment that shifts in perspective did occur, among teachers and the children involved. In most instances this was not life changing, but there was a hint in some of the statements and feedback of possible deeper shifts in perspective. However more research is needed.  
  
 That said, to my knowledge this is the first time, or one of the rare times, that these types of methods and tools have been cross correlated with consciousness shift and transformative development.  Simply identifying methods that could possibly be used in this way is potentially a breakthrough.   That said, to my knowledge this is the first time, or one of the rare times, that these types of methods and tools have been cross correlated with consciousness shift and transformative development.  Simply identifying methods that could possibly be used in this way is potentially a breakthrough.  
  • research_report_maggie_buxton.1232585350.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2009-01-22 00:49
  • by 118.93.84.195
  • Currently locked by: 88.99.149.173