From: Four Arrows (aka Don Trent Jacobs) and Dan Sewell

djacobs@fielding.edu

Re: Seeking contributors for the book, The Authentic Dissertation: Alternative Ways of Knowing, Research and Representation, under contract with Routledge (London)

Date: February, 2007


 

We are seeking chapter proposals for the first book to offer credible, actual, inspirational and exemplary “stories” from authors of dissertations, past or in process, that have at least two or more of the following attributes::

 

·        It employs research methodologies that contrast with those generally accepted by dissertation committees.

·        It demonstrates alternative ways of learning, understanding or adding to “new knowledge.”

·        It presents or represents a unique contribution to the field in a way that also honors other ways of knowing, eg., via poetry, drama, art, film, story, rituals, dance, alternative consciousness, silence, wilderness, subjective knowing, etc. rather than predominantly a standard five- chapter academic writing orientation.

·        Owing to this alternative approach, it is likely to “make the world a better place” in terms of social justice, peace, diversity and/or ecological sustainability.

 

We may also be interested in stories about how a dissertation that did not finally meet these criterion MIGHT have if the author would have been allowed to pursue considered options that were not allowed by the system or the committee, etc. In such cases the contributor would be called upon to describe both the process and the possibilities as relates to the above criteria. The final submissions will be relatively short and we will edit to assure your writing is optimal.

 

Directions for Chapter Proposal

 

        Please send us in one email message (no more than two or three pages) a copy of your dissertation abstract and a few sentences describing what you will say about:

 

1. The personal journey toward deciding upon the topic and the research approach and why it was selected in contrast to more standard approaches
2. The process of doing the research, including challenges and benefits to self and others
3. The form of the final presentation, including reasons it was selected and responses to it. (Please let us know which of the numbered models below best describe it.)
4. The effect of the entire project on self and others especially in terms of potential contributions to “making the world a better place”

We will take several months to sift through and get back to you with a decision as to our invitation to be a contributor.

    

Chapter Format

 

            The final chapter will be relatively short, perhaps 12- 20 pages of typed, double-spaced, concise and flowing writing. If authors are not “writers” per se, the editors are happy to help construct an engaging narrative via the editing process. We remain open to and encourage chapters that are themselves as “out of the box” as a book chapter might be. This might refer to using poetry, art or some other reproducible and meaningful expression.

Our intent is also to include a web blog system that will allow a living and growing continuation of the chapter’s ideas to occur in the world as well.

 

Assumptions Guiding this Project (adapted from Patrick Slattery)


1. There are forms of knowledge that are not derived from books (Goody, 1982,
p. 201).
2. Students' perspectives have value and students who question the professional practices of the dominant culture will make the most vital contributions to its improvement.( Sanchez, 1997, para. 11)
3. All knowledge has a social-political context. Diversity of expression will more accurately reflect the complexities of social life" (p. 26) and, by extension, overcome the colonizing tendencies of the dominant discourse by creating new  cultural paradigms of the peoples who share a common social space (Giltro 2002, 26).
4. Typical university dissertations tend to colonize Indigenous People by forcing them to master Western academic discourse conventions (Brown (2000,p.
95)
5. It is valuable to work toward "hybridization," or the co-expression of "two or more different linguistic consciousnesses, often widely separated in time and social space" (Bakhtin (1981p. 429). Hybridization leads to "métissage," the complementary co-existence of different voices in one place, where ideas make sense in dialogue with opposing ideas. (Zuss, 1997; Chambers, Donald, Hasebe-Ludt, 2002; Donald, 2003).
6. Typical university level academic writing has "symbolized the loss of languages, cultures and people groups." (Linda-Ruth Dyck)
7. History clearly indicates that imposing a foreign discourse on First Nations peoples not only has failed to empower them within the new language, but also has also destroyed their voices in their own languages. (Linda-Ruth Dyck)
8. Academic writing is best understood in light of meaningful social and political factors (Bakhtin 1981).
9. "Writing, like reading, can be about changing "who we are" and "how things are" but such a move cannot come about if we insist on repeating the same stories of what it means to "do" a writing assignment." (Kevin Shusmernaro) Thus, original voice is more important than citing previous authors.
10. Oral communication has value equal to or greater than written discourse, offering advantages relating to audience, purpose, immediacy and spontaneity.
(Lakeof, 1982, p.238-240)
11. Some practice or teaching of core universal virtues, such as courage, generosity, patience, fortitude, honesty and humility, can and should be woven into dissertations (Jacobs and Jacobs-Spencer)
12. Ecological priorities are vital to academic research in all fields. (Bowers)
13. Art, music and story-telling are powerful devices for all aspects of
learning, teaching and researching. (Cajeti)
14. There are many approaches for dissertations that too seldom are used to explore and express cultural wisdom, including claiming, testimonies, celebrating survival,  emembering, intervening, revitalizing, connecting, negotiating, discovering, sharing, democratizing, networking, protecting and creating.(Tuhiwai Smith 2002)
15. Participatory Action Research is good because it "attempts to empower  disenfranchised people by building on the strengths of all those involved, necessitating community involvement from problem definition through research design and data interpretation" (p. 212) Bellanger (2003)
16. Research methodologies that treat research as time-proven relationships are as valid as scheduled scientific investigations. Thus partnerships between community and researcher "combine to produce a history that, due to the unique blend of methods and community-based information, could not otherwise be assembled" (Bellanger 2001,p. 2).
17. Languages other than English are vital dimensions of diversity and for
thinking in ways that can solve vital problems.
18. The student is the ultimate decision make, not the faculty.


In addition to the above assumptions, our alternative dissertation guidelines enlist Eric Hampton's twelve standards for incorporating indigenous priorities into scholarship (Hampton, 1988, p. 19) that we have modified slightly and include:

* appreciation for spiritual relationships
* understanding that the goal of education is to help others
* realizing the value of diversity
* honoring culturally determined ways of thinking, communicating and living
* measuring the value of tradition and continuity
* giving respect to all of life
* recognizing mutually empowering relationships between individuals and groups
* remembering authentic history, including the continuing history of oppression
 * persisting in the commitment for social and ecological justice
 * recognizing the strength of Indigenous worldviews
 * understanding the dynamics and consequences of oppression.
 * considering the importance of sense of place, land and territory
 * working toward creative personal and social transformation as needed
*  considering Moran’s work regarding situated learning and inter-subjective research models will also help guide the explanations, rationale and analysis of the selected dissertation topics.

 

 

 

Notes from Patrick Slattery’s Speech (Patrick has agreed to write the introduction for this text)

The assumptions of the emerging postmodern curriculum discourses include the following: a Whiteheadian cosmology that views educational research and practice as an emerging process of understanding the complexity of the interrelationship between parts and whole with an emphasis on the contribution of the individual within a holistic framework rather than an emphasis on the transmission of isolated elements of inert information (Whitehead, 1929; Oliver and Gershman, 1989); an etymological understanding of curriculum as currere-an active verb-as proposed by Pinar and Grumet (1976); a critique of traditional curriculum models that foreground goals, objectives, scope and sequence charts, and prescriptive evaluation instruments with an emphasis on curriculum as an object or a noun; a respect for the vital significance of the null and hidden dimensions of the curriculum as proposed by diverse critical and aesthetic scholars (Eisner, 1994; Giroux, 1992); a commitment to spiritual and moral dimensions of curriculum research (Noddings, 1992; Purpel, 1989; Slattery, 1995); a phenomenological approach to research as the investigation of the lived world experience of teachers and students (Aoki, 1992; Greene, 1995); an incredulity toward metanarratives, rational enlightenment thinking, and other efforts to create unified explanations of reality (Lyotard, 1989); support for poststructural philosophies that deconstruct sedimented perceptors and linear bifurcations, both of which have contributed to the absurd dream of a complete, unique, and closed explanatory system fueled by binary oppositions (Usher and Edwards, 1994); a belief that the creation of a holistic, just, and ecologically sustainable educational culture is not only possible but essential to the survival of human life (Griffin, 1988; Kesson, 1993); a fundamental option for the poor and marginalized in schools and society as part of a larger movement toward radical democracy in an anti-racist and post-colonial world (Freire, 1985; Kincheloe, 1993; Lather, 1991; McCarthy, 1990; McLaren, 1989); a strong sense of the central role of imagination and aesthetics that leads to the conclusion that ultimately we must see ourselves and our students as works of art (Greene, 1995; Nietzsche, 1968); a sense of urgency about environmental, economic, and social issues that necessitates the inclusion of ecological sustainability, multiculturalism, and cooperative practices in the construction of research methodologies and curricular practices (Daly and Cobb, 1989); a strong belief in the prophetic dimension of teaching and learning that requires bold initiatives to address social, political, economic, spiritual, racial, and gender issues in the schooling process (Kozol, 1991, Books and Slattery, 1997); and, finally, in concert with William Pinar (Pinar, et al., 1995), the centrality of autobiography and psychoanalysis in the educational and research process where curriculum development does not make sense outside of a reflective context of curriculum understanding.