Hello everybody,
It's quite a few years since I (thought I had) signed out from PhD Design when I retired from my day job. But strangely within the past two days a former colleague drew my attention to some comments made elsewhere about current discussions here, and then, while tinkering with my email settings, I accidentally unleashed your discussion back into my inbox. Clearly I hadn't been willing to cut the umbilical completely.
It's a bit sad to see such disputes here, but also quite familiar. As an old white man no longer active in research I shouldn't say too much, especially as I've only seen fragments of the discussion here, but I would like to say a couple of things before I shuffle back to retirement.
First, I retired at 65 and felt quite strongly that I didn't want to hang around the research community into my old age when there were new things I could do, although I respect those who have continued to contribute and have remained productive in the knowledge mines. Actually it's been great for me to have taken the skills I learned from you guys into campaigning for the local environment and local democracy and it's a huge pleasure to do something practical where I live rather than in an oppressive institutional structure, as well as doing creative work again without some panel of referees breathing down my neck (just music promoters and audiences :o).
I heard an interesting discussion last week about extending life, with some experts agreeing that humans might soon enough be living beyond 200 years. To me this seems a very difficult challenge in a world where we need renewal and opportunity for young people, and the only answer is for all of us to look for ways to let go and move on into completely new spaces instead of holding on to what authority we have gained where we are. My sig below is a small cv of where I've moved on to and I'm very proud of it, especially as I gave up music completely to become a designer in 1981. Maybe others here should consider whether there are new challenges where they can go back to being learners.
But I also remember what an astonishing experience it was for me around 1998, as a late arrival in the Design Research Community with some naive ideas, to be confronted by the very sceptical and tough questioning and contradiction I received in this place, often from people whose whole idea about research was diametrically opposed to mine and whose knowledge and experience was decades ahead of mine.
I could have taken this two ways. Some just dug into their positions and chucked bricks over the parapet at their critics but I went away and thought, learned more and reconfigured my arguments to see if they would work better and gradually I gained ground and managed to do some work that was true to my own hopes but gained acceptance from my critical friends. One of the questions that I learned and used constantly with my students was 'how do you know that?" and I believe that it's not in our own interests to answer "it is self-evident," or that "I am too busy with real work to answer you."
I'm not saying the answer is not self-evident, or that the person asked is not busy with important work, or even that the questioner does not know the answer themselves. Just that the discipline of clarifying and evidencing what we 'know' is always important for an academic as the basic gymnastics of our trade. As I've moved on to challenging the positions of politicians, police officers, opinionated members of the general public and a great variety of 'experts', that discipline has been of immense value . Although the other lesson is that it's always better to make that challenge in a friendly and kind way. Push and of course the other person pushes back.
So that's it. If you are being challenged by young people maybe its time to make room and give yourself a new challenge somewhere else. If some old person challenges you don't ignore the possibility that responding to their challenge might make you stronger and more capable.
And last of all, I've heard the term, "old white man" used several times recently, in this context and others, as a way of condemning a whole class of people for the foolishness of some, it's a beauty because it rolls together ageism, racism and sexism in one package. So speak out against the patriarchy, condemn rudeness, unreasonable authority, closed minds or rigidity or anything else that deserves it, but don't fall back on lazy stereotypes.
Ozlem, I still owe you an ice cream, let me know if you are ever this way.
Best wishes from sunny Sheffield
Chris
.........................
Chris Rust
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Designer and Moderator of the Folk Music Map<http://www.folkmusicmap.com> and the Sheffield Trees at Risk Map<https://sheffieldtreemap.wordpress.com/>
Break a Leg!<http://breakalegmusic.wordpress.com/> Songs for voice and clarinet by Karen Hisom & Chris Rust, next performance 7 February in Brinklow, Warwickshire
First prize in Edinburgh Folk Club Songwriting Competition June 2015 (Yay!!)
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