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Kia ora, mutse atsi and hi to all Thanks to Susie and Sarah for wishes re my 'family drama'. Things seem to be improving, though I'm still having to direct a lot of energy to my sister and her family. All part of practitioner commitment, using a question of 'how can I best support my extended family in their time of trial, without imposing my values on them?' (Of course, I don't approach it like that, but am rephrasing how I try to support, compatible with where they're at and what my own values are). I would be most grateful if Jack, Marion and Sarah are able to proceed as Sarah suggests below. I'm an independent practitioner these days, and don't have as easy access to academic journals and support as perhaps those working in institutions have. And I trust those contributing to this group to proceed in ways that best support the direction of our mutual conversations. I would be happy to contribute a paper - it won't have 'bells and whistles' in the multimedia sense though! Yaakub, somehow I have missed a posting from you, referred to in Robyn's reply. Don't know how that has happened, but fortunately Robyn left your posting below hers. Kia ora Robyn - like you I am a nearly 60 year old pakeha and I value your quiet, calm reflection. (And I remember cats' cradles, and Maori stick games! Great fun). I was interested to read how influential Tuhiwai Smith's book had been for Nceku. But your reflections on Tuhiwai Smith's developing understanding of her identity took me back to another influential Maori academic's work. Russell Bishop wrote a book called "Collaborative Research Stories: Whakawhanaungatanga" in 1996. Whakawhanaungatanga means connections with whanau, or family, understood in the broader sense. Bishop recalled, in the early stages of that book, how he had been raised in a largely pakeha (non-Maori) way, only discovering his Maori side quite later in his life. Also, using action research initially in his research journey, he later reflected that he felt the roots of the approach were westernized, and now prefers to use kaupapa Maori research (research built on Maori ways of being and doing) though he acknowledges that there is close connection between the two, if the action researchers behave responsibly. Educators on this list may be interested in his recent work, "Te Kotahitanga", a Ministry of Education-funded intervention into New Zealand schools to help the teachers teach in ways that are more likely to produce the kinds of achievement for Maori students that 'traditional' approaches to teaching have denied many of them in the past. You can see his report on http://www.minedu.govt.nz/index.cfm?layout=document&documentid=8771&indexid= 6509&indexparentid=1063&goto=00 if you want to see how they intervened. The results have been really positive and I am currently working on a Pasifika (Pacific Island students) version, in association with other colleagues. Thanks for the poems Alan, and the wondrous blessings, Mohsen! Where DO you get them all from! And thanks to all who are contributing to this rich international discussion. Kind regards Pip Bruce Ferguson -----Original Message----- From: BERA Practitioner-Researcher [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah Fletcher Sent: Thursday, 9 November 2006 9:14 a.m. To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: What are living standards of judgement? Dear Brian (and Everyone), re. article for Research Intelligence with Susie's superb feedback on the= Standards-in-use I offered I think that is a first rate idea (and with Mohsen's perspective too on o= ur Standards of Judgement?) As for the idea of a symposium on multi media forms of representation. Y= es, please count me in. What if Jack, Marian and I worked together on this with others who are si= milarly committed to it? Warm regards, Sarah