Dear Jack and others

This is exciting news, and I know that the conference will be strengthened by the presence of yourself and Jean. The work that they are proposing to do is very important in postcolonial times.

I would warmly encourage you to visit http://tekotahitanga.tki.org.nz/  This website describes work done by Prof. Russell Bishop and others (started at my university, the University of Waikato). In Te Kotahitanga, an educational intervention aimed at helping teachers to better connect with and support the educational achievement of Mǡori students, action research processes are used by facilitators in schools to help teachers to focus on relationships with students - teaching the person rather than the subject. This programme has now been running for a number of years, spreading across the country, and is gradually starting to turn around (in the schools where it operates) the appalling overrepresentation of Mǡori in the ranks of educational underachievers. Anyone who's studied the works of Bourdieu on cultural capital will recognise how easy it is for what is taught in schools, and the way it is taught, to mirror the knowledge and practises of the dominant group/s in society, to the detriment of others. That's what's happened here - and because of that detriment, generations of Mǡori have been relegated to lower socio-economic status, dislocation from ongoing educational achievement etc. I think that Te Kotahitanga would be a great example to use in your work should you decide to do so. I'm sure Russell would be happy to provide you with any further information, but there's a lot already on the website.

Love and all the best at this important conference, to you and the participants

Pip

On 17/12/2010 4:15 a.m., Jack Whitehead wrote:

I've just received the information below about an action research workshop on alternative research paradigms (WARP) and indigenous knowledge promotion at Covenant University in Nigeria this coming February. I've just sent it round the Collaborative Action Research Network because of their interest in Action Research, so sorry for any cross postings.

Jean and I have received invitations to give keynote presentations and I've been sent the following suggestions:

Suggested Focus for Keynote Address: How do I improve what I’m doing? Living Educational Theory for the African Context;

Suggested Focus Area: Changing our Stories, Transforming our Worlds: Practicing Living Educational Theory, 

I'm wondering if you have any ideas, references, connections and/or resources that you think might be useful as an appropriate contribution for inclusion in my contributions to the WARP workshop. I'll include references to Lesley's work in the Action Research Unit at Nelson Mandela University; to Kathleen's ideas in the book on 'Connections';  to Snoek Desmond's work on Family Literacy (see  http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/southafrica/SnoeksDesmondphdopt.pdf) at the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal; to Joan and Kathleen's ideas in the Transformative Education/al Studies project in South Africa ( see http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/southafrica/TESproposalopt.pdf) and to Eden Charles (2007) in his doctoral thesis , 'How Can I bring Ubuntu

 As A Living Standard Of Judgment Into The Academy? Moving Beyond Decolonisation Through Societal Reidentification And Guiltless Recognition' (see- http://www.actionresearch.net/edenphd.shtml).

Here are the details I received this morning about WARP:

"WARP (Workshop on Alternative Research Paradigms and Indigenous Knowledge Promotion) 14-17 February 2011, The Department of Psychology, Covenant University, Canaanland, Ogun Sate, Nigeria.

The need to really engage African communities has never been more urgent. Facing chronic crises of troubling proportions, African economies and communities are crippled by alarmingly poor quality of life standards and other socio-political problems. To do this, The Nigerian/African academic must embrace new research tools – however unorthodox or removed from mainstream praxis – that do not encourage complacency (the ‘publish or perish’ culture), and that help relocate him/her in the very centre of the vortex of public concerns, needs and hopes. WARP is designed to help expose the researcher to new ways of conducting research, new ways of constructing his/her identity in relation to the researched, and new ways of promoting social change. Hence, WARP exposes participants to alternative ways of perceiving the researchable world, and equips all with tools that have great transformative potential. The

 workshop, built on the postmodern sensitivity to the idea of plurality, is a quest to decolonize the African research situation by introducing more contextually significant approaches to knowledge production and application, and promoting indigenous knowledge systems that aid mental health, education and meaningful living.

This year’s workshop is designed to facilitate the training of participants (academics and students) in the Action Research paradigm (an approach to research that challenges traditional social science, emphasizes action, and supports social change as a legitimate research outcome), Living Educational Theory (which introduces the idea that people live in pluralistic worlds of meaning that shapes their educational influences) and the need to promote the exploration of indigenous knowledge systems in psychology and psychology-related fields."

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Lonnie has circulated details of the 8th Annual Action Research Conference of the University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education Sciences May 13-14 2011 (see http://tiny.cc/r5a6q ).

Love Jack.