Dear all,
David Wood writes, and I would totally agree with him, that we have a
responsibility as academics towards the general public. But this
responsibility extends to being critical about your own critical
perspective. And, merely revealing information people is not necessarily
empowering - quite frankly, much of the discourse of critical geography is
quite the opposite. And the comment 'We are also well-educated' I am
slightly dubious towards... there are many forms of education, and from my
experience, the one the traditional education system seems geared towards
providing is narrow in the extreme
Graham
At 11:30 15/11/99 +0000, you wrote:
>Dear all.
>
>One thing I have noticed about the negative replies to postings about
>Reclaim the Streets etc. (both on this list and sent to me personally) is
>that there seems to be a general presumption that the people writing
>positively about RTS are 'moaning', and should not express their views
>because they are middle class academics.
>
>Leaving aside the huge assumptions made about social origins, positions
>within academia and personal activity, this strikes me as a huge abdication
>of repsonsibility. We, as academics, are in a priviledged postition in so
>far as we have access to information that the general public do not. (for
whatever reason). What the 'anti-RTS view' (excuse
>the shorthand) would ask us to do is to ignore this and not to bring to the
>attention of other people (including themselves perhaps) difficult and
>disturbing issues. I have not got to where I have (which is relatively low
>in the academic food-chain anyway) to use my training and access to
>information to prop up the status quo, and to hide issues away from people.
>Precisely the opposite - research should be part of process of widening the
>scope of information available to all members of society (and this works
>both ways between society and academics). This is what I would say that a
>'critical' geography is all about.
>
>In addition, calling legitmate comments and views about the state of the
>world 'moaning' says more about the 'anti-RTS view' than about the
>proponents. It is the same discourse that is used by conservative media and
>politicians against anyone who wants change. It implicitly attempts to
>stiffle debate by degrading the status of the argument to something below
>rationality.
>
>Thoughts?
>
>David.
>
>____________________________________________________________________
>
>David Wood
>PhD Research Student ('Intelligence Sites in Rural North Yorkshire')
>Centre for Rural Economy
>Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Marketing
>University of Newcastle upon Tyne
>NE1 7RU
>
>0191 222 5305
>
>[log in to unmask]
>
>____________________________________________________________________
>
>
>
>
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