alesnick's blog

This is the discussion forum for Education, Technology, and Society: Altering Environments.  Please use it to continue and start conversations, raise questions, and share resources. 

Today I learned a lot about how culture works.  In the morning, a student observed that a question that had emerged during our class's processing of our trip was doing work in the culture of our group.  This insight suggests that questions can be instances of cultural work/production, and as such are embedded in a particular context and time . . . the student suggested that we did not need to regard this question as transcontextual: rather, that its being posed could be usefully understood as in-time cultural work that we could let be without the letting be constitute ignoring or neglect.  So interesting!

In the afternoon I got to attend the panel discussion with Derrick Ashong and Soulfege, sponsored by Ghanaian Music/Global Entrepeneurship.  Derrick Ashong spoke about their group's interest in breaking the music industry paradigm.  He explained that for humans, the fulfillment of expectations, even with unwelcome outcomes, is deeply satisfying.  So, if mother says stay away from that young man, and that young man does indeed prove inconstant, mother is gratified even though the outcome is not welcome.  This is a powerful illustration of how culture works.  Ashong and Soulfege are trying to change culture, or recreate it, by establishing new expectations for contemporary Afropolitcal music.

We enjoyed delicious stews and fufu al fresco at our hotel. A recent BMC alum from and now living here stopped by to day hello! The air and breezes are soft.

We arrived after a delayed but easy flight to be met by our local guides. A taxi ride through the city to our comfortable hotel. Sights, sounds, and smiles too many/much to set down right now. This group is traveling beautifully! Paying games in the dc airport and taking turns writing and drawing in our group scrapbook are two standouts. We are freshening up before we go out to dinner together. Tomorrow we ride the bus North. Amazed and grateful, Alice

Welcome to our first Diablog Poll. Please make your selection and after you do, write a post explaining your selection and write a response to someone else's in which you raise a question to further your and their thinking.  Enjoy!