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Trying to fight against intellectually rational oppressive stances

Posted Thu, 03/25/2010 - 14:24 by Andrew Churchill

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Where should universities/researchers look for funding?

Posted Mon, 03/15/2010 - 12:17 by Andrew Churchill

I used to think the Canadian system of governmental funding of academic research was better than the US reliance on the private sector.  Recent news shows how governmental funding is becoming ever more problematic as well.
For the second time in the last year (remember Harper lobbied to target SSHRC funding for MBA research with the idea that government funding should have a tangible return on investment), the Government is in the news for using its power to influence research agendas.  This time the government is being accused of censoring its senior climatologists from talking too much with the media.  Presumably the news would not be good for oil sands revenues and other important projects. 
CanWest has the story: 

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New obesity studies....

Posted Thu, 03/11/2010 - 09:20 by Andrew Churchill

A question:
Wondering if anyone has seen similar coverage in the U.S.?
The last similar issue I remember was the studies from fall 2008 suggesting that our hyper screening for cancer was not saving lives (and false positives had the dual negative downside of causing trauma and syphoning money away from treatments that might save lives).  It seems to me the Canadian press coverage of this issue was much more prominent / critical than the U.S.
About the articles:

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Media Coverage of Fort Hood: Let's talk about it

Posted Thu, 11/12/2009 - 10:20 by Andrew Churchill

David Brook's Op-Ed in the NY Times states that Major Hasan's Muslim identity was "played down"  because the media "didn't want the horror to become a pretext for anti-Muslim bigotry." 

While I would dispute his assertion that Hasan's Mulsim identity was "played down" (it did not seem played down at all to me), let's suppose, just for a minute, it was. 

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The Post-Racism World???

Posted Sun, 10/18/2009 - 11:10 by Andrew Churchill

Today's CNN Headline:

Justice stands by refusal to give interracial couple license to wed 

CNN, predictably, is not outraged (just reporting the facts), which, according to the interviewed justice, are:

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CBC ad product placement

Posted Fri, 09/04/2009 - 19:15 by Andrew Churchill

Interesting story about cbc getting into the product placment business as part of their strategy to counteract continued government funding cuts.  I guess nothing new (all networks do it, right!). That said, it is discouraging to see cbc headed this direction.  As the government cuts funding, what alternative do they have?

See this link for the article.  http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/690760

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Obama's Education Speech Transcript

Posted Tue, 03/10/2009 - 12:01 by Andrew Churchill

Taking on Education:

9:54 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Si se puede.

AUDIENCE: Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede!

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Barbie's Birthday: By Shirley Steinberg

Posted Fri, 03/06/2009 - 14:23 by Andrew Churchill

Just wanted to share Shirley's Barbie Op-ED that appeared in this week's Globe and Mail.  I think it is a great example of a creative way to infuse a little criticality into the main stream press.

 

SHIRLEY STEINBERG

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

March 3, 2009 at 12:00 AM EST

This is the book of the generations of Barbie.

(1) In the beginning, Ruth Handler created her, the third day of March in 1959 - in the likeness of Ruth's daughter and Lily, a German whore, she made her.

(2) Female first she created, and blessed her and called her name Barbie after her first-born. Ruth saw that it was good and there was much money to be made.

(3) And Barbie lived three years and Ruth created Ken, male and female she created them both.

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Teaching/Learning about critical discourses

Posted Mon, 02/23/2009 - 15:39 by Andrew Churchill

Just wanted to give a heads up about a new book: Rocking Your World: The Emotional Journey into Critical Discourses, Sense publishers, 2008.

I had the pleasure of editing this book with Joe’s mentorship and contributions from numerous bloggers from this site.  Below, please find the requisite 250 word description as well as excerpts from Joe’s foreword and from the final chapter entitled, “A conversation amongst the authors.”  This last chapter was an online discussion amongst the authors about their experience writing the book and their perceptions about its potential values and uses.

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Still Hearing Joe's Voice

Posted Mon, 02/09/2009 - 16:21 by Andrew Churchill

Missing Joe everyday and wanting to share some thoughts:

Great teachers bless us all.  Each of us has been touched by a great teacher.  We remember a person who taught us to think in new ways, discover things we had not considered before, imbued us with a passion for learning, and maybe even touched our soul.  We are blessed because when we have great teachers they give to us their voice, a voice we then get to carry with us.  We get to hear them talk to us as we sort through arguments, as we make decisions, as we live out our lives.

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Rocking Your World: Reflections on positionality

Posted Wed, 01/28/2009 - 23:22 by Andrew Churchill

 Rocking Your World: The Emotional Journey into Critical Discourses is a book that emerged from the belief that we often learn best through personal narrative and story. This collection of real stories connects critical theory and critical pedagogy with personal transformation. In this book, twelve authors share personal reflections of how various critical discourse communities have impacted their lives. They explore a range of professional, family and social barriers to personal growth as teachers, professional researchers and everyday people; they give us glimpses into the impact of positionality, the balance between activism and intellectual rigor, the obstacles to teaching critically, and more.

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How does Obama’s positionality affect you?

Posted Fri, 01/23/2009 - 16:39 by Andrew Churchill

 There have been lots of conversations about the significance of Obama’s skin colour and what it does and/or does not mean in terms of racism and progress.  While those conversations are interesting, I wanted to start a thread about what his positionality means to people on a more personal level.  Following are some of my thoughts, please add your own.

 

A few days ago I wrote to a friend “If the first day is any indication, we should never elect a white male again.”

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the potential impact of Charters?

Posted Wed, 12/17/2008 - 16:36 by Andrew Churchill

Currently,  I am becoming interested in the role of Charter Schools and their potential (or maybe lack of potential) to create/support/promote/deny educational change.

My research is beginning with a simple question: How do ideas of critical pedagogy and the educational change mandates of various critical discourses speak to the US Charter movement?

While the directions of this study will be multi-faceted, I want to begin this blog by sharing a reflection that sparked my initial interest in studying Charters.  The following excerpt is taken from one of the introductory chapters of the soon to be published edited book: Rocking Your World: The Emotional Journey into Critical Discourses.

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