Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 17:37:10 +1000 (EST) From: q4702564-AT-topaz.cqu.edu.au Subject: methodology and the differend Lois I found your note on the "tribe" and deconstruction of self very interesting. Lyotard speaks about the Cashinuau quite a bit in his works. Here, in Australia, we have the Aboriginal, a people that have inhabited Australia for 40-60,000 years before whites "discovered" them. I believe that what you are saying about the deconstructed self as being a state whereby people no longer feel alienated or separate from the tribe is very similar to the Aboriginal. The Aboriginal has what they call the "Dreamtime" an originary myth from which springs all their sense of community and self. In contrast we whites have what Lyotard would call a myth lying downstream, an horizon toward which we are supposedly progressing. Here in Australia it is the case that for the Aboriginal they are struggling with the fact of being subsumed under this white myth. This is very destructive of their culture and sense of being. I also get the feeling though that we whites are jealous of the Aboriginal myth precisely because we are a "rootless" people where they appear to be very situated by their myth. I think the postmodern is an acceleration of this "rootlessness". Cheers Chris Summers PS In my original post I spoke of EBD students, actually here in Australia we talk more of Conduct Disorder (DSM-IV) classification and most of our Behaviour Management policies for schools reflects this psychological approach to classification and treatment. In looking at the differend I am attempting to shift the focus away from the individual and onto the shared experience of teacher/student.
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