Very good points Barbara!
In terms of Anglo - Americans needing to be self-aware of assumptions that their way is normative, I think you are spot on. This is true of everybody to a certain extent, of course, but I think it is especially true in terms of use of English and especially assumptions about what is normal academic discourse. At the ADHO executive there recently was a discussion about multi lingual issues and somebody made the interesting observation that it might be the Anglophones that reed the most instruction in the use of English in the sense that they don't always realize the extent to which Native Speaker English and International English are not the same thing. That struck a chord with me as I am a serial offender.
I also agree on the centrality of exchange to this project. The. most important lesson taught to me at our meeting in Cuba is how important it is to believe in and value the opportunities for reciprocal learning: GO::DH will only work if it lives up to the claim that it is not an aid programme but a space for bridging gaps and especially discovering new learning and teaching and collaborations.
Daniel Paul 0'Donnell Department of English University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB T1J 2X5 CANADA
+1 403 393 2539 daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca @DanielPaulOD http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/ http://dpod.kakelbont.ca/
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-------- Original message -------- From: "Bordalejo, Barbara" bab995@mail.usask.ca Date: 04-30-2013 13:42 (GMT-07:00) To: "O'Donnell, Dan" daniel.odonnell@uleth.ca,"globaloutlookdh-l, MailList" globaloutlookdh-l@uleth.ca Subject: Re: [globaloutlookDH-l] A revolution yet to happen
Craig Bellamy's post impacted me in ways that I had not envisioned and I thought I should reply to that and to some observations by Dan and Ernesto Priego.
After thinking about it for a while, I have concluded that it is important to be aware of our deep cultural differences when we post to this list. If we do not take them into account, we run the risk of alienating other people and might even push them away.
Dan is right about stereotypes of "Anglo-American" domination, but it is up to Anglo-Americans not to behave (or write) in ways that might be construed as imperialistic. This does not mean that we cannot communicate in English or that we should give up the idea of working together. Instead, it means that we have to find the best possible ways to cooperate with each other. Provided, of course, this is our intent.
I am glad that Ernesto brought up the "'big two' London units," because I think he is correct that for many people these embody the "real DH," while many other scholars are just ignored even though they might be working on great projects just around the corner. This shows that even within environments dominated by white English-speaking (should I say it?) males there is a hierarchy. Often, centres with a long history and a good reputation attract a high percentage of funding, causing others to be excluded.
I don't think that anyone is suggesting that there is a specific agenda to exclude non-English from DH, but I am also old enough to see that it wouldn't be necessary. In countries devastated by poverty or with profound social problems, there is very little place to support DH. Anyone that protests against positive discrimination doesn't understand this: the inequalities in the world are so marked that we need to bridge the gap to integrate people from less privileged backgrounds. If you think that you are not privileged just because you are white, born in a rich country or a male; then take a hard look at yourself and think how different your life would have been if those circumstances had been others.
All that said, those of us who have a different background have something else in common... At least part of our education has occurred in English (in the UK or the US or Canada) and we want to jump to defend these systems. However, when we create those avenues for collaboration Isabel, Ernesto and Alex have talked about, I don't want them to be another form of hegemony. They cannot be some kind of charitably enterprise given like the rusty coin one throws to the homeless at the subway station. I want collaboration to occur because we truly need each other and can benefit in a symbiotic way, no because to have a "pet third world person" would get you a grant.
Craig Bellamy´s idea that:
The DH is about technology and if there are barriers to applying technology in all sorts of social or cultural contents then there are some really nice people who could be asked for assistance.
misses the point of GO::DH. Our objective is not that the "little people" come nicely to ask for assistance. Instead, we want to empower scholars in different environments to work together in an environment of equality and respect. When we achieve this, then we will have done an important part of our work.
Best,
BB
On 30 Apr 2013, at 08:01, Daniel O'Donnell wrote:
And I think also it is worth noting that globaloutlookdh was founded precisely to address this problem: which I think personally involves network, terminological, and cultural issues, as well as linguistic. Here are two of my statements of the background that led to forming the group: http://dpod.kakelbont.ca/2012/11/02/in-a-rich-mans-world-global-dh/ and the proposal to ADHO: http://ubuntuone.com/187LiVZpJKwFNaRV0lZJeD
At the same time, as Ernesto points out, you need to be careful about stereotypes in discussing the "Anglo-American" domination. As I recently pointed out in a blog posting, for example, Domenico's article in the Koln dialogues actually points to a Canadian, rather than Anglo-American, hegemony of the institutions he discusses. http://dpod.kakelbont.ca/2013/03/07/the-true-north-strong-and-hegemonic-or-w...
This is important because it suggests that academic cultures are really micro-environments and that you need to be very open to what makes things tick in each environment. I hope myself that this will be the way this happens.
The one great advantage we have, as people who are interested in the use of computers in the Arts, Humanities, and Cultural Heritage sectors, is that this interest can act as a paradisciplinary bridge: that is to say, that our interest in the common problem of how computing can be used in these environments seems to me to give us a great opportunity to find common purpose in a way that is often surprisingly difficult in the traditional humanities, where our networks are further broken down by the cultural, linguistic, and chronological specificity of our disciplines.
Because my background is in the study of Anglo-Saxon England, I come at this connection very much through the paradisciplinary aspects of things. One of the other things I've been really inspired by is the extent to which already we are teaching each other in (what I think is) an exchange of ideas and experiences that is breaking down previous disconnects.
Does this match other's experiences?
-dan
On 13-04-30 01:34 AM, Ernesto Priego wrote:
Hello everyone,
This is a debate I myself am very interested in. I have tried to do things about it, for example by doing bilingual interviews (http://4humanities.org/?s=redhd&x=0&y=0), or by participating remotely and IRL in events back in Mexico (http://disidenciacognitiva.wordpress.com/).
The effort it takes to individually do something bilingually, for example, is, literally, a double effort. Sometimes to little reward. At least immediate reward. I keep hopeful it will be useful somehow for someone in the future at least.
I'd like to say as well that a concentration of power or notoriety does not only happen between English-speaking academic cultures and the rest. It happens here in London (UK) too, for example. If you are outside the 'big two' London unis, it's like you don't exist. Plenty of people doing interesting stuff around/about/ digital technologies in the humanities and social sciences, but because our workplaces are not officially labeled as DH then it's harder to intervene, coexist or even get recognised by 'the centres'. This does not happen at the individual, social, human level though, it's more of a cultural phenomenon that often transcends individual wills or agencies.
I agree with Isabel there is a need to develop channels for communication. I'd also say we need to develop a culture of communication and collaboration. And more importantly, a *global* culture of communication and collaboration: that is, one that has an awareness of difference and that is willing to do things and think outside the box. This means doing stuff beyond the job description, and often in other languages than our own.
As a member of ACH and ADHO committees I can say that from English-speaking countries/institutions there is A LOT of interest in integrating/recognising/encouraging/acknowledging/getting to know/collaborating with non-English speaking scholars and their institutions. There is no anti non-English DH agenda at all, but a lot of good will and eagerness to widen access and participation.
As Alex has suggested, I also believe that those of us who also do or want to do DH-related research/practice in other languages than English need to reach out. Reach out to each other regardless of country or mother tongue. In my humble opinion there is both the need to develop 'literatures' in our mother tongues --as Alex also suggested-- but we also need to stop seeing the English language as the de facto enemy, "the language of conquest, the influx/of the language of hard nouns,/the language of metal," (Atwood).
In the same way that it is expensive, complicated and mostly impractical to host fully multilingual international conferences (maybe only the European Parliament and the United Nations have the infrastructure to make this viable) I honestly don't see a time in which it is not necessary to engage in scholarly communications in English at some point or another. Expecting DH to become completely multilingual (for example in a conference in Nebraska) seems very unlikely. If they don't come to us, we might need to go to them. If they ignore us, we need to make ourselves unavoidable, unmissable, ubiquituous.
Just my two cents...
All the best
Ernesto