[SSC] SSC Digest, Vol 16, Issue 40

Fri Apr 27 11:35:52 UTC 2012

This is a really important discussion, and it connects to Megan's email about what we are.

I like #occupy's refusal to list what it is/its demands/theses, and it's engagement with a long-term process of self-identity and legitimation. I feel that similar things come through from the EduFactory collective's promotion of work that is conducted democratically and in public, and that is active/activist. What the SSC is for me is probably way different from how it is/isn't/might be for others here, but I feel enough solidarity in the space, in this time, to support those who have a different take on the SSC. I am happy to help those scholars to develop whatever it is for them, because I feel it will be reciprocated for me. Difficult to make that work in a feature article, maybe.

Tacking to prevailing winds is tiring, and I have no desire to give the media a soundbite or a dichotemy of traditional HE vs alternatives, or to feed any current wave of protest, or to be part of a defined thing or product or commodity. I am happy for this to be about a community trying to work/struggle for something over time. I am interested in our agency and our power, and I would like our work with the media (because it is important) to reflect that dialogue/process. We may have to make the same non-reductive, humane points over-and-over but I feel like that is the hard-work of change and becoming.

I have deliberately used the word "feel" here a lot.

We maybe need a conversation about this after the AGM?

In solidarity,

Richard.

________________________________

From: ssc-bounces at lists.aktivix.org on behalf of Sarah Amsler
Sent: Fri 27/04/2012 11:03
To: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
Subject: Re: [SSC] SSC Digest, Vol 16, Issue 40

Dear all,

I have been following the discussion about representation, visibility, and the request from the BBC. Apologies in advance for the long reflection here.

On the one hand, I have reservations about the way the project and our work on the ground gets mediated, particularly through mainstream media. I would like to hold on to, and be mindful of, discussions we've begun this week about timing -- whose time frames and senses of urgency or interest we want to be part of and legitimise; what our own senses of time and possibility are. As David asks, this is part of the ongoing process of discovery of 'who' 'we' 'are' (if there can be any such unity, and I would worry if there was an easy answer to this just now).

At the same time, I think highly of Joss's and David's points about creating or contributing to spaces where we might be able to make these sorts of considerations, or at the very least some critical perspectives on the state of higher education, the politics of knowledge, the alternative educational activities that are going on all over the place, more visible. We organise plenty of conferences for academics, plenty of workshops for people who are already engaged in these debates and/or creating alternatives. But the issues and the possibilities are not necessarily intelligible beyond these spaces. I don't know about others, but I, for example, struggle to make sense of it even for people in my immediate family who are not educationalists, academics, students or anticapitalist activists. Throwing ourselves into some part of the world at the Collection is one way of trying to create space to do this, and I think it's a good one in many ways. Perhaps some wider visibility through such mediation could be another, but I think this is not without its limitations and contradictions.

My concern is that mainstream media and in particular a 'feature story' mode of visibility may not be entirely conducive to enabling the sort of dialogue that at least some people involved may think important, around the purpose and work of the Social Science Centre. I am not sure whether it enables real dialogue at all. But if people felt they could make this work somehow without getting enfolded into dominant logics of existing ways of framing debates about higher education and society, then fine. The question for me would be, how might we make it pedagogical? 'Prefigurative politics' is a name for trying to create different ways of doing things here and now, with what we've got. Is there a prefigurative sort of politics that might be possible for something like a BBC interview?

I feel strongly that if any group of people in the SSC is to take this up, then we should at least discuss it with our colleagues and comrades working in other projects. On the one hand, throwing everyone together into a short feature piece would in my opinion do more harm than good to the overall movement and to each of the individual alternatives, which are, as we saw at the 'FUN' meeting in Birmingham, very different indeed. On the other hand, I think accepting the invitation as if the SSC is some sort of exemplar of 'an alternative', working in a vacuum or some other popular vanguardist narrative would be an even worse political, pedagogical and ethical mistake. On a third hand, if there could be some serious and informed presentation of the different projects, then that could be a really great thing.

None of this is original. While obviously from a very different context, I like the following:

'We have a choice. We can have a cynical attitude in the face of the media and say that nothing can be done about the dollar power that creates itself in image, words, digital communication, and computer systems that invade not just with an invasion of power but with a way of seeing the world, of how they think the world should look. We could say, "well, that's the way it is," and do nothing. Or we can simply assume incredulity. We can say that any communication by the media monopolies is a total lie. We can ignore it and go about our lives. But there is a third option that is neither conformity, nor skepticism, nor distrust. It's the option to construct a different way: to show the world what is really happening, to have a critical worldview, to become interseted in the truth of what happens to the people who inhabit every corner of this world. The work of the independent media is to...' ('On independent media', a message from Subcommondante Insurgente Marcos to 'Free Media' teach-in, NYC, 1997)

Can an interview be autonomous, pedagogical, opening-up possibilities for people beyond this discussion list and the current membership of the SSC? If so, good, and how so? I'd be interested to discuss.

Those are my two cents for now.

Best
Sarah

	------------------------------

	Message: 3
	Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:17:32 +0100
	From: "Richard Keeble" <rkeeble at lincoln.ac.uk>
	To: "Richard Hall" <RHall1 at dmu.ac.uk>,  <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
	Subject: [SSC] Representation
	Message-ID:
	       <6A2C225F32AD154D9D822F00DF34D8CB04C082D5 at AEXCMS02.network.uni>
	Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"

	Dear all,
	I have received this invite from the BBC Breakfast team (see below).
	Given the discussion yesterday about how we represent ourselves to the
	media, how would you like us to proceed?
	Would someone offer themselves to be interviewed and filmed?
	Bestest,
	Richard

	------------------------------------------------------------------------
	--------
	From: Claire Kendall [mailto:claire.kendall at bbc.co.uk]
	Sent: 26 April 2012 16:42
	To: Richard Keeble
	Subject: BBC News

	Dear Professor Keeble,

	I read recently, on the BBC Lincolnshire website, about your plans to
	start a free university, offering courses to students who will struggle
	with the high tuition fees coming in this year.

	I work with Chris Buckler, UK Affairs Correspondent for BBC News. I'd be
	interested in some more information about your plans, with a view to
	offering BBC Breakfast a piece, featuring some filming and an interview
	with you. The report also mentioned that you'd been to a conference in
	Birmingham recently, where you'd heard of others planning something
	similar to yourself...which I'd also be interested in any details on.

	Many thanks for any help you can offer,

	Best wishes,

	Claire

	Claire Kendall

	UK Affairs producer

	BBC News

	07703 205806

	claire.kendall at bbc.co.uk

	------------------------------

	Message: 4
	Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:16:56 +0100
	From: Joss Winn <joss at josswinn.org>
	To: "ssc at lists.aktivix.org ssc at lists.aktivix.org"
	       <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
	Subject: Re: [SSC] Representation
	Message-ID: <7EDF94A6-C2FC-4D1F-9CFE-83B81A96B5F6 at josswinn.org>
	Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

	Richard,

	I am not offering myself to be interviewed, but I think that if you or other members wish to speak to the BBC, you should. It sounds like they want to do a general piece on different groups and organisations that are experimenting with higher education in the face of the cuts and tuition fee rises. That is a good thing. If we do get involved, we should be prepared for lots of follow up interest on the back of it. The open day publicity has generated lots of emails that need answering (as you know!), 25 new members, 800+ hits on the website over the weekend and (it feels to me) a gear change in our activity around the SSC.

	If you do the interview, I may need help with the SSC Inbox!

	Following our conversations at last night's meeting, I would encourage you to play down your role at the University of Lincoln (it may also be unwanted publicity for the university), but ultimately it's your call. This may actually be a time when an SSC member not connected to the University of Lincoln is better placed to talk to the media?

	Joss

	>
	>
	Message: 6
	Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:23:05 +0100
	From: David McAleavey <davidmcaleavey at virginmedia.com>
	To: Richard Keeble <rkeeble at lincoln.ac.uk>
	Cc: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
	Subject: Re: [SSC] Representation
	Message-ID:
	       <CADx5COrq_z9b=tm5XfhV-4ejaJQUcYEyaCLhmSKJoSEQYTc2PQ at mail.gmail.com>
	Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

	Dear All,

	I agree with Joss that we should respond positively to the invitation, and
	I think we should involve the other FUN programmes asap by inviting them to
	comment ahead of the researcher contacting them, as they might value the
	opportunity to reflect on their position about being in public, their
	relation to the SSC, the BBC, their respective 'day jobs'... before the BBC
	email appears in their respective inboxes... I thought Edwin's reflections
	last night on the feeling of being bounced (and in Edwin's case learning
	how to resist!) into the media's time frames/game was a valuable one.

	Gosh, that is a clumsy paragraph!

	My feeling is that a student scholar, and a teaching scholar, should
	represent us (the SSC) whenever possible; and on this occasion (an
	establishing item/feature on the BBC about Socially Engaged Education
	Practice), an active member(s) from one of the parallel programmes MUST be
	included. We (the SSC) will insist!

	So, to all SSC Scholars... any volunteers?

	Respectfully yours,

	David

	PS

	Joss, I will share the mail bag!

	So, 'who' are 'we'?

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