On the turning away...Pink Floyd..

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we wont understand
Dont accept that whats happening
Is just a case of others suffering
Or youll find that youre joining in
The turning away

Its a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting its shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that were all alone
In the dream of the proud

On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerized as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
Its not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that therell be
No more turning away?

On teaching!!

Today, I attended this department colloquium on teaching tips and heard the presentations of 3 professors. They spoke about a lot of good points. One of them pointed out the importance of making the class enjoyable, interesting and said that he does not believe in taking attendance; rather he builds incentives into attendance. As a strategy, he does not post many things online so thOne of them stressed on authority and professional distance. He was more on control and control of the class and with a patronizing attitude that well...you also have access to me but this is the distance. His concession and great gesture was giving his home phone number to the students. Well...more on this later....

On caring..

Its become chic..noveau to talk about caring. Do you care? Can you care? Who cares? Indeed!!!

Do I care? How do I know I care? Is it related to sacrifice? What have I sacrificed from my life, my position to make a statement to myself that I cared?

Let me read Marquez's nobel lecture once more...

More questions..

Ah!! How can we as critical scholars (ahem!!! am I one?) find space for articulation in the academy? A learned scholar said "with the definition of communication department as economic entities there is no place for ideology on the academy". True..but then in the larger scheme of the university, let us see what the modern day university aims for....has its philosophy not tuned towards making money? Is not a university a big business? money spinning entity? On a similar scale, the engineering colleges, the medical schools, big business buying stakes, creating endowment funds...so when we are operating under this environment, making a living in this system, where are our ideologies? Does this mean all of us in this system have lost our ideologies? Compromised? Burnt out bridges as they say..? Does that mean we should not articulate about the loss of ideologies in a critical space? Of course we should..but then does that make me a hypocrite in some sense...? By articulating am I trying to justify my own existence? Does it give me a space for working out my inconsistencies and my own development?

Our identities are academics, as practitioners is interrelated to our own lives, our families and their life paths. In that negotiation, we do make inconsistent decisions, inconsistent not with our general wellbeing but our ideologies..does that make us hypocrites?

The question of stance...in my role as a critical scholar, have I not taken a stance already? My stance might not be a clean one but is one which is a negotiated one, a constantly pulsing patchwork of commitments, sacrifices, articulations and changing positions brought about by my diverse thinking and increasing exposure...So, when as an academic I raise the question of existing in a department which is uncritical of economic logic...where am I going? What are my options? How much guts do I have to take an option? Or my life is a constantly interchangeable, malleable collection of positions in which the only thread is my raising of critical questions? Can I be happy with this life?

We with our access to knowledge and our incessant articulations have become slaves to it and our words are replete with multiple meanings. This is a very privileged position. This means I can choose different meanings as per the person, the situation or my argument and I deconstruct the way I want to. Smart!! But what are knowledge laborers and knowledge producers? I would hate to belong in either category....maybe I am a knowledge consumer!! ;)

Does my articulation of critical theory from my position negate myself?