Over to you....
I am sure there are many more programs actively taking on
issues of violence - I would love to hear from you if you are in
such a program:
- What led you to take on this work?
- How are you doing it?
- What supports you in taking it on?
- What limits what you are able to do?
Have you attended any workshops to help you take on this
issue? If so:
- What made you decide to go?
- What helped you decide to take action?
- What helped you convince others in your program that this
was necessary?
- What helped and hindered you making change?
Discourse
The language we use to understand what we do is crucial. Sandra
Butler asserts that "with a different language comes a completely
different understanding of what we are doing ." I have found the
concept of discourse a useful tool for helping me to think about the
language that is commonly used in a given field - such as the
language of adult literacy - and to notice how that language shapes
understandings and practices within that field. Some discourses are
dominant, reinforced by social institutions and widely used, others are
minority discourses used to resist dominant or mainstream discourses.
I have come to believe that a range of "dominant discourses"
make it challenging to change literacy programs. Dominant
discourses include the most common ways of talking. These shape
what we come to see as given and take for granted about ourselves and the world. They are reinforced by institutions and common
practices. Discourses underpin our practices. In earlier writing, I
introduced the concept
of discourse:
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