Knowledges ... (AM discussion group conversation)

AM conversation journey:

We made statements about communication of ideas (the topic of the discussion for today): 

• Ideas build a community – the responses back 
• There is a ‘Code’ used that is built up between the people communicating
• You have to reflect on and find the best ways to communicate your ideas to the ‘communicated’ 

We talked a bit ….

 ..And a bit more…. Cultures have particular ways to communicate and particular values in the languages they use…

We touched on things …

…We came to the University is a culture. Therefore,

• There is a community the university expects you to engage with (one of the members of that community is the literature). Understanding that community is part of having an MA.  

• There is a particular ‘code’ (format lexicon) the university expects you to use 

• You have to work at the best way to communicate your ideas within the relationship of the being ‘in the university’. In a way you are responding to the culture of the university.

The 'Professional Artefact' in Module Three throws the doors open on this an allows you to communicate using your professional community as the starting point.

But regardless of what community of people all looking at dance that you are communicating with you need to balance their needs and expectation with your own values. You need to question how you communicate what is being looked for buy the community with what you can’t leave out of the communication because of your own values and come to some justification for the route you take in your communication (essay, plan etc…) 

At MA level you are not doing something just because you are being told to do it. In writing your essay to hand-in it has to be more than doing it because you were told to do it that way. The essay has to involve an understanding of the community you are communicating to (the university). The understanding has to happen in order for you to negotiate what values and codes you use in the essay. Therefore the essay itself displays an understanding of University MA level culture. The ability to communicate something (anything) displays an understanding and a negotiation between yourself and the community of the ‘academic’.  There is an art to this. 

…the above suggests that the content is only part – showing you understand something is not just the context  it is embedded in being able to choose the appropriate modes for communicating it to the community you are in conversation with. 

We ended re-igniting our inner  ‘question-everything-flames 

Maria suggested if dance is a shape (like the picture) then there are groups of people looking at it through different facets (sides) of the shape. Just because you are not used to looking at dance through a particular side doesn’t mean part of the construction of dance isn’t also that facet. You might have looked at dance through one facet for a long time and now looking at it (for instance) through a dance-scholar facet is not what you are used to but in doing this you come to know the whole stone (dance) better. What makes it beautiful is there is more than facet to it. 

Please comment below ...

See below to for links to other peoples posts on the conversation too