PM dynamics: April 2004 Archives

We are going to rock the house! :-) Spent today refining the design; I'm feeling quite good about it.

I'm building on success from Boston's PM/WAD workshop at the CGO, where we really nailed a problematic moment with a sophisticated group of organizational diversity consultants. Exhausting (I'll need good rest!), but gives me a great sense of optimism for the large group activity in the workshop. Had a fun flurry of emails today from the organizers - always love to pick up the jazz via cyberspace!

Also building on all the recent paper-writing on problematic moments (and aren't I glad THAT's done for awhile!) and the CGO workshop, I did something new while interpreting last week that I've never done before and don't recall seeing anyone else do. There was a moment of din - when literally everyone in the group burst out with something at the same time. Instead of trying to continue with the thread of the primary speaker's comment I represented the verbal action of the din. It felt...right, somehow. :-) The Deaf interlocutor was with the group's outburst, not informed of it after the fact.

Finally found the specific reference I wanted:

Tokarczyk, Michelle and Fay, Elizabeth (1993) Working-class women in the academy: Laborers in the knowledge factory.

Here's a review that contrasts the above with The Madwoman in the Academy: 43 Women Boldly Take On The Ivory Tower.

Hardee Center for Women in Higher Education looks like a find too.

Issues of socioeconomic class came up during the rhetoric class's debriefing of the PM. Here are is one source (might be good for Lisa's seminar on class cultures next fall, too).

Impostors in the Sacred Grove: Working Class Women in the Academe

Apparently some psychologists tested it, Clance and ____, but I can't find their study, only folks talking about it, and they are all over the map (not just working class).

There have been a number of problematic moments in COM250: the very first day, when I asked students if they were sure they understood what each other meant (during the icebreaker "cocktail hour" activity); in The Super Death Machine when Peter asked Jen if she knew what the Chinese characters on her sneakers meant, in The Tangents when Allison asked for someone's phone number in case she missed class again. The last instance doesn't seem (at least on the surface) to have anything to do with social identity per se - it appeared more related to the inclusion stage of forming, and the kind of role group members feared Allison might enact. (We'll find out more about this one when Allison and D present next week on "perception.")