Some years ago we developed a popular economics course. It's about 40 hours of activities over about ten sessions (of three hours each). And it barely scratches the surface of the topic. We developed a number of tools for that course including this one here which we call JOBOLOGY. I used it a couple of weeks ago in the popular education class i teach at the Faculty of Environmental Studies and i was once again amazed at how well it works to share information about the history of work across the generations. It's also a tool that can be used to begin a discussion of class - what people think it is, what a marxist notion of class is, where people feel they might fit in a class structure. I'm hoping to develop this tool further so that it can be used in the context of the theory of diverse economies that J.K. Gibson-Graham are working on and which includes conceptualizing class as something akin to a verb rather than the noun (or thing) it is characteristically seen to be (i.e. class is more dynamic than it is normally thought to be). Meanwhile, if you have a context for using this exercise, i highly recommend trying it out. You can use it as a simple discussion provoking tool or you could use it to guide a discussion about class and the history of the changing world of work. You can download activity descriptions here: MSWord or PDF.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Popular Education Toolkit - Jobology
Some years ago we developed a popular economics course. It's about 40 hours of activities over about ten sessions (of three hours each). And it barely scratches the surface of the topic. We developed a number of tools for that course including this one here which we call JOBOLOGY. I used it a couple of weeks ago in the popular education class i teach at the Faculty of Environmental Studies and i was once again amazed at how well it works to share information about the history of work across the generations. It's also a tool that can be used to begin a discussion of class - what people think it is, what a marxist notion of class is, where people feel they might fit in a class structure. I'm hoping to develop this tool further so that it can be used in the context of the theory of diverse economies that J.K. Gibson-Graham are working on and which includes conceptualizing class as something akin to a verb rather than the noun (or thing) it is characteristically seen to be (i.e. class is more dynamic than it is normally thought to be). Meanwhile, if you have a context for using this exercise, i highly recommend trying it out. You can use it as a simple discussion provoking tool or you could use it to guide a discussion about class and the history of the changing world of work. You can download activity descriptions here: MSWord or PDF.
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Dear Chris,
Thanks for this link to your blog and also for the article about rest. Blessings and thanks. I have forwarded your blog to Kara McCrimmon, our director of education and programs. She is the one in charge of leading the development of the high school curriculum for us.
It was wonderful spending the time with you and the rest of our group this past weekend. I appreciate your joyful spirit and the depth of your experience and knowledge of the world of popular education and all that that entails and includes. I look forward to working with you in similar and expanded settings. Lord knows that is a lot to do, and I love this work.
I got home late last night - arrived home to my dear wife - a happy reunion. Check her out on line - Katie MacGregor. She is one of the world's best and finest handmade papermakers. I think of that as you build books. I will send you some of her paper to enjoy. She works with bookmakers to create text, end and cover sheets and also does a ton of work with pulp design and art papers and projects. Check out the Janis Press. Clare Van Vleet is one person Katie has done several books with.
Nice knowing you are out in the world. I smile at your many gifts.
Peace and action,
Alan
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