Uma Who?

The type of writing and thinking this first paper is asking of us reminds me of a reflective quote from Uma Narayan, an Indian philosopher, who sometimes feels pressured to give an account of her own philosophies, why she thinks what she thinks:

There is nothing inherently wrong about the project of giving an account of oneself--of one's specific location as speaker and thinker; of the complex experiences and perceptions and sense of life that fuel one's concerns; of the reasons, feelings, and anxieties that texture one's position on an issue; of the values that inform one's considered judgment of things . . . It enables one to see, with humility, and gratitude, and pain, how much one has been shaped by one's contexts, to sense both the extent and boundaries of one's vision, to see how circumstance can circumscribe as well as inspire, and to become self-aware to some extent of one's perspective on things . . . (Dislocating Cultures)

Whew! What a lot to unpack. Sherrie and I were talking last night about why some people are more eager to delve into that kind of project than others . . . for me, I needed to make sense of my messy life . . . then, I needed to understand what parts of my teaching are idiosyncratic and what parts are driven by larger cultural concerns that I may only be subconsciously aware of? For example, why am I so drawn to dragging social justice issues into every frick'en lesson I teach? Because I suffered without social justice as a child? Because the culture at large--especially my mentors who came of age during the 60s and 70s--is concerned with social justice?

I am really looking forward to reading people's narratives--to see how we each have been shaped by the circumstances--geographical, generational, racial, economical, religious, gender, etc.--we were born into.