5. Next was Saussure (1857-1913), Saussure (1857-1913) believed in a pre-given structure of language, once a signified is attached to a signifier it is fixed.
6. Influences from Structural Theorists Structural linguistics does not explain how meanings of words can change over time (for example ‘apricot’ as a colour). Derrida and Foucault, were ‘post’ structuralist, Their argument was language are never fixed but always open to question, always contestable.
7. Derrida and deconstruction Derrida called deconstruction a powerful tool for critiquing any structure, allowing us the freedom to rewrite the world and our subjectivity in non-linear and exciting ways (Derrida, 1974).
11. Sophie’s narrative Yeah well, I always thought it wasn’t as though I had CF, it was just that everyone had CF. I wasn’t anything different. So I was either normal and everybody was normal, or I had CF and everyone had CF sort of thing. CF was the norm, so I went to school thinking that everybody had physio, everybody had millions of tablets a day, you know. It was just part of everybody’s life sort of thing. Until I think the first day at school or something like that… I swapped lunch with somebody, and in my lunch was the pancrease enzymes so it was a bit of a fiasco at school...
12. Ruth’s narrative Something which helps me my friend thought it was really, really stupid, but CF is just something I have to do, like a chore because some of my friends have piano and their parents made them. And I said well piano takes an hour out of your day everyday, or two hours out of your day every day for practice. CF takes two hours of my day everyday. You hate piano, I hate physio, but you have to do it for your parents. I have to do it for me.
13. Fiona’s narrative Um, when I am just fed up with things I sort of – sometimes it is on the spur of the moment, sometimes it is planned – instead of just not doing physio one day, I do the whole day with no CF, no tablets, no nothing, and it just gives me peace of mind. A little holiday away from CF, because so it doesn’t become all of my life.
14. Fiona’s narrative continues Well, the doctors and nurses might disagree, because I am just totally ignoring CF for a total day, but yeah, for me I think it is… it is, not too detrimental to my health, which is the main thing. Like I wouldn’t do it if I am really sick, you know?
15. Todd’s narrative Obviously I take all the drugs I’m supposed to take, and generally I don’t have a problem with that. Pep mask, when I’m sick, I tend to get lazy about it. It gets boring as hell, I hate it! It just distracts you! But anyway, I cycle a lot and I run, so yep, like especially when you feel your lungs building up, within two days after your last ride your lungs can fill up really quickly, and you think oh, it’s time to go out again. So I get out and it clears it right out, and it’s very clear for another day or two so…
16. Poststructuralist inspiration for Education As educators we hold the most powerful tool in our hands – ‘language’ and how we use it!
18. Closing the Gap When I commenced class that afternoon, the whole group came and here are the visual images I wanted to share with you all.
Notas del editor
As a genetic counsellor looking after young people living with CF, the team I worked was questioning compliance / non-compliance.Thinking of compliance/non-compliance is binary thinking (like good/bad, sick/well), and is not helpful in understanding the young people living with CF.Dualistic thinking is dichotomous and cannot describe the world of the young people living with CF and medication.
The signifier (for example ‘apricot’) is a word on a page with an abstract concept (the fruit ‘apricot’) it’s signified.
Lather describes this as “reading against the text”:(Lather, 1991, p.5). or ‘troubling’ as it allows us to challenge our cherished assumptions, as well as to demystify, categorise and question, our tendency to find fixed meanings
Deconstructive thinking about my participant’s social world can have a capacity to constrain, as well as the ability to potentiate, a liveable life within CF.
Foucault states that ‘Discourse’ embodies our socially shared meanings, and defines and produces the object of our knowledge.
Until she went to school, she had not understood herself as ‘other’, nor experienced her condition as ‘abject’, since this ‘abject’ other is constituted through the recognition of difference, of something not quite normal (Butler, 1993,p. 15). This positioning of herself as the same as everyone else led to a “bit of a fiasco”, a memorable event in her life because up until this moment she had understood her categorisation of CF as normal since she thought everyone has CF. This was a pivotal point in her life:The Key concept of this discussion is that dualistic thinking is practiced in education, as well as the medical model.In order for us educators to make a difference to our learners and our teaching we need examine our power structure. The dualistic educator/student needs to be examined.I wanted to apply my understanding of poststructuralism into the ways I teach the students. To illustrate how different ways of asking questions can give different answers, these are some examples from my research.
and within poststructural thinking our mission is to pass on a body of knowledge in ‘ways of knowing’, that can change the knower.Our current global ecological crisis should inspire us to educate the current and future generations, to engage in opening up new creative forces to evolve us beyond fixities and limitations of the present moment.
As educators we need to ask ourselves if we are content driven educators or student centred. We need to collapse the power of this binary of educator/ student, and foster inclusive teaching and learning with our students.Poststructural education is not a ‘free for all’ or a laissez-faire attitude. It is the ability to drop the ‘teacher know it all’, and take on a cross fertilisation of ideas, invite diversity and openness to new ways of being oneself, and together invite life giving inspiration and energise each and everyone of us towards transformation of knowledgeAs educators we need to ask ourselves if we are content driven educators or student centred. We need to collapse the power of this binary of educator/ student, and foster inclusive teaching and learning with our students.Poststructural education is not a ‘free for all’ or a laissez-faire attitude. It is the ability to drop the ‘teacher know it all’, and take on a cross fertilisation of ideas, invite diversity and openness to new ways of being oneself, and together invite life giving inspiration and energise each and everyone of us towards transformation of knowledge
I am an educator new to this field. As a clinical educator, education had been woven into the fabric of my clinical practice of 25 years. I use poststructuralist thinking teaching my class.I use student centred teaching in disseminating as well as receiving information from my class.I have one example I want to share with all of you as I close my presentation.– I had to teach baby bathing as a skill…I am an educator new to this field. As a clinical educator, education had been woven into the fabric of my clinical practice of 25 years. I use poststructuralist thinking teaching my class.
When I commenced class that afternoon, the whole group came and here are the visual images I wanted to share with you all.
