A talk by Dr. Siobhan O'Flynn on interdisciplinary methods of research & practice for the Introduction to Diaspora and Transnational Studies, University of Toronto. Oct 22 2015

1. DIASPORAS
& Citizenship
MEASURES & AGENCY
1
SIOBHAN O’FLYNN, PhD

2. Citizenship
& DIASPORAS
2
SIOBHAN O’FLYNN, PhD
MEASURES & AGENCY

3. 3
teaching….
research….
design….
practice….
WHO AM I?
Prof. SIOBHAN O’FLYNN
siobhan o’flynn, PhD
siobhanoflynn.com
@sioflynn

4. 4
I. CDN 367 Pluralism
II. CDN 435 Active Citizenship
III. CDN 355 Digital Tools in a
Canadian Context
IV. ENG 287 The Digital Text
courses

7. 7
keyholeeffect

8. 8
JEWISH
INDIA
WHAT FRAMEWORK OF INQUIRY DO WE CHOOSE?
DIASPORAS & TRANSNATIONAL STUDIES
CARIB
WEST
AFRICA
POLAND
JAPAN

9. 9

10. 10

11. 11

12. 1212

13. 13

14. 14
COMPLEX
INTERDYNAMIC
SYSTEMS

15. 3 MODES
MAPPING
ENGAGEMENT DATA

17. Arjun Appadurai
context:
culture vs. economic development

18. 18
• rights & responsibilities -
legislation, legal status, obey laws
etc
• common/shared values
• sphere of action:
• agency - what is perceived or
understood as possible in terms
of actions, interactions &
engagement
• participatory democracy vs.
representative democracy

22. Arjun Appadurai
context:
culture & economic development

23. Arjun Appadurai
‘the capacity to aspire’
=> agency, voice, intervention, planning

24. Matthew Arnold
Culture and Anarchy, 1869
• Central Victorian era ethos
• Culture represents “the best which has been
thought and said in the world"
• High culture vs. anarchy
• Neoplatonic ideal
• "beauty," "intelligence," and "perfection"
• ‘whiteness’ as non-ethnic

25. 20th Century View of Culture
• Raymond Williams – cultural critic, marxist
• Essay: "Culture is Ordinary" 1958
• culture isn't just the "best that has been thought and
said," but rather that "culture is ordinary, in every
society and in every mind."

26. Raymond Williams "forced the first important
shift into a new way of thinking about the
symbolic dimensions of our lives. Thus, 'culture'
is wrested from that privileged space of artistic
production and specialist knowledge [e.g. "high
culture”], into the lived experience of the
everyday. ”
Moving from High Culture to Ordinary Culture, 1958
(Gray and McGuigan 1).
26

27. Raymond Williams
• “Culture is ordinary: that is the first fact. Every human society
has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every
human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and
learning.
• A culture has two aspects:
– the known meanings and directions, which its members are
trained to;
– the new observations and meanings, which are offered and
tested.”

28. Appadurai
• Culture as:
• relationality
• dissensus
• weak boundaries
• recognition (Charles Taylor)
• voice
• agency
• partnership
• development

29. Isaiah Berlin
• Multicultural societies necessitate:
– Value pluralism
– non-equivalence of values

30. The Aga Khan Centre for Pluralism
Don Mills
• Pluralism is a set of practices and outcomes as well as a set of
intentions
– active pluralism
– positive pluralism

31. CDN 367
PLURALISM
Prof. Siobhan O’Flynn

32. 3 spheres of practice
government
municipal community

33. government
legislation
funding
policy
municipal
initiatives
programs
by-laws
community
not for profit
outreach
3 spheres of practice

34. government
top down
community
grassroots
bottom up
arts & culture
3 spheres of practice

35. 3 spheres of analysis & articulation
primary
sources
reports
data
critical
secondary
sources
novels,
films
short stories
visual arts
docs

36. quantitative
data analysis
qualitative
interpretation
of data
interpretation
of ‘art’ in
context
3 spheres of analysis & articulation

37. 3 spheres of engagement
Mapping Project
MACRO
objective
critical
sources
data
MICRO
subjective
initiatives/
programs
arts/culture
ACTIVE
urban
mapping
observation
of street

38. CDN 435
ACTIVE
CITIZENSHIP

39. 39
service learning
community based
learning

40. E 40
Experiential Learning
Theory into
Practice

41. 41
living lab

44. 44
Placements
City Councillors
Centre for Community Learning and Development
Cabbagetown Regent Park Community Museum
Tower Renewal Office, City of Toronto
Native Earth Performing Arts Centre…

47. CDN 355
DIGITAL TOOLS

48. 48
PM Harper Interview, CBC January 19, 2011

49. 49
Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty,
Budget Speech, 2011

50. engagement
mapping
systems
data
50

51. questions
51

52. 52
s.oflynn@utoronto.ca
Siobhan O ‘Flynn, PhD
Canadian Studies
University College
University of Toronto

53. capacity development
• The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) defines capacity
development as the process through which individuals, organisations, and
societies obtain, strengthen, and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve
their own development objectives over time.
• The United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction Office (UNISDR) defines capacity
development in the DRR domain as the process by which people, organizations
and society systematically stimulate and develop their capability over time to
achieve social and economic goals, including through improvement of
knowledge, skills, systems, and institutions - within a wider social and cultural
enabling environment.