[NLA] COABE plantation tour

[Deborah Stedman]

NLA subscribers who are participating in this discussion, actively as well 
as lurking, might want to check out the piece NPR is doing on a book and CD 
entitled Remembering Jim Crow.  The book documents the different realities 
that have existed during the 20th century but focuses specifically on 
perceptions of different groups during the segregation and desegregation 
decades and provides something of a sociocultural view.

Go to www.npr.org, scroll down and click on Remembering Jim Crow.

Deborah



Deborah Stedman
Assistant Professor
Developmental and Adult Education
Southwest Texas State University
601 University Dr.
San Marcos, TX 78666
(512) 245-7861
stedman01 at msn.com





>From: Marguerite Lukes <mlukes at ix.netcom.com>
>Reply-To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
>To: nla at lists.literacytent.org
>Subject: Re: [NLA] COABE plantation tour
>Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 09:46:23 -0500
>
>Dear Elsa, Janet, Sally et all:
>
>This is a compelling discussion.   I think touring the plantation is not
>in itself problematic, but the issues are there and can be viewed
>critically. On the one hand I amdisturbed that anyone could take such an
>uncritical stance at something that romanticizes slavery, but not really
>surprised.   But we have lots of that in our culture and we do not
>interrupt every instance of it (from "Miss Saigon" to "Cosmo" to our
>current policies on immigrant  detainees).
>
>Funny, I have been corresponding with someone about the issue of being
>"Southern" (I am from Kentucky) and have long ago come to the conclusion
>that we
>white Southerners grow up to be either ardent anti-racists or passive
>non-participaters who are defensive about the racist Southern baggage.
>Clearly this is a case of the latter.  Question is, what to do.  Ignoring
>it smacks of collusion, one of the things that is hardest to interrupt.
>
>  I feel like this is an educational opportunity for everyone at the
>conference.   I know from my own background  that there is so much
>awkwardness related to feeling like people from the north especially
>stereotype Southerners as flaming racists.  The blindness to this issue
>and inability to have open dialogue about it only makes it more
>entrenched.
>
>I believe that because of the nature of the conference and because we
>believe it is important to foster a critical analysis of history and
>connect it to the present,
>that we should do exactly what Sally and others suggested, namely form a
>roundtable to discuss the issues, and go on the tour and ask the hard
>questions.    That it is a rare opportunity for a learning experience
>that is rich and real.  And ultimately, what the work we do is all about.
>
>Marguerite
>--
>Marguerite Lukes
>Director of Instructional Technology
>Literacy Assistance Center
>32 Broadway, 10th floor
>New York, NY 10004
>tel: 212.803.3322
>fax: 212.785.3685
>mlukes at lacnyc.org
>http://www.lacnyc.org
>
>
>
>"Ralf St.Clair" wrote:
>
> > I would very much like to support Elsa's position on the plantation
> > tour. Last year in Memphis COABE organized a trip to the Nike
> > factory, but managed to ignore the possibility of a trip to the Civil
> > Rights Museum. It seems to me that this is both a problematic
> > exclusion and a unacceptable inclusion. Several of us wrote about
> > these choices on our conference evaluations. To find COABE ignoring
> > these comments is disappointing but not particularly surprising. In
> > some circles COABE's choice of the most expensive possible hotel in a
> > given city has become something of a legend.
> >
> > I worry about COABE's continuing insensitivity to significant
> > political issues. This is not a matter of political correctness, but
> > of political engagement. The organisation's unwillingness to
> > recognise issues of huge importance (historical and contemporary) to
> > many learners, such as exploitative working practices and the
> > depiction of slavery, is a disgrace. In this kind of case I'm afraid
> > I do not mind embarrassing people.
> >
> > Ralf
> > _______________________________________________
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> > http://lists.literacytent.org/mailman/listinfo/nla
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> > http://literacytent.org
>
>--
>Marguerite Lukes
>Director of Instructional Technology
>Literacy Assistance Center
>32 Broadway, 10th floor
>New York, NY 10004
>tel: 212.803.3322
>fax: 212.785.3685
>mlukes at lacnyc.org
>http://www.lacnyc.org
>
>
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