Doing
Leadership
Differently
In 2008, those enrolled in second year participate in the ongoing Integrative Conversation (sometimes with those enrolled in first year and sometimes separately) and in four units of the five listed below.
As we have done for participants entering oases for the first time, we offer here two views of the year 2008: one from the perspective of what happens in each ‘workshop’ and the other from the perspective of each ‘unit’ over the year. They both include the same information so please choose the view that suits you best!
Second Year Units:
Framing the Self: Identity through the Lens
Science: Evidence and a Framework for Meaning
Units in 2008
Framing the Self: Identity through the Lens
3½ days of, Mar 8-9, Apr 11-12, May 16-17, Jun 21 + approx. one other ½ day to be determined with group
This unit explores the social construction and social expression of self and identity. It will guide you toward awareness of the aspects in the world around us that influence and shape our identity, and reflexively, how identity and perception of ‘self’ shapes our understanding of the world around us. Prominent sociological models of self and identity construction will be examined in conjunction with an exploration of different visually aesthetic expressions of identity, representative of both individual and social identity. The central question explored in this course is the intersection between self and society. Greater understanding and knowing our ‘self’ is integral to our ability to undertake research projects, community development work and theoretical explorative analysis. Awareness of what we bring to a project, in the form of biases, priorities and channels of understanding allows us to: understand the processes we are engaged in; develop methods for interacting and influencing social processes; and be aware of how our presence influences the communities we enter into. The social expression in early modern photographic works will be contrasted with the work of late twentieth century contemporary documentary photographers. We will also explore the move from film-based photography to digital capture and the impact on social recording.
3½ days of, Mar 8-9, Apr 11-12, May 16-17, Jun 21
+ approx. one other ½ day to be determined with group
In this unit we explore what it means to be ‘Australian’ in the 21st Century as we hear and relate to stories from various cultures and traditions, briefly analyse contemporary Australian mythmaking and its rich history to identify some of the layers contributing to our identity as Australians, e.g. Indigenous, pioneer and recent immigrants. We examine the role of media, ideas, corporations and politics in creating myths, as well as compare and contrast archetypal myths with current myths existing in society. We explore archetypal myths and symbols common to early periods of history or across cultures, using insights from Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell and other writers on archetypal psychology and relating them to our own experience through reflection and creative processes. It is our intention to find unifying commonalities in the diverse manifestations of this myth-making and thus contribute to awareness and harmony within our own lives and our relationship with others in Australian society. We particularly focus on issues of our relationship with land, Spirit and what it means to relate to those of different cultures.
Social and Sacred Ecology (10-day residential in Snowy Mountains, Victoria)
Mar 20-30
This unit reclaims the notion of re-enchantment. It explores experientially the interconnections between spirit, nature and humanity at a time of increasing environmental degradation. It addresses the evolution of the Western disconnection with the natural world and poses (through theory and praxis) the question “In what ways can sacred nature encounters lead to insight, personal transformation and earth- caring?” The central theme of the unit is the belief that environmental problems are problems of the human condition, which may be addressed by a conscious reconnection of the human spirit with the spirit of nature. Its core is passion, for both environmental and social justice.
Aug 8, Sep 13, Oct 19, Nov 9
Community Development has variously been condemned to oblivion as naïve romanticism or promoted to an ill-understood panacea, especially for the ‘disadvantaged’ and then, in turn, criticised as a ‘cheap’ pseudo-solution for problems which have their roots far beyond the local community. This unit offers a reflective and constructive space where we can re-construct community in its ontological, epistemological and ‘praxis’ dimensions. We explore concepts, strategies and practices associated with Community Development, with strategies and practices understood here as a means of mediating between theoretical / empirical / ideological aspects of ‘community’ and the practical / technical / methodical aspects of community ‘intervention’, whether referred to as community ‘development’, ‘organisation’, ‘building’ or ‘strengthening’ or any other term presently en vogue. Rather than reifying and elevating community development from the dialectical theory-practice (or reflection-action) relationship which gives it real meaning, we move beyond the words and make the actors explicit. Moreover, we pay careful consideration to the ideological and theoretical premises which ex/implicitly underwrite our notions of community and its development. We are interested in the art of the possible. Indeed, we think of ‘strategies’ as providing us with a translating language, connecting empirical / concrete language and dream language, a language for ‘holding together’ reflection, action and debate.
Science: Evidence and a Framework for Meaning ~ a syntax for semantics
Aug 9, Sep 12, Oct 20, Nov 8
This unit introduces the idea of science (with special emphasis on the scientific understanding of the ecology), gives participants practical experience with it and canvasses the context it provides for humanity’s wider search for meaning. Meaning itself is the driver by which we want to interact with the world, with science and perhaps even with the world through science. Therefore, to do justice to science we need to recognise contexts of meaning, how we come by them and how they enable us to (re)cognise and “do justice to” science. In particular, we explore the nature of ‘affirmation-seeking behaviour’ and our interpretations of it as we continually attempt to make meaning in our world. Whilst we may previously have interpreted others (and our) affirmation-seeking behaviour as a failure of confidence and consequently of psychological inadequacy, in this unit we suggest that it may indeed be a feeling of inadequacy that drives it but that this feeling is entirely justified and necessary. We simply have no option but to check and recheck where we are in the complex, ever-changing world of which we are part and that search, inescapably, persists almost till the day we die. Self-affirmation is both an important reason for doing science and an important reason for criticising science.