It is amazing to me how this one theme kept emerging...
Saying Good-Bye at UCT
My last day at UCT was wonderful. All the work had been wrapped up earlier in the week. I had a great final meeting with Judy, Sonwabo and Frank, some of the leaders from the "Social 
Responsiveness Committee" that I've worked closely with over the past year. My “Facilitator Training” for the upcoming “students in/and community conference” happened on Tuesday, and went really well. This is a conference that a group of activist students at UCT are organizing, and I've been helping them a bit with the planning. And the community partner lunch with Marlese and the new law and social justice service learning course took place on Wednesday, and resulted in some wonderful exchange between the prof (Marlese) and some very dynamic community organizations. They had done their homework, had read the course outline Marlese had sent them, and were very interested in sharing their ideas about social justice, and the relationship of these theories and concepts to the reality of the work they do (women's rights; farworkers' rights; youth development; housing and homelessness). It was a great meeting of "theory meet practice!" Sweet.
Responsiveness Committee" that I've worked closely with over the past year. My “Facilitator Training” for the upcoming “students in/and community conference” happened on Tuesday, and went really well. This is a conference that a group of activist students at UCT are organizing, and I've been helping them a bit with the planning. And the community partner lunch with Marlese and the new law and social justice service learning course took place on Wednesday, and resulted in some wonderful exchange between the prof (Marlese) and some very dynamic community organizations. They had done their homework, had read the course outline Marlese had sent them, and were very interested in sharing their ideas about social justice, and the relationship of these theories and concepts to the reality of the work they do (women's rights; farworkers' rights; youth development; housing and homelessness). It was a great meeting of "theory meet practice!" Sweet. Then on Thursday, I took the day off and we got some boxes shipped off through the US Embassy, and said our goodbyes to the folks there. All that was left was a noon-time party at UCT, with my colleagues from the Center for Higher Education Development, CHED, my home for the past year.
Janice organized a wonderful, groundbreaking lunch. Groundbreaking in so far as they served wine, which was a first for a noontime gathering at CHED! A number of people spoke, including the Dean, the Director of the department where I had been affiliated, a representative from the School of Health Sciences with whom I had worked a lot on the social responsiveness policy working group, a student, and my colleague Janice. They all had wonderful things to say, about the work I had been able to accomplish, and the contributions they felt I’ve made to UCT.
I’ll spare you the self-congratulatory details, but one theme stood out for me that I do want to share, that echoed a theme from the goodbye party at UWC a week earlier. That is: you are a very NOT-American American! Not mincing words, colleagues from both campuses talked about how they were not necessarily looking forward to another “know-it-all professor from the US” coming to share their wisdom, tell them all what is right and wrong, and without any knowledge of the local context, critique their work. Pretty shocking, huh? Now I surely knew about the image of the ugly American tourist. And, I have also had lots of intimate opportunities to get to know the arrogance that comes with academia. BUT, I had never put these two things together. What a powerfully ugly combination: the UGLY AMERICAN ACADEMI! The know-it-all of all know-it-alls! Arrogance supreme.
How Low the Bar!
Janice organized a wonderful, groundbreaking lunch. Groundbreaking in so far as they served wine, which was a first for a noontime gathering at CHED! A number of people spoke, including the Dean, the Director of the department where I had been affiliated, a representative from the School of Health Sciences with whom I had worked a lot on the social responsiveness policy working group, a student, and my colleague Janice. They all had wonderful things to say, about the work I had been able to accomplish, and the contributions they felt I’ve made to UCT.
I’ll spare you the self-congratulatory details, but one theme stood out for me that I do want to share, that echoed a theme from the goodbye party at UWC a week earlier. That is: you are a very NOT-American American! Not mincing words, colleagues from both campuses talked about how they were not necessarily looking forward to another “know-it-all professor from the US” coming to share their wisdom, tell them all what is right and wrong, and without any knowledge of the local context, critique their work. Pretty shocking, huh? Now I surely knew about the image of the ugly American tourist. And, I have also had lots of intimate opportunities to get to know the arrogance that comes with academia. BUT, I had never put these two things together. What a powerfully ugly combination: the UGLY AMERICAN ACADEMI! The know-it-all of all know-it-alls! Arrogance supreme.
How Low the Bar!
So, with that as the expectation, it was absolutely wonderful to be complemented as being the NOT-American academic. People really appreciated that I listened, and that I struggled to understand their context and their history. They appreciated how I didn’t try to bring the CSUMB service-learning dogma to them, but was willing to rethink and rework the concepts, so that they made sense for their own context and experience!
I guess when the bar is set so low, it is easy to stand out. The incredibly depressing insight is the realization of how low the bar was actually set. I know we can’t blame it all on the Bush presidency, but the words “American” and “arrogance” sure seem to go together in many people’s minds. Throw the word “academic” on top of that, and you have the very un-holy trinity of the Triple A: ARROGANT AMERICAN ACADEMIC.
Hopefully, I have contributed a little toward replacing the adjective ARROGANT with the words RESPECTFUL, CURIOUS, and CONTEXTUALLY-SENSITIVE (need to come up with a better word for CONTEXTUALLY-SENSITIVE). Amazing the impact that the past eight years, and a couple of wars, has had. Get out there friends. We've got work to do.
Hopefully, I have contributed a little toward replacing the adjective ARROGANT with the words RESPECTFUL, CURIOUS, and CONTEXTUALLY-SENSITIVE (need to come up with a better word for CONTEXTUALLY-SENSITIVE). Amazing the impact that the past eight years, and a couple of wars, has had. Get out there friends. We've got work to do.
Blog ya later,
Seth./.
