My ride from the airport to the bus station in Santiago where I meet my first dear Chilean friend Camila. I take the Tur Bus from the Santiago bus station for a 3 hour ride to Talca, Maule, Chile.
Day 5 – My first solo mission to the store (Un poco bien y un poco malo).
This summer I had the good pleasure of being invited to participate in the National Issues Forum’s Deliberative Democracy Exchange (DDEx). Scholars, Educators, and Community Activists from around the world converged in Dayton, Ohio. It was a week of engagement, actions planning, and policy discussions surrounding the preservation and promotion of democracy within diverse cultural, political, and economic contexts. I had the chance to develop new networks with folks from around the country, as well as those coming from the middle east, who are fighting for liberation and democracy. Many traveled from Africa, Central and South America, and parts of Europe where we all became profoundly impacted and connected during the week of engagement.
As a result of our participation we were given extraordinary access to the Kettering Foundation resources in the form of online PDFs and a great number of books (as shown above) . These will go a long way in helping me to establish my academic library as part of my goal to enter the Professoriate upon completion of my Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. At this point, I would also like to give a special”shoutout” and words of thanks and gratitude to Dr. William V. Muse, President of the National Issues Forum (NIF) and my former boss at the University of Akron. It was his extending an invitation to me that allow for my participation in the DDEX. This was a wonderful experience and scholarly opportunity. I will forever be grateful for having been invited to participate and contribute to the deliberative democracy1 activities.
Note: 1The NIF and Kettering Foundation define this process as moving beyond the theoretical statement stage of democracy work, to the action or working phase stages of deliberative democracy.
The Kettering Foundation. (n.d.) Deliberative Democracy and Accountability. Retrieved from retrieved from http://kettering.org/videos/deliberative-democracy-and-accountability/
Proverbs 4:7
Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
The scripture above, from the traditional KJV, is one of my favorite proverbs and will serve as the touchstone for my dissertation research in Chile. I will be documenting my research journey via this blog site and I hope you will enjoy and learn from my experiences. You are welcomed to leave your comments at anytime. I will try to be expeditious in responding to your posts. 🙂
June 18, 2013
Spiral Dynamics Training, Santa Barbara, CA
During the week lasting from June 19th through June 27th, I traveled to Santa Barbara, California to complete my training in Spiral Dynamics. So I landed in Los Angeles yesterday (June 18th) afternoon and will be here for about a week for Spiral Dynamics Levels 1 & 2 certification. It’s weird trying to adjust to the time difference as its 3:22am here and I’m up blogging. My body thinks it is almost 7am. Yeah, I’m going back to sleep!
July 12, 2013
So I have completed my Spiral Dynamics certification training for Levels 1 & 2 and above you can see my certificates of attendance. Spiral Dynamic Theory (SDT) as a theoretical framework is being used in my research to examine levels of civic engagement within the complex contexts associated with public and private for-profit gradate-level adult learning. My research also explores the use of memetic science which is the theory and study holding that mental contents of culture operate analogous to Darwinian evolution. SDT is an open-ended theory based on the work of psychologist Clare W. Graves whose “emergent cyclical level of existence theory” (ECLET) held that as adults are faced with increasing degrees of life conditions and problems their worldviews are impacted such that they can respond to those problems through advancing biopsychosocial neurology. My research holds that Memes (the products of memetics) influence these worldviews and also influence adults existential realities.
In essence, adults’ coping systems are open to increasing levels of complexity and they have the unlimited potential to develop ways of responding to emergent life complexities. It’s also important to note that Graves held that change was not inevitable and that adults can live the totality of their lives centralized within a particular worldview or level which Chris Cowan and Don Beck term as a vMEME (i.e., Value Meme). So my training and certification in Santa Barbara served to augment the research and study I’ve had to date relative to Gravesian theory (ECLET) and Spiral Dynamics.
July 19, 2013
So I’m looking for recording equipment to take with me to Chile to capture my research data. Here’s my test using the Sony Bloggie Touchscreen digital recording device. I’m thinking probably a yes on this purchase. It’s smaller than an iphone and has the capacity to directly upload to my YouTube and Facebook pages via a WiFi connection. I must say I’m very impressed with the “Bloggie” right now. 🙂
July 20, 2013
University of Georgia Doctoral Candidate and Novice Blogger. Enjoy!
July 31, 2013
Got my IRB – It’s a GO!!
What better way to close out the summer as well as the month of July than getting a notice that your IRB research proposal has been approved!! Yay! 🙂
The Chilean Chronicles Blog (The US Return Extended Version) 