There is so much that is rich when reading about externalising practices. I don’t know where to begin. It feels a bit like contact with magic. There is something of wonder here.
Perhaps my strongest response to this topic has been that for externalising practices to be meaningful in our work we need to have access to our own playful and creative qualities – and not allow ourselves to be objectified into serious counsellors or adults with important things to do. And so I have decided to allow myself to play with externalisation in some areas of my own life and work.
The first part of externalising is developing a rich picture of the thing – in this case I think "rigidity" is a good characterisation of qualities that stop my playful and creative side from shining out.
Some of the ‘tactics’ rigidity uses with me in my line of work include:
Enhanced ‘worry’ about getting jobs done
Fear that I’m not doing a good job, or that I won’t ever get it right
Tiredness – leading to reliance on old ways of doing things.
So if I jump from this to the alternate characterisation: my own stories of being creative and playful have a lot to do with a character known as "fun!" The history and sources of fun’s magic in my life include:
Playing with my brother for hours and hours when we were kids
Being around other people who are also having fun
Drawing on richly textured imagination because it helps me go deeper and have more fun
Getting lost in the moment
Now, let me just push ‘pause’ for a minute (because I could go on for a lot longer about this)... and go back to the readings – what are some of the fun and creative ideas I have had as a result of this reading?
The creative impulse is something that can be added to a situation – and it has the power to influence what comes out the other end.
When we ‘play around’ with externalising, we are also playing around with questions of power. At times we are perhaps being disrespectful to established societal expectations. Other times we may be creating opportunities for power to be expressed in new and unexpected directions.
I love the way externalising practices are able to uncover huge areas of opportunities for people to test out their abilities or review the multi-faceted ways they have already responded to the events or issues of their lives.
I also loved reading about the widely different situations and styles of approach that have been used with externalising. There seems no limit to the creativity that can be accessed!
I would now like to mention the sparks that have formed in my mind about a specific situation I am meeting up with at work:
Situation: Responding to a school community asking for support in the aftermath of a suicide in the larger community.
My instinct, if externalising ‘suicide’, is to immediately think of a big suicide monster, that sucks all hope and love up a dumps it in the sewer. It can take the entire colour out of a place and leave it looking grey and desolate.
But my relationship to suicide is not the main question here – the community members themselves will probably have quite different experience-near ideas of how suicide affects them. The key point made by Russel and Carey is to start by seeing what is already internalised – and then creating space in which an alternate view can emerge.
I remember when my colleague Paul mentioned the difficulty or perhaps danger of externalising around suicide issues in a culture where people already feel helpless in the face of something that seems to them to be an expression of hostile magic.
At this point I am wondering whether it will be this ‘helpless feeling’ that might be a useful focus for externalising. But how can this topic be approached with fun, and love, and creativity?
On reflection, I noticed that there are lots of ways in which people – both in the community I am talking about and also in the ‘therapeutic’ community – are drawn into ‘internalising practices’ that are so pervasive in our lives. It almost seemed as if people were looking for a recruit (therapy) who would act as an expert to somehow ‘fix’ the ‘tide of helplessness’ they were dealing with.
One of the texts I read was an account of ‘Conversations with AIDS and CARE’. I gained hope from reading about the courage displayed in communities devastated by AIDS – the courage to say: ‘stick by stick, we will make a bundle that cannot be broken’. And to break out into song & to dance the character of “Mr Aids” out of the village!
So why not break into song and dance here? What is there to dance about?
Someone has died, and now is the time for traditional grief and ritual around death to be expressed.
There is perhaps something to celebrate – that a powerful healing tradition exists and continues.
The fact that people still recognise and care for one another’s pain.
I don’t know the answer yet; however I now have a strong connection to the path I would like to explore in my own related-ness to this problem: the path of fun, creative, keen, loving exploration that is disrespectful (when necessary) to established societal beliefs and performs massive leaps of enthusiastic imagination (whenever possible) to create room for new statements of belief and action.
And I pay respect to the landscape I am standing on, for Michael White’s inspiration – externalisation - which he regarded as an ‘old friend’ (conclusion to Ch1 ‘Maps of Narrative Practice).
Friday, January 20, 2012
Sunday, October 17, 2010
My 4WD course – have to change some of my in-grained driving habits!
I think I learnt some pretty important tips during this two-day course – mainly about driving defensively... applicable to any car. Perhaps the licensing system does have to be re-vamped in Australia – because a fair bit of the stuff we were taught seems to be out of date and misleading (at least if the course teachers were correct – and they seemed to know their stuff). (nb. My terminology following is probably incorrect at times– not the fault of the instructors!)
Lesson No 1: Don’t go step-by-step down through the gears when decelerating
Why:
1. Braking technology has improved dramatically and brakes are now much more efficient at braking than using the engine through gear changes.
2. Using gears that way is much more expensive in the long run as clutch replacements are much more expensive than brake pads.
3. If you are worrying about changing down through the gears when you approach a hazard (anything that makes you slow down) then you have less attention to the road and one hand off the wheel.
Best method: brake and clutch at the appropriate time, and slow to appropriate speed for the hazard, then change into the appropriate gear for that speed just before you enter the hazard zone.
Lesson No 2: cornering technique.
The teacher got us to choose one of the following scenarios for negotiating a corner as our preferred approach:
‘a’ is your speed as you start your turn;
‘b’ is your speed at the apex of the corner;
‘c’ is your speed when you have finished turning.
Select from the following (the actual speeds are not the issue – it’s the relationship between them that matter in this exercise)
Scenario 1:
Speed at point 'a': 25km, point 'b': 30km, point 'c': 35km
Scenario 2:
Speed at point 'a': 25km, point 'b': 25km, point 'c': 35km
Scenario 3:
Speed at point 'a': 30km, point 'b': 25km, point 'c': 35km
The teacher asked us to add a different scenario if we didn’t like any of these – but most of us were happy with either scenario 1 or 2. However -
The correct answer is:
Scenario 4:
Speed at point 'a': 25km, point 'b': 25km, point 'c': 25km
The speed you enter the corner at is the same speed that should be used throughout the entire corner! Acceleration should only begin at point 'c'.
Why:
1. Centrifugal force makes the car ‘want’ to continue in a straight line. The front wheels are going to follow the turn you put them through, however it’s the back wheels which are more likely to want to continue in the direction they are already going. As you turn the car’s weight will ‘lean’ towards the outside of the vehicle, which means that two of the car’s wheels will be doing more of the work of maintaining traction, which means they have to work quite hard when compared with straight line driving.
2. If you are braking during the turn (like scenario 3), the car’s weight will move towards the front of the car. This means that your front tires will have better traction – however the rear tires will lose some traction – and there is a higher chance of the tail ‘spinning out’. (And noting that combined with point 1, only one of the front tyres (the outside one) will have the greater ‘weight’ of the car on it).
3. If you are accelerating during the turn, your car’s weight shifts to the back of the car; your rear tires will have great traction, however the front will lose some grip – which reduces the steering capacity which means you have a chance of your front tires not making the corner and sliding out.
4. Obviously these things are much more a concern on bad road conditions (like off-roading); but the point is if it’s your habit all the time you will be much better prepared for unexpected problems etc.
Lesson no. 3: Getting out of a skid or slide
a) Remove the ‘cause’ of the problem – usually either acceleration or deceleration combined with turning is what caused the skid or slide. So, foot ‘off’ the brake or accelerator (whichever you were using at the instant the problem began).
b) Point the front wheel in the direction you want to go. A lot of people try and fix this problem by pointing the wheel in the opposite direction of the slide, or else in the direction of the slide – but we still have to navigate the corner safely – and get traction back as fast as possible.
c) Use all available road width – eg aim for close to the edge of the road, or else use the second lane if you are sure it’s safe; rather than attempting to stay in the middle of your lane. This reduces the other major cause of the problem – the turn.
Lesson no. 4: Straight-line emergency braking
Most of us were taught that any sort of skidding/lock-up while braking was very bad and we should try to avoid it during an emergency brake. The technique we were taught was ‘threshold braking’ which means that you press the brake to the point as near as you can tell is just before the point the car will start skidding; as you slow down you can progressively increase the pressure on the brake pedal.
The technique we were taught in this course was quite different. The information we were given was that threshold braking is quite inefficient – most drivers don’t have much idea what the braking threshold of the car is (or feels like) – and when you add in complications like different surfaces it becomes very difficult to calculate in a split second. However, it is true that an uncontrolled skid is a problem, because a) you lose steering control, and b) when the wheels lose traction they don’t stop as quickly.
The answer is we try to replicate exactly what an ABS braking system does (but a lot more slowly). First, hit the brake as hard as possible. Then, when the car starts to skid, we start to pump the brake (fully off, then fully on), as quickly and regularly as possible. This way we regain steering control and we stop the car with maximum braking efficiency. Each time our brake goes on, the weight of the car goes forward and multiplies the braking effect, then we get traction back and repeat.
This technique works when we don’t have to steer much – a veer is possible. It is still bad to swerve to avoid a kangaroo – best thing to try for is to veer so that the kangaroo gets caught on the corner of the car rather than the centre (to minimize damage/danger).
We tried this out about 10 times on a dirt track – so much fun!!! So much easier than trying to ‘imagine’ the braking effort required to almost but not quite go into a skid... but it still takes a fair bit of practice til it can become ‘automatic’...
Nb. Even on a straight road, the back could slip out if the road has a curved surface...
Lesson 5: 4WD's can go over crazy hills without even feeling like they are going to fall over!
Technique: Low Range First Gear 4WD mode, stick the vehicle in first and keep your feet off the brake/accellerate the entire slope. Just steer. Navigate as close to 90 degrees to the slope as possible.
wow!
Lesson 6: 4WD's can go through some crazy mud/water terrain and not get bogged.
And then, they can still get bogged. And then, you can get them out with a bit of fun if you have another car and a snatch-strap. Or a winch (but that's not as fun).
Lesson No 1: Don’t go step-by-step down through the gears when decelerating
Why:
1. Braking technology has improved dramatically and brakes are now much more efficient at braking than using the engine through gear changes.
2. Using gears that way is much more expensive in the long run as clutch replacements are much more expensive than brake pads.
3. If you are worrying about changing down through the gears when you approach a hazard (anything that makes you slow down) then you have less attention to the road and one hand off the wheel.
Best method: brake and clutch at the appropriate time, and slow to appropriate speed for the hazard, then change into the appropriate gear for that speed just before you enter the hazard zone.
Lesson No 2: cornering technique.
The teacher got us to choose one of the following scenarios for negotiating a corner as our preferred approach:
‘a’ is your speed as you start your turn;
‘b’ is your speed at the apex of the corner;
‘c’ is your speed when you have finished turning.
Select from the following (the actual speeds are not the issue – it’s the relationship between them that matter in this exercise)
Scenario 1:
Speed at point 'a': 25km, point 'b': 30km, point 'c': 35km
Scenario 2:
Speed at point 'a': 25km, point 'b': 25km, point 'c': 35km
Scenario 3:
Speed at point 'a': 30km, point 'b': 25km, point 'c': 35km
The teacher asked us to add a different scenario if we didn’t like any of these – but most of us were happy with either scenario 1 or 2. However -
The correct answer is:
Scenario 4:
Speed at point 'a': 25km, point 'b': 25km, point 'c': 25km
The speed you enter the corner at is the same speed that should be used throughout the entire corner! Acceleration should only begin at point 'c'.
Why:
1. Centrifugal force makes the car ‘want’ to continue in a straight line. The front wheels are going to follow the turn you put them through, however it’s the back wheels which are more likely to want to continue in the direction they are already going. As you turn the car’s weight will ‘lean’ towards the outside of the vehicle, which means that two of the car’s wheels will be doing more of the work of maintaining traction, which means they have to work quite hard when compared with straight line driving.
2. If you are braking during the turn (like scenario 3), the car’s weight will move towards the front of the car. This means that your front tires will have better traction – however the rear tires will lose some traction – and there is a higher chance of the tail ‘spinning out’. (And noting that combined with point 1, only one of the front tyres (the outside one) will have the greater ‘weight’ of the car on it).
3. If you are accelerating during the turn, your car’s weight shifts to the back of the car; your rear tires will have great traction, however the front will lose some grip – which reduces the steering capacity which means you have a chance of your front tires not making the corner and sliding out.
4. Obviously these things are much more a concern on bad road conditions (like off-roading); but the point is if it’s your habit all the time you will be much better prepared for unexpected problems etc.
Lesson no. 3: Getting out of a skid or slide
a) Remove the ‘cause’ of the problem – usually either acceleration or deceleration combined with turning is what caused the skid or slide. So, foot ‘off’ the brake or accelerator (whichever you were using at the instant the problem began).
b) Point the front wheel in the direction you want to go. A lot of people try and fix this problem by pointing the wheel in the opposite direction of the slide, or else in the direction of the slide – but we still have to navigate the corner safely – and get traction back as fast as possible.
c) Use all available road width – eg aim for close to the edge of the road, or else use the second lane if you are sure it’s safe; rather than attempting to stay in the middle of your lane. This reduces the other major cause of the problem – the turn.
Lesson no. 4: Straight-line emergency braking
Most of us were taught that any sort of skidding/lock-up while braking was very bad and we should try to avoid it during an emergency brake. The technique we were taught was ‘threshold braking’ which means that you press the brake to the point as near as you can tell is just before the point the car will start skidding; as you slow down you can progressively increase the pressure on the brake pedal.
The technique we were taught in this course was quite different. The information we were given was that threshold braking is quite inefficient – most drivers don’t have much idea what the braking threshold of the car is (or feels like) – and when you add in complications like different surfaces it becomes very difficult to calculate in a split second. However, it is true that an uncontrolled skid is a problem, because a) you lose steering control, and b) when the wheels lose traction they don’t stop as quickly.
The answer is we try to replicate exactly what an ABS braking system does (but a lot more slowly). First, hit the brake as hard as possible. Then, when the car starts to skid, we start to pump the brake (fully off, then fully on), as quickly and regularly as possible. This way we regain steering control and we stop the car with maximum braking efficiency. Each time our brake goes on, the weight of the car goes forward and multiplies the braking effect, then we get traction back and repeat.
This technique works when we don’t have to steer much – a veer is possible. It is still bad to swerve to avoid a kangaroo – best thing to try for is to veer so that the kangaroo gets caught on the corner of the car rather than the centre (to minimize damage/danger).
We tried this out about 10 times on a dirt track – so much fun!!! So much easier than trying to ‘imagine’ the braking effort required to almost but not quite go into a skid... but it still takes a fair bit of practice til it can become ‘automatic’...
Nb. Even on a straight road, the back could slip out if the road has a curved surface...
Lesson 5: 4WD's can go over crazy hills without even feeling like they are going to fall over!
Technique: Low Range First Gear 4WD mode, stick the vehicle in first and keep your feet off the brake/accellerate the entire slope. Just steer. Navigate as close to 90 degrees to the slope as possible.
wow!
Lesson 6: 4WD's can go through some crazy mud/water terrain and not get bogged.
And then, they can still get bogged. And then, you can get them out with a bit of fun if you have another car and a snatch-strap. Or a winch (but that's not as fun).
Monday, October 11, 2010
reflections about anthropology; initiation & coming of age ceremonies; gender roles and ordination (all in one post!)
I've just read a bit of anthropology by Dianne Bell, about initiation rituals in a Central Australian community - and this made me think about some of the things that came up during Keren's (my sister-in-law) ordination that I just went to...
Dianne suggests that male anthropologists have tended to notice only the roles of men in the initiation of boys, and have failed to realise the importance of the women's involvement throughout these ceremonies. Dianne's own education prior to living with the community was based on this vision - and she had to work hard to 'un-learn' it! This viewpoint was that the main function of the women was to run away screaming when the men turned up to carry the boys away for their circumcision, and that the rest of the 'important' stuff was about the men working out amongst themselves how this affected their status and future relationships as men.
The point Dianne Bell makes is that these ceremonies are important to the whole community, and they really are an expression of what the whole community is trying to achieve. Her attention to what the women were doing during these ceremonies uncovered a completely different picture - the women were actively and strongly making independent decisions which would have powerful impacts on the future life of the boy/man in question - including choosing his mother-in-law! (ie. lots of bonding/creating/shaping of the future community life that would be shared by all).
I am wondering if this might be a bit of a picture of what traditional understandings of (male) ordination - in the Christian church have been like.
I noticed on Sunday at the ordination service, that there are a large set of 'prescribed' expectations about what this 'becoming a minister' is and should be all about. For example-
If "becoming a minister" was something studied by male anthropologists as being defined through this ceremony, a particular image of ministry would be evoked... something which I also have had in my head, which may have to be 'un-learned' as well. I think of the image of a man who is serious, who thinks a lot, who prepares sermons and then delivers them to a solemn and silent audience (except for the hymns) - as well as being a person who mentors and 'guides', offering advice and teachings.
But this misses completely the image I received from Keren - because like Dianne Bell, I was priveliged to glimps bits and pieces of how the ordination looks from a different point of view (the 'women's camp'). The image Keren gave me of the work she does is much more about realising opportunities for people to participate in creating the kind of community they want. And that is hard work. And it is not the work that is reflected in the world of 'male' ordination ceremonies. Both the speaches of the two women who were ordained (out of about 7 candidates) seemed to me to 'subvert' that paradigm. Keren's talk included (my gosh!) emotional expression (not solemnity). And the other female ordinand spoke of her re-creation of her role as focusing on preparations for festivity (like making feasts and painting the walls in many colours).
One of Keren's achievements has been the re-creation of an opportunity for young people in her church to celebrate a 'coming-of-age'.... and when she told me about it, it made me think of what Dianne Bell said about male anthropolgists' views of initiation and women's work in Central Australia:
"Meggitt's analysis of initiation focuses on the way in which men are establishing relationships with each other in a ritual context. Strehlow's interest in tjuringa [sacred object] ownership leaves women as the cooks and keepers of the home fire. Spencer and Gillen are at a loss to explain the presence of women during initiation, although they do allow that women have a role. The role I suggest women play at initiation is consonant with the image of themselves that women project in their own ritual .... women are autonomous, independent ritual actors who actively participate in the creation, transmission and maintenance of the values of their society"
Bell, Dianne. (1993) Daughters of the Dreaming, Uni of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pg. 226
Dianne suggests that male anthropologists have tended to notice only the roles of men in the initiation of boys, and have failed to realise the importance of the women's involvement throughout these ceremonies. Dianne's own education prior to living with the community was based on this vision - and she had to work hard to 'un-learn' it! This viewpoint was that the main function of the women was to run away screaming when the men turned up to carry the boys away for their circumcision, and that the rest of the 'important' stuff was about the men working out amongst themselves how this affected their status and future relationships as men.
The point Dianne Bell makes is that these ceremonies are important to the whole community, and they really are an expression of what the whole community is trying to achieve. Her attention to what the women were doing during these ceremonies uncovered a completely different picture - the women were actively and strongly making independent decisions which would have powerful impacts on the future life of the boy/man in question - including choosing his mother-in-law! (ie. lots of bonding/creating/shaping of the future community life that would be shared by all).
I am wondering if this might be a bit of a picture of what traditional understandings of (male) ordination - in the Christian church have been like.
I noticed on Sunday at the ordination service, that there are a large set of 'prescribed' expectations about what this 'becoming a minister' is and should be all about. For example-
- There is something to do with receiving God's Call - which is Very Important.
- There is something about being 'called' by the community / church you are part of
- You have to stand up straight, and look formal
- You have to be quite serious and show Humility
- you need to speak some words - which will be listened to by an audience - with solemnity
- you make public vows
- you need to have letters after your name
If "becoming a minister" was something studied by male anthropologists as being defined through this ceremony, a particular image of ministry would be evoked... something which I also have had in my head, which may have to be 'un-learned' as well. I think of the image of a man who is serious, who thinks a lot, who prepares sermons and then delivers them to a solemn and silent audience (except for the hymns) - as well as being a person who mentors and 'guides', offering advice and teachings.
But this misses completely the image I received from Keren - because like Dianne Bell, I was priveliged to glimps bits and pieces of how the ordination looks from a different point of view (the 'women's camp'). The image Keren gave me of the work she does is much more about realising opportunities for people to participate in creating the kind of community they want. And that is hard work. And it is not the work that is reflected in the world of 'male' ordination ceremonies. Both the speaches of the two women who were ordained (out of about 7 candidates) seemed to me to 'subvert' that paradigm. Keren's talk included (my gosh!) emotional expression (not solemnity). And the other female ordinand spoke of her re-creation of her role as focusing on preparations for festivity (like making feasts and painting the walls in many colours).
One of Keren's achievements has been the re-creation of an opportunity for young people in her church to celebrate a 'coming-of-age'.... and when she told me about it, it made me think of what Dianne Bell said about male anthropolgists' views of initiation and women's work in Central Australia:
"Meggitt's analysis of initiation focuses on the way in which men are establishing relationships with each other in a ritual context. Strehlow's interest in tjuringa [sacred object] ownership leaves women as the cooks and keepers of the home fire. Spencer and Gillen are at a loss to explain the presence of women during initiation, although they do allow that women have a role. The role I suggest women play at initiation is consonant with the image of themselves that women project in their own ritual .... women are autonomous, independent ritual actors who actively participate in the creation, transmission and maintenance of the values of their society"
Bell, Dianne. (1993) Daughters of the Dreaming, Uni of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pg. 226
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