| 3. |
- Broman, Göran
(författare)
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Miljöinslag i grundutbildningen vid Högskolan i Karlskrona/Ronneby
- 1997
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Högskolan i Karlskrona/Ronneby grundades 1989, och är därmed en av Sveriges yngsta högskolor. Grundutbildning bedrivs inom ämnesområdena teknik, datavetenskap, arbetsvetenskap, ekonomi, språk och kultur. Antalet anställda är ca 220 och antalet studenter ca 2500. Utvecklingstakten är hög och fortfarande kännetecknas ledning och personal av pionjäranda och öppenhet för initiativ, vilket varit till glädje också för detta projekt. Tillämpad informationsteknologi ges hög prioritet och finns som ett naturligt inslag i hela högskolans verksamhet. En målsättning är att också integrera miljöaspekter. Genom anslag från Högskolans Grundutbildningsråd till detta projekt påbörjades 1994 miljöintegrering inom 120p-programmet i maskinteknik med inriktning mot utvecklingsteknik, vid Institutionen för Maskinteknik (IMA), och 180p-programmet i fysisk planering, vid Institutionen för Fysisk Planering och Byggteknik (IFB). Biblioteket deltog också från början för att ge stöd åt projektledning och lärare vid deras integreringsarb ete, samt för att miljöintegrera sin egen verksamhet som stöd för personal och studenter även fortsättningsvis. Ett delmål med projektet var att ge deltagande lärare och övrig personal sådana kunskaper om bärkraftig utveckling - och nödvändigheten därav - att de skulle känna engagemang och själva se möjligheterna till miljöinslag i sina respektive ämnen och övriga yrkesuppgifter. Stor vikt lades därför på personalutbildning, som genomfördes i form av en seminarieserie samt genom handledda fortsatta självstudier och deltagande i externa kurser, konferenser och studiebesök. Resultatet blev gott. Nästan alla lärare vid IMA och IFB fick ett ökat engagemang och deltog aktivt i miljöintegreringsarbetet. Engagemanget har också borgat för fortsatt lärande och automatiska kursförbättringar efter projektets slut, vilket var tanken. Synliga resultat är en vidareutvecklad miljögrundkurs, Miljögrunder 5p, obligatorisk i programmet maskinteknik med inriktning mot utvecklingsteknik och tillgänglig även för andra studenter s om fristående kurs, samt nya kursplaner i de ämnen miljöintegrering bedömts mest relevant i de båda programmen. Även i examination, projektrapporter och examensarbeten syns naturligtvis resultat av miljöintegreringen. Totalt har ca hälften av kurserna inom respektive utbildningsprogram direkt berörts av projektet. Genom följdeffekter har i någon mån även övriga delar av programmen påverkats. Studenterna framför vid kurs-utvärderingar och andra diskussioner att de upplever miljöintegreringen som mycket positiv för deras utbildning och ser den som en värdefull merit då de söker jobb. Miljöinslag har kunnat införas utan att de reguljära ämnena tagit skada - alltså i motsägelse till diskussionen om att värdefulla befintliga kunskaper måste trängas undan när någon "nymodighet" ska föras in i en utbildning. Miljöintegreringen har snarare gjort att studenternas motivation för de reguljära ämnena ökat. Denna tulipanaros har kunnat åstadkommas huvudsakligen genom att: - använda grundläggande kunskaper som reguljärt ingår i utbildningsprogrammen, t ex viss naturvetenskap, för att bygga upp en systemsyn genom vilken miljö- och resursproblemens orsaker och lösningar på principiell nivå blir tydliga. - använda denna systemsyn som ett ramverk i vilket detaljkunskaper som reguljärt ingår i utbildningsprogrammen kan inordnas och ges en övergripande mening, varigenom också sambanden mellan olika ämnen blir tydligare. - exemplifiera de reguljära ämneskunskaperna på ett delvis nytt sätt och visa på alternativa tillämpningar för att stimulera studenternas kreativitet beträffande hur deras yrkeskunskaper konkret kan användas för att lösa miljö- och resursproblemen. Den bärande idén med miljöintegreringen har just varit att med ovanstående som förutsättning, så är det främst genom att bli duktiga i klassiska ämnen för ingenjörer och fysiska planerare som ingenjörer och fysiska planerare kan göra den största insatsen för en bärkraftig utveckling. Att göra om dem till "miljöexperter" i traditionell mening vore inte fruktbart. Det Naturliga Stegets definition av bärkraftighet och modell för planering av bärkraftig utveckling, som visat sig så framgångsrik inom näringslivet, har visat sig lämplig även inom den högre utbildningen. Den har utgjort grunden för den systemsyn som använts i detta projekt enligt ovan. Projektet har troligen även bidragit som inspirationskälla, åtminstone som en av flera faktorer, till verksamheter utanför dess ram. Exakt hur mycket är naturligtvis svårt att bedöma. Ökade kunskaper och det allmänt ökade intresset för miljöfrågor har i varje fall lett till allt ifrån konkreta saker som införskaffande av institutionscykel för kortare ärenden och vindkraftverk och solpaneler som komplement till energiundervisningen, till deltagande i internationella miljöutbildningsprojekt, doktorandverksamhet i miljöanpassad produktutveckling, inrättandet av professurer med miljöprofil, och ansvar för högskolans miljöpolicy och miljöplan. Detta utgör naturligtvis omvänt också ett starkt stöd för underhåll och utveckling av miljöintegreringen. Den bedöms därför ha utmärkta förutsättningar att bli bestående vid IMA och IFB och förhoppningsvis sprida sig till övriga institutioner och utbildningsprogram.
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| 5. |
- Cervin, Cecilia
(författare)
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Det illojala barnets uppror : Studier kring jan Myrdals självbiografiska texter
- 1997
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Jan Myrdal has often been considered a controversial author. During the sixties he was mostly regarded as a political figure, much appreciated by those who shared his political views and even more abhorred by those who did not. On the international scene his Report from a Chinese Village (1963) is perhaps the best known of his books, having inspired, for example, the sociologically orientated studies of the American author, Studs Terkel. In his abundant and multifacetted œuvre Myrdal has been working in most of the established genres, and also developed new ones. In my work on Myrdal’s texts I have, for a number of reasons, focused on his Childhood books (1982 - 1989). They represent an important part and, in some ways, the very kernel of his work. They deal with a child, growing up in a very special environment - his parents are internationally orientated radical politicians and, both are Nobel prize winners - developing his mind mostly in opposition to that environment. The story of that child, written by a son of famous parents and himself internationally well-known - a number of his books are translated into several foreign languages, - is in itself an interesting subject for a study. From the critical point of view its concentrated attention on the child and the child’s viewpoint, involving an interesting narratological pattern, invites a close reading in the spirit of the French critic, Gérard Genette, and his follower, Michael Riffaterre. Methodically and theoretically the study of autobiographical writing constitutes a complex task. With regard to generic definitions, the critic will find Childhood an interesting intermediate case between autobiography and autobiographical novel. Regarded historically, Myrdal's Childhood books are part of the great tradition from S:t Augustine and Rousseau and more especially of the rebellious, “réfractaire“ branch formed by Stendhal, Vallès and Strindberg. In the context of autobiographical writings, considered as a genre, Myrdal's books were written at a time when new subgenres were being formed by sociological and psychological case stories and also by a media interest in people - famous and unknown alike - speaking freely an openly about their lives and personal problems on the radio, in magazines and in TV-shows. Myrdal's’ readers certainly had their expectations formed by these variations of autobiographical writing. For these variations I have chosen a term proposeded by Pillippe Lejeune: “littérature personnelle“. In my “Introduction“ after a brief survey of generic theory put forward by Johnny Kondrup och Eva Hættner Aurelius, I discuss my reasons for turning to the French critic, Pillippe Lejeune, as a seminal force among generic theorists. His emphasis on generic distinctions, not as a norm of classification but as a reader’s tool towards his generic understanding of the text, has been adopted as a guiding principle. Particular attention is given to Lejeune’s discussion of the autobiographical pact: through the name identity between author and protagonist the former signs a kind of contract obligating himself to tell the truth, or perhaps his truth about the life and the experiences being related. This pact, be it implicit or explicit, appeared to be of great importance to Myrdal's’ readers, delimitating their horizon of expectations as well as their understanding of the text and, in particular, their evaluation of the text. A survey of the actual stage in generic history during which the Childhood books were published, follows, special regard beeing paid to those new kinds of “littérature personnelle“ which have been conditioned by developements in the mass media. In this context, different readers’ expectations in relation to various kinds of auto-biographical writings will be discussed. Lastly we arrive at the extensive collection of reviews which forms the basis of my next chapter, “The Reception“. Myrdal's Childhood provoked an intense debate. The book was first brought to public notice by the author in person, who read it on Swedish Radio, and many people reacted against what they regarded as an evil and false description of the famous parents. A large number of reviews followed, the study of which is an important part of my work. Here the marriage of genre theory and reception theory, proclaimed in Le pacte autobiographique by Pilippe Lejeune, comes into its own. His conception of genre viewed as a reader’s tool - “understanding is genrebound“ - informs my understanding of the reviewers’ different readings and evaluations. The reception of Myrdal’s Childhood books raises the following questions: With what kind of previous understanding, with what kind and degree of consciousness of genre (genremedvetande) and with what horizons of expectations did the readers meet those books? What kinds of readings were put in motion by the different generic expectations? How was the reader’s evaluation influenced by those presuppositions? Those reviewers who read Childhood as an autobiography or memoir emphasized the author’s duty to tell the truth about his childhood, including an appreciative attitude towards his parents. As that attitude was highly critical, these reviewers evaluated the book according to their generic expectations: this could not possibly be the truth about those famous and generally esteemed persons, and so the description was an outrageous lie. On the other hand, those who chose to read the book as a novel, as a story of a neglected and unhappy child, found it a true and deeply moving tale. So the reception of the Childhood books took on in a way the character of a trial, the readers taking the parts of prosecutors, witnesses and judges: had the author, or had he not, exercised fairness and justice to his famous parents in his description of his childhood? Several reviewers, who found it both possible and rewarding to read the Childhood books simultanously as autobiography and as autobiographical novels, could find numerous qualities in the books. They found the story a true picture of a very special child in very special surroundings, but also found a universality that made them identifiy themselves with the child (and also, in a few cases) with the parents. The evaluations of the reviewers changed in an interesting way with respect to the later books in the series. Many reviewers of the first book, Childhood, appreciated its finer qualities, but in many cases critics took a dismissive attitude.The second book, Another World, was highly estimated, however. The reviewers now tended to read the book less as a biography of the famous parents and more as a story of the child, told by the child itself. They were increasingly able to regard it as a hybrid between autobio-graphy and fiction, and, accordingly, could accept the personal descriptions of the parents as the experiences and the subjective truth of the child. Most reviewers of the third book, Getting on Thirteen, applied this model of reading. Correspondingly, the evaluations were changed; with very few exceptions the books were highly regarded by later reviewers. A new and more variated generic consciousness was fundamental to their evaluation. And so much for the reception. In my own readings I have asked the corresponding questions: What possibilities are offered to the critic by the different generic expectations, and by the different models of previous understanding and evaluation? What happens when the reader regards the much-debated works as free artefacts, as parts of the authors complete œuvre, as parts of a tradition, as descriptions of an existing and referential reality, or as authorial expressions in the making of his own consciousness, his personality, his ego? These are the questions that prevade my reading of the Childhood books. I have chosen to consider Myrdals’ books mainly as artefacts belonging to the autobiographical tradition, having their existence on the border between autobiography and novel. The chapter “The process of Growth“ aims at a description of Myrdals early and various declarations of his writing intentions, even these forming part of his autobiographical writing: this is his view of himself as an author, the author also of the Childhood books. Myrdal considers his authorial intentions a question of loyalties: whom will his writing serve? He has made a deliberate choice of loyalties; they remain not with the educated, well-manœvered people, but with the poor and oppressed, who show resistance towards those in power. This resistance often takes forms which are vulgar in a Bachtinean sense. This vulgarity assumes a programmatic value: the author chooses his tradition from popular tales of rich and poor, which often contain vulgar resistance to and rebellion against all kinds of oppression. For such resistance he has found a word: he regards himself a “réfractaire“, a resister and a rebel, in the tradition of the French Enlightenment authors and their heirs, e.g. Strindberg and Jules Vallès. The task and the resonsibility this “réfractaire“ tradition entails, are the foundation of Myrdals’ view of himself as an author, one of his many descriptions of his self, the explanation of which, he finds in those experiences from his childhood contained in the Childhood books. Myrdal has been working on autobiographical material in various guises. In “Littérature personnelle before Childhood“ a short account is given of Myrdal’s use of “I“ for different purposes. In public performances, not unlike those of the parents so profoundly despised by the son, appears an “I“. That “I“ is used by the author as an example in a political analysis. Another “I“ comes forward in the deep and earnest self-examination in the author’s earlier autobiographical works, e.g.Rescontra and Confessions of a Disloyal European. Still more important: is the fact that from the novels of hi
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