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DOCUMENT RESUME SO 022 826 ED 356 986 Liebman, Martin; Paulston, Rolland AUTHOR Mapping the Postmodern Turn in Comparative TITLE Education. 92 PUB DATE 34p.; Paper presented at the Northwest Regional NOTE Meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society (Pittsburgh, PA, November 6, 1992). Information Analyses (070) -- Speeches/Conference PUB TYPE Papers (150) MFOI/PCO2 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Cartography; *Comparative Education; Educational DESCRIPTORS Research; *Geographic Concepts; *Maps; Philosophy; Social Change; *Social Science Research; Social Theories *Postmodernism IDENTIFIERS AB ;TRACT This paper advocates the use of cognitive maps by researchers in comparative education. Cognitive maps are defined as "visual imageries depicting on the two dimensional surface of a screen or paper the researcher's perceived application, allocation, or appropriation of social space by social groups at a given time and in a given place." The use of cognitive maps is advocated as a means of expanding-social dialogue because it offers the map's reader a forum for responding directly to the map maker by producing on the map differences in claims to social space perceived by the reader. Numerous theorists of the postmodern enterprise in geography/cartography are discussed, as is the work of three academic practitioners, one in comparative education and two in geographic cartography, who have observed that colleagues in these areas must now move their respective academic fields toward a postmodernist integration of ideas and theories. The use of cognitive maps, and not necessarily postmodernism itself, is promoted as a means for comparative fields to expand their knowledge base. Three figures illustrating various aspects of cognitive mapping are included and 46 footnotes are appended. (DB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** N.S. DEPARTMENT Of MJCA11011 Emc at Educational Ranch Mel rpoarern EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) XInd doeumeni Ms Onn NeloducaS N wooed horn dm Donau Or Of daratIron orconalata .1 0 Molar changes Nava ban mad, CO spsov Moraduchon many Mapping the Postmodern Turn Pool. 01 olirr 0111.0,111/0.14 in IhO &cot meal do nal Noumea, nnueonl MINA' OERI orraden OI ODIC in Comparative Education Martin Liebman Rolland Paulston Department of Administrative and Policy Studies University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 15620 Fax: 412-648-5911 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY 01J. rim D LST 0 tk TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)... S oo A presented Comparative International and (Paper the at Education Srciety Northeast Regional Meeting, November 6, 1992, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA) O BEST COPY AVAILABLE Abstract essay we creation demonstrate how this the In of cognitive maps by academics, as well as those individuals and social groups who want their "mininarratives" included in the social discourse, will not only nurture the movement away from modernist and positivist failings, but open a dialogue among discourse diverse science social Social has players. frequently noted that academic analysis in the modernist and tradition positivist thrived on the metanarratives of assertions and confirmations of the role of social class and We suggest the cognitive map the roles of social classes. will provide an effective method for visually demonstrating the sensitivity of postmodern influences for opening social dialogue were those disenfranchised who by the to modernist/positivist conventions. Mapping the Postmodern Turn in Comparative Education with satisfied the who completely those For are traditional aims and methods of geography the use of models may appear to be unnecessary.' The notion of text.... includes other cultural productions such as paintings, maps and landscapes....These should all be seen as signifying practices that are read, not passively, but, as it were, rewritten as they are read. This expanded notion of texts originates from a broadly cultural one postmodern them...as that sees view, practices of signification rather than as referential duplications.2 might How comparative researchers enhance the presentation of particularly when their their findings, findings focus on the diffusion of heterogeneous orientations? WS are concerned with developing in our comparative discourse 1 a visual dialogue as a way of communicating how we see the We are social changes developing in the world around us. maps--visual imageries advocating cognitive use the of depicting on the two dimensional surface of screen or paper or allocation, perceived researcher's the application, appropriation of social space by social groups at a given time While we acknowledge cognitive maps and in a given place. constitute a form of discourse, there are several reasons we We neither believe nor choose to perceive them as a dialogue. intend to convey that cognitive maps can replace spoken or the research article will remain the written discourse; However, we primary method for reporting research findings. view the cognitive map as a model for developing dialogue because it offers the map reader a form for responding directly to the map maker by producing on the map differences in claims to social space perceived by the reader. We suggest that while the academic may originate maps, the reader who is a member of a particular claimant group will view the map as an opportunity to strengthen his claim by citing or rebutting original mapping efforts as well as the knowledge and information the map offers. Paulston has noted "We are in for an extended period of learning to work together as a diverse yet interactive global community of scholars. situation suggests continuing need for goodwill, This a translation, and cognitive maps to help us see a shifting 3 theoretical landscape." There is no doubt, however, efforts 2 to work together will extend beyond academia, embracing those groups whose activity and social space are being mapped. If we are to develop rules for accuracy and inclusion in a critical, postmodern, social cartography, those rules must envelop not only the space being mapped, but the perceptions of the owners of that space. This process permits the map reader to assist in the map making process or to become a map maker. These important concepts of dialogue and inclusion will be further developed later. Our objective in this discussion is to sail beyond the many methodologies for identifying knowledge, to navigate into to begin to the open waters for us in order fish for alternative ways of presenting the products spawned by the new identification methods available not only to comparative education but to other academic waters. seafaring another set These metaphors recall of metaphors, those of Harold J. Noah' who illustrated there are two sets of study objects in comparative education, those the field has used long enough to feel secure with and those the field has not yet attempted to use or has not found. Using the metaphors of Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish, taken from Herman law-of-thesea Melville's description whaler's the ot governing claim ship's Noah to suggested whale, a a comparative researchers should make fast to more methods and subjects for comparative study. Fast in this sense means becoming connected, occupying, or claiming. Something that is 3 it is loose does not meet these criteria for possession; available for anyone to claim. without concluded Peter "that Hackett who was It metaphor, allegory and a thick description of the world around analysis."5 We us there is no basis for comparative study or concur in this observation, noting that metaphors of fast and anyone counsels suggests in Noah sense loose the in comparative studies to the possibilities that exclusions, both intentional and unintentional, must be the objects of the In what we as researchers seek, as well as what we chase. report, should be found the "basic source of unity in our experience. "6 Certainly much has changed in the nearly two decades since Noah introduced Melville's metaphor to comparative For education, as well as many other academic education. fields, change has often raised more questions than it has answered, raised more fears than it has calmed, raised more arguments than it has settled. At the core of the questions, arguments academic various and are fields the fears, reorganizing and reestablishing themselves to sail out of the modernist/positivist coves and shoals to explore the spaces of 7 new seas. Sailing neither quietly nor unnoticed, these modern voyages of discovery have the attention of many who express their ideas about how the voyages should proceed. What rationales for new discourse methods have comparative 4 How does the cognitive map researchers recently introduced? fulfill the needs addressed by these rationales? Invitations to a Postmodern Reflection We will examine three academic practitioners, one in comparative education and two in geographic cartography, who have observed that colleagues in these areas must now move their respective academic postmodernist toward fields a integration. The aim of these practitioners in both fields is more open comparative, explicative, and become to to heterogeneous their postmodern orientations academic in It is not postmodernism we promote, but the discourse. possibilities comparative expand their to for fields knowledge bases through appropriate, thoughtful, and skillful development and application of cognitive maps. In presenting an argument that postmodernism "should be a central concept in our comparative education discourse,"8 Val Rust calls for the application of postmodernist theories to strengthen emerging representations of reality. Rust notes that Foucault believes there must be a move beyond determinism and universals while Lyotard discerns in the postmodern a distrust of metanarratives. Noted also is Richard Rorty's observation that metanarratives are "the theoretical crust of convention that we all carry and tend to universalize. "' Postmodernism deals with changing universal these metanarratives of social valuation of the 5 modernist/positivist era, metanarratives seen as totalizing, standardizing, and predominating. Rust finds postmodern discussions and criticisms address. it was the history of modernist society and culture as ingrained and justified by a world view obsessed with focusing history Time and the time in and on history. cognitive modernist/positivist were separate world not structures; they were linked in a way that held time and history each at least parallel to the other, if not the same Rust finds postmodernism's liberating influences entity. transcend not only combined time and history, but combined space and geography as well." It is space and not time that becomes important in postmodern mapping discourse. It is space we find exhilarating because space, not time, is the arena for dialogue. Rust concludes comparative educators must relocate into this space, extracting from it the metanarratives of modernity that must be dismantled to locate and identify the multiple once invisible space of in the narratives hidden small The small narratives that Rust would have us draw society. our attention to must be the focus of mapping efforts in contemporary social science. Suggesting as does Rust that our search for "the silent blueprint to life means looking in areas of darkness,"" Star focuses our attention on these small and previously hidden narratives. The comparative study of social narratives is 6 developed similarly to that of the cartographer of land We await the erosions and eruptions of the social masses. masses for the opportunity to map the changes, to analyze and We take the event and make it consumable, interpret events. a commodity for our readers, by filtering, fragmenting, and industrial series whole re-elaborating of "by it a procedures...into a finished product, into the material of 12 Then, between the erosions finished and combined signs." and eruptions we do not wait for more tumult, but refine and reinterpret what is already fast to as as well as what we can make fast to our studies. effective method an social space Mapping for is addressing calling Rust's thoughtful arguments for a postmodernist emerging application strengthen tr There is, however, much we must representations of reality. learn and understand to become effective mappers. This with association experienced requires field an in a For this reason we representing real space on a map. introduce to our invitation to a postmodern reflection two cartographers who have observed in their field the same concerns and needs addressed by Rust. The leading advocate of the postmodern enterprise in Harley who advocates that geography/cartography is B. J. cartographers both in academia and in the field must consider postmodernity's potential for revitalizing their cartographic efforts. Harley states that the premise of cartography has 7 10