Jeffrey Keefer

Norm-

Sorry that this time of the year has us so busy with holidays and work commitments, as I did not have an opportunity to reply to this question of yours within the discussion's established timeline.

That may be an extended element of critical theory in itself!

I recall the first time I encountered critical theory, which is something that is easier to dismiss depending on one's experiences within a cultural majority (or at least believing oneself to be). I then started to notice how there may be something to this in the work of he Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (who you did not mention), after which I then went back to Marcuse, Gramsci, et al. The work of Habermas never quite excited me, though I think we get to the same place when you explained (p. 177) "ideology critique is about asking questions of things that are otherwise considered too self-evident to be put into question" (which is exactly the first step for me (personally) into postmodernism; though others seem to keep these nicely separate).

From this perspective, I wish we were able to discuss the myth of the "knowledge economy" that you talk about in your text. I think about this and those who engage in this as "knowledge workers," and wish we has more time to flesh this out a bit (and while SCoPE here remains open, you probably have other commitments).

Can you perhaps offer some suggestions for further reading and research in this area, especial for those of us within an eLearning framework? 

Thank you.

Jeffrey

Norm-

Great; will look forward to your thoughts about this. Perhaps it will foster some online discussion on this topic (which I am very interested in).

Jeffrey

Wendy-

In what sort of research do you engage?

Jeffrey

Norm-

You mentioned that issues of validity and reliability do not apply in the same way as they would in quantitative inquiry, and while your more naturalistic inquiry will establish trustworthiness in different ways, can you speak a little about how you approached this (given that narrative inquiry does not seem to have a clear and consistent approach to this).

Thank you.

Jeffrey

Norm-

I was a little confused with how you ended the chapter, specifically about your quoting of Lyotard. When I think of his work around The Postmodern Condition, I think of his demonstrating that the grand stories we tell ourselves about reality are more incomplete and inaccurate than we like to believe. I was a little unclear how you relate this to the approach you take in your text. I am sure it is there and I am just missing it, though hope to hear you explain it a bit.

Thank you!

Jeffrey