IJDS 7.1.10 FECHO

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume 7 Number 1 Springs 2013

Globalization, Localization, Uncertainty and Wobble: Implications for Education

Bob Fecho
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (USA)
pp. 115-128

ABSTRACT. In this article, I unpack what Hermans and Hermans-Konopka (2010) have cited as the gift or dread of uncertainty, and the role dialogue plays in navigating that uncertainty. Working from a Bakhtinian (1981) stance, I ask educators to wonder about the ways the local and global respond to each other and how we, through our many I-positions (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010), respond to both. As the field of education struggles to catch-up with ever-burgeoning technology that brings the world and our uncertainties about the world to our fingertips, this article theorizes the role of uncertainty in the classroom, particularly as it occurs at the intersection of the global and the local. As teachers and students venture into dialogically primed spaces, they often do so with questions and doubt. It is in such spaces where what I call wobble (Fecho, 2011b) happens, an indication that change is occurring and attention should be paid. When forces of globalization and localization transact in classrooms, wobble and uncertainty play out. The intent is to open a dialogue on dialogue and unpack how learners and teachers might come to see uncertainty as “an experiential feature of a self in action” (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010, p. 4). Ultimately, I conclude the article with suggestions for educators and policymakers about what better to expect when we move dialogical self practice into educational settings.

KEYWORDS: Dialogical self, Bakhtin, globalization, education

Globalization, Localization, Uncertainty and Wobble: Implications for Education Bob Fecho University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (USA)	pp. 115-128

ABSTRACT. In this article, I unpack what Hermans and Hermans-Konopka (2010) have cited as the gift or dread of uncertainty, and the role dialogue plays in navigating that uncertainty. Working from a Bakhtinian (1981) stance, I ask educators to wonder about the ways the local and global respond to each other and how we, through our many I-positions (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010), respond to both. As the field of education struggles to catch-up with ever-burgeoning technology that brings the world and our uncertainties about the world to our fingertips, this article theorizes the role of uncertainty in the classroom, particularly as it occurs at the intersection of the global and the local. As teachers and students venture into dialogically primed spaces, they often do so with questions and doubt. It is in such spaces where what I call wobble (Fecho, 2011b) happens, an indication that change is occurring and attention should be paid. When forces of globalization and localization transact in classrooms, wobble and uncertainty play out. The intent is to open a dialogue on dialogue and unpack how learners and teachers might come to see uncertainty as “an experiential feature of a self in action” (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010, p. 4). Ultimately, I conclude the article with suggestions for educators and policymakers about what better to expect when we move dialogical self practice into educational settings. KEYWORDS: Dialogical self, Bakhtin, globalization, education