Communicative Engagement and Social Liberation

The paper focuses on the analysis of ontological, epistemological and pedagogical terms of changes in education, first of all – on the status of an academic subject. From the ontological perspective, they are related to transfer from “object” ontology to communication-and-activity one, in terms of epistemological approach – from naturalism to transcendentalism, whereas with regard to pedagogical perspective – from autocratic-disciplinary organization of the academic process to a student-oriented pattern. The first part of the article describes academic subject’s functions in the process of educational reproduction. An academic subject is interpreted not so much from the perspective of the knowledge it contains, but as a complex linguistic code which organizes and regulates educational interaction. Its basics and structure, a mechanism of constituting educational reality are described, as well as the design specifics that hamper changes in education. The authors dwell on the distinction between an academic and scholarly subject. Part two of the article contains criticism of an academic subject practice in the university education. The central event here is attributed to differentiation and diversification of the form of academic subject, disintegration of its integrity into local autonomous linguistic fields. The conclusion formulates the idea how to overcome an academic subject crisis, which heart is discursive transformation of its representation practice. Based on Gilles Deleuze’s ideas, the authors consider the transformation of discursive practices in which an academic subject is embodied to be the condition for education change.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Island communities face greater environmental risks creating challenges in their populations. A community and participatory qualitative research method aiming to understand community perspectives regarding the ecology and environmental risks of the island of Culebra was performed to develop a community-centered Information and Communications Technology (ICT) intervention (an app). The island of Culebra, a municipality from the archipelago of Puerto Rico is located 17 miles from the eastern coast of Puerto Rico’s main island. This ICT—termed mZAP (Zonas, Acción & Protección)—is part of a Translational Biomedical doctoral degree dissertation housed at the University of Rochester’s Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI) Informatics Core funded by an NIH Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA). In September 2017, the island of Culebra faced 2 major category hurricanes 2 weeks apart. Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria devastated homes, schools, health clinics, and local businesses, disrupting an already-fragile ecological balance on the island. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: These 2 storms catastrophically affected the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Culebra’s geographically isolated location, along with the inefficient response from authorities, exacerbated the stressors caused by these natural disasters, increasing the gap of social determinants of health, including the lack of potable water. Leveraging a community engagement partnership established before the hurricanes by the mZAP participatory research, which naturally halted once the hurricanes hit a new humanitarian objective formed to deliver aid. Along with another NIH funded RCMI Translational Research Network, or RTRN institution (University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus) students and faculty, The Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats Program (PROTECT) an NIEHS Funded Grant, and the National Guard, a “people to people” approach was established to ascertain needs and an opportunity to meet those needs. A people-to-people approach brings humanitarian needs, identified directly by the community to the people who need it most; without intermediaries and bureaucratic delays that typically occur during catastrophes. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The consumption of potable water in plastic bottles and subsequent accumulation of plastic material has proven to be collateral damage of a vulnerable water distribution system creating another environmental hazard on the island of Culebra. Therefore, this humanitarian partnership, worked to delivered community and family sized water filters, providing a safe environmental alternative to drinkable water for the island. The success of this approach, People to People for Puerto Rico (#p2p4PUR), demonstrated the power of genuine community engagement—arising from a previous clinical research partnership—and true established commitment with members of the community. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Research partnerships can (and should, when needed) lead to humanitarian partnerships that extend beyond research objectives. Research may subsequently be adapted based on new realities associated with natural disasters and the altered nature of existing partnerships, allowing for a rapid response to communities need. Further, #p2p4PUR was not only able to channel a partnership humanitarian response but also created an opportunity to reflect on how the commitment between members of society and academia (researchers) can create beneficial bilateral relationships, always putting the community needs first. The resulting shared experience elevates community interest and engagement with researchers, and helps researchers see communities as true partners, rather than—simply—research subjects.

This paper discusses the overall importance of society in the revitalisation process of the Heritage Town of Muntok. It was triggered by the phenomena of the society’s declining confidence. Theoretically, the members of society became the main actors for the urban development. In Muntok, the members of society became sceptical about any revitalisation initiatives or social development proposals due to the unpredictable economic future. As a pilot project for this social development, the revitalisation of one of the Malay Stage Houses in Kampung Tanjung Muntok is expected to change people’s mindset about the importance of heritage in order to build up society’s confidence. This paper is based on my research experience and community engagement in the town of Muntok from 2012 until present. This paper will look at how the strategies to build up society’s confidence evolved during heritage revitalisation process. Our findings indicate that capacity transformation and capacity building were important outcomes achieved during the process.

The most prominent of the British Idealists, T. H. Green challenged the old laissez‐faire liberalism transforming it into the “new liberalism,” social liberalism. Grounded in negative freedom as the absence of coercion, laissez‐faire liberalism restricted the role of the state to enforcing contracts and mutual noninterference in a free market, thereby hindering the free development of the worse‐off members of society. Green's social liberalism, by contrast, curbed laissez‐faire capitalism by an enabling state that provided the resources necessary forallmembers of society to realize their human potential (positive freedom). As an Idealist concerned with working out the appropriate normative relationship between subject and object, Green anchored his social liberalism in the mutual interdependence of the human subject and social‐political institutions.

The study investigates the impact of social media on human communication and societal dynamics through a survey-based approach involving 200 participants. Through the survey, participants' social media usage patterns, perceptions of its influence on human interaction, self-concept, and societal norms were explored. Additionally, qualitative insights were gathered via semi-structured interviews to enrich understanding. Results revealed diverse viewpoints among participants, with a significant acknowledgment of social media's influence on human interaction and societal norms. The study identified varying degrees of behavioural changes attributed to pervasive social media usage, highlighting implications for individual well-being and societal dynamics. Notably, while a substantial proportion agreed on the platform's positive impact on fostering connections and community engagement, dissenting opinions were also observed, indicating a nuanced perspective. In conclusion, the study underscores the complex interplay between social media usage and human behaviour, emphasizing the need for nuanced approaches in understanding its impact. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of contemporary communication patterns and societal norms shaped by social media. The study's implications extend to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, informing strategies for navigating the evolving landscape of digital communication.

Dewey, Implementation, and Creating a Democratic Civic University

Alienation and action in the young Marx, Aristotle, and Arendt

The widespread adoption of social networks has significantly transformed human communication and interaction patterns in contemporary society. The purpose of the study is to examine how individuals perceive and experience social network usage, aiming to shed light on its implications for interaction frequency, communication styles, social unity, collective action participation, and overall well-being. Employing an observational and descriptive research design, data was collected from a diverse sample of 120 participants using surveys administered online or in-person. Convenience sampling techniques ensured a balanced representation across age groups, genders, occupations, and geographical locations. Data analysis involved a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, with descriptive statistics summarizing demographic characteristics and survey responses. Thematic analysis was employed to identify recurring themes and patterns in qualitative data. Results reveal diverse perceptions regarding social network impact, with Facebook emerging as the most preferred platform for human communication. Participants reported varying levels of interaction frequency, communication styles, and concerns about negative effects on mental health. In conclusion, the study underscores the nuanced nature of social network dynamics and their implications for human communication and well-being. Recommendations include promoting digital literacy and mindfulness to mitigate potential negative impacts while harnessing the positive aspects of social network usage for enhancing social connections and community engagement.

Teaching & Learning Guide for: Social Psychology and Media: Critical Consideration

In this article, I examine the intersecting ideologies and practices of community engagement, social practice art, and community-based art education through social interaction and cooperation. Using a case study of art education courses I have taught, I make connections between these three practices, focusing on the democratic concepts of civic responsibility, social justice, common themes of human experience, and meaning-making with and through art in schools, museums, and communities. Providing preservice and in-service art educators with access to empowering community-engaged experiences that holistically integrate their artist/teacher/researcher identities can be personally, professionally, and socially transformative. Modeling curricular practices for students that account for their personal artmaking; the learners’ cultures; and the tenets of social practice art, engaged pedagogy, and community-based art education can better prepare art educators to reconceptualize curriculum in response to community and social engagement concerns.

Alison Jaggar's "ovial" (if I may) 1983 book, Feminist Politics and Human Nature, correlates liberal, Marxist, radical, and socialist feminist theories with their "malestream" counterparts in political theory. She then shows how those theories, in turn, are derived from underlying metaphysical commitments to specific concepts of human nature, that is, to different ideas of what human beings are. Her purpose is to clarify the fundamental differences between feminists in the hope of facilitating more constructive conversations among them. In the introductory chapter of the book, however, she notes that there are other strands of feminist thought, and goes on to explain why they are not incorporated into her analysis. Among these are "religious and existentialist conceptions," which are excluded "primarily because I find them implausible.'" Twenty years later, "postmodern" feminist theory has developed out of the intellectual tradition of which existentialism was a part. Because this strand of feminist thought also includes elements of Freudian and Marxist theory, which are important to Jaggar's socialist feminism, it may be time to reconsider the plausibility of a feminism that draws on the tradition of Simone de Beauvoir and her philosophical allies.2 The problem, of course, is that existentialists and postmodernists offer no theory of human nature. What they offer instead is an account of the human situation. Maurice Merleau-Ponty's account of the human situation, however, has proved quite useful to feminist theorists working on a variety of important philosophical questions. My argument will be that his thought offers important avenues for a postmodern feminist politics as well, both because of the absence of many of the strong markers of masculinist thought in his work,3 and because of his contributions to a political theory of the "noncommunist left"4 that resonates strongly with Jaggar's socialist feminism. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty's work to develop a feminist politics of the human situation, however, is complicated by the fact that both his philosophical views and, more notoriously, his political position evolved considerably between 1945 and his death in 1961.1 discuss the evolution of his political thought elsewhere.5 Here I will trace the development of his understanding of the human situation from Phenomenology of Perception to The Visible and the Invisible, and suggest how that understanding could provide a basis for feminist politics on Jaggar's model.6 I Merleau-Ponty's thought is important for feminists because he understands the human situation as thoroughly embodied, hence the relevance of his work for discussions of the gendered body and feminist epistemology, and as intrinsically intersubjective, hence its relevance for feminist ethics and politics. Still, while both embodiment and intersubjectivity are important elements in all of Merleau-Ponty's work, and he often emphasizes the extent to which they are interrelated, the evolution of his thought after 1945 can be seen as shifting the primary emphasis from embodiment to intersubjectivity, or from perception to language. Another way to trace this development would be to see his guiding image as moving from one in which we stand next to each other to look out on a common scene, to a model in which we look at the others around us to understand how that common scene comes to be shared, a transition with obvious implications for both feminist thought and his political philosophy. Merleau-Ponty begins the chapter on intersubjectivity in Phenomenology of Perception by describing the human situation in traditional existentialist terms: "in short, I am never at one with myself. Such is the lot of a being who is born, that is, who once and for all has been given to himself as something to be understood" (PP 347). But he quickly moves to link this human situation to perception, embodiment and intersubjectivity. "In so far as I have sensory functions, a visual, auditory, and tactile field, I am already in communication with others taken as similar psycho-social subjects" (PP 353). …

This research and community engagement investigates an ancient Balinese ritual known as Sang Hyang Dedari. The dance is interrelated to an agricultural aspect of the traditional Balinese living. As the Balinese struggle to maintain their values from the constant threat of modernization and industrialization, this dance reveals the powerful impact of creating an awareness of socio-ecological equilibrium. The effort made by the villagers of Geriana Kauh, Karangasem, displays how local community rebuilds its environment based on their traditional ecological value. Analyzing Sang Hyang Dedari dance through phenomenological approach, thus, it can be discovered how the ritual sustains the social relations. The bodies of the dancers are the center of an elaborate nexus between people, nature and god. To understand how the dualism of sacred and profane bodies, this research utilizes the body theory by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The importance of phenomenology as a theory relates to the understanding on how the ritual works as an event in its totality. Understanding the unity between the presence of the divine, nature and human. The output of this research and community engagement is a museum built in cooperation between University of Indonesia with the villagers of Geriana Kauh, Karangasem. As the performance and knowledge about Sang Hyang Dedari appeared to be scarce, this museum is a form of collaboration to retrace the history of Sang Hyang Dedari ritual, in an attempt to conserve the ancient knowledge.

This research and community engagement investigates an ancient Balinese ritual known as Sang Hyang Dedari. The dance is interrelated to an agricultural aspect of the traditional Balinese living. As the Balinese struggle to maintain their values from the constant threat of modernization and industrialization, this dance reveals the powerful impact of creating an awareness of socio-ecological equilibrium. The effort made by the villagers of Geriana Kauh, Karangasem, displays how local community rebuilds its environment based on their traditional ecological value. Analyzing Sang Hyang Dedari dance through phenomenological approach, thus, it can be discovered how the ritual sustains the social relations. The bodies of the dancers are the center of an elaborate nexus between people, nature and god. To understand how the dualism of sacred and profane bodies, this research utilizes the body theory by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The importance of phenomenology as a theory relates to the understanding on how the ritual works as an event in its totality. Understanding the unity between the presence of the divine, nature and human. The output of this research and community engagement is a museum built in cooperation between University of Indonesia with the villagers of Geriana Kauh, Karangasem. As the performance and knowledge about Sang Hyang Dedari appeared to be scarce, this museum is a form of collaboration to retrace the history of Sang Hyang Dedari ritual, in an attempt to conserve the ancient knowledge.

Abstract— Communities play a significant role in human existence because they provide individuals with a feeling of identity and purpose. It is necessary to investigate this link further since the physical surroundings of neighbourhoods have a significant impact on individuals' sense of community. There is currently little knowledge on how this occurs, and which physical variables have the most systematic influence, even though research has proven that the physical built environment may affect neighbourhood sense of community. This qualitative study, conducted after the COVID-19 pandemic, explored how the neighbourhood-built environment shaped the sense of community among residents in Malaysia. Between June and October 2024, we interviewed 12 related professionals, including urban planners, architects, housing developers, landscape architects, local authorities, and policymakers, to capture their perspectives and experiences. Five key themes emerged from the thematic analysis: Defining and operationalizing sense of community, the role of physical design in fostering community, community engagement and feedback, challenges and success stories, and future visions for community-oriented planning. The findings suggest that various physical design elements in the neighbourhood, such as the availability of community spaces, street connectivity, and access to amenities, play a crucial role in shaping the sense of community among residents. Participants emphasized the importance of incorporating resident feedback and community engagement in the planning and design process to ensure the built environment aligns with the community's needs and preferences. The study also highlights the challenges faced by professionals in promoting a strong sense of community, such as limited budgets, competing priorities, and resistance to change. Overall, this qualitative study provides insights into how the neighbourhood-built environment can be leveraged to foster a stronger sense of community, which is particularly relevant in the post-pandemic context where social connection and community resilience are crucial for public health and well-being. Keywords: Sense of Community; Neighbourhood built Environments; built environment; qualitative; physical activity.

This article is a reading of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's "An Unpublished Text" (1964a), as an exemplar of communicative praxis. As a poetic, "stylistic" account of the body of his life's work, this text self-signifies his potential as an "authentic" scholar. Employing a motivated logic that is abductive (Peirce, 1955), he argued for an appreciation of our phenomenological and semiotic circumstances of existential ambiguity. Furthermore, from this phenomenal ground, he articulated the pragmatic conditions of authenticity that inhere within every communication engagement with an Other. My interpretation of the Etre Au Monde of his philosophy depicts authenticity as human potentiality in the context of an existential dialectic between personal consciousness and sociocultural experience. We find that ambiguity and authenticity implicate one another as philosophical issues and thus remain highly relevant for a postmodern philosophy that problematizes our constitution as communicative beings.