I
want you all to know that I’ve been thinking a lot about our meeting in December, and
the amazing things that we shared in Udaipur. I actually went back to Udaipur in January,
so my mind was never really far off… I’d also like to underline at the beginning
how much the conference meant to me personally. The friendships that began in Udaipur are
invaluable to me, and give me a great deal of hope for the future. Thank you all.
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Now to the questions:
Q 1: What do learning societies mean to you now after attending the conference? What do
you feel are the essential ideas underlying learning societies?
Ans: The concept of learning is extremely hard to define, perhaps because it encapsulates
much more than can possibly be explained in words. Because of its strong experiential
core, it would in fact be inaccurate to reduce it to facile notions of “knowledge
acquistion” or “education”—something that became amply clear at our
meeting. Terms like “education” emanate from histories of institutionalization
and the “ordering” of life into categories that are starkly at odds with the
messy realities of everyday life. “Learning,” on the other hand is much, much
bigger, and is shaped by textures, sounds, smells, interactions, and experiences, from the
most mundane to the earth-shatteringly grandiose. It is, as I understand it, the essence
of life.
This interpretation of learning became apparent to me at the conference, partly because my
own narrow (academic) lens on the world seemed quite incapable of explaining the
regenerative potential that came forth in the conversations I had with everyone. Perhaps
because of this, I think of learning as experiential, interactive, processual, and in this
sense, fundamentally at odds with the structural forms of thinking that one associates
with modernist institutions. When I see learning through this perspective, it is actually
hard for me to fully accept the concept of “learning societies” which seems
increasingly to be an unnecessary effort at reducing a complex reality into a label. After
all, isn’t the category “society” also a construct, one that is accepted
uncritically in academic circles? Aren’t ALL societies learning societies?
Q 2: What do you feel are the most important questions and issues to focus on if we wish
to regenerate learning societies in South Asia?
Ans: Although the list of issues that swirl around the notion of learning is unending, I
am pretty devastated at the degree to which most people I meet feel an incorrigible sense
of desperation and helplessness at the way things are going in the world. Over the past
decade, most people I know articulate feelings of fear, disorientation, and confusion.
Unfortunately, the response of some of these people has been to close ranks, to shut down
the possibility of evolving regenerative ways of seeing the world. It is however VERY
fortunate that not everyone feels this way—another thing that became apparent at our
conference.
At this juncture, it seems to me that it is absolutely vital that we identify the sources
of sustenance, learning, and strength that give people the resilience to work around the
disenchantment of our times. These sources, I believe, are not too hard to find, partly
because their components are all within us. Creativity, honesty, tolerance, and the
ability to respect alternatives are qualities that define our humanity. The only way to
regenerate learning is by harnessing these humane qualities, many of which have been
sidelined because of our modernist fixation with “development” and
“progress.”
Q 3: What are the next steps/activities that you think should be undertaken to help unfold
learning societies in South Asia?
Ans: In my own life, I am increasingly questioning the ways in which I have been
institutionalized. This interrogation has also made me increasingly aware of the need to
identity those spaces of engagement, dialogue, and creativity that sustain us in these
times of anomie. I do not for an instant believe that the prevailing mood of sadness is
going to last forever, perhaps because in South Asia one can find learning spaces in all
kinds of places, the sorts of places that the modernist lens simply does NOT have the
capacity to look.
For me, life in India demonstrates that spaces for creative articulation flourish in all
sorts of nooks and crannies. The real challenge of course, is to identify and energize
these spaces, defined as they are by alternative material, ecological, and cultural
realities. “Multiple publics,” as I like to refer to them in my work as an
alternative the “mainstream public,” have to potential to reshape our
understanding of the challenges confronting us, because they draw upon endless,
regenerative reserves of learning. For me, the next step is to think outside of my
institutional lens, and work towards identifying and energizing the learning that happens
in these multiple public spaces.