Revisiting vygotsky for social change revisiting vygotsky for social change bringing together theory and practice

2 for Social Change Adolfo Tanzi Neto, Fernanda Liberali and Manolis Dafermos, Editors Bringing Together Theory and Practice... The chapters of this book shed light onto Vygotsky’s initi

2

for Social Change

Adolfo Tanzi Neto, Fernanda Liberali and Manolis Dafermos, Editors

Bringing Together Theory and Practice

Contemporary thinkers and researchers from different parts of the world involved in achieving human development employ Vygotsky’s theory in order to deal with new social challenges arising in a global but deeply divided world (Santos, 2000; Souza e Santos, 2008; Martín-Baró, 1998) The chapters of this book shed light onto Vygotsky’s initial principles adding critical and social perspectives as a way of expanding his legacy to global contemporary needs such as a critical refl ection from the perspective of social change, social dynamics and human development, ethical-political situations of action power, dialectic relationship of the human being with society, contradictions in an individual’s dramatic life events and awareness of the social environment to actively change the existing forms of life.

Adolfo Tanzi Neto is head of the Department of Anglo-Germanic Languages, College of

Languages and Arts, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) He is a researcher in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Applied Linguistics (PIPGLA-UFRJ) and leader of the Nucleus for Studies and Research of Vygotsky School in Applied Linguistics (NUVYLA/ CNPq) His research interests are in the fi elds of discourse and social practices as for human constitution and development, in the dimensions of cognition, semiotics, symbolic, and aesthetic sense His interests are related to social activism, linguistic mobility, social change/justice, identity and agency based on critical and dialectical epistemologies of the Socio-Historical-Cultural Activity Theory

Fernanda Liberali is a teacher educator, researcher and professor at the Pontifi cal Catholic

University of São Paulo, in the English Department, in the Program of Graduate Studies

in Applied Linguistics and Language Studies and in the Graduate Program in Education: Education of Educators She is one of the leaders of the Research Group / CNPq / PUC-SP

Language in Activity in the School Context and an advisor to CNPq and FAPESP Within the framework of Socio-Historical-Cultural Activity Theory, her main research interests are related to teacher education, teaching-learning, multimodal argumentation, and multilingualism/bilingual education.

Manolis Dafermos is an associate professor in the epistemology of psychology in the

Department of Psychology at the University of Crete His interests include historical psychology, critical psychology, the history of psychology, and methodological

cultural-and epistemological issues in the social sciences He is the author of Rethinking

Cultural-Historical Theory: A Dialectical Perspective to Vygotsky (2018) in addition to being the author or co-author of papers and chapters in various journals and collective volumes focusing on dialectics and its signifi cance for social research.

2

( P O S T ) C R I T I C A L G L O B A L S T U D I E S

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

Revisiting Vygotsky for Social Change

“This book comes from three well-respected scholars who are seen by many internationally as part of the next wave of Vygotskian theorists They have put together a book which has attracted contributions from some of the most outstanding theorists working on the dialectical relation between theory and practice within Vygotskian studies The names of these contributors alone will ensure that the collection of chapters will be bought and read But the book is doing more than bringing together ideas from thoughtful contributors to the field It is asking us to pause and to consider where the field of Vygotsky-informed research is going They note the need now to look forward and, as valuable as the archive work has been, we need to consider how some of the key concepts in Vygotsky’s Marxist psychology allow us to address current pressing problems The contributions come from people who choose to work at the margins of different disciplines, including psychology and linguistics, making this an exciting collection where the potential for links between chapters is strong In short it is a coherent collection, discussing how a theory that was developed to address the challenges of revolutionary Russia can now address some of the problems currently facing us both nationally and globally.”

—Anne Edwards, Professor Emeritus, Department of Education,

University of Oxford, England

“Cultural-historical psychology offers strong conceptual and methodological tools to understand and promote social innovation and change, which are most needed in a fast-changing society Therefore, the book Revisiting Vygotsky for Social Change: Bringing Together Theory and Practice is much appreciated by students, academic researchers and practitioners It gathers a range of talented colleagues and highly interesting ideas both at the theoretical and practical level I'm happy to recommend

it to my colleagues, students and librarians.”

—Laure Kloetzer, Assistant Professor, Institute of Psychology and Education,

University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

“The book is organized by three well recognized authors within cultural-historical studies, who have invited other very well know scholars in the field as contributors These authors have important international collaborations and have an active participation in international forums in the field The focus of the book is very original and interesting, bringing to light a critical perspective on the social significance of Vygotsky’s theory and the conceptual shift toward social change in the examination of human development and learning processes in the contemporary Vygotskian studies The discussion related to the relevance of Vygotsky for social change is a novelty of the book that is welcome in the international community of Vygotskian studies.”

—Fernando González Rey (in memoriam), Full Professor of Psychology,

University Center of Brasília; Senior Research Collaborator,

Faculty of Education, University of Brasília, Brazil

Revisiting Vygotsky for Social Change

(Post)Critical Global Studies

Márcia Aparecida Amador Mascia, Silvia Grinberg

and Michalis Kontopodis

Series Editor s Vol 2

The (Post)Critical Global Studies series

is part of the Peter Lang Regional Studies list

Every volume is peer reviewed and meets

the highest quality standards for content and production

PETER LANG

New York  Bern  Berlin Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw

Revisiting Vygotsky for Social Change

Bringing Together

Theory and Practice

Adolfo Tanzi Neto, Fernanda Liberali

& Manolis Dafermos, Editors

PETER LANG

New York  Bern  Berlin Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tanzi Neto, Adolfo, editor | Liberali, Fernanda, editor |

Dafermos, Manolis, editor

Title: Revisiting Vygotsky for social change: bringing together theory and practice / edited by Adolfo Tanzi Neto, Fernanda Liberali and Manolis Dafermos

Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2020

Series: (Post)critical global studies; vol 2 | ISSN 2297-8534

Includes bibliographical references and index

Identifiers: LCCN 2019028825 | ISBN 978-1-4331-7038-6 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-4331-7250-2 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-4331-7042-3 (ebook pdf) ISBN 978-1-4331-7043-0 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-7044-7 (mobi) Subjects: LCSH: Vygotsky, L S (Lev Semenovich), 1896–1934 |

on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability

of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity

of the Council of Library Resources

© 2020 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York

80 Broad Street, 5th floor, New York, NY 10004

www.peterlang.com All rights reserved

Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited

Printed in the United States of America

It is necessary that the weakness of the powerless is transformed into a force capable of announcing justice For this to happen, a total denouncement of fatalism is necessary We are transformative beings and not beings for accom-modation (Freire, 1997, p 6)

A creature that is perfectly adapted to its environment, would not want ything, would not have anything to strive for, and, of course, would not be able to create anything Thus, creation is always based on lack of adaptation, which gives rise to needs, motives, and desires (Vygotsky, 2004, p 29)

List of Figures and Tables ixi

(Post)Critical Global Studies: A Note from the Series Editors xi

Introduction 1

ADOLFO TANZI NETO, FERNANDA LIBERALI, AND MANOLIS DAFERMOS

1 Reconstructing the Fundamental Ideas of Vygotsky’s Theory in

the Contemporary Social and Scientific Context 13

MANOLIS DAFERMOS

2 Radical-Transformative Agency: Developing a Transformative

Activist Stance on a Marxist-Vygotskyan Foundation 31

YRJÖ ENGESTRÖM AND ANNALISA SANNINO

LOIS HOLZMAN

6 Mediation in Neo-Vygotskian Terms: Rethinking School

Mediated Practices from a Social Architectonic Perspective 125

ADOLFO TANZI NETO

PETER E JONES

viii CONTENTS

8 Identity as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: The Dialectics of

Belonging, Being and Becoming 175

NIKOLAI VERESOV

9 The Method in Vygotsky: Social Compensation to Achieve Higher

Psychological Functions and Social Changes 193

SUELI SALLES FIDALGO AND MARIA CECÍLIA C MAGALHÃES

10 Totality, Historicity, Mediation and Contradiction: Essential

Categories for the Analytic Movement in Research in Education 213

WANDA MARIA JUNQUEIRA DE AGUIAR,

MARIA EMILIANA LIMA PENTEADO, AND RAQUEL ANTONIO ALFREDO

11 Imagination and Emotion as the Basis of Social Transformation 241

BADER BURIHAN SAWAIA, LAVÍNIA L S MAGIOLINO

AND DANIELE NUNES HENRIQUE SILVA

12 The Challenges of the Reception of Vygotsky’s Theory in View of

Missing Revolutionary Changes 261

GORDANA JOVANOVIć

Instead of an Epilogue “We Are on Fire”: Crisis as Turning

Point, Vygotsky and Social Change 281

MICHALIS KONTOPODIS, MANOLIS DAFERMOS,

AND ADOLFO TANZI NETO

Contributors 287

Index 295

Figures and Tables

Tables

4.1 Frequency of use of the terms ‘knot’ and ‘knotworking’

in the Change Laboratory sessions (excluding use of the

(Post-)Critical Global Studies:

A Note from the Series Editors

We are very pleased to introduce Revisiting Vygotsky for Social Change:

Bringing Together Theory and Practice, the second volume of the book series (Post-)Critical Global Studies Challenging and evocative, this edited volume pushes us to expand Vygotsky’s theories, and to consider new possibilities for interpreting and implementing his work in a wide variety of contexts This groundbreaking investigation on the reception and implementation of Vygotsky’s legacy across diverse international academic communities supports

an important debate on the challenges of using his ideas in academic research This edited volume includes original contributions dealing with topics

of relevance to Vygotskian pedagogies, psychologies, and epistemologies, addressing questions of how Vygotsky’s theories can successfully contribute

to new possibilities for human development in a complex and troubled world This book expands Vygotsky’s work beyond the field of psychology, with chapters dedicated to bridging the gap between theory and practice: this is crucial at a time when global economic, political and social crises are challeng-ing the neoliberal conception of human development that has dominated the 21st century

We hope that this second thematically oriented volume of (Post )Critical Global Studies highlights the importance of exploring social issues by think-ing through possibilities for human development in order to effect the local and global social change which is the focus of the series (Post )Critical Global Studies explores innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to emerging phenomena in the fields of urban, countryside and indigenous stud-ies; human rights; social policy and social movements; intersectionality; media and technology; education; community organization; political economy;

xii A NOTE FROM THE SERIES EDITORS

ecology; migration; and globalization It includes critical discussions of the geopolitics of knowledge

The first two volumes are published in English; the book series welcomes publications in Spanish and Portuguese, too For further details, please visit our website: https://www.peterlang.com/view/serial/PCGS

Márcia A Amador Mascia, Silvia Grinberg & Michalis Kontopodis

ADOLFO TANZI NETO, FERNANDA LIBERALI,

AND MANOLIS DAFERMOS

Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory emerged in the first decades of 20th century in the USSR, with many important works written about the history

of the development of his theory (Yaroshevsky, 1989; Kozulin, 1990; Van der Veer & Valsiner, 1991; Veresov, 1999; González Rey, 2009; Dafermos, 2018) The “archival revolution” in Vygotskian studies has revealed new, unknown sides of Vygotsky’s legacy (Yasnitsky, 2010; Zavershneva, 2009; Zavershneva, 2010a; Zavershneva, 2010b; Zavershneva & Osipov, 2012; Van der Veer & Zavershneva, 2011)

“Vygotsky’s second life” is connected with the widespread circulation and implementation of Vygotsky’s theory around the globe (Daniels, Cole, & Wertsch, 2007; Dafermos, 2016; Jovanović, 2015) Contemporary thinkers and researchers in the area of human development have employed Vygotsky’s theory in order to deal with new societal challenges arising in a deeply divided world (Santos, 2000; Souza e Santos, 2008; Martín-Baró, 1998)

Various interpretive traditions of Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory have been formulated worldwide by the contemporary thinkers and research-ers, as a way of facing complex social and scientific problems, and an exam-ination of how they have been constructed and reconstructed is of great importance In these contemporary times, there is a real social and scientific need to promote critical reflection on modes of understanding, implementing and further develop Vygotsky’s theory, whereby encouraging dialogue within the Vygotskian academia

This book illustrates the existence of a multitude of interpretations and ways of implementing Vygotsky’s theory across countries and continents,

in which the need to build a dialogical space between them has risen This book is a contribution of Neo-Vygotskyan researchers from different parts of the world all of whom are engaged in a dialogue about the past and future

2 ADOLFO TANZI NETO ET AL.

development of Vygotsky’s theory Moreover, inspired by the Vygotskian idea

of an “epistemology of the practice”, the contributors to this collective ume address the question of how Vygotsky’s theory of human development can be employed successfully in applied research and in practice in concrete contexts

vol-Another important challenge is linked with the expansion of Vygotsky’s extensive literature on psychology, in which it was historically created, to a vast array of other fields, including: educational studies (Hedegaard & Chaiklin, 2005; Van Oers, Waedekker, Elbers & Van der Veer, 2008; Magalhães & Fidalgo, 2010; Liberali, 2013), linguistic studies (Byrnes 2006; Jones 2014, 2016; Smagorinsky 2011), cognitive science (Falikman, 2014), the work-place (Engeström 2007; Holzman 2009), neuropsychology (Toomela, 2014; Kotik-Friedgut & Adrila, 2014), the theory of art (Bulgakowa 2014), sociol-ogy (Daniels 2012), etc This book discusses the transformative reconstruc-tion of Vygotsky’s theory as a result of its expansion across a wide range

of disciplines and fields, mediated through their theoretical traditions and practices, with a focus on the reception, reconstruction and implementation

of Vygotsky’s theory in educational studies, applied linguistic studies and psychology

Drawing on selected parts of Vygotskian literature to postulate and pose new insights on the author’s concepts, this book makes an original con-tribution by suggesting critical perspectives to better integrate Vygotsky’s extensive work into contemporary research on learning and human devel-opment Further, it is argued that Vygotsky’s project can hardly be ade-quately understood unless from the perspective of Vygotsky’s commitment to social justice This book proposes a shift toward the perspective of examining Vygotsky’s work through the lens of social change in theorizing human devel-opment and learning By expanding upon Vygotskina literature, this book offers a bridge between the cultural-historical theory with critical approaches

pro-to psychology, language and education

The emergence and development of Vygotsky’s work was embedded within the radical social change in Russia and the USSR in the 1920s and early 1930s The social atmosphere of that dramatic and heroic time was reported by Alexander Luria, who said: “My entire generation was infused with the energy of revolutionary change-the liberating energy people feel when they are part of a society that is able to make tremendous progress in a very short time” (Luria 2010, p 17) Developing new theoretical and practi-cal approaches to human development and education was crucial in order to