Reflections: My First Taller
| Events: |
Nacimientos | New Year 2004 | My First Taller | Lenten Processions |
Places: |
Antigua | Outskirts of Antigua |
Topics of Interest: |
Volcanoes | Security Concerns |
 |
I organized my first workshop as a series of four sessions. The initial session was devoted to an introduction to the field of discourse analysis that would set some definitions for our work and put everyone on the same platform. Then came a session on defining genre in oral narratives, followed, the second day, by one on story grammar. A week later, the fourth session was on the concept of discourse markers, those pesky little particles, like well, so, and then, that come and go in conversation and seem important, but are so hard to explain. These are all fairly basic topics and seemed likely to elicit interest, as well as have immediate applicability, as, indeed, turned out to be the case.
The fact is that the topic of discourse analysis is one with tremendous relevance to the work being done in Guatemala in linguistic description, bilingual education, materials production, language preservation, and sociolinguistic documentation, whether in Spanish or in Mayan languages. And yet, I am told, this is the first real opportunity most people at ILE or elsewhere have had to study it. Relevant professional articles and books are mostly in English, and, in any case, hard to come by. Most resident faculty is not specialized in this area of research, and linguists who come through are usually only able to give a talk or a brief workshop session before leaving for the field or returning home. As it happens, some of the most significant work in the field has been done by American and European linguists working on Mayan languages, but their work and insights are largely unknown here. I feel grateful for the opportunity to contribute to increasing knowledge and use of the techniques of discourse analysis that I have used in my own research. At the same time, it seems a big responsibility.
But
all went well, and the first workshop was attended by a large number of
people, who seemed pleased with the design of the sessions and excited by
the content. For me there were several signs of success (besides the positive
comments from my friends!). First was the fact that there were so many questions
during the sessions and that participants paid attention. In Guatemalan
teaching situations, when people are not engaged with the material, there
are often private conversations, newspaper reading, and cell phone conversations
going on! Next I noticed that even during break time, with delicious coffee
and cookies available, people came with examples from various languages
to discuss with me. Or to ask more detailed questions that showed they had
been doing real analysis within the frameworks I was presenting. And, at
the last session, people really had done the investigative tasks I had suggested
for the intervening week and were anxious to share the results. I have to
remember to plan for longer periods for considering specific analytical
examples for the next session, because we really didn't have enough.
The best moments were when someone would report that a problematic particle or narrative transition that had been interfering with analysis for some time now seemed to be easily explained by using analysis techniques at the discourse-level. That experience of being present at the moment when new knowledge transforms a studious mind and opens a new horizon of inquiry and understanding is the irreplaceable joy of the academic life. A scholar deep in her own research has repeated experiences of it. And the opportunity to share it with the mostly first-generation college students at Cleveland State is one of the things that have kept me there for nearly thirty-five years. And now the amazing chance to watch it happen with members of the first generation of educated Mayan intellectuals-in-development is a rare gift from Fulbright, from URL and ILE, and most of all from the attentive, hard-working, quick-thinking linguists in my workshop. I must say, I'm having a wonderful time doing the work I came for!