SHOMERIC ISLANDS FULL Copy

SHOMERIC ISLANDS: YOUTH FORMING CRITICAL PEDAGOGIES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM by Dahlia Benedikt A thesis submitted in the conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Dahlia Benedikt 2018 SHOMERIC ISLANDS: YOUTH FORMING CRITICAL PEDAGOGIES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM Dahlia Benedikt Master of Arts Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning University of Toronto 2018 Abstract This research engages Toronto youth in explorative discussions on the educational community framework of the Hashomer Hatzair socialist Jewish youth movement, as an approach to critical pedagogy conducted by and for young people. Employing a practitioner inquiry methodology, the study positions movement members as insiders and knowledgeable practitioners of their common context who engage with central questions related to education and social organization, including raising critically equipped leaders with a drive to incite change. Presented as a multilayered narrative that weaves together community dialogues, the study begins with an illustration of the movement’s modal features, and subsequently documents reflections among Hashomer Hatzair youth educators on their work to move beyond existing arrangements of educational practice in the modern neoliberal era. Findings reveal the significance of centring youth and others from the periphery as seasoned critical partners in fostering local change and resistance. ii Acknowledgements To the moving generations of past and future, and those who have made this work come into being. iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................ IV LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................. VII PARTICIPANTS LIST ........................................................................................................................ VIII PART I CHAPTER 1: SHOMERIC ISLANDS 1 I. HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS: ...................................................... 2 1. FROM THE LOCAL: YOUTH IN CRISIS 3 Hashomer Hatzair Beginnings .............................................................................................................. 3 Movement Political Framework and Context ................................................................................ 6 History and Contextual Meanings .......................................................................................................... 9 2. FROM THE GLOBAL: ‘MAN’ IN CRISIS 13 Peripheral Beings .................................................................................................................................... 13 Legitimized Discourses ........................................................................................................................... 18 3. EDUCATION AND THE CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT 20 The Present Moment: Changing the "Axis uPon which the world Turns" ...................... 25 II. METHODOLOGICAL FRAME ................................................................................................... 29 1. KNOWLEDGE SOURCES AND ENDS: SETTING UP THE RESEARCH LENS 31 2. CREATING CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS 35 3. SCOPE AND BOUNDS 38 4. WRITING ROADMAP 41 III. ENTERING THE STUDY/ISLANDS ........................................................................................ 44 1. SETTING UP THE STUDY: EDUCATION AS A TOOL TO SHAPE REALITY 44 2. EARLY ENCOUNTERS 49 3. SHOMER SEEDS: THOSE WHO TREAD THE ISLANDS 51 4. MADRICHIM AND CHANICHIM: ISLAND RELATIONSHIPS 54 5. SETTING THE LEARNING CLIMATE 56 CHAPTER TWO: LANGUAGE 58 I. PEULA FUNDAMENTALS ........................................................................................................... 59 1. WHAT IS PEULA? FIRST GLANCES 59 2. ORGANIC ELEMENTS 61 3. PEULA EPISTEMICS: MULTIPLYING WAYS OF SEEING AND DOING 62 II. PEULA AS CRAFT .................................................................................................................... 65 1. PEULA GROWS FROM PUZZLEMENT TO PEDAGOGY 65 2. PEULA VIBRATIONS: LIVING TREES OF PEDAGOGIC SPECIFICITY 67 III. PEULA FORMS: FOUR KINDS .................................................................................................... 69 1. DISRUPTION 69 2. MISSION 71 3. PLAY 71 4. SIKUM — REFLECTION 76 IV. CONCLUDINGS: PEULA GROWS FROM ITS BODIES ............................................................. 77 1. “A PEULA CAN BE ANYTHING” AND ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE PEULA 77 2. PEULA AS A JOURNEY OF JOURNEYS 78 iv CHAPTER THREE: BODY 80 II. KVUTZA BASICS .............................................................................................................................. 80 II. KVUTZA SHOMRIT: BODY PARTS ...................................................................................... 82 1. HEART | INTIMACY 83 2. HEAD | LEARNING 86 3. FEET | AUTONOMY 89 4. HANDS | MISSION 92 III. BODY FORMATION .............................................................................................................. 94 YEDID | BODY IN-FORMATION 95 PART II CHAPTER FOUR: SPIRIT 99 I. THE FORMING OF A SHOMERIC SPIRIT ................................................................................ 99 1. THE RIGHT TO LEARN | TEACH FREELY 100 2. SOWING A SPIRIT OF BELONGING 101 3. DISTINCTIVENESS AS INCLUSION: CONSTRUCTING IDENTITY 103 II. INCLUSION AS A REFORMULATIVE PROJECT: THE CASE OF GENDER ..................... 105 1. "MORE DIRECTIONS": CHALUTZIM POWER 105 2. GENDER AND AGE DISTINCTIONS: LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER 107 3. NORM BENDING AND AN ETHICS OF YOUTH REBELLION 109 4. CONCLUDINGS: GENDER EDUCATION AND GENERATIONAL CHANGE 111 CHAPTER FIVE: TIME 115 I. PEDAGOGIC SOURCES AND KNOWLEDGE ......................................................................... 118 1. EDUCATOR KNOWLEDGE AND HISTORY 118 2. KNOWLEDGES OF EACH OTHER 120 3. PEDAGOGIC OWNERSHIP: WHO GETS TO ASK THE QUESTIONS? 122 4. DOCUMENTATION AND FRAGMENTEDNESS | GAPS AND SIGNIFICANCES 123 II. DIRECTING VOICE & PROCESS ............................................................................................. 125 1. LOCATING CONFLICT AND BIAS 125 2. CONTESTING AND CONVERGING EDGES OF PEULA SPACE 128 3. REDIRECTING KNOWLEDGE, POWER AND PEULA SPACE: CASE OF TURTLE ISLAND 129 III. MEANS AS ENDS | ENDS AS MEANS: CYCLES OF EFFECT AND CHANGE ............................ 132 1. ACCOUNTING FOR LEARNING 132 2. SIKUM: PRACTICING REFLECTION | REFLECTING ON PRACTICE 134 3. ‘COMING TO A NEW PLACE’: ACCOUNTING FOR TIME & COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS 136 CHAPTER SIX: MOVEMENT 138 I. POWER AS EMPOWERMENT .................................................................................................. 140 1. “SHOMRIM LOVE CHOCOLATE MILK” 140 2. MOVEMENT ORGANIZATION: ‘SUNFLOWER SEED AFTER SUNFLOWER SEED' ............................. 142 II. ‘SHOMRIM LOVE CHOCOLATE MILK’: PARTICIPATING IN THE DEVISING PROCESS ....... 146 1. CHOCOLATE MILK PEULA 147 2. LEADING AND MOVEMENT SPIRALS 150 3. MOVEMENT PRAXIS: HADRACHA AS THEORISTS-PRACTITIONERS 151 v CHAPTER 7: SEEDS 155 I. PLANTING SEEDS ...................................................................................................................... 155 1. GROWING WHOLENESS: PLANTING SEEDS… AND SEEING THEM GROW 156 2. THE SEEDS THAT GROW FROM FEEDING 159 II. SEEDS PLANTED: LANDS ....................................................................................................... 160 1. HOME PROXIMITIES 160 2. SPACE AND HOMEPLACE | BORDER CROSSING 163 3. UNKNOWINGS OF SOWING ROOTS, AND ROOTEDNESS 166 III. SPAWN ....................................................................................................................................... 168 1. SEEDS AND CONTINUING TRANS-FORMATION STRUCTURES 169 2. SHOMRIM IN THE WORLD, AND SHIFTING IMAGES OF HAGSHAMA 172 CONCLUSION: NEW SUBJECTIVITIES | CONTINUAL REBIRTH 177 REFERENCES 181 INTERNAL DOCUMENTS CITED 191 APPENDIX A: THE RESEARCH STUDY 192 APPENDIX B: PEULOT CITED 204 APPENDIX C: DIAGRAMS 227 APPENDIX D: LETTER OF CONSENT 234 APPENDIX E: GLOSSARY OF TERMS 236 vi List of Tables “Towards which Kinds of Humans": Shomeric vs. standard education………...…….....44 Interview Participants….……………………………………...………………………..190 Online Survey: What makes a Profound Peula? ………………………………...……..193 Peula Studies: Participants…………...……..……...…………………………………...194 Peula Studies: Literary Texts Used……………………………………………………..196 Educational Vision: Mosh 2017…………..…………………………………………….230 North American Hadracha Seminars by Theme………………………………………..231 Glossary of Terms………………………………………………………………………234 vii Participants List Name* Age Name* Age in 2016 in 2016 Karl 21 Dexter 28 Nikolas 17 Aaron 22 Suri 20 Elliot 19 Razi 19 Emma 22 Theo 19 Leslie 21 Melissa 26 Jamie 21 Malka 25 Jasper 18 Sophie 31 Ashwin 23 Jordan 24 Eitan 19 Veronica 23 Talia 16 Daniel 34 Julia 18 Tanya 22 Nadav 18 Maria 28 Rosa 17 Sara 30 Bryn 20 Janet 28 Aiden 19 Eli 30 Akiva 20 Shane 31 Adi 25 Raven 23 Desmond 20 Binah 20 Hinda 23 Yentl 23 Natalia 20 Iris 21 Yael 18 Meir 23 Shira 26 Andrea 16 Eva 18 Bela 16 Ariela 19 Samuel 17 Jake 17 *All names are pseudonyms. Total participants: 50 viii PART I Chapter One SHOMERIC ISLANDS Entering In Off the violent coasts of European

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