INFORMATION TO USERS

This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly fi'om the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer.

The quali^ of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality

illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction.

In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back ofthe book.

Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order.

UMI

A Bell & Howell Information Company
300 North 2^eeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA
313/761-4700 800/521-0600

OPENING TECHNOLOGY DISCOURSES TO DIFFERENCE:
A RHIZOANALYSIS

DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate
School of the Ohio State University

By
Patricia Ann O'Riley, B.Ed., M.A.

• *
• *
• *
• *
• *

The Ohio State University
1999

• A pproved by
• Dissertation Committee:

Dr. Patti Lather, Co-Advisor
Co-Advisor College of Education

Dr. William Taylor, Co-Advisor

Dr. Robert Donmoyer
Co-Advisor College of Education

DMI Number: 9931664

UMI Microform 9931664
Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.

Tliis microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

UMI

300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103

ABSTRACT

This research project was an effort to seek a cultural politics of difference w ithin the two areas of education claiming 'technology^ as an area of study: technology education and educational technology. This study also troubled the practice of doing research, in particular, the 'right to know ', collecting and analyzing data', and the possibility of ethics from w ithin a professional frame of reference.
One segment of the study was w ith technology education high school students and their teacher in British Columbia, Canada, and another segment was w ith educational technology graduate students at a university in New Jersey, USA. The co-participants, including a colleague from Kenya, and I examined how technology discourses in education reverberate with the language and practices of the dom inant culture, which foreground comm odity production, consum ption and 'high' technologies, silencing and/ or ignoring indigenous and other non-western epistemologies and technologies. Paying particular attention to the languaging of gender, culture and environment in technology curricula, we worked to affirm difference. W hat appeared to be or were identified as contradictions within and between cultures were recognized and validated. We worked toward an intercultural conversation, a flow betw een and among different knowledge communities, concerned that our w ork not become another multicultural 'hybrid/ an accumulation of indigenous epistemologies for the West.
Methodologically, I explored the possibilities of doing research which was not primarily about 'knowing/ 'other' in order to study, act upon, validate or transform. I thought against m yself as researcher in an effort to engage in a more respectful and m utual conversation in the 'regeneration' of knowledge, rather than 'generating' more and better for the western knowledge project.

m
Dedicated to indigenous people around the world who are reviving their culture, language and spirituality who are reclaiming their land, voice and traditions who are finding ways of overcoming the effects of colonization as well all those who have been marginalized by the ways of the West

IV

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I w ould Like to thank Patti Lather for her creative and courageous work in research m ethodology. She has opened doors for so many.
Bill Taylor is a breath of fresh air in educational technology, m oving the conversation to include body and spirit.
I thank Bob D onm oyer for being a gentle m an, a gatekeeper who encourages different ways of doing scholarly writing. m utindi ndunda, of the Mkamba com m unity of Kenya, my sister and co-irritant, thank you for being a strong, brilliant and passionate woman, who fights every m inute of every day to make this w orld m ore equitable, more caring. You hold my hand, you push me to the edges of m y knowing, as we journey together.
Annette and N oel Gough, thank you for your love and encouragement and your invitation to lecture in Australia. You have always been there. Kate and Simon, thank y o u for welcoming me into your home.
Peter Fensham , you will always be a special person to me, to so many. I w ould like to thank my long-time friend, Len Millis, for his belief and me and encouragem ent to return to school. T hank you for your love, your friendship, your advice, and for finding the leak on the houseboat. Jane and Catie, your love has been felt across the miles. Peter Cole, my partner and friend, thank you for your love, your delightful spirit, and for bringing m e hom e to the land, into the Stl'atl'imx com m unity, and on a journey to find m y ow n indigenous roots.
Lee O'Riley, m y daughter, thank you for just being you. Even as a little girl, you show edm e how to love and how to be loved. Chris Babcock and Lori Quance, my son and daughter, thank you for coming back into my Life. Thank you for your love. Daniel Delaquis, my first bom, I think of you often, and with affection: o:na.
This research was supported by a Social Sciences and Hum anities
Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship. I w ould particularly Hke to thank Michael Hodgson.

VI

VITA

Bom November 18,1947—Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

EDUCATION

1992 1991 1989
M.A. Education The University of British Columbia

B.Ed. Secondary Education The University of British Columbia

Diploma in Industrial Education Teacher Education British Columbia Institute of Technology

WORK HISTORY

1986 - 88 1984 - 86 1982 - 84 1979 - 82
Canada Safety Officer/ Labour Standards Officer Labour Canada

Industrial Relations Officer/ H um an Rights Officer British Columbia M inistry of Labour

Provincial Factory Inspector British Columbia M inistry of Labour

Planchecker/ Building Inspector District of the M unicipality of Surrey, BC City of Vernon, BC

1976 - 79

1973 - 74
Residential Housing Designer Nu-W est Development Corporation, Surrey, BC Freelance

Architectural Draftsperson Bel-Con Engineering Ltd., Belleville, ON

vu

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

1998-present 1997-1998
Lecturer M assey University Palm erston North, Aotearoa N ew Zealand

Instructor W illiam Paterson University W ayne, NJ, USA

1996 duly)

1992 -1994 1977 -1979
Visiting Lecturer The University of Victoria Victoria, BC, Canada

G raduate Teaching Associate The Ohio State University Colum bus, OH, USA

Architectural Drafting Instructor Douglas College N ew W estminster, BC, Canada

SCHOLARSHIPS & AWARDS

1994 - 95 1992 - 93 1992
Doctoral Fellowship Renewal
Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada
Doctoral Fellowship
Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada
University Graduate Fellowship (declined)
The University of British Columbia
Overseas Research Scholarship (declined)
University of London
1992

• 1991
• Dr. M axwell Cameron Memorial M edal & Prize

The University of British Columbia

(highest standing in graduating class)

• British Council Grant
• 1990

British H igh Commission
1989 Summer School Scholarship The University of British Columbia

vm

PUBLICATIONS

O'Riley. P. (1996). A different storytelling of Technology Education curriculum

re-visions: A storytelling of difference. Journal o f T echnology Education, 7(2),

28-39.
O’Riley, P. & & Scott, D. (1996). Psycho logics: Techno bits and desire bytes in the worlds of virtuality & analysis. Australian Educational Researcher, 23(3), 97- 107.
O'Riley, P. (1992). BC technology education curriculum: A ppropriate for all

students? Status o f Women Journal, 23-26.

O'Riley, P. (1991). Technological literacy: In search of a paradigm . VIEW, Journal

of t he BC Technology Education Association, 1 ,14-17.

HELD OF STUDY

Major Field: Education

IX

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication Acknowledgem ents Vita iv vvii
Plateau 1001:

• Preamble
• 1

Plateau 1002:

• S o . . .
• 6

• 8
• One true story revisited

Technology discourses as m anifest m anners Technology discourses as storytelling practice S'S-stuttering as cartographic gesture Rhizomatics: writing plateaux
11 14 16 17

Plateau 1003: Re:M apping
Situating the geography of the study
22 22 26 29 32 34 36 38 43
Theories of diEerence Rhizoanalysis Nomadics Rhizoanalysis as minorizing m ajority discourse A critical look at rhizoanalysis Technology of empire and m anifest manners Rhizoanalysis meets trickster discourse: Canis rhizomatmus

Plateau 1004: M esa M orph Ing M ethodology
Methodological framings Research Design
48 48

Prior ethnography The sites for this study A. Technology education:
52 54

• Co-participants, entrée and field relations
• 54

• M ethods
• 57

B. Educational technology:
Co-participants, entrée and field relations M ethods
Field relations and data analysis: Some ethical considerations Making room for story Validity as incitem ent to discourse
60 63 64 70 76

Plateau 1005:

• Critical realist tale
• 82

83 84 86 88 89 94 98
Two tales spinning

The W ord— Deus ex machina

Standardizing the curriculum

From Homojaber to Homo cyberneticus

Techtonic shifting of the dominant discourses A new subject or ideology? Integrated w orld capitalism (IWC) and education

Plateau 1006:
107 107 108 114 119 123
Beyond the terrain o f technology discourses
Toward gender, culture and environm ent A feminist reading Culture / gender intersections Virtual silence on environment From the bordertalk to cybertalk

Plateau 1007:
125 126 133 136 138
A Cultural Tale
Culture and technology education Students' reflections on culture and technology W estern discourse as manifest manners Unlearning m anifest manners

Plateau 1008:
143 143 147 149 151 154 157 161 163 166 168
V irtually a tale
Cyborgology Cyber-witch teachers Cyborgs as narrative experiments W orld as screen habitacles First W orld N etscape Third W orld landscape Modest_W itness Tricksteria prefigures cyborgia No bio for trickster/C oyote From virtual talk to teacher talk

XI

Plateau 1009:

• DatapIay
• 170

Flateau 1010:

• Plus de plies
• 194

195 197 207 211 216
Re-situating the study Implicating technology discourses in the schooling of difference Toward multistoried pedagogy Troubling my research: Com ing out of the co- closet M utual learning communities

A ppendix A—Overview of study A ppendix B— G rounded Survey/Q uestionnaire References
221 223 225

xu

PLATEAU 1001 PREAMBLE
A Coyote Columbus Story

You know. Coyote came by my place the other day. She was going to a party. She had her party hat and she had her parly whistle and she had her party rattle.
I'm going to a party, she says. Yes, I says, I can see that. It is a party for Christopher Columbus, says Coyote. This is the one who found America. That is the one who found Indians.
Boy, that Coyote is one silly Coyote. You got to watch out for her.
Some of Coyote's stories are covered w ith scraggy Coyote fur but all Coyote's stories are bent.
C hristopher Columbus didn't find America, 1says. Christopher
Columbus didn't find Indians, either. You got a tail on that story.
Oh, no, says Coyote. 1read it in a book. M ust have been a Coyote book, 1says. No, no, no, no, says Coyote. It was a history book. Big red one. All about Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue looking for America and the Indians.
Sit dow n, 1says. Have some tea. W e're going to have to do this story right. We're going to have to do this story now.
It was all Old Coyote's fault, 1tell Coyote, and here is how the story goes. Here is w hat really happened.
So. O ld Coyote loved to play ball, you know. She played ball all day and aU night. She would throw the ball and she w ould hit the ball and she would ru n and catch the ball. But playing ball by herself was boring, so she sang a song and she danced a dance and she thought about playing ball and pretty soon along came some Indians. Old Coyote and the Indians became very good friends. You are sure a good friend, says those Indians. Yes, that's true, says Old Coyote.
But you know, whenever Old Coyote and the Indians played ball.
Old Coyote alw ays won. She always w on because she made up the rules. That sneaky one m ade up the rules and she always won because she could do that.
That's not fair, says the Indians. Friends don't do that. That's the rules, says Old Coyote. Let play some more. M aybe you will win the next time. But they don't.
You keep changing the rules, says those Indians. No, no, no, no, says Old Coyote. You are mistaken. A nd then she changes the rules again.
So, after a while, those Indians find better things to do. Some of them go fishing. Some of them go shopping. Some of them go to a movie. Some of them go on vacation. Those Indians got better things to do than play ball w ith Old
Coyote and those changing rules.
So, Old Coyote doesn't have anyone to play with. So, she has to play by herself. So, she gets bored. W hen O ld Coyote gets bored, anything can happen. Stick around.
Big trouble is coming, I can teU you that.
Well. That silly one sings a song and she dances a dance and she thinks about playing ball. But she's thinking about changing those rules, too, and she doesn't w atch what she is m aking up out of her head. So pretty soon, she makes three ships.
H m m m m , says O ld Coyote, where did those ships come from? And pretty soon, she makes some people on those ships. H m inm m , says Old Coyote, where did those people come from? And pretty soon, she makes some people on the beach w ith flags and funny-looking clothes and stuff.
Hooray, says O ld Coyote. You are just in time for the ball game. Hello, says one of the men in silly clothes and red hair all over his head. I am C hristopher Columbus. I am sailing the ocean blue looking for China. Have you seen it?
Forget China, says Old Coyote. Let's play ball. It m ust be around here somewhere, says Christopher Colum bus. I have a map.
Forget the m ap, says Old Coyote. I'll bat first and I'U tell you the rules as we play along.
But that C hristopher Columbus and his friends don't w ant to play ball. We got w ork to do, he says. We got to find China. We got to find things we can sell.
Yes, says those Columbus people, where is the gold? Yes, they says, where is that sük cloth?

2

Yes, they says, where are those portable color televisions? Yes, they says, where are those home computers? Boy, says Old Coyote, and that one scratches her head. I m ust have sung that song wrong. Maybe I didn't do the right dance. Maybe I thought too hard. These people I made have no manners. They act as if they have no relations.
And she is right. Christopher Colum bus and his friends start jum ping up and dow n in their funny clothes and they shout so loud that Coyote's ears alm ost fall off.
Boy, w hat a bunch of noise, says Coyote. W hat bad manners. You guys got to stop jum ping and shouting or m y ears will fall off.
We got to find China, says Christopher Columbus. We got to become rich. We got to become famous. Do you think you can help us?
But all Old Coyote can think about is playing ball. I'll let you bat first, says Old Coyote. No time for gam es, says Christopher Columbus. ril let you m ake the rules, cries Old Coyote.

But those Colum bus people don't listen. They are too busy running around, peeking under rocks, looking in caves, sailing all over the place. Looking for China. Looking for stuff they can sell.
I got a m onkey, says one. I got a parrot, says another. I got a fish, says a third. 1got a coconut, says a fourth. That stuff isn't w orth poop, says Christopher Columbus. We can't sell those things in Spain. Look harder.
But all they find is monkeys and parrots and fish and coconuts.
A nd when they tell Christopher Columbus, that one he squeezes his ears and he chews his nose and grinds his teeth. H e grinds his teeth so hard, he gets a headache, and, then, he gets cranky.
And, then he gets an idea. Say, says Christopher Columbus. M aybe we could sell Indians. Yes, says his friends, that's a good idea. We could sell Indians, and they throw away their monkeys and parrots and fish and coconuts.
Wait a m inute, says the Indians, that is not a good idea. That is a bad idea. That is a bad idea full of bad m anners.
When Old Coyote hears this bad idea, she starts to laugh. Who w ould buy Indians, she says, and she laughs some more. She laughs so hard, she has to hold her nose on her face w ith both hands.
But while that O ld Coyote is laughing, Christopher Columbus grabs a big bunch of Indian m en and Indian w om en and Indian children and locks them up in his ships.
When Old Coyote stops laughing and looks around, she see that som e of the Indians are missing. Hey, she says, where are those Indians? W here are my friends?

3

I'm going to sell them in Spain, says Christopher Columbus.
Somebody has to pay for this trip. Sailing over the ocean blue isn't cheap, you know.
But, Old Coyote still thinks that Christopher Colum bus is playing a trick. She thinks it is a joke. That is a good joke, she says, trying to make me think that you are going to sell my friends. A nd she starts to laugh again.
Grab some more Indians, says Christopher Colum bus. W hen Old Coyote sees Christopher Columbus grab some more
Indians, she laughs even harder. W hat a good joke, she says. And she laughs som e more. She does this four times and w hen she is done laughing, aU the Indians are gone. And Christopher Colum bus is gone and Christopher Columbus's friends are gone, too.
W ait a minute, says O ld Coyote. What happened to m y friends?
Where are my Indians? You got to bring them back. W ho's going to play ball w ith me?
But Christopher Columbus didn't bring the Indians back and Old
Coyote was real sorry she thought him up. She tried to take him back. B ut, you know, once you think things like that, you can't take them back. So you have to be careful w hat you think.
So, that's the end of the story. Boy, says Coyote. That is one sad story. Yes, I says. It's sad alright. And things don't get any better, I can tell you that.
W hat a very sad story, says Coyote. Poor Old Coyote didn't have anyone to play ball with. That one m ust have been lonely. A nd Coyote begins to cry.
Stop crying, I says. Old Coyote is fine. Some blue jays come along after that and they play ball w ith her.
Oh, good, says Coyote. But what happened to the Indians? There was nothing in that red history book about Christopher Columbus and the Indians.
C hristopher Columbus sold the Indians, I says, and that one became rich and famous.
Oh, good, says Coyote. I love a happy ending. A nd that one blows her party whistle and that one shakes her party rattle and that one puts her party hat back on her head. I better get going, she says. I'm going to be late for the party.
Okay, I says. Just rem em ber how that story goes. D on't go messing it up again. Have you got it straight, now?
You bet, says Coyote. But if Christopher Colum bus didn't find
America and he didn't find Indians, who found these things?
Those things were never lost, I says. Those things were always here. Those things are still here today.
By goUy, I think you are right, says Coyote.