Cultural Dialectics – serie

Online discourse has created a new media environment forcontributions to public life, one that challenges the socialsignificance of the role of public intellectuals—intellectualswho, whether by choice or by circumstance, offer commentary on issuesof the day. The value of such commentary is rooted in the assumptionthat, by virtue of their training and experience, intellectuals possessknowledge—that they understand what constitutes knowledge withrespect to a particular topic, are able to distinguish it from mereopinion, and are in a position to define its relevance in differentcontexts. When intellectuals comment on matters of public concern, theyare accordingly presumed to speak truth, whether they are writing booksor op-ed columns or appearing as guests on radio and television newsprograms. At the same time, with increasing frequency, discourse onpublic life is taking place online—l an environment that ischaracterized by an abundance of speakers, discussion, and access. Buthas this democratization of knowledge, as some describe it brought withit a corresponding increase in truth?Casting doubt on the assertion that online discourse, with itsproliferation of voices, will somehow yield collective wisdom, SpeakingPower to Truth raises concerns that this wealth of digitally enabledcommentary is, in fact, too often bereft of the hallmarks ofintellectual discourse: an epistemological framework and the provisionof evidence to substantiate claims. Instead, the pursuit of truth findsitself in competition with the quest for public reputation, access toinfluence, and enhanced visibility. In exploring the implications ofthe digital transition, the contributors to Speaking Power to Truthprovide both empirical evidence of, and philosophical reflection on,the current and future role of the public intellectual in atechnologically mediated public sphere.

The totalizing scope of the combined effects of computerization and the worldwide network are the subject of the essays in The Digital Nexus, a volume that responds to McLuhan's request for a "special study" of the tsunami-like transformation of the communication landscape. These critical excursions provide analysis of and insight into the way new media technologies change the workings of social engagement for personal expression, social interaction, and political engagement. The contributors investigate the terms and conditions under which our digital society is unfolding and provide compelling arguments for the need to develop an accurate grasp of the architecture of the Web and the challenges that ubiquitous connectivity undoubtedly delivers to both public and private life.

In this candid and concise volume, Kyle Conway, author of The Art of Communication in a Polarized World, considers how we can open ourselves to others and to ideas that scare us by reading difficult texts. Conway argues that because we resist ideas we don't understand, we must embrace confusion as a constitutive part of understanding and meaningful exchange, whether between a reader and a text or between two people.Building on the work of hermeneutics scholar Paul Ricoeur, Conway evaluates the recurring paradox of miscommunication that results in deeper understanding and proposes strategies for reading that will allow individuals give up the illusion of certainty. In elegant and compelling prose, Conway introduces readers to the idea that it is through uncertainty that we can gain access to new and meaningful worlds—those of texts and other people.

In Northern Love, Paul Nonnekes pursues debates in psychoanalysis and cultural theory in pursuit of a distinctive conception of a Canadian masculinity.In close discussions of novels by Rudy Wiebe (A Discovery of Strangers) and Robert Kroetsch (The Man from the Creeks), Nonnekes ranges from Hegel to Lacan, and Butler and Kristeva to Zizek, eliciting an evolving conception of love characteristic of the Canadian cultural imaginary.Northern Love is the first book in the Cultural Dialectics series, edited by Raphael Foshay of Athabasca University.

The modern university can trace its roots to Kant's call forenlightened self-determination, with education aiming to produce aninformed and responsible body of citizens. As the university evolved,specialized areas of investigation emerged, enabling ever more preciseresearch and increasingly nuanced arguments. In recent decades,however, challenges to hegemony of disciplines have arisen, partly inresponse to a perceived need for the university to focus greater energyon its public vocation—on teaching and the dissemination ofknowledge.Valences of Interdisciplinarity presents essays by aninternational array of scholars committed to enhancing ourunderstanding of the theoretical underpinnings and the practicalrealities of interdisciplinary teaching and research. What is, and whatshould be, motivating our reflections on, and our practice of,approaches that transcend the conventional boundaries of discipline?And in adopting such transdisciplinary approaches, how do we safeguardcritical methods and academic rigour? Reflecting on the obstacles theyhave encountered both as thinkers and as educators, the authors map outinnovative new directions for the interdisciplinary project. Together,the essays promise to set the standards of the debate aboutinterdisciplinarity for years to come.