UT
NIVERSITY IMES
May 26, 2015
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C A L I F O R N I A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y, L O S A N G E L E S
Issue 209.9
Creating Real Change in the Classroom: A Different Kind of Education What happens with anthropology and criminal science come together? An awesome, innovative idea called the listening session. Hannah Jacobsen Intern
On May 11th, an Anthropology and Criminal Science class collaborated in a project that has been developing since 2013: the listening session. Led by anthropology professor Dr. Swan Ngin, the listening session is a new anthropological method developed and practiced by Cal State L.A. Anthropology students. “We’ve only seen one other project that practices listening sessions, so this is a very new concept,” says Dr. Ngin, “There is a facilitator who spells out the ground rules about listening, inclusiveness, and respect. Then, they have a list of questions which guide the discussion of the participating group.” Fostered in a 2013 collaborative session and report with the Orange County Human Relations Commission, the listening session has since developed into amazing opportunities for anthropology students at Cal State L.A. The most recent developments include Dr. Ngin’s winter course ANTH 580, a graduate class that established the listening session as an official methodology, along with this quarter’s ANTH 432. ANTH 432 continues to expand the listening session with a software program called NVivo and a collaboration report. This report will focus on past law enforcement experiences in members of the CRIM 454 Multiculturalism and Law Enforcement class.
“It’s invigorating to see students alive, organizing themselves and planning their own class,” says Dr. Ngin, “They are making a real contribution. When we give students work that is meaningful, work that has high impact, they are able to take learn deeply rather than just showing up for a lecture.” ANTH 580 developed the listening session method through leading a session with students from Dr. Jane Gauthier’s class on hate crimes. This class required students to develop a knowledge of the method’s developmental history, put it into practice, and then use NVivo to analyze the resulting data. “I was in ANTH 580 last quarter, where we worked with Dr. Ngin to develop a report on how a listening session is used as a method,” says Amber Eversole, an Anthropology major, “It feels like such an accomplishment to be in this quarter’s class, watching other students learn from what I worked on.” Students from winter quarter’s ANTH 580 class are currently writing a paper on the listening session as a new method to publish in The California Anthropologist. Additional work is being done by former class members to establish a club which will train other Cal State L.A. students in using NVivo and other dataanalyzing softwares. “With this software, you can
Photos courtesy Picture given by Trinidad Castaneda, photographer unknown
process massive amounts of online text,” says Trinidad Castaneda, an Anthropology major working to form the club, “By teaching students to used qualitative and quantitative analytical software, we’ll be empowering ourselves with marketable skills for the future.” The listening session on May 11th continued to incorporate participants from the Criminal Science department, where many students are working to join law enforcement. “Doing the listening session, I saw it as a way to understand our current problems,” says Roberta Iberra, an Anthropology major, “You get to hear everyone out in a
calm and respectful conversation and that doesn’t often happen in other forms of discussion such as rioting or marching.” Students in ANTH 432 felt that the listening session was a place without judgement, where members could talk freely. It was noted that many participants both recognized potential harassment in the field or had been harassed themselves. Some planning on joining departments said that they would be a different kind of cop than these instances of police brutality or harassment. “We could use this method as a kind of restorative justice session
with young people and young police officers in the future,” says Dr. Ngin, “It is so easy to paint the police world as brutal, so easy to blame young people for not obeying the law. How do we find common ground? This listening session provides a space for respect and conversation in the midst of many complicated issues of our time.” With the listening session complete, students in ANTH 432: Wealth and Power will spend the rest of the quarter applying class theory and software to analyze data and compile a report that will further contribute to this new and exciting method.
INSIDE: LA ONDA: 62 MUERTOS POR AVALANCHA EN COLOMBIA
TAKING A STAND AGAINST OPPRESSION
STUDENT SHORT FILM SCREENS AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
FILMS WITH ULTIMATE CHIC-NESS
LA FINESSE RESULTED IN MIXED REVIEWS
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