Download - THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE Filipino Social Scientists
and the Limits of Critique
CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOCDEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY
ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY
INTRODUCTION
“Life is difficult.”
“Life is a series of problems.
Do we want to moan about them or solve them?” - M. Scott Peck
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
• A social science approach focused on solving a problem • Knowledge mobilization in which the social scientist
contributes toward making institutions and systems fulfill their functions
• Offers not only analysis or critique but practical results
INTRODUCTION
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
WHAT DOES SOLVING A PROBLEM ENTAIL?
• Open up the social sciences to other disciplines (Interdisciplinarity)
• Contextualization of universalisms (Plurality of Particularism)
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
Knowledge for whom? Knowledge for what?
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
FOUR TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
Professional knowledge: Resolving anomalies and contradictions in programs
Policy knowledge: Addressing problems defined by clients
Critical knowledge: Opening up assumptions of research programs for
discussion and debate within the community of scholars
Public knowledge: Dialogue between the scholar and the non-academic public
around societal goals and means for achieving those goals
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
FOUR TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
Professional knowledge: Resolving anomalies and contradictions in programs
Policy knowledge: Addressing problems defined by clients
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
INSTRUMENTAL: AIMS AT MAKING THINGS WORK
Critical knowledge: Opening up assumptions of research programs for discussion and debate within the community of scholars
Public knowledge: Dialogue between the scholar and the non-academic public around societal goals and means for achieving those goals
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
REFLEXIVE: EXAMINES VALUE RELEVANCE
THE FILIPINO SCIENTIST
A Filipino social scientist who reclaims one’s local rootedness vis-a-vis one’s professional training as a critical distant observer
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
• Follow the protocols of modern science • Objectivity precludes particularism
• Difficult for the social sciences to be value-neutral or context-free, as both subject and object of study are embedded in relationships
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
EXPECTATIONS OF EXTERIORITY
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE AND THE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTIST
• Erases distinctions between “outsider” and “insider”
• Urges social scientists to be critical of but yet part of the system as one tries to solve a problem
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
• Consultancies with controversial international development institutions such as the World Bank
• Problematic amidst expectations for the academic to be critical of the World Bank’s role in promoting neoliberal and structural adjustment policies that exacted a heavy cost on human well-being
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE AND THE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTIST
Development interventions need contextualization of universalisms/uncovering localized manifestations of universalized and globalized processes
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE AND THE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTIST
In contexts where institutions and systems are well-established or in purely theoretical settings, social scientists can be infinitely critical.
In spaces where many institutions are in varying forms of maturity, the goal should be to not only offer a critique but to also solve a problem.
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
Who defines the problem and how can it be solved?
How does power operate at the very instance of defining a problem?
T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E
THE PROBLEM SOLVING MODE AS A PROBLEMATIC POSITION
An Areté Production
in partnership with
The Department of Communication, Loyola Schools and the Eugenio Lopez Jr
Center for Multimedia Communication
Executive Producers
AretéExecutive Producer
Ma Mercedes T Rodrigo, PhD Ricardo G Abad, PhD D Cortezano
CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE
Producer
Line Producer
Lecture Director
Technical Director
Director of Photography & Production Designer
Maitel Ladrido, PhD
Aaron R Vicencio
Dennis Temporal
Glen Charles Lopez
D Cortezano
CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE
Talent Coordinator
Make-up
Areté Office
Ivy Baggao
D Cortezano Adriane Ungriano Vanessa Reventar RJ Adarlo
CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE
Technical & Camera Crew
Graphic Assets Team
Teleprompter
Jeffrey Lorenzo Alejandro Adolfo
Smile M Indias Glen Charles Lopez Aaron R Vicencio
John Robert Yam
Editor Christian Valderama
CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE
Areté Theater Crew Adriane Ungriano Jethro Nibaten John Robert Yam Justine Ray Santos Nilo Beriarmente Rey Sotto RJ Adarlo Kevin Duane Ligot
CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE
Department of Communication & Eugenio Lopez Jr,
Center for Multimedia Communication
Alejandro Adolfo Karlo Montenegro Jeffrey Lorenzo Christian Valderama
CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE
Special thanks to L'Oréal Philippines
CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE