{"id":246,"date":"2019-09-19T11:33:13","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T10:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/?p=246"},"modified":"2019-09-19T11:33:15","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T10:33:15","slug":"challenging-unsettling-and-obscure-exploring-unknown-intellectual-lands-with-a-reading-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/challenging-unsettling-and-obscure-exploring-unknown-intellectual-lands-with-a-reading-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging, unsettling and obscure! Exploring unknown intellectual lands with a reading group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Hooman Foroughmand Araabi<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academics often have very focused thinking, leading to a\nnarrow range of reading. We often either read personal texts (the novel we\nmight read before sleeping) or professional texts in our own field (the\nliterature we come across in relation to research or teaching). Something is\nbeing missed here, as reading can make new ways of thinking, but this rarely\nhappens if our reading choices come from what we already know.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During my PhD, I ran a reading group for 4 years. The group\nwas a particular space to read and think together about texts which we would\nnot have read individually.  I gained\nperspectives on those texts, from our group discussions within the carefully\ncurated spaces where we met, which I could not have achieved alone. Thinking is\na social phenomenon, as its subjects and methods are both socially constructed.\nBack in ancient Greece, philosophies emerged from dialogues and discussion which\nin turn led to philosophical texts. This method of dialogue and discussion was\nthen used over many centuries to help us understand the ensuing philosophical\ntexts. So, why now, are discussion groups such a rare species within our\ncontemporary academic jungles? Are we now trapping ourselves in intellectual enclaves\nwoven from the devastated reading list leftover from our systematic literature\nreviews? Or are we just choosing to read texts which do not inspire or require\ngroup discussion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2018s understandable that, as academics, we could easily be\noverloaded with papers and books, some of which may be less useful than others.\nIt has also been claimed that, in this time of social media, people read less\nand have fewer critical discussions. So, why then, when we can easily be\noverloaded and, at the same time, anyone can easily find relevant texts, would we\nexplore unknown intellectual lands with a reading group? Well, perhaps because\nit can provide us with unpredicted inspiration and maybe a joy beyond any\nestablished need!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not exploring unknown intellectual domains whilst engaged in\nacademia would surely be a missed opportunity. In a search for continued explorations\nof such domains, I started a reading group at UWE a year ago. The reading group\nhas been, and will be, open to everyone with the intention of finding texts\nthat challenge us, unrest us and hopefully open new ways of thinking. Meeting in\nthe heart of Bristol, at Arnolfini art gallery, also offers us the opportunity\nto include film and theatre along with the texts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ABE reading group meets in the heart of Bristol<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The reading group is a way to enjoy group thinking in an\nunmeasurable way (unlike REF, TEF or KEF). Yet, it has inspired my teaching and\nresearch. To be honest, this is not a surprise! \nWhen interviewing successful urban design academic and practitioners for\na research study, I found that one of the key contributors to their success was\nchance or accidental encounters with people, texts or job opportunities. The\nrole of chance in discovering the unknown and progressing human knowledge has\nbeen acknowledged within philosophy of science, particularly by Paul Feyerabend.\nAs known processes often result in known outcomes, attempts to explore the\nunknown are vital if we are to expand our knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reading group will carry on in the coming academic year,\nand hopefully beyond, to pursue the mission. Hopefully more challenging,\nunsettling and obscure texts will be explored with willing fellow explorers!\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Hooman Foroughmand Araabi Academics often have very focused thinking, leading to a narrow range of reading. We often either read personal texts (the novel we might read before sleeping) or professional texts in our own field (the literature we come across in relation to research or teaching). Something is being missed here, as reading … Continue reading “Challenging, unsettling and obscure! Exploring unknown intellectual lands with a reading group”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,22,1],"tags":[20,21,19,18],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cities","category-philosophy","category-uncategorised","tag-discussion","tag-frontiers-of-knowledge","tag-reading","tag-thinking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/sustainable-planning-and-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}