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California State University, Dominguez Hills
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Created: October 7, 2003
Latest Update: October 7, 2003
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Answerability and the "Wrong Doer"

On Thursday, September 25, 2003, Dwayne Sanders wrote:

Hello Jeanne,
How are you doing? I really enjoyed class Wednesday night. I thought we covered alot, especically about the "recall." It's good to see you back in action.

Yes, I enjoyed our ability to talk about a very, very tense issue, and still respect and hear one another. Would that we had lots more practice at that. jeannne

But I am really writing to you about an article that caught my attention. It was from prison terms (June 17, 2003).

You gave me enough information to go find it, so I could link to it and others can read it. But it would have helped a lot to have the file name, which is usually the backup file: in this case: Backup.

The actual file is available on the NY Times: Monday, June 23, 2003. Prison Terms: When Forever Is Far Too Long by Daniel Bergner. New York Times. Tuesday, June 17,2003. At p. A 21. OpEd Section. Backup jeanne

It was about a man who spent almost his entire life in prison. He was there because of a murder he commited when he was younger. Forty-two years later he was considered to be the "person of the week" in the New York Times. But ABC News calls him "the most rehabilited prisoner in America." This title was given to him because all of his many accomplishments he made throughout forty-two years in prison. He was a co-editor of popular magazine, writer, and speaker to name a few. This article caught my attention because I have a family member that is in prison, that I have become very close to over the years by writing and and I have seen huge changes in him. Also there is a sixth grader at my school that was interested in Criminology. The dialogues that I have had with these two people have been amazing. The two people and myself are able to communicate with each other despite some of the major differences we have. I have found out listening is one of the best skills to have in life. Sorry this is too long. I have a lot to say, and sometimes it comes out on paper.

Dwayne (the Bigggggg Guy)

This isn't too long, Dwayne. It's only too long when you throw in everything you can find to impress me. I'm not easily impressed, and that usually translates to bull s&*^. jeanne

On Tuesday, October 7, 2003, jeanne responded:

Good commentary, Dwayne. I'm glad that you took advantage of the archives to go back through many issues of Dear Habermas to find something that was of real interest to you. That's why we have the Journal. You just recently wrote that you were beginning to get the concept of answerability, so I can see why you didn't refer to that conceptual link in this earlier commentary. Suppose you consider the ramifications of Bakhtin's answerability in the contexts you describe here:

Discussion Questions

1. Were you open in this commentary to the recognition that the Other could answer? Did you begin to consider that as you engaged in the interpersonal relationships you describe?

   Sounds to me like you were open at the start to even care what these two Others had to say, but that you began to see the possibilities of answerability's aesthetic process as you continued to listen to them.

2. Did these Others answer?

   You bet they did. And all of you were changed, saw the world differently as a result of those answers to your utterances and their corresponding answers. Those changes in each of you are the aesthetic products of the process of answerability.

3. You speak of the change over time in your incarcerated relative. Does that suggest to you something about latent learning, with no effective measure of that learning in the institution, and the frustration that the nonrecognition of learning creates?

   Recall Bloom and Krathwohl and the affect of learning, and Hall's The Silent Language. Remind me to add links. No time right now.

4. Does your experience in these interrelationships suggest the extent of monologic non-answerability associated with wrong-doing in our society? Does that help you realize the danger of the power of monologic non-answerability when the errant Other is permitted no good faith consideration of his/her answer?

   Consider that 50 million Frenchmen HAVE been wrong. Consider the impossibility of knowingness. Consider the dangers of refusing a good faith hearing. Consider how that is a danger in restorative justice when the errant Other is confronted by the wronged community.

5. Could you construct a measure for the learning you have observed over time? Do you think the prison system might be more effective if it took such learning into account?

   Link this idea conceptually to restorative justice.

6. How could you put this material together to bring a better understanding of prisons, incarceration, blaming, and answerability to a local community?

   Consider the need for visual communication. Consider the need to drop the big, scholastic words and speak plain English. Consider the comic book, as George Wilkins, CSUDH, has suggested.

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Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, October 2003.
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