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JoAnn McAllister

We need a break from trying to understand the news!

By JoAnn McAllister / June 11, 2019 /

Dear friends of the Human Science Institute we have learned a lot about communicating with you through this new (to us) format of the blog. We are going to take some time – a break from the news, yes – but also some time to learn more about how to support you and others who…

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A Framework for Understanding: How Do We Know What We Know? The Source of Difference

By JoAnn McAllister / May 28, 2019 /

There are three concepts in the framework I have been using to pose questions about the events, policies, and positions reported in the news. In summing up the several essays prompted by the Mueller Report, I described the concepts as questions about knowledge, that is, what we believe; the role of people’s ordinary experience in…

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A Framework for Understanding: Critical Questions for Effective Action

By JoAnn McAllister / May 21, 2019 /

The questions that I have been asking the last several weeks can be important tools when integrated into a framework to facilitate effective social change. Whether you are an engaged scholar, a practitioner, a nonprofit leader, staff or volunteer at a community organization, or you are an advocate or movement activist responding to a specific…

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Use ‘think about the news’ questions to confront societal myths and political paradigms

By JoAnn McAllister / May 14, 2019 /

The questions asked about the Mueller Report over the last seven weeks represent a framework to learn, analyze, and act on social and political issues from a grounded perspective. So often our passion to respond to some immediate injustice takes us off on a journey for which we do not have a map. One of…

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Use ‘to think about the news’ questions in everyday political conversations

By JoAnn McAllister / May 7, 2019 /

There are now multiple conversations at cross-purposes on the fall out from the Special Counsel’s report and it has been an excellent example of how to analyze and reflect on what is presented as the news. It is time to move on, however, and wrap up the process of asking questions that I have walked…

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