{"id":5292,"date":"2025-01-13T16:54:01","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T14:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/?p=5292"},"modified":"2025-01-17T10:15:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T08:15:55","slug":"thoughts-on-dis-enclosure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/thoughts-on-dis-enclosure\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on <i>Dis-Enclosure<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong> &#8220;It is unclear now whether extending the postdigital framework to embrace and understand conditions, behaviour, and societies outside Western Europe and the white settler nations, might not be an inappropriate attempt to create a neo-colonialistic rather than global way of looking at necessarily diverse and different communities and cultures, each with their own way of understanding their worlds and the impact of the digital upon them.&#8221;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<cite>John Traxler<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;m trying something new (again) and am articulating a response to a paper (thanks Paul) that <a href=\"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6896-7347\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6896-7347\">Michalinos Zembylas<\/a> had published earlier on this year. Am also responding to a conclusion that John Traxler drew in  a piece seeking to reformulate the post digital in a more useful and inclusive manner (see quote above). I promised John some thoughts on Facebook, half way through last year (better late than never). Let&#8217;s see if anything coherent emerges from my \u201cirrational\u201d combination of two scholars thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ouc.ac.cy\/index.php\/en\/profiles\/michalinos-zembylas\" target=\"_blank\">Michalinos Zembylas <\/a>is Professor of Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies at the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ouc.ac.cy\/index.php\/en\/university\" target=\"_blank\">Open University of Cyprus<\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/researchers.wlv.ac.uk\/John.Traxler\">John Traxler<\/a> is Professor of Digital Learning in the Institute of Education at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlv.ac.uk\/\">University of Wolverhampton<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John suggests that the assumptions underpinning accounts of \u201cthe postdigital\u201d should be unpacked.  He wants us to look at postdigital notions outside the heartlands of Western Europe and the white settler nations.  Good point. I\u2019ve been trying to understand and explain what the post-digital means in the context of South Africa. I&#8217;m seeing something quite odd. Post-colonial higher education systems, in my part of the world, are having their &#8220;predigital pedagogic conservatism reinforced&#8221; with &#8220;digital neo-colonialism&#8221;. Huh? Digital has become our \u201ctransmogrifier\u201d, a device that transforms its user into any desired creature or item. Which is good for the individual who can be transmogrified. The rest?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John is spot on. Postdigital can generate yet another settler system of thought, and a common response to decolonize our knowledge systems is to be reflexive and recognize our position within the elites. This might be a misdiagnosis of the problem. Colonialism is not unique to Western Europe and hegemonic leaders always dominate with their discourse, no matter where they are located.<br>I think that Michalinos offers useful way forward with the following question\u2026.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<em><strong>Do proclamations of identity and positionality really challenge the epistemic legacies of Eurocentrism and push \u2018non-western\u2019 voices out of marginalisation.<\/strong><\/em>&#8221; <\/p>\n<cite>Michalinos Zembylas<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Does an excessive focus on \u201cpositionally\u201d means that we essentialize \u2018North\/South\u2019, \u2018white\/ non-white&#8217; and western\/non-western &#8216;elites\/ non-elites&#8217; binary thinking. Instead of making comparisons and placing ourselves in camps, perhaps we might be looking at our &#8220;socially constructed and multifaceted nature.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll give an example. The &#8220;performative declaration&#8221; of gratitude to First Nations that are often made by many colleagues and friends, leaves me feeling uncomfortable. Perhaps they\u2019re a &#8220;false consciousness&#8221;. It reminds me of my student days when friends attempted and experimented with being far more radical than was permitted in their elite high school or what their parents would permit being discussed at home. These attempts, by the elite (me included), to resolve the contradiction between their identity as an ally of the marginalized, simply re-enforce the fact that, at least educationally and culturally, and often economically, we are privileged.\u201d (Brookes, 2024) . These sincere intentions are entirely understandable, and we do need to make ongoing attempts to address injustice. However, the land on which these land statements are made, the quiet secluded studies where our online meetings happen and the excess of devices and options that we use to acknowledge the original ownership of the land. Makes the acknowledgement seem &#8220;insufficient&#8221;. Surely, if we are going to do land statements, then we should also have a property, a study and a device statement? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps our focus could be on Jean-Luc Nancy\u2019s philosophy of being-in-common and the deconstruction (dis-enclosure) of Christianity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <strong>What is disenclosure? &#8220;D\u00e9closion finds it origins in works by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rep.routledge.com\/articles\/biographical\/nancy-jean-luc-1940\/v-1\">Jean Luc Nancy<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concept &#8220;<strong>disenclosure<\/strong>&#8221; is defined by Michalinos as &#8220;the opening of an enclosure, a worldview that is dominated by essentialised understandings of \u2018western\/non-western\u2019 thinking or \u2018white\/non-white\u2019 identities&#8221;. Michalinos begins his paper with the provocative question: He asks: <strong>whether a proclamation of marginal or privileged positionality really make a difference in de-colonial projects<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I understand the intent &#8211; to &#8220;decenter&#8221; the settler perspectives. To recognize that colonialism has shaped every campus and the worlds that we take for granted. But the discontinuity between the statement, the event, the medium and the language that is used to express this statement is so vast, it feels like a token gesture. Identity and land statements (to me) sound like an attempt to tame decolonization and absolve ourselves from being a part of the problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A while ago I enjoyed a lovely thread on Mastodon with a few friends. The topic began with thoughts about the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconvivialsociety.substack.com\/p\/the-enclosure-of-the-human-psyche\">enclosure of the human psych<\/a>. We looked at readings to complement the discussion, and someone mentioned Hardin&#8217;s &#8220;The Tragedy of the Commons&#8221;. Jim argued very forcefully that this was a flawed paper. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelandmagazine.org.uk\/articles\/short-history-enclosure-britain\">Land Magazine<\/a> agrees with Jim. They do point out that Hardin has &#8220;provided a template for understanding the enclosure [and inclosure] of other common resources&#8221;. Whether atmosphere, the ocean or intellectual property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> The words &#8220;disclosure&#8221;, &#8220;enclosure&#8221; or &#8220;inclosure&#8221; have a common root &#8211; &#8220;closure&#8221;.  Simon Elmar <a href=\"https:\/\/architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk\/2017\/05\/04\/in-defence-of-our-land-historical-similarities-between-the-enclosure-of-common-land-from-the-thirteenth-to-nineteenth-centuries-and-the-privatisation-of-public-land-in-the-twenty-first\/\">points<\/a> out that \u2018enclosure\u2019 and \u2018inclosure\u2019 are two similar and connected words, but there is a fundamental difference between them. An <strong>enclosure <\/strong>is a physical boundary that surrounds a portion of land. <strong>To enclose<\/strong> denotes the act of placing a boundary around a piece of land. <strong>Inclosure <\/strong>is a legal term that refers to the conversion of common land into private land. Private property is <strong>inclosed <\/strong>and any rights to land are severed. <strong>Inclosure <\/strong>is a legal process that ended the traditional rights to common land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Enclosure <\/strong>is a physical boundary that limits access to a piece of land. <strong>Inclosure<\/strong> is the legal recognition of private property. In the UK, agricultural workers and tenant farmers were forced to find another way to survive, when their common land, on which they depended for their subsistence, was enclosed, using planted hedgerows. With parliamentary inclosure, under a  &#8220;property-owning democracy&#8221;, nearly half the UK is owned by 40,000 land millionaires, or 0.06 per cent of the population (https:\/\/www.thelandmagazine.org.uk\/articles\/short-history-enclosure-britain). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In England, the hedgerows (enclosures) and statutes (inclosures) combined to create a landless tenant who worked for the lord to pay rent. These enclosures improved food security and caused an &#8220;agricultural revolution&#8221;. The parliamentary inclosures resulted in the expulsion of tennents and the landless proletariat that moved to towns. This urban labour force contributed to the Industrial Revolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> I certainly can see similar patterns can be seen in South Africa. Colonists enabled Apartheid by enclosure and inclosure.  I can also see during my time at Wits, I witnessed enclosure, with the formation of a new association and inclosure, with contractual arrangements with OPMs         <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John, <strong>post-digital<\/strong> allows me to look beyond my apparatus. But decolonization does not permit me to notices our digital enclosures  (the gadgets, tools, devices and platforms) and knowledge inclosure (copyright and intellectual property) that are still here. Post-digital\u201d is a reminder that there to look up, away from the screen. To be situated. Much effort is being made to position and configure this \u201cdigital everything\u201d in particular ways. Binary thinking &#8220;Digital natives\/ Digital immigrants&#8221;. &#8220;Technophiles and Technophobes&#8221;. Logged in and logged out. So, apart from adjusting to the digital world, we also need to see the paradigms or world views that are being built and maintained by those who have privilege and power. On screen, on campus and in law.  Try to locate mindsets that have shaped the frame wherein I am pictured.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The post digital turn has brought me to a place where I can&#8217;t avoid seeing the links between empires, hegemony, extraction and higher education. Whether the robber barons who established universities centuries ago, to produce elites.  Or the Tin Temple(*), where I once worked, which was set up with mining money. New digital robber barons have simply replaced the colonial or industrial elite institutions, with enclosure of data on server farms They keep control of the data (inclosure) in data lakes where everything is IP protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A land statement in the context of webinar technology that is enabled by massive and powerful digital corporations and that we (me included) who are in the webinar are part and parcel those who benefited from enclosure and inclosure. Even when we challenge it. Does seem like an insignificant token or gesture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Does Post Digital change anything? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I read John Traxler and his critique of postdigital in Africa. I think he makes two excellent points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1) &#8220;Post-digital&#8221; is a concept that comes from the metropolitan and industrial settings of the connected Global North, out of Western Europe and the white settler nations. He calls our attention to the strength and influence of Anglophone global. The digital corporations that are located in these countries and how private capital is taking advantage of the erosion or weakness of the nation-state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2) The academic systems (publishing, rankings, etc) that are taken for normal in the post-digital heartland seem to be set up to intentionally misunderstand Africa. So whether it be &#8220;international publishers, national education systems or platform capitalism, or the roaming the global knowledge economy and the information superhighway&#8221;. The academic systems perpetuate dependency on foreign technology and expertise. This entrenches global technological and economic disparities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the framework (perhaps ontology) that I think John is referring to. And it does not matter whether you are digital or post-digital. The ontological framework has not changed. So what are we to do? Well this is where I have been enjoying Michalinos Zembylas&#8217;s paper &#8220;Decolonisation as Dis-Enclosure: overcoming the dangers of positionality and identity in comparative education&#8221;. I think that Michalinos points to a very different way for framing coloniality. He ask us to see Achille Mbembe and the alternative ontology of decolonisation that he offers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Result<\/strong>: So, I have chosen to listen politely to these habitual expressions of virtue, rather that exploring my reaction (let alone blog about it in public), Neither do I want to challenge the &#8220;virtue ethics&#8221; that lies behind these proclamations. I too am complicit with coloniality. I also confess my privledge (to make me feel better). The medium by which which I proclaim my education rests on coloniality. &#8220;Exploitation&#8221; is either designed into the screen. Or it is a feature of campus. Its especially notable online.      <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I choose to cling onto digital, as it has (temporarily) privileged me with shaping power. While a land acknowledgment might make one feel better about owning ones coloniality. The ideologies, values and prejudices, than under lie these beliefs. Are not countered or subverted. Perhaps colonial ideologies, values and prejudices are amplified by digital?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Learning<\/strong>: Michalinos&#8217; paper, then is an opportunity then to make visible my &#8220;wince&#8221; or discomforted reaction to these &#8220;land statements&#8221;. No judgement. Perhaps to explore the tensions and contradictions that exist when the digital everything makes power even more asymetical?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Michalinos paper, his suggestion is that we look at &#8220;being in common&#8221;. That we avoid simple binaries, and take a non identitarian perspective. Foreground a shared responsibility for a reparative future.  A topic for another blog post?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Device Statement<\/strong>: My response is being composed interchangeably on an iPad and laptop. I am blogging on WordPress which I host on a shared server, located here in South Africa. I make use of my home WiFi, which keeps us all connected to information. I am writing this this post from my study in Johannesburg. The house was built in 1904, and was probably funded by mine capital.  I don&#8217;t know much about the original inhabitants of this land. I try to be a good steward of all my resources.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brooks, D. (2024) The Sins of the Educated Class. NY Times  https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/06\/opinion\/elites-progressives-universities.html<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elmar, S. (2017) In Defence of Our Land: Historical Similarities Between the Enclosure of Common Land from the Thirteenth to Nineteenth Centuries and the Privatisation of Public Land in the Twenty-First; or, Why the Class War Never Changes, Only its Historical Form.  Available <a href=\"https:\/\/architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk\/2017\/05\/04\/in-defence-of-our-land-historical-similarities-between-the-enclosure-of-common-land-from-the-thirteenth-to-nineteenth-centuries-and-the-privatisation-of-public-land-in-the-twenty-first\/\">https:\/\/architectsforsocialhousing.co.uk\/2017\/05\/04\/in-defence-of-our-land-historical-similarities-between-the-enclosure-of-common-land-from-the-thirteenth-to-nineteenth-centuries-and-the-privatisation-of-public-land-in-the-twenty-first\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hardin, G. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. <em>Science<\/em>, <em>162<\/em>(3859), 1243\u20131248. http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/1724745<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Traxler, J. (2024). The Postdigital Learning Spaces of Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Lamb, J., Carvalho, L. (eds) Postdigital Learning Spaces. Postdigital Science and Education . Springer, Cham. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-031-59691-9_2\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-031-59691-9_2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zembylas, M (2024). Decolonisation as Dis-Enclosure: overcoming the dangers of positionality and identity in comparative education.  10.1080\/03050068.2024.2326751<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*Oops. Corrected  <strong>Tin Temple &#8211; <\/strong>is the affectionate name given to the<strong> <\/strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Transvaal_University_College\">Transvaal University College<\/a>\u201d, which was split into the Transvaal University College (in Johannesburg which then became Wits University). While TUKS (Transvaalse Universiteits-Kollege) or Tukkies, is the affectionate name  given to Pretoria University.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;It is unclear now whether extending the postdigital framework to embrace and understand conditions, behaviour, and societies outside Western Europe and the white settler nations, might not be an inappropriate attempt to create a neo-colonialistic rather than global way of looking at necessarily diverse and different communities and cultures, each with their own way of &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/thoughts-on-dis-enclosure\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Thoughts on <i>Dis-Enclosure<\/i>&#8220;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[190,188,189],"class_list":["post-5292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discover","tag-commons","tag-enclosure","tag-inclosure","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5292"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5577,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5292\/revisions\/5577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblearning.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}