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Editor’s Note:

Sociology of Self-Knowledge: Course Topic as well as Pedagogical Strategy

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––This is the fifth issue of

Human Architec-ture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge

since its inception in Spring 2002, and thesecond issue published at UMass Boston.Aside from many fine papers by students atUMass Boston enrolled in my courses andthose of Anna Beckwith, an adjunct lecturerof Sociology at UMB, and an insightful arti-cle on the topic of alienation by Jorge Ca-petillo-Ponce, Assistant Professor ofSociology at UMB, it is a great pleasure tohave as guests in this issue a first sympo-sium of exemplary essays from MacalesterCollege, St. Paul, Minnesota, made possiblethrough the initiative of Khaldoun Samman,Assistant Professor of Sociology at Macal-ester College—a close friend and colleague.

Khaldoun Samman took the step recent-ly of turning his senior seminar into a courseon the sociology of self-knowledge—in factentitling it as such—and encouraging hisstudents, all graduating seniors at Macalest-er, to subject their own lives and “troubles”to their sociological imaginations. I am sohappy to see that a course on the sociologyof self-knowledge, with that title actually,was held so well and productively at anoth-er fine institution of higher learning at theU.S. Reading the serious and engaging pa-pers by Samman’s students along with hisown autobiographical account inspired byhis recent academic trip to Istanbul, Turkey,

provides the reader with a sophisticated ex-posure to the complexities and challengesfacing undergraduate students attendinganother college, as well as the personal strat-egies adopted by them to turn both their fa-milial and academic homes into warmer andsupportive liberating landscapes. KhaldounSamman has provided an eloquent intro-duction to his students’ papers in this issue,so I won’t take too much space here to pro-vide an additional introduction to the voicesof their symposium.

The papers by UMB students includedin this issue are also highly representative ofhow self and socially critical and liberatingthe sociology of self-knowledge can be.They use a variety of class and outside read-ings, as well as films and documentaries, toexplore in-depth a currently unresolved is-sue in their lives, while making every effortto move in-depth to relate their personaltroubles to broader public issues. Again thevery titles and abstracts of student papersgive the reader a glimpse into the explora-tions students carried out throughout onesemester. So, I invite readers to glancethrough the table of contents and their ab-stracts (located at the end of the volume),and not hesitate to proceed to read these pa-pers—as they are quite engaging andthoughtful, providing us with ample oppor-tunities to reflect on our own lives in a si-multaneously reflective and globalframework.

An interesting aspect of the collection inthis issue is that students from a variety ofcourses engage with the sociology of self-knowledge. Five papers are authored bystudents in courses on “Elements of Socio-logical Theory,” and “Socialization” taughtby Anna Beckwith, and eight by studentsenrolled in my courses on “Elements of So-ciological Theory” and “The Self in Society:Studies of Autobiographies” across both se-mesters during the Fall 2004 and Spring2005 semesters. In the previous issue, a pa-per from a course on “Race and Ethnic Rela-tions” taught by Anna Beckwith wasincluded, and several papers by students in

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Vol. III, Nos. 1&2, Fall 2004/Spring 2005. ISSN: 1540-5699. © Copyright by Ahead Publishing House (imprint: Okcir Press). All Rights Reserved.

HUMAN ARCHITECTURE

Journal of the Sociology of Self-

A Publication of the Omar Khayyam Center for Integrative Research in Utopia, Mysticism, and Science (Utopystics)

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Professor Jorge Capetillo’s theory class weredone on the topic of drugs and society. Ihave previously published student papersfrom my courses (at both SUNY-Bingham-ton and SUNY-Oneonta) on “Introduction toSociology,” “Social Policy and the LifeCourse,” “Ideas and Ideologies,” “SymbolicInteraction,” “Society and the Individual”“Social Change: Sociological Frameworks,”“Issues in Human Development: Dialecticsof Knowledge and Society,” and “Sociologyof Global Self-Knowledge” (Spring 2000). Infact the earliest I taught a course on the soci-ology of self-knowledge was in Spring 1997(“Sociology of Knowledge: Mysticism, Sci-ence, and Utopia”) which resulted in a col-lection of student writings self-published bystudents and myself under the title

“I” in theWorld-System: Stories From an Odd SociologyClass

. Students came up with a name fortheir “fake” publishing company: “Crum-bling Façades Press.”

The reason I am mentioning the abovecourse titles is to note the ways in which thesociology of self-knowledge can be adoptedas a pedagogical strategy in a variety ofcourse offerings, whether or not the courseis titled as such. It will be simply wonderfulto have courses offered under the title of thesociology of self-knowledge, but the pointhere is also to note that, as in the case ofMills’s sociological imagination, sociologyof self-knowledge can be treated as much asa course topic of its own as also a pedagogi-cal and research strategy to teach and ex-plore a variety of topics. This otherapproach is quite liberating as far as the ex-isting curricular structures in our collegesand universities are concerned, for onecould pursue the substantive concerns of thesociology of self-knowledge in the context ofa variety of course offerings in and outsidethe traditional sociology curriculum. Afterall, we owe to C. Wright Mills the legitimacyoffered to such a pedagogical strategy in ourefforts to teach relevant and committed soci-ology in applied settings. To note how thesociology of self-knowledge overlaps andbuilds upon Mills’s sociological imagina-

tion, I have included in this issue, a workingoutline of the sociology of self-knowledgefor further discussion.

The Macalester College Symposium inthis issue is a wonderful example for futuresymposia to follow, encouraging facultyand students across colleges and universi-ties to pursue the pedagogical strategy ofthe sociology of self-knowledge in theircourses and publish their work in

HumanArchitecture

. Whether labeled as such, liber-ating autobiographical research can onlyenrich the liberal arts experience of bothstudents and faculty at our colleges anduniversities.

Recently, Ingrid Heller, a student ofmine from back in Binghamton, NY, sent mean unexpected e-mail, which once againpointed to the value of the sociology of self-knowledge and human architecture inspir-ing and framing this journal. Ingrid, in fact,was the student who came up with the ideaof the publisher name (“Crumbling FaçadesPress”). It was simply a joy to hear from herand her deepening interests. In her e-mailshe wrote:

Dear Mr. Tamdgidi,

Hi. I took your course at Binghamton Uni-versity back in 1997. I will never forgethow amazing a time I had. We each were towrite an essay on a topic of our choosing,and you published a book of selected es-says. Mine was titled, “Motivation, Self,and Society: An Exploration.” You in-cluded my essay in the book.

I am sure you have had many studentssince, and do not expect you to rememberme, but I will always remember you ... Un-fortunately, I have lost that book in one ofmy many moves out here in San Fran-cisco—my new home as of 1998.

I am currently writing a book titled “Project Integrity: One Message; InfiniteMediums,” along with a screenplay, “TheLittle Red Poem” .... I would much appre-ciate it if you could send me a copy of thatbook, if you still have it. If I remember cor-

ix

rectly, you used your own publishing com-pany to produce the book. ... I would loveto share some of my theories with you. Ihave illustrated each one using computergraphics. I have attached two such graph-ics to this text.

I hope all is well in your life. Look forwardto hearing from you! You have triggeredthe spark of genius in many students.

(In-grid K. Heller, Feb. 14, 2005)

I can’t think of anything more rewardingthan Ingrid’s comments and that she is backin touch. I know this also because I havedone the same to one of my beloved teachersfrom my days back at U.C. Berkeley, where Imajored in Architecture. In fact the very titleand spirit of human architecture designingand inspiring this journal dates from my un-dergraduate days in Professor Jesse Re-ichek’s classes, where I began to questionwhere I was coming from and where I washeading to. From August 2005 to December2006, for about a year and a half, Jesse’s

amazing paintings will be exhibited in Peta-luma, CA (www.reichekretrospective.org).What a wonderful occasion! I had dedicatedthe first issue of

Human Architecture

to him.Here is another presentation of art works,done on the fabrics of their real lives bymany student architects of various genera-tions—another dedication to Jesse, to IngridHeller, and to all the students who, throughtheir courageously self-examined lives, havehelped make the sociology of self-knowl-edge a reality.

I’d like to take this moment to warmlywelcome the joining of new members to theEditorial Advisory Board of

Human Archite-cure.

Behrooz TamdgidiUMass Boston

July 2005

PS - Below is the cover “painting” of the bookwe self-published in class back in 1997. Ingrid issecond from the right.

"I" in theWorld-System

Stories From An Odd

Sociology Class

Selected Student Writings

Soc 280Z-Sociology of Knowledge: Mysticism, Science, and Utopia

Binghamton University, Spring 1997

Edited by Mohammad H. Tamdgidi