Papers by Tuck Leong Lee
This study compares an emerging secular-oriented dialogue practice with the more traditional reli... more This study compares an emerging secular-oriented dialogue practice with the more traditional religious oriented practice. Also, it looks at how practitioners perform within such dialogues —deploying various topic management strategies, working with relational, affective and cultural resources. A social constructionist approach is used to analyse collaborated interfaith talk, drawn from both authentic talk settings and unstructured interviews. The analytic toolbox includes methods taken from content, discourse, conversation analyses, alongside critical apparatus from cognitive linguistics. Compared to the more traditional religious dialogues, secular dialogues are distinguishably different by its tolerance of ambiguity and debate, resistance towards closure, and political sensitisation. As for how practitioners participate, this thesis will closely examine their performances and their results, using the aforementioned strategies and resources. Theoretically, this study is significant in producing insights into how identity issues play out in interfaith dialogues. Practically, it provides tools for practitioners to reflect on their practice.
International Journal of Bias, Identity and Diversities in Education, 2021
The study of interfaith dialogues stands to gain from a discourse analysis approach towards inter... more The study of interfaith dialogues stands to gain from a discourse analysis approach towards interculturality, given how, as a concept, interculturality emphasises non-essentialist identities and cultures in deep inter-subjective engagement. Such an approach allows researchers to examine interfaith dialogues as activities where the melding and blending of identity and cultural resources are actions directed towards various accomplishments, constrained by the institutional expectations of how dialogues are done. This article proposes using an analytic tool which draws upon 'membership categorisation devices' (from ethnomethodology) as specific 'mental space' conceptual packages (from cognitive linguistics), and takes a more telescopic view of how as conceptual packages, these devices interact in 'mental space conceptual integration' or 'conceptual blends' (from cognitive linguistics). One excerpt of a short conversation between a facilitator of an inter...
This paper describes the development of a class as a learning community that transits from one es... more This paper describes the development of a class as a learning community that transits from one established classroom practice that elevated monologic voices of authorities to another practice that encouraged dialogic participation. The project illustrated in this paper took a design-based approach in nurturing a learning community in a classroom, with which we redesigned the Secondary 1 Geography curriculum with teachers around six design principles. This paper proposes that the effort of a teacher, Nicole, helped learners find their inner persuasive voices and developed their conceptual agency in learning Geography. The transition of Nicole's Geography class is examined by comparing episodes from different periods of the project implementation, with the goal of finding out how students' agency emerges from this transition.
My larger research project proposes to examine performative identity as a resource for learning ... more My larger research project proposes to examine performative identity as a resource for learning in interfaith dialogues. The concept of performative identity – identity that is non-essentialist, situated, relational, distributed and emergent − has stimulated debates between different methodological approaches towards such intersubjective identity work. On one hand, a micro-interactional approach that examines turn by turn identity work by knowledge agents has been criticized for ignoring larger macro-structures of cultural and discourse constraints (Benwell & Stokoe, , 2006b). On the other hand, critical discourse analysis of macro-structures has been faulted for blindsiding such agents’ own voices for an imputed theoretical frame (Widdicombe, , 1998b).
This methodological paper proposes a way forward by drawing upon conceptual frameworks from conversation analysis and cognitive linguistics to examine performative identity as an ongoing activity that is characterized by both agency and constraint. Further, it proposes an approach to examine performative identity as a resource in learning, which is indicated in meaning construction.
This methodological approach is supported with data drawn from conversations among adult presenters at an interfaith seminar who are also meditation practitioners. I examine how interlocutors collaborate in performative identity work by analyzing, turn by turn, the use of Membership Categorization Devices (Rapley, McCarthy, & McHoul, , 2003; Schegloff, , 2007b; Stokoe, , 2012) as interlocutors co-negotiate social categories(Edwards, , 1998) with interaction-oriented identity moves (Benwell & Stokoe, , 2006a). Then, using Conceptual Integration Theory (Cienki, , 2008; Fauconnier & Turner, , 2003; Turner, , 2001), I account for how meaning construction advances visibly in shared discourse. At the same time, I also examine which entrenched patterns of meaning construction is taken for granted (Hougaard, , 2008), how interactional contexts and moves constrain meaning construction (Hougaard, , 2008; Korobov, , 2001), and how participants gets to control the discourse Chilton 2008}.
In doing so, I hope to present an socially-grounded approach to discourse analysis that respects both participants’ own accounts and strategies, and the larger macro-structures acting on conversational interaction.
This paper describes the development of a class as a learning community that transits from one es... more This paper describes the development of a class as a learning community that transits from one established classroom practice that elevated monologic voices of authorities to another practice that encouraged dialogic participation. The project illustrated in this paper took a design-based approach in nurturing a learning community in a classroom, with which we re-designed the Secondary 1 Geography curriculum with teachers around six design principles. This paper proposes that the effort of a teacher, Nicole, helped learners find their inner persuasive voices and developed their conceptual agency in learning Geography. The transition of Nicole.s Geography class is examined by comparing episodes from different periods of the project implementation, with the goal of finding out how students. agency emerges from this transition.
On the 9th September, 2010, Amrita Performing Arts performed ‘Breaking the Silence’ at the Esplan... more On the 9th September, 2010, Amrita Performing Arts performed ‘Breaking the Silence’ at the Esplanade Theatre Studio. In this play, actors performed memories of life under the Khmer Rouge regime. The theme that carried through the play was a plea for reconciliation between the survivors, and the Khmer Rouge soldiers and their collaborators. In its ‘transplant’ to Singapore, presumably the dramaturgy remained much intact — some of the performance ‘language’ were lost on the audience. At a pivotal and stylized rape scene, some members of the audience laughed. Watching the performance, a few questions that gave rise to this paper, surrounding the practice of ethics in Theatre for Development (TfD) — a subset of applied theatre. They are —
(1) Should the play be taken out of Cambodia in the first place?
(2) Was the performance in Singapore still an example of applied theatre, since it no longer serves an ethical function of social transformation?
(3) Was the leadership of ‘Western’ collaborators an example of colonial incursion into Cambodian culture?
This paper addresses these questions of ethics from the framework of Emmanuel Lévinas’ philosophy.
"Theatre does not deal in 'belief' but in signification, creates not delusions but responses and ... more "Theatre does not deal in 'belief' but in signification, creates not delusions but responses and interpretations.’’ (Colin Counsell) Such a view of a the theatre might be useful for a theatre makers to create dialogic spaces of signification, but in this paper I will attempt to argue that it may not be a fruitful starting point. I will argue for a place for a phenomenological approach, foregrounding meaning on the intersubjectivity between spectators and performers, rather than dialogic semiotic spaces. Then, drawing on the theories of ‘Conceptual Categorization’ and ‘Conceptual Blending’ from cognitive linguistics, I return to find a necessary place for signs, within this intersubjective space.
Thesis Chapters by Tuck Leong Lee
Interfaith dialogues have been identified as urgent and necessary activities for Singapore’s incr... more Interfaith dialogues have been identified as urgent and necessary activities for Singapore’s increasingly globalised and pluralistic society in both political discourse and a more academic sociological discourse. Much has been published about how interfaith dialogues should and can take place, supported by both philosophical and/or empirical evidence. However, there is a lack of an exploration of interfaith dialogues as interactional activities, focusing on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ one does interfaith dialogue. Further, there is an emerging secular-oriented interfaith dialogue developing from highly pluralistic societies, together with the more traditional religious-oriented interfaith dialogues: How they differ from each other remains to be explored.
This thesis fills in the gaps, by looking at how secular and religious oriented dialogues differ, and if one practice might learn from the other. It also examines how interfaith dialogue practitioners negotiate identities in the flow of a dialogic activity, bringing in their moral stance at different moments, and producing a series of aggregative performative identities that are called upon as they engage and manage the topics developing in talk.
The first finding is that Religious Dialogues are found to be more emotionally expressive; proceed in thinking linearly, rather than holistically; tend towards finding a closure to discussion, rather than connections; seek consensus, rather than debate— when compared to its secular counterparts.
The second finding is that practitioners perform identity work by setting up pairs of identity positions for other people, with each identity position implicated in a mutual responsibility, after some culturally-valued forms of expectations, and then positioning her own attitude towards those cultural expectations. Different ways of performing this identity work are called upon by the different modes of engagement, while doing interfaith dialogue and talking about it.
The final finding is that practitioners manage their topics and identity positions in different ways, each producing different results. Changing the conceptual frames of thought produces creative solutions. Exploring different meanings of an identity category produces a greater understanding of the relationships between identity categories and the different contexts in which they are displayed — in all, deepening a knowledge of the self. By keeping a consistent story of who one is, a practitioner performs maintaining an integrity that is characterised by being able to adapt flexibly to different situations, while applying the same principles across those situations. Complex and hybrid social belonging is a rich resource to draw upon in interfaith conversations. Likewise, language itself is a resource to shape attitudes and relationships between a speaker, audience, and topic — through stimulating an imagined spatial sense towards those elements.
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Papers by Tuck Leong Lee
This methodological paper proposes a way forward by drawing upon conceptual frameworks from conversation analysis and cognitive linguistics to examine performative identity as an ongoing activity that is characterized by both agency and constraint. Further, it proposes an approach to examine performative identity as a resource in learning, which is indicated in meaning construction.
This methodological approach is supported with data drawn from conversations among adult presenters at an interfaith seminar who are also meditation practitioners. I examine how interlocutors collaborate in performative identity work by analyzing, turn by turn, the use of Membership Categorization Devices (Rapley, McCarthy, & McHoul, , 2003; Schegloff, , 2007b; Stokoe, , 2012) as interlocutors co-negotiate social categories(Edwards, , 1998) with interaction-oriented identity moves (Benwell & Stokoe, , 2006a). Then, using Conceptual Integration Theory (Cienki, , 2008; Fauconnier & Turner, , 2003; Turner, , 2001), I account for how meaning construction advances visibly in shared discourse. At the same time, I also examine which entrenched patterns of meaning construction is taken for granted (Hougaard, , 2008), how interactional contexts and moves constrain meaning construction (Hougaard, , 2008; Korobov, , 2001), and how participants gets to control the discourse Chilton 2008}.
In doing so, I hope to present an socially-grounded approach to discourse analysis that respects both participants’ own accounts and strategies, and the larger macro-structures acting on conversational interaction.
(1) Should the play be taken out of Cambodia in the first place?
(2) Was the performance in Singapore still an example of applied theatre, since it no longer serves an ethical function of social transformation?
(3) Was the leadership of ‘Western’ collaborators an example of colonial incursion into Cambodian culture?
This paper addresses these questions of ethics from the framework of Emmanuel Lévinas’ philosophy.
Thesis Chapters by Tuck Leong Lee
This thesis fills in the gaps, by looking at how secular and religious oriented dialogues differ, and if one practice might learn from the other. It also examines how interfaith dialogue practitioners negotiate identities in the flow of a dialogic activity, bringing in their moral stance at different moments, and producing a series of aggregative performative identities that are called upon as they engage and manage the topics developing in talk.
The first finding is that Religious Dialogues are found to be more emotionally expressive; proceed in thinking linearly, rather than holistically; tend towards finding a closure to discussion, rather than connections; seek consensus, rather than debate— when compared to its secular counterparts.
The second finding is that practitioners perform identity work by setting up pairs of identity positions for other people, with each identity position implicated in a mutual responsibility, after some culturally-valued forms of expectations, and then positioning her own attitude towards those cultural expectations. Different ways of performing this identity work are called upon by the different modes of engagement, while doing interfaith dialogue and talking about it.
The final finding is that practitioners manage their topics and identity positions in different ways, each producing different results. Changing the conceptual frames of thought produces creative solutions. Exploring different meanings of an identity category produces a greater understanding of the relationships between identity categories and the different contexts in which they are displayed — in all, deepening a knowledge of the self. By keeping a consistent story of who one is, a practitioner performs maintaining an integrity that is characterised by being able to adapt flexibly to different situations, while applying the same principles across those situations. Complex and hybrid social belonging is a rich resource to draw upon in interfaith conversations. Likewise, language itself is a resource to shape attitudes and relationships between a speaker, audience, and topic — through stimulating an imagined spatial sense towards those elements.
This methodological paper proposes a way forward by drawing upon conceptual frameworks from conversation analysis and cognitive linguistics to examine performative identity as an ongoing activity that is characterized by both agency and constraint. Further, it proposes an approach to examine performative identity as a resource in learning, which is indicated in meaning construction.
This methodological approach is supported with data drawn from conversations among adult presenters at an interfaith seminar who are also meditation practitioners. I examine how interlocutors collaborate in performative identity work by analyzing, turn by turn, the use of Membership Categorization Devices (Rapley, McCarthy, & McHoul, , 2003; Schegloff, , 2007b; Stokoe, , 2012) as interlocutors co-negotiate social categories(Edwards, , 1998) with interaction-oriented identity moves (Benwell & Stokoe, , 2006a). Then, using Conceptual Integration Theory (Cienki, , 2008; Fauconnier & Turner, , 2003; Turner, , 2001), I account for how meaning construction advances visibly in shared discourse. At the same time, I also examine which entrenched patterns of meaning construction is taken for granted (Hougaard, , 2008), how interactional contexts and moves constrain meaning construction (Hougaard, , 2008; Korobov, , 2001), and how participants gets to control the discourse Chilton 2008}.
In doing so, I hope to present an socially-grounded approach to discourse analysis that respects both participants’ own accounts and strategies, and the larger macro-structures acting on conversational interaction.
(1) Should the play be taken out of Cambodia in the first place?
(2) Was the performance in Singapore still an example of applied theatre, since it no longer serves an ethical function of social transformation?
(3) Was the leadership of ‘Western’ collaborators an example of colonial incursion into Cambodian culture?
This paper addresses these questions of ethics from the framework of Emmanuel Lévinas’ philosophy.
This thesis fills in the gaps, by looking at how secular and religious oriented dialogues differ, and if one practice might learn from the other. It also examines how interfaith dialogue practitioners negotiate identities in the flow of a dialogic activity, bringing in their moral stance at different moments, and producing a series of aggregative performative identities that are called upon as they engage and manage the topics developing in talk.
The first finding is that Religious Dialogues are found to be more emotionally expressive; proceed in thinking linearly, rather than holistically; tend towards finding a closure to discussion, rather than connections; seek consensus, rather than debate— when compared to its secular counterparts.
The second finding is that practitioners perform identity work by setting up pairs of identity positions for other people, with each identity position implicated in a mutual responsibility, after some culturally-valued forms of expectations, and then positioning her own attitude towards those cultural expectations. Different ways of performing this identity work are called upon by the different modes of engagement, while doing interfaith dialogue and talking about it.
The final finding is that practitioners manage their topics and identity positions in different ways, each producing different results. Changing the conceptual frames of thought produces creative solutions. Exploring different meanings of an identity category produces a greater understanding of the relationships between identity categories and the different contexts in which they are displayed — in all, deepening a knowledge of the self. By keeping a consistent story of who one is, a practitioner performs maintaining an integrity that is characterised by being able to adapt flexibly to different situations, while applying the same principles across those situations. Complex and hybrid social belonging is a rich resource to draw upon in interfaith conversations. Likewise, language itself is a resource to shape attitudes and relationships between a speaker, audience, and topic — through stimulating an imagined spatial sense towards those elements.