1

SELF-CARE: EXPLORING ITS BOUNDARY OBJECT AFFECTS:

&/AS MEMBERSHIPS &/AS VALUES &/AS POWER
488K Senior Seminar, King, Spr 2017

1. Pick boundary object/s to explore _______ Self Care _____________________

2. How do you know this boundary object? What are boundary objects that this is an
example of such?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Boundary objects are a sort of arrangement that allow different groups to work
together without consensus. (Star 2010:602) Consensus was rarely reached,
and fragile when it was, but cooperation continued, often unproblematically.
(604)

3. First reaction (if remembered) or current immediate reactivity (could be "none");

choose some affect-laden terms when possible:

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Emotional reactivity is mediated by the amygdala and can be altered by

consciously being aware, yet non reactive, ie "mindful." Mindfulness has been
studied as a way to self-regulate such reactivity.
(For example: Guendelman, 2017. "Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation." Frontiers in
Psychology 8: 220. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00220 )

4. Form: body/mind congruity, incongruity, or? Are they working together? How or not?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

"body and mind may go along harmoniously for a time together, enjoying each
other's company and friendship. But body and mind can also fall into deep division,
quarrels, and entrenched separations."
Ferguson. 2017. "How Your Mind Works." Lion's Roar, March: 52.
 2

5. Feeling: up/down/level; like/dislike/neutral; in/out/what else; intense/calm/nothing

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

"our basic sense of liking, disliking, or being indifferent to whatever we perceive."

Ferguson, p. 52.

6. Perception: which prior feelings inflect feeling in #5? What sort of habit, previous
experience involved?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

"We've prejudged it as having good qualities based on our prior feelings."

Ferguson, p. 52.

7. Concept: name the "kind of thing" this object such that it provokes such feeling. Maybe
a story that pinpoints it all:

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

"This is the realm of storylines and ideologies snap judgments, clouded

intuitions. sophisticated interpretations of ourselves and our experience."
Ferguson, p. 54.

8. Consciousness: momentum & display of encounter;

seeing/hearing/smelling/tasting/touching/minding (awareness & integration)/anxiety-
intensity/ego-I-separation

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

"vivid display of emotions and thought. stream of consciousness. A winding

subconscious stream of conflicting emotions and anxiety and even a hazy
 3

background awareness. We now feel separate, independent, and unitary even

when there is ample evidence to the contrary."
Ferguson, p. 55.

9. Loyalties: what "sides" (political, value-laden) do reactions to this object

create/participate in? in a two-version (oppositional); in a more than two-version
(differential)?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

"Differential consciousness requires grace, flexibility, and strength: enough

strength to confidently commit to a well-defined structure of identity for one hour,
day, week, month, year; enough flexibility to self-consciously transform that
identity according to the requisites of another oppositional ideological tactic if
readings of power's formation require it; enough grace to recognize alliance with
others committed to egalitarian social relations and race, gender, sex, class, and
social justice, when these other readings of power call for alternative oppositional
stands."
Sandoval. 2000. Methodology of the Oppressed. Minnesota: 60

10. Values & Politics: what do I learn about my values and politics from doing this? What
do I learn about values and politics in general terms from this?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

11. How many communities of practice can I think of to name that care about this
object?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

"A community of practice (or social world) is a unit of analysis that cuts across
formal organizations, institutions like family and church, and other forms of
association such as social movements. It is, simply put, a set of relations among
people doing things together. The activities with their stuff, their routines, and
exceptions are what constitute the community structure. Membership in such
groups is a complex process, varying in speed and ease, with how optional it is
and how permanent it may be."
Star. 1999. p. 294.
 4

12. Examples of its robustness (ability to be used by multiple groups with big umbrella
meanings) & its plasticity (adaptability to specific definitions among particular folks)

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

"Boundary objects are those objects that both inhabit several communities of
practice and satisfy the informational requirements of each of them....plastic
enough to adapt to local needs and constraints...yet robust enough to maintain a
common identity across sites. They are weakly structured in common use and
become strongly structured in individual-site use. These objects may be abstract
or concrete....The creation and management of boundary objects is a key process
in developing and maintaining coherence across intersecting communities....arise
over time from durable cooperation among communities of practice...resolve
anomalies of naturalization...."
Bowker & Star. 2000. p. 297.

13. Examples of having used it differently in various contexts yourself:

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

14. Examples of groups and cooperations, among groups who don't push for single
meaning or even know meanings differ:

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

15. Examples of push to DEFINE meaning in specific terms & what is at stake:

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

Over time, people (often administrators or regulatory agencies) try to control the
tacking back-and-forth, and especially, to standardize and make equivalent the ill-
structured and well-structured aspects of the particular boundary object.
Star. 210. pp. 613-4.