Philosophy professor gives six week lecture tour abroad
March 18, 2010 12:23 PM
StFX philosophy professor William Sweet spent his sabbatical year out of the office and on the road, travelling to universities in the Middle East, Africa and India to give a series of lectures on cross-cultural topics in philosophy.
His travels began in January, taking him to spots such as Ghana, the United Arab Emirates and Delhi over a six week period. After stopping briefly in Antigonish, he will soon take off once again for Italy, England and France. Then another two week return to Nova Scotia, and he will depart again for a conference in Asia.
His lecture topic is on parental licensing, a philosophical topic that debates the regulation of potential parents.
Just as people must earn a license in order to drive, proponents argue that parents should prove their competency to raise children.
Sweet was surprised with the interest generated in the topic, such as at the American University of the United Arab Emirates.
“I thought it would be least interesting but they really went for it. A big crowd showed up and it was covered in the newspapers the next day. It was either a remarkably slow news day, or people genuinely were interested.”
“Why would someone in Middle East be interested? Is it their attempt of understanding the West? Is it seen as a critique of Western society, that they are so corrupt they have to license their parents?” Sweet ponders of his audience.
Parental licensing has been advanced as a means to prevent child abuse.
A frequent traveller, Sweet admits that the international turn his sabbatical has taken has come as a surprise.
“I planned to do some kind of trip, like to South Africa, but then decided to go longer…It wasn’t foreseen at the beginning of my sabbatical. What should have been a very quiet year has involved a lot of travel,” he reflects with a laugh.
Sweet undertakes travel for several reasons. For one, he feels that international travel complements his abilities as an academic.
“Why be an academic? It’s about research, but it’s also about passion, and finding ways to relate what you’re researching into what people are interested in learning about. It makes for a much livelier and interesting class, and sometimes questions you get are great to take with you when you travel. There’s a synergy when you talk about the relationship between teaching and research,” he says.
He also believes that international experience, such as going to conferences and lecture opportunities, is also becoming an integral aspect of academia.
“It is mostly my choice, but I think there is more of a push towards travel…and you definitely see more academics travelling. Part of that is your peer group is not always in one place, it sort of migrates. There were a number of Canadian academics in Delhi that I didn’t even know were there.”
“Electronic communication is great keeping for contacts in between, but for all the email and all the Skype, nothing replaces actually being there and engaging with people face to face,” enthuses Sweet, adding that international experience is becoming a vital qualification for students, as well.
“I was involved with Service Learning and these things really do help shape the academic experience for students. It’s not all book learning. I’d advise anyone in administration to find more ways of developing opportunities for students. If we had 10 to 15 per cent of students abroad at a time, it would really have a great effect on campus.”
Finally, as a member of several international academic organizations, including the International Federation of Philosophy Society and the Washington-based Council for Values, he also feels it is incumbent upon him to interact with academics from around the world.
“Very often people who study and teach are sort of in the margins, really on the periphery of the center of philosophical activity coming out of Europe and America. The groups I belong to set up workshops and seminars, not so much to bridge the North-South divide, but just to get people together.”
For Sweet, one of the most interesting aspects of engaging with academics from around the world is to witness how mainstream philosophy transforms in outlying areas. The South African experience of apartheid is one such example he encountered.
“When you ask why people are taking different sides, one of the interesting answers is that it was a response to multiculturalism. Some people argued that apartheid was a reasonable and just response to preserving cultural difference.”
“We think this is crazy, but look at Canada. It raises questions about how to preserve differences. If you look at the example of South Africa and its struggles with diversity, there are maybe lessons in that for Canada,” he says.
Sweet feels that travel also inspires respect for cultural differences in academics from the Global North, particularly when debating controversial issues such as apartheid, or religious issues. “One has to be very cautious. You don’t want to make it seem as if coming from outside, you have all the answers…It’s not enough to just draw on traditions of ethics in the West.”
“If you have a problem with religion [for example], just don’t go to Ghana. Don’t go to India. There, you’ll see things like “Psalm 24 Auto Parts, or “Word of God Beauty Salon.” Religion is still very there; no one talks about public sphere and private sphere.”
Nonetheless, he reveals that the world is very much becoming integrated through globalization with new forms of social media leading the way.
“There is massive access to the internet through computers located at the universities [abroad]. They have access to popular media and know certain things of what’s going on. How this local culture thrives in spite of all that, in spite of international culture, is really interesting. But the point is, it thrives. Sometimes coming back to North America is a culture shock.”
