THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE Filipino Social Scientists

and the Limits of Critique

CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOCDEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY

ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION

“Life is difficult.”

“Life is a series of problems.

Do we want to moan about them or solve them?” - M. Scott Peck

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

• A social science approach focused on solving a problem • Knowledge mobilization in which the social scientist

contributes toward making institutions and systems fulfill their functions

• Offers not only analysis or critique but practical results

INTRODUCTION

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

WHAT DOES SOLVING A PROBLEM ENTAIL?

• Open up the social sciences to other disciplines (Interdisciplinarity)

• Contextualization of universalisms (Plurality of Particularism)

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

Knowledge for whom? Knowledge for what?

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

FOUR TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE

Professional knowledge: Resolving anomalies and contradictions in programs

Policy knowledge: Addressing problems defined by clients

Critical knowledge: Opening up assumptions of research programs for

discussion and debate within the community of scholars

Public knowledge: Dialogue between the scholar and the non-academic public

around societal goals and means for achieving those goals

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

FOUR TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE

Professional knowledge: Resolving anomalies and contradictions in programs

Policy knowledge: Addressing problems defined by clients

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

INSTRUMENTAL: AIMS AT MAKING THINGS WORK

Critical knowledge: Opening up assumptions of research programs for discussion and debate within the community of scholars

Public knowledge: Dialogue between the scholar and the non-academic public around societal goals and means for achieving those goals

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

REFLEXIVE: EXAMINES VALUE RELEVANCE

THE FILIPINO SCIENTIST

A Filipino social scientist who reclaims one’s local rootedness vis-a-vis one’s professional training as a critical distant observer

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

• Follow the protocols of modern science • Objectivity precludes particularism

• Difficult for the social sciences to be value-neutral or context-free, as both subject and object of study are embedded in relationships

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

EXPECTATIONS OF EXTERIORITY

THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE AND THE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTIST

• Erases distinctions between “outsider” and “insider”

• Urges social scientists to be critical of but yet part of the system as one tries to solve a problem

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

• Consultancies with controversial international development institutions such as the World Bank

• Problematic amidst expectations for the academic to be critical of the World Bank’s role in promoting neoliberal and structural adjustment policies that exacted a heavy cost on human well-being

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE AND THE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTIST

Development interventions need contextualization of universalisms/uncovering localized manifestations of universalized and globalized processes

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE AND THE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTIST

In contexts where institutions and systems are well-established or in purely theoretical settings, social scientists can be infinitely critical.

In spaces where many institutions are in varying forms of maturity, the goal should be to not only offer a critique but to also solve a problem.

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

Who defines the problem and how can it be solved?

How does power operate at the very instance of defining a problem?

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

THE PROBLEM SOLVING MODE AS A PROBLEMATIC POSITION

T H E P R O B L E M - S O L V I N G M O D E

An Areté Production

in partnership with

The Department of Communication, Loyola Schools and the Eugenio Lopez Jr

Center for Multimedia Communication

Executive Producers

AretéExecutive Producer

Ma Mercedes T Rodrigo, PhD Ricardo G Abad, PhD D Cortezano

CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE

Producer

Line Producer

Lecture Director

Technical Director

Director of Photography & Production Designer

Maitel Ladrido, PhD

Aaron R Vicencio

Dennis Temporal

Glen Charles Lopez

D Cortezano

CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE

Talent Coordinator

Make-up

Areté Office

Ivy Baggao

D Cortezano Adriane Ungriano Vanessa Reventar RJ Adarlo

CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE

Technical & Camera Crew

Graphic Assets Team

Teleprompter

Jeffrey Lorenzo Alejandro Adolfo

Smile M Indias Glen Charles Lopez Aaron R Vicencio

John Robert Yam

Editor Christian Valderama

CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE

Areté Theater Crew Adriane Ungriano Jethro Nibaten John Robert Yam Justine Ray Santos Nilo Beriarmente Rey Sotto RJ Adarlo Kevin Duane Ligot

CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE

Department of Communication & Eugenio Lopez Jr,

Center for Multimedia Communication

Alejandro Adolfo Karlo Montenegro Jeffrey Lorenzo Christian Valderama

CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE

Special thanks to L'Oréal Philippines

CZARINA SALOMA-AKPEDONU, DR RER SOC THE PROBLEM-SOLVING MODE FILIPINO SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND THE LIMITS OF CRITIQUE