The power of not-knowing
One time I decided not to learn or know something, though it was within my power to do so, was during the height of the ‘coding’ fad, when the NZ Curriculum was updated to incorporate a new ‘Digital Curriculum’ (2020). As many of you will remember, this caused widespread anxiety and panic amongst our teaching colleagues, who felt a whole new workload was being heaped upon them, the importance of which was yet to be proven. I was a Digital Educator at the time, and had seen a number of things come and go, and ridden the wave of the technology hype cycle a few times (VR, AR, 3d printing) (see https://www.gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/gartner-hype-cycle).
At the time, I felt the demand for all children to learn how to code was driven industry and government fears about our ability to compete internationally in the technology field more than anything.
I reserved my panic, feeling that there were more important things for learners to focus on, and let others lead the way. Soon enough the wave subsided, technology evolved and I was left without any regrets about not learning to code.
Negative power
One time that I practised the use of negative power was in an online meeting where I was asked to do a karakia to open the meeting. I am Pākehā, and was asked because it was known that I had some proficiency in te reo Māori (otira kāore ahau te tino mohio). I knew, or had the sense, that no one in the meeting really knew why a karakia was appropriate or why we should be offering one at all. It felt well intentioned but tokenistic, and I did not feel I had the cultural authority to present the karakia and so politely declined.
I didn't fully understand what I was doing at the time, and it is only after this week's learning that I know - recognising when I would be (knowingly or unknowingly) coming from a position of hegemonic power (Adkin, 2022) and privilege - or 'Pākehā structural advantage' to use Shaw's (2024) term - to define Māori things in these terms. Negative power, the non-action, allowed me to refrain from crossing that ethical boundary.
https://doi.org/10.22215/stkt/al18 https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/showingtheory/chapter/hegemony-and-counter-hegemony/
Ministry of Education (2020). Digital technologies and the technology learning area https://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Curriculum-learning-areas/Digital-technologies-and-the-technology-learning-area
Shaw, R., 2024, Richard Shaw: The Unsettled, RNZ National https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018933146
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