A Synechistic Conceptualization of Othering: Social Ontological Questions in Service Learning

Abstract

Expanded conceptions of I-Other relationships in critical service learning impact ideas of self, ways in which self is understood to be autonomous or relational, and holistic concepts of self and other/s. This manuscript engages core ontological questions in contemporary service learning: Can social epistemological and ontological approaches assist in questioning oppositional framings of us and them that are both the cause and the consequence of exclusion and individualism, such as “us doing for them” or “us thinking of them”? Two distinct conceptions of self+other emerged from a recurrent service-learning course offered to graduate architecture students:  a “dichotomic conceptualization” of self/other, and a “synechistic conceptualization” of self-in-other. Architecture students interrogated their roles as designers and community members and their own lived experience as they intersect issues of racial identity, education, and socio-economic status. We conclude that a synechistic service learning approach counteracts narcissistic and competitive approaches in architecture and design education.