We have decided to label this collaborative blog on feminist pedagogy a diablog and name our project “It’s Diablogical!” But what is a diablog? And why is this blog diablogical? I (SLP) have been given the task of answering these questions. Here are some of my tentative definitions. KCF, feel free to add in your own thoughts!

DIALOGUE + BLOG =

Diablog (noun): A collaborative blog involving two (or more) people who exchange ideas with each other via posts and comments on their shared blog. In contrast to many other group or collaborative blogs, a diablog (well, at least, our diablog) involves more than just a group of people posting different entries on the same blog. Our diablog is specifically about engaging in direct conversations with each other, both online (via our blog) and offline (via our weekly meetings). Our entries and comments reflect our very deliberate efforts to write and think in relation to each other and to build off of each others’ ideas as we work on our specific writing project. A diablog requires a explicit commitment to engaging with a blog-writing partner through reading and commenting on their posts, referring to/incorporating ideas into your posts. Diablogs are about sharing, but do not necessarily foster intimacy.

Diablogical (adjective): as in, It’s Diablogical! A word used to describe a particular type of diablog that is aimed at disrupting structures of power, busting binaries, unsettling norms, challenging common sense assumptions, and prying open the hierarchies of academic knowledge production in order to make learning (particularly through critically questioning and sharing stories) accessible to a wider range of folks. Our diablogical diablog is a feminist diablog (woah…say that three times as fast!) that is deeply informed by our positions as a Chicana feminist (KCF) and a white feminist troublemaker (SLP).

KCF: Perhaps as we continue to write in this blog, we can add in a list of structures of power, binaries that need bustin’, problematic norms and naturalized common assumptions–maybe that should be in a separate page?

addendum as of August 1, 2010: You can find the busting binaries page here.

Diablogue/diabloguing (verb): The act of participating on a diablog by:

• Posting entries
• Posting comments
• Reading and reflecting on diablog partner’s entries/comments
• Organizing and maintaining blog
• Weekly meetings, usually offline, but sometimes online (via Skype)

I will keep adding as I think of more actions…