(2009). Toward a Better Understanding of First Language Vocabulary Knowledge: The Case of Second-Generation Russian-Jewish Immigrants in Israel. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n4 p226-244. The objective of this study was to evaluate the first language (L1) vocabulary knowledge in a large-scale sample (n = 70) of second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants in Israel. The interest in this research population follows from the unique demographic, sociocultural, linguistic, and psychological distinctiveness of RJ immigration in Israel. The study focused on the question of whether the L1 vocabulary knowledge of second-generation children is restrictive compared with their second language (L2) vocabulary and, if so, in what way. A within-subjects design was used to compare the participants' performance on lexical knowledge tests in Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2). The comparison of expressive lexical knowledge in L1 and L2 of Russian-Hebrew speaking children on an array of measures clearly shows L2 dominance. The researchers conclude, therefore, that second-generation children who receive their educational instruction in a non-additive L2 context do not perform better in L1 than… [Direct]
(2009). Prophetic Pragmatism? Post-Conflict Educational Development in Aceh and Mindanao. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n4 p245-259. This essay critically examines the relevance of Cornel West's (1989) conception of "prophetic pragmatism" as a theoretical framework for educational development in post-conflict settings torn by religious, socioeconomic, and cultural tensions. It examines the concept through the conflict and post-conflict experiences of the Indonesian province of Aceh and the Muslim provinces of the southern Philippines. These 2 regions struggle with educational development after emerging from decades of secessionist conflict with democratic or democratizing central governments. It suggests that prophetic pragmatism usefully accounts for the relevant dimensions of these 2 historical cases and concludes with a brief sketch of how the concept could inform relevant strategies for educational redevelopment in these 2 post-conflict settings…. [Direct]
(2009). From the Margins to the Center: A Critical Examination of the Identity Constructions of Bosnian Adolescent Refugees in New York City. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n4 p260-275. This article explores the role of culture and social networks as relations of difference in refugee experiences by challenging the assumptions in mainstream psychology that objectify the experiences of refugees and act as gatekeepers to their subjectivity. The deterministic bent of existing psychological theories legitimates an essentialist paradigm by failing to critically examine the various ways refugees themselves experience and negotiate cultural processes. A critical lens illuminates the discursive functioning of mainstream psychology by questioning power relations and placing a premium on individual agency. Through an exploration of the identities of adolescent refugees schooled in the United States, this article discusses refugees' conditions of consciousness in terms of how they participate in an increasingly heterogeneous world and balance their own ethnoscapes. (Contains 3 tables and 3 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Adolescent Street Boy Urchins and Vocational Training in Northern Nigeria. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n3 p175-190. In northern Nigeria, over 80% of the unskilled and uneducated adolescent street boys, or "Almajiris", are from the ethnic Hausa-Fulani tribes. They depend on street begging and menial jobs for daily survival. In dealing with the situation, state vocational centers were established as the Millennium Hope Project (MHP) to provide the boys with trades and skills for self-reliance and socioeconomic transformations. This article presents findings from an educational policy evaluation research study of the MHP implementation and outcomes. The research was based on an ethnographic approach using multimodal data derived from interviews and observations and data analysis-involved transcription, categorization, and coding. Major themes include the cultural identities and statuses of the boys, curriculum implementation and management of the project, socioeconomic transformation of learning outcome, and the challenges and positive impacts of the MHP on the boys. The themes are… [Direct]
(2009). Challenges of Discourses on "Model Minority" and "South Korean Wind" for Ethnic Koreans' Schooling in Northeast China. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n2 p119-130. The educational success of ethnic Koreans in China has been achieved through Mandarin-Korean bilingual education, with the Korean language as the medium of instruction. Using the data collected as part of an ethnographic research on Korean elementary school students in a national Korean school in China, this article examines the relation between society-level discourses and school-level politics under the political, economic, historical, and social contexts in China's reform period. Research results demonstrate how the multiple discourses of "model minority" and "South Korean wind" have come to influence and shape the competing school-level politics: diversity versus modernization. This article argues that the multiple discourses in intersection with each other have influenced ethnic schooling for Koreans in China, and have led to disadvantages Korean schooling faces to achieve ethnic cultural sustainability and upward social mobility at a time of transition and… [Direct]
(2009). Changing against the Grain: Academy for Peace in a Reality of Conflict. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n3 p191-201. This article recounts an attempt by administration and faculty to create a multinational and multicultural vision for Tel Hai Academic College in the Galilee in Israel. This uncommon initiative in the Israeli academia intends to transform the campus into a unique academic institution allowing equality and visibility for all cultural and national minorities and, above all, for the Arab minority. The article focuses on 1 instance of this complex and difficult process by outlining the distinct perspectives of 2 participants, an Arab and a Jew, the authors of this article, who were among the initiators of the endeavor. Their accounts, which uncover the obstacles, disappointments, and multifaceted insights experienced by each of them, demonstrate the unpredictable complexities evoked by such a radical scheme under conditions of a national conflict. The article also draws some inferences and suggestions for similar institutional processes. (Contains 10 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Community History as a Male-Constructed Space: Challenging Gendered Memories among South African Muslim Women. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n2 p81-95. The post-Apartheid community history is a male-constructed space, narrated into present-day consciousness by male community leaders and history writers. The patriarchal worldview disparages women's contributions and activisms. This article reports on how Muslim women from a small fishing village in South Africa in the early 1900s strategized to cope with challenging socioeconomic circumstances. Based on the oral narratives of 10 women, aged between 80 and 100 years, a history emerges of community women as homemakers but not women of leisure. The class that they were born into required that they were active participants in the economy. Their narratives describe a community in which Muslim women had access to basic education and succeeded in becoming financially empowered, despite socioeconomic constraints. These findings challenge the global frameworks that depict Muslim women as submissive figures whose participation in the public sphere is marginal. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 6… [Direct]
(2009). Global Structures of Common Difference and Minority Empowerment: Transforming Subjectivities and Creating Alliances in an Aotearoa/New Zealand School. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n3 p159-174. This article discusses an effect of the emerging "global structures of common difference" on minority group empowerment. Researchers suggest that structures of difference often limit the ways of being. This article introduces more productive effects and shows the possibility of proactively expanding alliances by the use of global structures of common difference. Based on fieldwork done in 1997 through 1998 at a school in Aotearoa/New Zealand, where Indigenous Mori and recent Asian immigrants, both minorities, live in tension, this article illustrates the emergence of a Mori-Asian alliance against mainstream New Zealanders' insensitivity to minority languages through evocations of global structures of common difference. (Contains 5 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Journey to "Inuuqatigiit": Curriculum Development for Nunavut Education. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n3 p137-158. This article explores the experiences of 8 Inuit curriculum authors in the Nunavut Territory of Canada during the creation of "Inuuqatigiit: The Curriculum From the Inuit Perspective". The "Inuuqatigiit" authors' story is examined in terms of the group coming together, their work with elders, the educational community's response to the "Inuuqatigiit" curriculum, as well as the author's intentions for its future use. The "Inuuqatigiit" authors' journey demonstrates a commitment to curriculum development and instructional practice that is firmly rooted in Inuit language and culture. Details of the authors' contributions to Indigenous, community-based schooling efforts are provided, as well as discussions of the wider discursive connections contained within the "Inuuqatigiit" authors' story. (Contains 1 table and 8 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Problems and Prospects in the Education of a Marginal Minority: The Case of the Batwa Community in Burundi. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n2 p110-118. This article sets out to analyze the educational problems facing the Batwa community of Burundi. After explaining the marginal nature of that community in the Burundian context, the article highlights the Batwa's exclusion from school education, from the colonial era to the present. The article attempts to show that, despite governmental adopted policy and some tangible progress made so far in the schooling of Batwa children, major constraints of a normative, economic, and structural nature do impede real change. The article concludes by making the case that if the Batwa community are to enjoy their full right to education and social participation, concerted action must be undertaken by the state, the churches, and nongovernmental organizations to enhance their general well-being. (Contains 1 table.)… [Direct]
(2009). Stories Deep Within: Narratives of U.S. Teachers of Color from Diasporic Settings. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n2 p96-109. In this qualitative investigation, racial and ethnic minority teachers (N = 6) used personal stories to elucidate their experiences with social injustices that have impacted their teaching in rural schools. These counter-stories serve to disrupt orthodox conceptions of teachers of color, to resituate their work in their cultural positions, and to demonstrate the ways in which their experiences with oppression and resistance affect their teaching in rural settings. (Contains 1 table and 5 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2009). The Reform Agenda for Madrasah Education in Singapore. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n2 p67-80. As governments in many countries review their education systems to optimise their human capital in an age of globalisation, religious schools such as madrasahs (Islamic or Muslim schools) have also come under state scrutiny. This article examines the Singapore government's reform agenda for madrasah education in the country. It argues that the Singapore government advocates a reformist Muslim view of madrasah education that emphasises the learning of academic subjects such as English, mathematics, and science, and raising the academic standards of the madrasahs so as to increase the economic prospects of madrasah graduates. To carry out its reform agenda, the government presented the "problem" faced by madrasah students within an economic survival rhetoric. It then made tactical changes to "solve" the problem by relying on the Compulsory Education Act, providing generous state support to raise the academic standards of the madrasahs and revamping the madrasah… [Direct]
(2009). Communication at the Crossroads of Ecology, Development, and Education: The Tutorial Learning System of Columbia. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n1 p52-62 Jan. In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Gore (2007) spoke about collective action to bring about major changes in the usage, protection, and management of the environment. Collective action requires communication among all, including traditionally marginalized populations such as Indigenous people, women, youths, and children. The wisdom of all is needed. Diverse viewpoints and knowledge need to mingle. However, mere coming together can result either in beneficial action or contentious debate. It is the nature of such communication and the values that guide it that are central to the outcome. This article explores the values that guide participatory communication and the contribution of local knowledge in the service of ecological sustainability and development. To do so, it describes an innovative educational program in Columbia, called the Tutorial Learning System, dedicated to developing the prerequisite capabilities. (Contains 5 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Journeys in Cultural Competency: Pre-Service U.S. Teachers in Mexico Study-Abroad Programs. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n1 p32-51 Jan. This study investigated pre-service and credentialed teachers at 2 universities in the Southwestern United States (N = 24), who participated in education-abroad programs in Mexico over 1 summer. This study examined the literature within a framework for developing cultural competence to describe and understand students' experiences. Following a discussion of research methodology, emergent themes are reported and discussed within the frameworks presented. The study concludes with a discussion of changes in teacher preparation programs required or recommended to improve academic achievement among English language learners of Mexican descent in U.S. schools. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)… [Direct]
(2009). Naxi Intellectuals and Ethnic Identity. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n1 p21-31 Jan. This article examines the role of Naxi intellectuals in the ethnic identity resurgence of the Naxi since the 1980s in China. The article illustrates 3 aspects of Naxi intellectuals' approach to the identity construction of the Naxi: researching the Naxi, engaging in cultural activities and exhibitions, and teaching the Naxi culture to the younger generation. Appended are: (1) Naxi Researchers and Publications…. [Direct]