(2010). "Ethical Positioning" a Strategy in Overcoming Student Resistance and Fostering Engagement in Teaching Aboriginal History as a Compulsory Subject to Pre-Service Primary Education Students. Education in Rural Australia, v20 n1 p29-42. The paper describes and analyses the issues that impacted on pre service Primary Education students' engagement with the subject "Aboriginal culture and history" at a rural university. The paper identifies how issues including pioneer identity and local "conversations" about race related strongly to this particular rural context. It names and demonstrates "ethical positioning" as an effective pedagogy in shifting often unrecognised racist values and attitudes, thus enabling students to move beyond ethnocentricity. The paper highlights the openness of the students to becoming transformative educators when issues of identity, racism and its ethical implications are reflected on overtly. (Contains 13 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2010). Affect: A Tool to Support Pedagogical Change. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, v31 n1 p75-91 Feb. In the early childhood education field, the way children are conceptualised has substantially shifted in recent times. Child development theory has been unsettled as the single canon of early childhood practice. This has in turn challenged constructions of educators as keepers of a universal knowledge base, and as apolitical, non-interventionist facilitators of the natural unfolding development of individuals. While reconceptualising the early childhood knowledge base has oriented theorists and activists towards equity, unsettling educator subjectivities requires careful consideration in a feminised profession such as early childhood education. There is a need for greater discussion about how educators experience the uncertainties that accompany profound changes in teaching practice and identities and how educators can harness these uncertainties in ways that strengthen the profession. In this paper, I offer excerpts from teacher research that show how theories of affect support… [Direct]
(2007). Developing Critical Consciousness: Resistance Literature in a Chicano Literature Class. English Journal, v97 n2 p36-42 Nov. Starting from a framework that emphasizes indigenous heritage, high school teacher Curtis Acosta and students in the Chicano/Raza Studies classes engage with literature that reflects the students' lives, families, and histories. Doing so encourages students to visualize and affirm academic identities while they confront current issues of oppression, develop critical consciousness, and become familiar with movements of resistance and action. (Contains 1 figure and 2 notes.)… [Direct]
(2008). A Response to \Time-Limited Service Alternatives: Using Therapeutic Enactment in Open Group Therapy\. Journal for Specialists in Group Work, v33 n4 p328-334 Oct. This article offers comments on the Keats and Sabharwal article, \Time-Limited Service Alternatives: Using Therapeutic Enactment in Open Group Therapy,\ including the rationale for the approach, its conceptual base, the group process and ethical issues. Suggestions for further research on this approach are presented, including examination of its application to specific populations like Native college students…. [Direct]
(2010). Participatory Research for Chronic Disease Prevention in Inuit Communities. American Journal of Health Behavior, v34 n4 p453-464 Jul-Aug. Objective: To develop a community-based chronic disease prevention program for Inuit in Nunavut, Canada. Methods: Stakeholders contributed to intervention development through formative research [in-depth interviews (n = 45), dietary recalls (n = 42)], community workshops, group feedback and implementation training. Results: Key cultural themes included the perceived healthiness of country foods, food sharing, and importance of family. During community workshops, key problem foods for intervention were identified as well as healthier culturally and economically acceptable alternatives for these foods. Behaviors for promotion were identified and prioritized. Conclusions: This approach resulted in project acceptance, stakeholder collaboration, and a culturally appropriate program in stores, worksites, and other community venues…. [Direct]
(2011). Lost in Translation: Partnerships for Authentic Education in Papua New Guinea. International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, v10 n2 p86-98. Pacific Island countries are recipients of considerable education reform projects, many of which are sponsored by various global donor agencies. These agencies have become partners for development in the region. Research cautions that development projects may have detrimental influences as their designs and delivery often ignore the economic, cultural and social contexts of recipient countries. This paper explores issues impacting on the capacity of educators to lead educational change in Papua New Guinea. While initiatives in capacity building are offered, contradictions within the reform processes identify serious questions about policy development, ownership and capacity building. These contradictions relate to the sustainability of such programmes, collaboration and partnerships between the National Department of Education, universities, donor agencies and scholars who advocate for authentic education for Papua New Guinea. (Contains 4 footnotes.)… [Direct]
(2014). Demographic and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Student Achievement over the School Career. Australian Journal of Education, v58 n3 p223-247 Nov. This paper examines changes in demographic and socioeconomic inequalities in student achievement over the school career, and the extent that these inequalities are accounted for by other influences such as, region and socioeconomic background (where appropriate), school differences and prior achievement. The data analysed are from a longitudinal cohort of Victorian government school students in Years 3, 5 and 7 between 2008 and 2012. The most important finding is the dominant influence of prior achievement which substantially reduces demographic and socioeconomic differences. The strong effects of prior achievement hold even after differences between schools and socioeconomic background have been taken into account. Therefore, policy positions and theories of student performance that give primacy to the socioeconomic resources of families when students are at school, or schools themselves, are not supported. The genesis of demographic and socioeconomic inequalities in student… [Direct]
(2009). Imaginative Education Engages Aboriginal Learners in Prince Rupert. Education Canada, v49 n5 spec iss p26-29. Ten years ago, only 10% of the aboriginal students attending the public school of Prince Rupert took down their diploma of secondary studies. Across British Columbia, only 47 percent of the Aboriginal students who entered Grade 8 in 2003 have since completed high school, compared to 79 percent for all students in the province, an inequity that has been recognized and deplored for years. Governments and non-government organizations, schools, and education organizations have poured money and ideas into projects aimed at closing the graduation gap and improving the quality of education for Aboriginal students. Many of the projects have established touch points with Aboriginal culture but haven't built a culturally inclusive, pedagogically sound curriculum to engage Aboriginal students throughout an entire year and from one year to the next. This article describes how Prince Rupert, British Columbia, is addressing that shortcoming with LUCID (Learning for Understanding through… [Direct]
(2009). Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities. Harvard Educational Review, v79 n3 p409-428 Fall. In this open letter, Eve Tuck calls on communities, researchers, and educators to reconsider the long-term impact of \damage-centered\ research–research that intends to document peoples' pain and brokenness to hold those in power accountable for their oppression. This kind of research operates with a flawed theory of change: it is often used to leverage reparations or resources for marginalized communities yet simultaneously reinforces and reinscribes a one-dimensional notion of these people as depleted, ruined, and hopeless. Tuck urges communities to institute a moratorium on damage-centered research to reformulate the ways research is framed and conducted and to reimagine how findings might be used by, for, and with communities. (Contains 1 table and 4 notes.)… [Direct]
(2009). Afghanistan and Multiculturalism in Khaled Hosseini's Novels: Study of Place and Diversity. Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, v3 n2 p96-111. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to frame Khaled Hosseini's novels, "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns", as literature to expand and enhance the American secondary curriculum with multicultural themes based on Afghanistan as a geographical and cultural place in a dynamic, diverse, and complex world more mediated than ever before by computer technologies. Design/methodology/approach: The methodological approach to the study is a synthesis of geographic education grounded in the concept of place and diversity pedagogy. Findings: Khaled Hosseini's web site has become the cyber place where hundreds of readers from around the world come to express their deep emotional reactions to "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns". At the same time, that so many diverse international readers are responding favorably to Hosseini's novels, his works are being censored in classrooms in the USA. The research outlines geographical and… [Direct]
(2009). American Indian History and Writing from Home: Constructing an Indian Perspective. American Indian Quarterly, v33 n4 p553-560 Fall. If the typical premise of American Indian history is actually the history of Indian-white relations, then the \other\ side of the coin must be turned over for understanding an Indian point of view and what is called \writing from home.\ Conceptually, \writing from home\ is the challenge of historians who are American Indian and who write history based on their cultural perceptions and home place as Native people who have been trained in the mainstream academy. Indian history is perceived differently by Indians close to their traditions as opposed to academic historians. While this essay focuses on the latter and writing from home, Indian history of the former is conveyed in the oral tradition via stories where \experiences\ are more important than \events.\ Furthermore, Indian history in the form of \experiences\ is actually moments of time where time is perceived differently from the American mainstream. The difference in perception underscores the point that Indians who write… [Direct]
(2009). Preferences of Residents in Four Northern Alberta Communities regarding Local Post-Secondary Programming. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, v10 n3 Jun. The western Canadian province of Alberta has used some of the proceeds from exploitation of its extraordinary natural resources to make available a range of post-secondary training and education opportunities to residents. While these provisions appear comprehensive, this study examined how well they actually suit the express needs of the residents of remote, Northern areas of the province, many of them Aboriginal. The literature shows that while Aboriginal people are underrepresented in Canada in university enrollments, they are no longer underrepresented in college or other institutions, suggesting that gains have been made for some residents of rural and remote parts of Canada. Further, when Northern residents (especially Aboriginal males) complete advanced training, Statistics Canada reports they are highly successful in employment and income. Access is the pivotal issue, however: leaving the local community to attend training programs elsewhere is often disruptive and… [PDF]
(2008). The Politics of Shame in Intercultural Education. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, v3 n3 p263-280. Against a perspective of shame that would see it as something paralyzing, negative and destructive, I draw out a different account of the politics of shame in intercultural education. I explore the openings that are created for a productive politics of shame in the context of discussions surrounding intercultural education via tracing how different kinds of shame are evoked or rejected in collective imagination–both in politics and in education. My goal is to show that a rehabilitation of the political and ethical value of shame challenges the opposition between self and other, and that this act can be beneficial, particularly in educational settings. An effort to transcend the usual dichotomies around the pride/shame debate both in political and in educational discourses will tackle the cultural, political and educational uses of shame and help educators gain a deeper understanding of the meaning and implications of shame in intercultural education. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]
(2012). The Implementation of Hypertext-Based Learning Media for a Local Cultural Based Learning. Journal of Information Technology Education: Innovations in Practice, v11 p377-385. By studying and analyzing thoroughly the aspects of Indonesian culture, we may find many concepts of local wisdom that have been practiced in daily life of Indonesian people that can be beneficial for Information Technology study. Subak is a Balinese organization of irrigation systems, and is one example of local wisdom known widely in the world. Subak, as one of the greatest Balinese cultural heritages, is the backbone of Balinese rice cultivation. The aim of this research is to develop and to implement a hypertext-based learning media for local cultural based learning with a case study in the Computer Operating System course for undergraduate students of Jurusan Pendidikan Teknik Informatika, Fakultas Teknik dan Kejuruan, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, in Singaraja Bali, Indonesia, based on the concept of Subak. This research starts with exploration of the local wisdom concept "Subak" to collect a specific local cultural based teaching material. We found that Subak is… [PDF]
(2010). "Se Puede Conservar La Cultura y Tambien Se Puede Aspirar": Language and Cultural Identities among the Cora of Mexico. Heritage Language Journal, v7 n2 p22-45 Fall. This paper examines the connection between heritage language and culture and the construction and maintenance of social and personal identities of the Cora, an indigenous people of the Mexican Sierra del Nayar, in Northwestern Mexico. Using the frameworks of the socially and linguistically mediated mind (Dennet, 1991; Harre & Gillet, 1994; Searle, 1998) and the Continua of Biliteracy (Hornberger, 2002; Hornberger & Wang, 2008), the paper presents data from interviews with Cora speakers to show how language and cultural connection support identity establishment and maintenance among the Cora. The data indicate that the Cora experience pressure to assimilate into mainstream Mexican society, yet they continue to manage multiple identities. One of the ways they do this is by shifting between an endogenous Cora identity and an integrated Mexican identity. The paper closes with recommendations on teaching Cora language and culture in school, so that their identities can be… [PDF]