This article presents a review of five chapters in "Part II, Section C: Diversifying Curriculum" of "The SAGE Handbook of Curriculum and Instruction" (F. M. Connelly, M. F. He, J. I. Phillion, Eds.; Sage Publications, 2008). The reviewers suggest that in these chapters ["Curriculum and Cultural Diversity" (Gloria Ladson-Billings, Keffrelyn D.…

Discusses reasons for the popularity of "Star Trek" as a television show and cultural phenomenon, considers the success of formulaic plots, and provides an annotated list of 10 of the best episodes out of all 79 that are available on videocassettes for possible purchase by librarians. (LRW)

Reviews three books on street gangs that examine the formation of gangs between the 1940s and 1970s (a period that predates their connection to drug trafficking), look at masculinity in gang culture following the advent of their connection to drug trafficking, and highlight the role of the gangster in American culture in the 1920s and 1930s. (SM)

Discusses and evaluates issues raised in E. D. Hirsch's "Cultural Literacy." Argues that investigation is still needed on the nature of curriculum, ideologies implicit in teaching, the ends of education, and motives for learning. (MM)

The boundaries between entertainment, education, and commercialization collapse through Disney's reach into diverse spheres of everyday life. Disney's "innocence" is a promotional mask covering its aggressive marketing techniques and influence in transforming children into active consumers. Although Disney's films are joyous and…

Reviews independent multicultural films and videos shown at the Sundance Film Festival, January 1997. The festival included a special symposium and reception honoring Native American writers and filmmakers. This article reviews 4 Native American videos and 10 other multicultural films the author was able to see, and it lists other noteworthy…

The widespread popularity of the young adult novels of Judy Blume makes them important factors in the socialization process. Almost all of the characters in her books are members of the middle or upper-middle class, and with the exception of some of the characters in 4 of her 15 novels, all are white. Thus, Blume is teaching youth how to be…

Barbie is presented as the perfect cultural site for interrogating margins, borders, and contradictions in females' lives. This article illuminates such issues by interrogating the "cumulative cultural text of Barbie." Texts criticized are: Barbie collector cards; "Barbie" and "Barbie Fashion" comic books;…

Smelzer's book deals with the institutional provision of education, rather than education as in and of society, arguing that the relative strength of competing interest groups concerned with popular education determined how rapidly a state-controlled system came to win out over a denominational one in England. (SLD)

Reviews two films dealing with the Black south. Julie Dash's 1992 film "Daughters of the Dust" offers a historical moment in African-American culture concentrating on African-American women. Charles Burnett's 1991 film "To Sleep with Anger," which is set in the Los Angeles (California) of early southern migrants, also…

Discusses the failure of filmmaker Spike Lee to grapple with the real politics of Malcolm X before and after he left the Nation of Islam. Acknowledging the complexity of the man and his context would avoid creating a mythical figure similar to Oliver Stone's movie "JFK." (SLD)

Reviews essays by Raymond Williams, which explain how, within the context of a 150-year literary history, rural stereotypes have been constructed and imbedded within a collective consciousness by a form of cultural colonization. Suggests that Williams' insights can help rural education researchers think outside the conventional wisdom that…

Analyzes "The Great Auction Sale of Slaves, at Savannah, Georgia" (1859), a popular work by Mortimer Neal Thompson, an American humorist better known by his pseudonym, Q.K. Philander Doesticks, P.B. The book is one of the most readable, credibly authentic accounts of the abuses of slavery. (BJV)