The ethnic separation of the school system in Northern Ireland along Catholic and Protestant community lines limits opportunities for daily cross-community interaction between young people. Recent research has shown that, whilst the deployment pattern of teachers is largely consistent with this divide, a small proportion of teachers has diverted…

Despite a successfully negotiated peace agreement in Belfast in 1998, tensions between different community groups continue to exist in Northern Ireland. This situation creates a governmental need to find solutions to problems such as segregation, inter- and intra-group violence and other forms of sectarian antagonisms. On the one hand, this is…

In Northern Ireland, where the majority of children are educated at schools attended mainly by coreligionists, the debate concerning the role of schools in perpetuating intergroup hostilities has recently been reignited. Against questions regarding the efficacy of community relations policy in education, the research reported in this paper employs…

A study examining the role of heritage language (HL) competence in social relationships among second-generation language minorities surveyed 114 Korean Americans. HL speakers had a strong ethnic identity and a greater understanding and knowledge of cultural values, ethics, and manners than HL nonspeakers. HL competence also provided professional…

Michael Maloney--Appalachian advocate, activist, and community organizer in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood since the mid-1960s--discusses two decades of racial relations in this blighted inner city neighborhood, and the emergence of an urban Appalachian "ethnic" consciousness among transplanted mountain people. Contains 15…

In rural Llanrwst, north Wales, concepts of "traditional community" and local Welsh culture are felt to be threatened by inmigration of "English" outsiders. Interviews with secondary school students illustrate how cultural boundaries are reinforced by school structures and student behaviors and how cultural belonging is…

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 39% of public school students were considered to be part of a minority group in 2000, as opposed to just 22% in 1972. Although the increased diversity offers many opportunities for staff members and students to learn from one another, not all members of the school community adjust quickly to a…