In this article, the author will focus on Seymour's article titled, "And What is the Public Interest?" (Sarason, 1986). To the author, the core of the article is as follows: "And what is the public interest? At its phenomenological root it is a picture of a triad: the individual, the society, and the bases on which they give meaning to each other.…

Seymour Bernard Sarason was born to Jewish immigrant parents on January 12, 1919, in Brooklyn, New York. He died on January 28, 2010, in New Haven, Connecticut, at the age of 91. He obtained his undergraduate degree in 1939 from Dana College in Newark (now Rutgers University), and earned his doctorate in clinical psychology in 1942 from Clark…

It is both an honor and fitting that the "Journal of Community Psychology" presents to the discipline a series of papers included within a symposium entitled "Seymour Sarason in Memorial: Prospects for Community and Social Change" at the Biennial Conference on Community Research and Action on June 18th, 2011, in Chicago Illinois. These papers…

Seymour was a renaissance man: widely read in not only psychology but also anthropology, sociology, philosophy, economics, political science, and most especially history. Seymour taught the author the value of being historically informed, which has been an invaluable tool ever since. Seymour had a way of conceptualizing and reformulating whatever…

In this article, the author talks about power, pleasure and community in a learning society. He argues that the resistance against the grand narratives or universal truths of this age is best achieved through the cultivation and development of local narratives and truths which are subject to continuous debate and critical reflection within a…

This article presents a dialogue with Monte Joffee. Joffee has been an active leader in the small school and charter school movements in New York City for over 20 years. He is a cofounder of The Renaissance Charter School in New York City and served as its founding principal (1993-2007). In this dialogue, Joffee articulates the ways in which…

Describes how a teacher's journey of documenting everyday literacy events on the streets in her community changes her understanding of what it means to bring the outside world and local literacies into her classroom. Concludes that educators must place value on who students are and where they come from. Suggests that educators and students must…

Criticisms of rational synoptic planning are that it is elitist, simplistic, and supportive of existing power relationships. An alternative, people-centered community planning, views the population to be studied as ideological and historical beings, uses knowledge of and by the people as a base, requires interpersonal as well as analytical skills,…

Examines these questions: What are life histories? What problems and people are best suited for them? What motivates people to write them? Does the collection procedure affect the content? and How should the material be analyzed? (Author/SK)

The experiences of a researcher from the United States in his field study of squatter-camp schools are presented. His reactions to conditions of extreme poverty in the community are juxtaposed against a divergent view from a project worker, a native of South Africa with extensive experience with teachers in squatter-camp schools. (MMU)

To overcome problems of trivia and nostalgia, a problem-centered approach to community oral history projects is proposed. Instead of cataloging details about aspects of past social life, the projects might shape their inquiry as an effort to understand a problem facing the community, a problem with contemporary significance but historical roots.…

Explores community analysis as a community resource development base. Examines and classifies community elements necessarily included in community improvement plans: associations, institutions, agencies, businesses, constituencies, and individual effecters. Lists questions involved in determining the community's state of health and the uses of the…

Anthropologists have often treated certain factors of community organization as given, rather than as potentially important variables to be investigated. Results of two community studies, however, suggest that community structure may be as important a variable to be investigated as either ethnicity or occupational status. (Author/GC)

Social protest from the farms, fields, and mills of rural Appalachia and the Ozarks leads to an indigenous music not found on commercial radio. Adult educators can gain from this music insight into the communities for which they are planninq educational services. (SK)

Briefly discusses projects in local history from elementary to graduate level. Suggests that projects can serve as a springboard for broader study and a building block for an appreciation of United States History and western civilization. (Author/KC)