Focuses on how knowledge about Japanese psychological development and culture can serve as a corrective to the ethnocentrism of Western theory. Highlights the Japanese cultural concepts of "amae" and "kejime." (Author/KB)

This essay presents two strands of arguments against radical or critical emancipatory multiculturalism. In strand 1, "'Culture' is...whatever..." the looseness of the core concept of "culture," which can refer to anything at all concerning a social group that itself may exist only theoretically, is shown. In strand 2, "From ideology to leveling,…

This paper discusses an approach to multicultural education aimed at sensitizing teachers and teacher trainees to diverse cultural patterns. This approach, which is called "Functional Multicultural Education", uses literary writings to emphasize awareness of the levels of cultural differences, both overt and pervasive, that exist in a pluralistic…

American Indian news as reported in urban newspapers and frontier weeklies during the 1820s and 1830s was shaped by the prejudices of the age as well as by the particular historical circumstances which brought Indians into conflict with White Americans. The press portrayed a culture for which it had little abiding sympathy or understanding,…

Spiritual experience is a taboo topic within Western institutions of higher learning. The silencing of this integral aspect of Indigenous people's lives often results in research findings that are inaccurate, incomplete, and invalid. Indigenous scholars are speaking out about how they integrate their spirituality into formal academic research,…

The insularity and preoccupation with Western culture and ideas in the United States presents difficulties for the effective teaching of Eastern languages and culture. Interdisciplinary cooperation at all educational levels is needed to encourage the learning and teaching of less commonly taught Eastern languages. (CB)

Asserts that central goal of sociology is to provide students with sociological perspective or the ability to reflect on their own society from a distance. Argues that ethnocentricism can be affected by an "insider's bias" and an "outsider's bias." Describes the use of Horace Miner's "Body Ritual of the Nacirema" as a…

Themes from the author's research into cultural interfaces and cross-cultural encounters have implications for organization development (OD) and training for internationalizing business and developing competencies for working effectively with people of diverse cultures. These themes are: (1) unawareness in the United States of cultural unawareness…

Lack of commitment, lack of knowledge, and lack of leadership allow contradictions between what is professed (appreciation of cultural diversity) and what is practiced (Anglo-oriented monoculturalism) in American education today. The traditional melting pot philosophy has failed to respect ethnic differences, and has consequently resulted in a…

In commenting on Dobbert et al's article (this issue), submits that the guiding principle of cultural anthropology, participant observation, is absent from their field guide. Argues that difficulty in studying cultural transmission cross-culturally is not only related to diversity in content but to deeper differences in metaphysical outlook. (RDN)

Criticizes several clinical and theoretical perspectives on the family for paying insufficient attention to class and cultural distinctions both in constructing normative images of the family and in conceptualizing therapeutic intervention. Suggests that the "democratic" model of healthy family interaction is class- and culture-specific. (Author)

Examines the philosophical basis of "Terra Nullius" as a justification for colonialism and racism directed at indigenous peoples, and its persistence as a pervasive mindset that impedes true equality and reconciliation in Australia. Discusses problems that arise when biased teachers or those with little cross-cultural experience attempt…

Links aspects of peripherality to the issue of education in small island states. Studies island states as isolated products of the formative period of our world economic order. Discusses implications for contemporary island education, especially structure and curriculum. 55 references. (Author/TES)

Reports a study that investigated ethnocentrism in foreign language education. The study utilized a quasiexperimental intact group design where nine sections of first-semester German students were randomly assigned to one of three groups: one that stressed German and American cultural similarities, one that stressed German and American…

Some of the problems of intercultural understanding involved with exchange programs like the German American Partnership Program (GAPP) are addressed. "Kleinstadtgesprache" is a three-step project that systematically integrates the GAPP exchange into the German classroom curriculum. (21 references) (Author/LB)