This article contends that the relatively recent academic movement known as communitarianism can serve as a policy guide that could work catalytically on American cultural development of the sort that would loosen the tight military-industrial connection and in so doing aid the dismantling of the "warfare state." After chronicling the development…

The world is facing a shortage of clean drinking water. Current predictions, due to growing population, urbanization, and climate change estimate access to clean water to be further challenged in the coming years. Research has indicated that point of use (POU) technologies are likely to be the most efficient at delivering clean water (water…

The environmental history episode explored in this paper shows how the growth of a culture of bushwalking in New South Wales from the 1920s to the 1950s created a very particular relationship to land use and access. I suggest that the model of extended bushwalking in wild, remote places that was defined then has since become central to the culture…

The First Amendment's guarantee of an independent press that may freely collect and disseminate news is often considered the bedrock of American democracy. Yet more than a century and a half after the "New York Herald's" John Nugent became the first American reporter jailed for refusing to identify a confidential source, reporters…

In this article, we present vignettes from two projects--one in Cyprus and the other in South Africa--to show how some classrooms enact "heterotopic" affective spaces that oppose normal/ized identities, that is, identities grounded in polarized trauma narratives. The notion of heterotopia is a spatial concept developed by Foucault to…

"The Emperor Has No Clothes: Teaching About Race and Racism to People Who Don't Want to Know" is designed to offer both practical and theoretical grounding for leaders and teachers interested in effectively addressing racism as well as other oppressive constructs. The dissertation offers an overview of the role of western culture in maintaining…

History has informed the present, as surely as the present will inform the future. As an evolving society, we are continually reflecting on the events and experiences of the past, taking stock of the issues and realities of the present, and then adapting the parameters, definitions and constructs that serve to define acceptability and reason as we…

Lessons from history lead to questions for the future of higher education: is innovation being embraced quickly enough, have universities reached a scale necessary to the task, can technology help, can higher education institutions bring more hands to the wheel, and are they managing and leading in appropriate ways? Trends in higher education play…

In this article, the author shares his thoughts when he saw the controversial "New Yorker" cover of July 21, 2008 showing the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, as a Muslim jihadist and his wife, Michelle, as a gun-toting, Afro-wearing black militant. The cover told the story of a rite of African-American passage that occurred at a…

Forty years ago--on May 9, 1968--the local school board in Brooklyn's black ghetto of Ocean Hill-Brownsville sent telegrams to 19 unionized educators, informing them that their employment in the district was terminated. Eighteen were white. One black teacher was mistakenly included on the list, but reinstated almost immediately after the error was…

In this provocative volume, the authors argue that public education is a central part of American civil religion and, thus, gives us an unquestioning faith in the capacity of education to solve all of our social, economic, and political problems. The book traces the development of America's faith in public education from before the Civil War up to…

A field-based course at the University of Arizona called Sense of Place (SOP) covers the geology, ecology and cultural history of the Tucson area. SOP was quantitatively assessed for pedagogical effectiveness. Students of the Spring 2008 course were given pre- and post-course word association surveys in order to assess awareness and comprehension…

This paper makes a case for "good politics for good education", with special reference to Nigeria. It surveys the impact of good and bad politics on the attainment of Meaningful Access to education with special focus on Nigeria's Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme. Good politics is to be likened to what the French call "la…

This paper examines how early church doctrine influenced the construction of and response to intellectual disability. Though the main focus of the paper is on intellectual disability, much of the discussion is more broadly relevant to other types of impairments and human differences. The vehicle for this examination is the work of the key figure…

A new institute at Dillard University promises to enliven scholarly research on the cultural and social history of the foods of the African diaspora. To be started next spring with $1-million from the late singer Ray Charles, the Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures will oversee research, academic courses, public programs, and an annual…