This paper attempts to assess the influence of development communication theory on the planning and implementation of technical assistance projects in the Third World that utilize mass communication as an agent of change. Like political development theory, communication theory has often been applied in an ethnocentric manner in less developed…

In December 1996, a peace accord ended 30 years of civil war in Guatemala, during which an estimated 200,000 people were killed and over 1 million were displaced. Most of the war's victims have been indigenous (Maya) Guatemalans--who make up about 65 percent of the population--and other supporters of economic and political reforms. In this book,…

Guatemala's school completion rates are among the lowest in Latin America and are particularly low in rural indigenous areas ravaged by 36 years of civil conflict. In 1997, USAID launched the Girls' Education Activity, known as Proyecto Global in Guatemala, to increase the percentage of girls who complete fifth grade, especially in rural areas and…

A longitudinal study explored cultural historical change within the Zinacantecan Mayan culture to create theoretical and empirical links between individual processes of cultural apprenticeship and societal processes of cultural change. The study examined the transmission of culture from parent to child in an apprenticeship relationship as the…

A Guatemalan program teaches Indigenous working children where they work--in the streets. The teachers, who are also Mayan, accommodate student needs and involve parents. This program of popular education empowers poor children and adults to participate in public life and lead the way in the creation of a democracy. (Contains 20 references.) (TD)