-May I have a coffee?- How different the meaning of this statement is when it is uttered on a stage rather than in a cafe. What matters in one place does not matter at all in another. In the cafe, all that matters is the communicative-referential level of the message (attention focused solely on the concept of coffee), but on the stage everything else counts: the tone of the voice, symbolic, anthropological, and ritualistic values, etc. The first message is monosemic and the second polysemic, or open to an indefinite number of interpretations. What accounts for this difference? Is it the...

This book is a comparative study of the political theories of Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of the United States of America, and Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Similarities are found in their imperial settings, wars of national independence, establishment of republics, freedom of religion, public education, and economics. The impact of these two great political thinkers on the West and the Middle East is detailed."

Half of our eligible citizens fail to cast a presidential ballot and many more than half routinely ignore state and local elections. Does this phenomenon point to a crisis of democracy or does such behavior simply reflect indifference or even contentment among the public? Should we be alarmed that so many of our citizens seem disinterested and unwilling to participate in the various activities and forms of association that constitute civic life? If we are concerned by such matters, what might be done to reengage those who are seemingly disengaged? This book explores these questions and...

A Students Guide to African American Literature, 1760 to the Present is designed to assist college students (and others) who are relative novices to the study of African American literature. Focusing on the prose tradition (from early autobiographical narratives to contemporary fiction), the author highlights themes, issues, and motifs peculiar to, and recurring in, African American literature, while providing students with more specific information on a number of key texts. Each chapter comes with suggestions for assignments and a selected bibliography for further research. The book...

Dancing the Data and its interrelated CD-ROM, Dancing the Data Too, show the ways in which educational research and the visual and performing arts can embrace each other to engender a culture of feeling and meaning and in so doing evoke new ways of knowing, learning, and teaching. It draws on the artistic mediums of dance, collage, poetry, music, and drama and invites the reader to engage with the educational research endeavors of the contributors as they seek to move beyond the traditions of established approaches to represent and reflect on their work in artistic forms....

On Becoming Nuyoricans takes an intimate look at two sisters experiences growing up as part of the first generation of female Puerto Ricans born and raised in New York during the 1950s and 1960s. This generation of Puerto Ricans, also referred to as -Nuyoricans-, played a critical role in helping to define unique issues of race, assimilation, and equity for immigrants who were not white Europeans (African Americans notwithstanding) in a society that defined itself as a -melting pot-. This book also examines critical issues related to community, home, class, values, motivation, and...

This collection of essays explores the possibilities of studying educational matters with the tools of narrative and literature. Written over the course of the 1980s and 1990s, these essays trace the literary turn in educational research toward forms of literary journalism, critical storytelling, and postmodern narrative. The articles are presented as biographical evidence of the author s ongoing quest for forms of educational research that are well-suited to the enormously complex nature of educational encounters. This collection includes both theoretical dissertations and actual case...

This annotated bibliography lists all the journal articles, book chapters, and reviews on African American writers published in Japan between 1927 and 1993. The introduction provides an overview of the critical reception of African American literature in Japan from the 1927 monograph on Booker T. Washington to a special session (-Today s African American Women Writers-) at the 64th annual meeting of the English Literary Association of Japan in 1992. Also included is a list of Japanese translations of works by African American writers including such genres as novel, short story, poetry, essay,...

Judicial opinions written by justices of the United States Supreme Court are readily available, yet few Americans will ever examine the full substance of a Court opinion. Students, particularly undergraduate students with no real expertise (or interest) in the law, can find reading opinions an overwhelming and laborious process.
The opinions of Justice Scalia are a different matter. Scalia is often sarcastic, smug, and self-assured. He does not hesitate to take his colleagues to task when he feels they are wrong and does not mind stooping to ridicule and personal attack when it serves his...

Reflecting a national movement that seeks to create a more holistic model of learning and teaching on college and university campuses, Education as Transformation is a collection of twenty-eight essays written by a wide range of educators including presidents, chancellors, deans, faculty members, administrators, religious life professionals, students, and other leaders in the field of education on the themes of religious pluralism and spirituality in higher education. These essays provide scholarly analysis, practical information, and inspiration for those who agree that higher...