This paper concerns the popular cultural representation of English rurality. It focuses upon "Postman Pat", a popular cultural phenomenon which has come to be routinely cited as exemplary and iconic of contemporary imaginings of the English countryside as "idyllic". The idea that Anglocentric popular culture (re)produces this…

It is, by now, well accepted that those of us who live with/in contemporary Anglocentric popular culture are presented, from birth, with manifold icons and imaginings of the English countryside as "idyllic". Indeed, the idea that, through such popular representations, we encounter and "consume" this sense of "rural…

The attribution of low literacy levels among Gypsy children to difficulties of access to schools neglects underlying sociocultural explanations. There has been little analysis in reports/studies of Gypsy attitudes toward literacy, nor of outcomes of acquisition. Informed by new literacy theory and by the discourse of previous ethnographic studies,…

Contends that the English coffee house was a social and economic institution that served as a daily newspaper and a center of commerce. Discusses coffee house origins, development, significance, and decline. Concludes that the coffee house served as a transition from medieval society to an age of rationality and industry. (CFR)

Maintains that, from very different points on the ideological spectrum, citizenship and citizenship education have been added to the political agenda. Argues that political theory, distinct from descriptive civics, is more relevant to the political development of citizens. (CFR)