The idea of a sign language town, or a Deaf utopia, where Deaf and signing people can come together to live in a geographical or figurative homeland has long persisted in US Deaf life, letters, and literature. In the wake of the Milan Congress of 1880, Alexander Graham Bell's alarming rhetoric concerning "a deaf mute variety of the human…

This paper aims to present two potential instruments that will address the lack of knowledge in regard to the context of students' reality from teaching professionals in a specific school, these being: a local historiography (record of "yesterday"), based on oral history; and a reality inventory (record of "today"), elaborated…

In the 1920s,in the environment of emerging brutal capitalism, exclusion and ghetto benches, on the initiative of avant-garde architects from the Praesens group and Polish socialists built a housing estate in Zoliborz, the ambition of which was to teach people how to dwell. Soon it turned out that the founders of the housing cooperative were, as…

Like other adult education providers such as the Workers' Educational Association, the educational settlement movement was beset with political controversy during the 1920s. This article considers the relationship between the Educational Settlements Association (ESA) and its affiliated institutions, relating these to the competing political…

This paper examines the attempts made by the renewing kibbutzim to maintain their way of life as much as possible through the adjustment of their gating mechanisms. In this type of a rural gated community, sorting procedures and admittance criteria of nonmembers are the most notable elements. Background material and interviews with informants at…

With the likelihood of future changes in climate and climate variability, it is important to understand how human systems may be vulnerable. Rural communities in Saskatchewan having agricultural-based economies are particularly dependent on climate and could be among the most vulnerable human systems in Canada. Future changes in climate are likely…

The aims of education, and the appropriate means of realising them, are a recurring preoccupation of utopian authors. The utopian socialists Robert Owen (1771-1858) and Charles Fourier (1772-1837) both place human nature at the core of their educational views, and both see education as central to their wider objective of social and political…

Finding and cultivating a sense of authentic self is an important life goal for emerging adults. In collectivist cultures, youngsters might need to distance themselves to find and discover their authentic selves separate of the expectations of society and significant others. Creating an autonomous time bubble that focuses on the present allows…

Intentional communities--groups of unrelated individuals who choose to live together, sharing such things in common as wealth, property, labour, food and a sense of identity and fellowship (Kamau 2002)--continue to serve as powerful points of resistance to the larger culture of consumption that permeates our modern world. Grounded in recent…

The changes in the kibbutzim went through a transition from a collectivistic society to an individualistic one, with an emphasis on family units. Parents found themselves in a new role that was not passed to them by inter-generational transfer, while caregivers lost their socialisation roles, expressed by exhaustion and low professional…

In this paper the origin of the Camphill Movement will be outlined. Particular attention will be paid to the influence of the Moravian Brethren educational model in the development of the Camphill Schools. A key influence which helped to shape Camphill philosophy and practice was the writing of Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670), a bishop in the…

In 1992, even before a formalized agricultural extension system existed, the Farmer Field School was introduced in Vietnam as a farmer education methodology aiming at enhancing farmers' agroecological knowledge, critical skills and collective action to support sustainable agricultural development. Over the years, the model saw a wide range of…

Reflections and comments of a school superintendent, a professor, and a seven-year-old child who accompanied a group to China are presented. They comment on a variety of topics, including education, communal life, the state of the revolution, and the people. (RM)

This article is the first of two which will give an account of the history of the education departments of the kibbutz movements in Israel and highlight their uniqueness and achievements. They dealt with all types of educational activities at all ages and in all spheres: kindergarten teachers, teachers, "metaplot" (plural form of…

Describes the Lindisfarne Association, a community of contemplatives embodying the insights of William Irwin Thompson into post-industrial society. Examines the origins of the Association, Thompson's views on the transition from industrial civilization to planetary culture, and the distinctive features of the Association. (AYC)