In today's complex and unsettling global landscape, it is crucial to seek, define, and legitimize educational perspectives and research that are underpinned by philosophical paradigms that enable us to respond to unforeseen challenges and effectively address the ever-growing complexity and multiplicity of reality. The evolving nature of education…

The 'new' sociology of childhood sees an emergence of interdisciplinary approaches to understanding self, experience and subjectivity of children. As debates frame research with children, concerned with 'ethics' and 'agency', what is meant by the 'subject' of experience is given little attention. In this article, I ask whether narratives are a…

In interdisciplinary education, metaphors often provide the epistemological clarity that is lacking in our definitions and theories of interdisciplinarity. The problem is that ineffective and unsubstantiated metaphors proliferate. We lack a root metaphor or shared world view of interdisciplinarity. Is it time that we move away from thinking in…

The current process of globalisation has led to a convergence of international and Spanish concerns regarding teaching and research issues in the area of comparative education. Both in their teaching and their research work, the academics within the Spanish comparative community display a notable -- and typically Hispanic -- heterogeneity. This…

This dissertation has seven chapters. In chapter one, I discuss through why I am doing this dissertation, my positionality, and how I learned from and with all of my committee members. Chapter two is where I situate my dissertation study through developing a social theory of quantitative literacy by translating a social theory of literacy (Barton…

This book explores postmodern critique in scholarly inquiry in the context of the philosophies of Jean-Francois Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Richard Rorty, and Calvin Schrag. Claiming that the overall course of inquiry is characterized by basic theoretical deficiencies, postmodern critique suggests a rethinking of the nature and aims…

Examines four postmodern forms of thought that are posing fundamental challenges to modern assumptions about knowledge; all reject absolute foundations of knowledge, which are rooted in the notion that legitimate intellectual activity is the discipline-based pursuit of knowledge of entities that exist before and independent of inquiry. Offers a…

The effects of the knowledge revolution on the disciplinary structure of the humanities and social sciences are examined, particularly as they concern pedagogy surrounding the doctoral degree, the highest level of accreditation for university teaching. Potential changes in the doctoral dissertation are discussed in this context. Application of the…

Uses the film, "Dead Poets Society," to illustrate and discuss postmodernist issues in education. Although ostensibly a straightforward narrative of individuality versus conformity there are problematic areas in this film that lend themselves to multiple readings. The film reproduces a number of powerful myths without benefit of a…