Vygotsky's (1993) "Fundamentals of Defectology" is a radical's handbook of deaf and disability studies. Vygotsky's overall research program views disabilities, including deafness, from an integrated biosocial and critical theory standpoint. In two movements, I introduce an "American Annals of the Deaf Special Issue" on…

From the independence of Ghana in 1957 to the ouster of the socialist President Kwame Nkrumah in 1966 more than 600 Ghanaians studied at universities and professional-technical schools in the Soviet Union. For both Ghana and the USSR these students were expected to become the socialist-minded elite that would build up postcolonial Ghana and…

Beginning in the twenties of the previous century, the writings of Anton Semjonovitch Makarenko, an educator who was born in the Ukranian part of the former Russia and mainly spoke and wrote in Russian, attracted much attention among educators not only in the Russian-speaking world and in communist states but also in the Western world and other…

In January of 1968, Czechoslovakian leader Alexander Dubcek introduced a program of unprecedented economic and political liberalization, intending to revitalize the nation. The eight months of freedom provided by the leadership of Dubcek revealed to the citizens of Czechoslovakia not only that autonomy was universally desired, but also that it was…

Cinema has always represented a powerful medium for influencing audiences (including in political and ideological ways). Therefore, exploring how the image of the Western world has been transforming in Soviet and Russian films is still relevant today. This study seeks to accomplish the following: define the role and place of the changing portrayal…

This article focuses on the situation of persons with intellectual disabilities in the developing post-Soviet countries and aims to review the extent to which services offered to them promote values of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and empower these persons to lead fulfilling lives. Interviews with experts revealed that…

Ideology is embedded in children's books; it is an unavoidable and widespread occurrence (Apol, 1998; Hollindale, 1988/1992). Neutrally described as a vital system of beliefs of any culture, ideology is often examined with regard to its incorporation into plots, character portrayals, and images in literary texts for children. More importantly,…

The article examines how Ukrainian history textbooks dealt with the Holocaust between independence and 2006. The analysis reveals two major, conflicting narratives about the Holocaust, though both externalize and relativize the Holocaust. As a template for understanding genocide, the Holocaust was applied to the Soviet-imposed 1932-33 famine in…

This article tests the assumption that state-mandated multiple-choice history exams are a cultural tool for disseminating an "official" collective memory. Findings from a qualitative study of a collection of multiple-choice questions that relate to the history of the Soviet Union are presented. The 263 questions all come from New York…

This paper seeks to provide a starting point for a broader discussion on the development of a critical research agenda in the field of "Education and Conflict Studies." We begin the paper with a brief overview of the field of Education and Conflict drawing on a series of recent "overviews" of the field and locate this within…

China and the Soviet Union maneuver for influence, and the U. S. tries to restore its position in the wake of the Indochina debacle. (Editor)

Reports that the World Congress of Psychiatry voted to condemn the Soviet Union for the abuse of psychiatry for political purposes. (SL)

Presents two accounts of the 1991 IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) Conference in Moscow. One article focuses on activities of the actual conference itself, including the politics of IFLA; and the second article provides an account of the Soviet coup from a conference attendee's point of view. (LRW)

The paper discusses major lines of research of American economists on the economies of the USSR and Eastern Europe. A specific concern is that the United States faces a complex set of issues resulting from the expanding role of these countries in the world economy. At the same time, the United States is experiencing a declining base of specialists…

Outlines the recent developments in migration laws and political unrest with respect to Communist Soviet authority and United States policies toward Soviet refugees. Developments in the Baltic states, Moldavia, East Germany, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia are discussed. (JS)