Discussion with an African-American mental health group in Britain demonstrate the politics involved in the relationship between knowledge and power. Transformative research is seen as part of the politics of postmodernism--the shift from Eurocentrism and the influence of research on political agendas and the balance of power. (SK)

Reviews the development of philosophy of education in North America, Britain, and Australia, examining mutual influences and common characteristics and trends. The paper examines the role language has played in the evaluation of disciplinary traditions in different countries over time and discusses the influence of postmodernism. (SM)

Describes how the New Service Class in Britain makes use of the rural in such ideological terms as cultural roots, nationality, diversity, and environmentalism. Allotments (rented garden plots) appear to be sites of cultural identity for an increasingly diverse population who constantly reconstruct the meaning of the rural. Advocates for…

Since the 1960s, the world has undergone transformations in trade, industry, and technology. Some assert that the postmodern society needs organizational structures that allow for diversity, instability, unpredictability, and mobility. However, this paper argues that the headlong rush toward such organizational forms may well encourage the…

Study of the history of adult education is worthwhile, despite perceived problems of studying history---ancient, modern, and postmodern. The ancient problems of historiography can best be summed up in the word "antiquarianism." Characteristics of modernity are as follows: the notion that history is progress, metanarratives, nationalist…

Presents a revised version of the 1998 Presidential address to the newly-inaugurated British Association for International and Comparative Education. Outlines perspectives and traditions in comparative education and the challenges in light of current trends. Suggests that comparative education must borrow from other social science disciplines and…

Examines the way recent childhood policy initiatives in Britain have generated contradictory models of child competence and adults' role, and attempts to locate policy within broader understandings of social change. Draws from case material on two dominant child care issues: child sex abuse and school deviance. (BGC)

The following are among the papers included in these proceedings: "Challenging the Exclusionary Effects of the Inclusive Mask of Adult Education" (Rockhill); "Organic Intellectuals of the State and Political Struggle in the University" (Cunningham); "Adult Education's Prospects in a Post-University World" (Smith);…