Background: The issue of ethnicity is central to the field of Child and Youth Care (CYC), yet the ways in which the ethnic identity of CYC workers is manifested and related to their practice has remained significantly understudied. Objective: The present research examines the role of ethnic identity in the personal and professional lives of…

Dominant national myths create versions of reality that we need to deconstruct if we are to take students beyond stereotype. Using the USA as an example, histories that do not align with critical national narratives become silenced or muted. Preoccupation with Black and White dichotomies is just such a narrative that has hidden the significance of…

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the linkage of identity of new and veteran immigrant students of the Ethiopian community in Israel, by examining their attitudes to children's literature books written simultaneously in Hebrew and Amharic. The data were collected using focus groups of Ethiopian students attending a teacher training college.…

Debates about human nature often revolve around what is built in. However, the hallmark of human nature is how much of a person's identity is not built in; rather, it is humans' great capacity to adapt, change, and grow. This nature versus nurture debate matters--not only to students of human nature--but to everyone. It matters whether people…

In this study we investigated the perceptions and interpretations of 14 various stakeholders in the field of teacher preparation and early childhood education regarding what and how Jewish education should be learned and taught, in general, and to preschool children in contemporary Israel, in particular. The present study, carried out in the…

During the past decade, the authors have conducted research in their own countries, all of which are considered conflict or postconflict societies: Israel, Cyprus, and Northern Ireland. They have focused on a variety of topics related to peace education, reconciliation, and coexistence. Giving special emphasis to the formation of identity in…

This piece recounts personal changes I underwent while collecting data for my dissertation. Stemming from my own personal experiences of anomie and feelings of not belonging to the languages and cultures of either Canada or Israel, this inquiry examined the collusion of my attitudes with the attitudes of advanced Hebrew learners of diverse…

Israeli educational policies have changed over the last 40 years in response to the backgrounds and needs of various immigrant groups. This study compares two recent waves of immigration, from the Soviet Union in the 1970's and 1980's, and from Ethiopia in the 1980's. Both groups arrived during a period when Israel's social and educational policy…

An analysis of a televised interview, in Israel, of an actress playing a role in a play is presented as an illustration of politeness marking in modern Israeli Hebrew. The interviewer is well-known as an educated Ashkenazi Jew, the actress a singer well-known for her vocal portrayal of Sephardic Jews, and in this case playing an exaggeratedly…

Describes a study of the relationship between social identity and readiness for social relations in Israeli Jewish and Arab students and in U.S. Black and White students. Both the Israeli Arabs and the U.S. Blacks tend to emphasize their race or nationality more than their civic allegiance. (SED)

This volume contains 12 papers originally presented at the 14th Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education in 1999. The symposium explored contemporary issues of ethnic, cultural, and national identities and their influence on the social construction of identity. Papers include: (1) "Reconceptualizing Ethnicity and Educational…