Learning materials have become significant determinants of quality learning environments for young children. This study presents an example of such learning material in the Finnish context -- a children's book entitled: "Bibi muuttaa Suomeen" (translated: "Bibi Moves to Finland") by Katja Kallio and Maggie Lindholm (2005). The…

The youth-led revolutions that rocked the Arab world earlier this year have refocused attention on the region's 100 million-strong youth demographic and its critical role in the transformation of existing political, economic, and social structures in the Middle East and North Africa. Youth under the age of 25 represent an estimated and…

Provides a brief overview of the field of sociology of education and stresses its importance to teachers. Reviews the status of the field in Africa stating that it has not yet become institutionalized. Urges the formation of a professional association and journal. (BSR)

Underdeveloped countries will be agreeable toward externally imposed social and educational change if their relations with the country initiating the changes are good. However, if hostility toward the greater power exists, the leaders of these countries will resist any attempts to remold their societies. (CK)

Analyzes the obstacles to universal literacy in Africa including the colonial creation of a two-tier society, rapid population growth, and multiplicity of languages. Suggests that the power structure is such that it has a vested interest in the providing a limited amount of literacy without raising the populace's consciousness. (Contains 30…

This paper identifies the historical factors that played a key role in the rise of mass popular education and describes how these factors relate to education in Southern Africa in the 21st century. The broad overview of developments since the Renaissance begins with the Protestant Reformation, which established a theoretical basis for elementary…

Describes the political development of post-colonial Africa. Continuing tension has existed between single party and multi-party solutions to political organization and between mass movements and elitism. While Africans have been responive to socialist rhetoric, the primacy of ethnicity and the weak class structure have militated against genuine…

This volume is one of a series of handbooks designed to be useful to military, and other personnel who need a convenient compilation of basic facts about the social, economic, political, and military institutions and practices of various countries. The emphasis is on objective description of the nation's present society and the kinds of possible…

Analyzes the struggle between Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism from an Afrocentric geopolitical perspective. Africans, with Afrocentrism as an intellectual class action suit, are determined to rescue their minds from the suzerainty of Eurocentric miseducation. Afrocentrism represents the most potent challenge to the European power structure of the…

This booklet touches upon many aspects of the Maasai tribe of Tanzania and Kenya. Topics covered include an historical background examining Maasai origins and contact with Europeans and a survey of their economic system detailing community life, daily routine, diet, the importance of and ideas about raising livestock, food, technology, and…

It is often the case that lip service is paid to the strength of indigenous culture while the implications of indigenous peoples' strengths are disregarded in actual project design. This paper shows that indigenous peoples and societies are able to cope with an extraordinary number of permutations, and that their coping mechanisms are both…

The Ljubljana seminar, whose background and working papers are presented in this volume, was an outcome of the United Nations' consideration of the problems of ethnic and linguistic minorities. The twenty-five papers cover topics such as the study of multinational societies; the protection of minorities and minority rights in Yugoslavia,…

This issue dealing with language discusses language and social structure, social progress and sociolinguistics, oral and literate traditions, Portuguese Creole dialects in West Africa, a framework for describing how languages spread, socio-cultural conflict and bilingual education, linguistic variation in one-language societies, the language…

Demonstrates why terms like "tribe" cannot be transferred from ethnographic descriptions to political history. Critiques her work with Central African tribes, comparing African and American Indian societies to show that what looks like a tribal entity is usually a political polity with its own history of growth and decline. (LFL)

Based on a survey of written sources and perspectives of knowledgeable individuals, the report provides information on women's economic roles in Cameroon, and on aspects of social life which effect their economic performance. A description of the importance of traditional social systems and their evolution over the last 30 years follows a brief…