The annual meeting of the American Historical Association is reported, including the "history in crisis" vs "history being revitalized" debate. In the 1960s, a younger generation of scholars pioneered the "new social history"; in the 1980s, political divisions have contributed to the debate. (MLW)

Analyzes Japan's success in avoiding many of the sociocultural problems affecting other modern countries. Explains Japan's ability to balance the old and the new, the domestic and the foreign, from an anthropological and educational perspective. Focuses on Japan's traditional pedagogical emphasis on rote and imitation. (KH)

The book explains for the general reader the history and present practice of curanderismo--Mexican American folk healing practices--and gives biographical sketches of three famous nineteenth century folk healers--Don Pedrito Jaramillo, Nino Fidencio, and Teresita Urrea. Characteristics and training of curanderos, or healers, are discussed and the…

Presents an Eriksonian analysis of the impact of traditionalism and feminism on the identity formation of university-attending women and postulates four "identity strategies": traditionalism, ambivalent semi-traditionalism, confident semi-traditionalism, and feminism. Describes a study assessing the reliability and validity of an…

Professors and administrators are vowing to fight what they call the "fundamentalist takeover" of Mercer University and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. The "takeovers" are seen as assaults on academic freedom. (MLW)

Traditional Mexican American herbal potions and remedies and their history are explained in an introductory book for the general reader. The importance of curanderismo, or green medicine, in Mexican and Mexican American cultures is explored. A brief history traces the herbal aspects of curanderismo through Mayan and Aztec cultures, the Spanish…

In this analysis of healing and conversion as two of the most notable and persistent traits of the new religious movements in Africa, healing is described as an indigenous religious category within the context of conversion as a modern permutation of African religion. Religious conversion is most strikingly represented in societies where the…

E. D. Hirsch in his book "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know" sees gaps in common cultural information as the leading cause of illiteracy. Hirsch compiles nearly 5,000 facts and figures that represent what literate Americans need to know. (MLW)

This paper, using five examples (Kenya, Japan, Malaysia, the Soviet Union, and the United States), explores some patterns of interactions among social, political, and economic activity (SPEA) and seven influences affecting the character of national systems of education. The educational change and improvement efforts in the five countries are…

Traces the historical origins of the controversy surrounding Afrocentric education versus education based on the traditional canon of the Western world to W. H. Ferris' work and his 1913 study "The African abroad or His Evolution in Western Civilization, Tracing His Development under Caucasian Milieu," which has relevance today. (SLD)

This study presents first-hand information on aspects of the developmental process during the first five years of life in rural Teyateyaneng in Lesotho, a small country surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. Implicit in the study is the assumption that a relationship exists between informal education at home and formal education at school.…

Despite the value placed on traditional culture in Old Order Amish society, these communities have experienced change recently. These changes include: use of legal means to regulate behavior, acceptance of technical medical services such as heart transplants, and diminished importance of farm work to the economy of the community. However, the Old…

Education was so much a part of Jewish thought and way of life that it was often taken for granted, e.g., the early sages never wrote an articulated plan for education principles and practices. The introduction to this overview of traditional Jewish education discusses the basic concepts of belief in the efficacy of education, the integration of…

An historical and descriptive account of the Islamic school system is presented. Traditional Islamic schools began with the founding of Islam in the seventh century A.D.; the madrasas or Islamic universities were considered to be among the world's finest higher education institutes. Although Islamic scholarship began to wane in the 14th century,…