Adult education researchers must become critical writers and readers of research texts. Reflexivity should be seen as a movement away from the purely personal to an awareness of the operation of language, discourse, and power in the assumptions and unconscious values of research. (SK)

Introduces this issue of the journal, which is devoted to new perspectives on critical histories of graphic design. Notes that the essays in this issue offer examples of the variety of interpretative approaches available that serve to question both the previously unchallenged acceptance of historical explanations and the transcendent understanding…

Argues that the practice and influence of design history can benefit from new forms of visual and chronological analysis. Identifies and discusses a unique phenomenon, the "historical visual narrative." Examines special instances of this phenomenon in twentieth-century design and visual culture, which are tied to the theme of the…

Examines British fanzines as one form of subcultural communication that embraces specific visual and textual languages, often appropriating elements from mainstream cultural and media sources. Charts the growth of fanzine production over the last 20 years and analyzes the productive effects of fanzines on both the audiences they address and the…

Discusses how an assessment of "Le Livre de Marie" and "Je Vous Salue, Marie" risks reproducing the feminine/masculine dynamic by posing the films as male and female versions of the Marian myth. Acknowledges that evidence for this dichotomy exists, but both directors succeed in activating the Marian myth in ways that do not…

Argues that James Blue's complex documentaries had a limited effect on television viewers, but the films were a success nonetheless. States that it is vital to think of the complex documentary in terms of process, holding it accountable neither to the demands of the media's market economy nor to the stakes of political infighting. (PA)

Studies the public responses to Andrea Dworkin's novel "Mercy" (about rape specifically and the sexual abuse of women in general). Suggests that Dworkin's "Mercy"--like other controversial cultural texts--fostered a type of literary public sphere and that defining these spheres as "war zones" does not foster open debate or a common space for…

Students can learn to understand prose by carefully listening to the author's voice. The paper gives examples of prose in standard block form and in a poetic form, explaining why students find the poetic form more comprehensible. Students' awareness of rhetoric can be developed through the Myers Briggs inventory. (SM)

This response to Goodman's critique of "third-wave" school restructuring points out contradictions in his argument and clarifies the values of systemic transformation: social functionalism, empowerment, engaged communities, technology, negotiation, and individual needs. (SK)

Presents critical approaches to open and distance learning (ODL) and its role in modern societies based on experiences in the United Kingdom. Topics discussed include a history of correspondence education; industrial and Post-Fordist analysis of ODL; late modernity, the market, and consumerism; feminist approaches; and media and cultural studies.…

Argues that among the branches of historicism practiced by literary critics today, a branch of New Historicism that is broadly humanistic as opposed to narrowly political is the most illuminating. Describes the development and theoretical premises of this branch. Shows how it may be applied to the analysis of a literary work such as Keats's…

The author discusses concerns related to critiques of a universalist epistemology in science education. Issues discussed include description of the universalist view of science, lack of distinction between multicultural approaches and pluralistic criteria for scientific knowledge, and the kind of science being promoted by multicultural proponents.…

The segregation of humanity from wilderness is presupposed by many of the goals for restoration ecology. Critiques the underlying assumption that human presence rather than human activity is the cause of environmental degradation and examines the application of sustainable development through education as a viable ethical option. (LZ)

Discusses ways speech communication instructors can use the film "Thelma and Louise" in an upper-division rhetorical criticism class to illustrate three different critical approaches: pentadic, feminist, and ideological criticism. (SR)

Examines what "hypertext" means to literary criticism on the one hand (i.e., intertextuality) and computing on the other, to determine how the two concepts may serve each other in a mutually productive way. (GLR)