This study used open-ended interviews and classroom observations to examine the development of children's understanding of historical time in Northern Ireland. Even the youngest made distinctions among past times, and these differentiations became increasingly numerous with age; students also were able to sequence historic time periods with a high…

The ambiguities of intercultural communication are examined in this paper. The concept posed is that although every culture sees the world according to that culture's heritage and history, immediate contexts also shape meanings. In multicultural contexts, those meanings must be constructed partly anew each time by speakers, writers, listeners, and…

This paper presents a field linguist's personal observations on language work and the language effort in Alaskan Athabaskan languages. Language work is the various ways in which people can make real accomplishments in one of the smaller languages for the benefit of themselves and the people around them, and for the benefit of the larger society.…

This paper suggests that the study of holidays presents an opportunity for elementary school teachers to employ a range of social science disciplines and to teach their students the fundamentals of inquiry and critical thinking. The study of holidays from a cross-cultural perspective helps students to understand that peoples of all cultures find…

An ethnographic study of a pre-school classroom explored an unconventional triangulated framework using literary theory, cultural and critical theory for communication inquiry into the narrative experiences of multicultural children. Field observations were conducted during 1991 in a pre-kindergarten class in a western United States university…

While not attempting to review and criticize the whole body of research of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this paper explores the applicability of his theory of culture to one of the critical theories of mass communication, namely cultural studies. The paper discusses political economy and Bourdieu's economic rationality and presents an…

Updating an earlier issue of the "International and Intercultural Communication Annual" (Volume VII, 1983), this collection of 13 essays represents the major approaches to the study of intercultural communication, as well as of communication in general. Papers in the collection are: "On Theorizing Intercultural Communication"…

The Ryukyu Islands of Japan, of which Okinawa is the best known, possess a lengthy history and a sophisticated cultural background, an exploration of which helps to shed light on this area and on mainland Japan. This document is an exposition of Ryukuan culture. Divided into eight sections, the areas covered include: (1) Historical perspective;…

"Contrary-to-face-value" (CFV) messages, which can only be understood from a contextual instead of a text-based approach to communication, have caused many problems in communication between East Asians and North Americans. A typology of CFV communication, as identified in the Chinese culture, is proposed in this paper. Four forms of CFV…

There is evidence in the literature indicating that western education was used not to promote the healthy coexistence of the western and the African cultures but as a sanitizing and civilizing medium. This document describes the need to design science education that adequately meets the needs of the African in such a way that the African view of…

The addition of international concepts in the business school curriculum has been a major thrust of accrediting agencies and the profession at large. While marketers working within the United States have a vast amount of knowledge of their customers, many marketers are "fooled" by the notion that consumers in other countries are the same…

Film and television in the western world are highly stylized and culturally specific products. A course on multicultural aesthetics in film and video should introduce the student to perceptual alternatives in film and television use. Some of these alternatives can be derived from three well-established areas of film/television study: the…

A study examined the personal, social, and political functions that underlie the reading and writing that young children do about themselves, their families and communities, and their culture. Subjects, five third-grade children attending an inner-city elementary school, participated in an alternative language arts program involving independent…

The data reported in this paper gives depth to the picture of computers in society, in work, and in schools. The prices have dropped but computer corporations sell to schools, as they do to any other customer, to increase profits for themselves. Computerizing is a vehicle for social stratification. Computers are not easy to use and are hard to…

"The Road from Coorain" is the autobiographical story of Jill Ker Conway, the first woman president of Smith College. The story traces Conway's journey from powerlessness to power. Born in the outback of Australia, where all people were powerless in the face of the vacillations of nature, forced off the land into a city life to which she…