Educational Theories and Practices from the Majority World

This work provides a healthy, comprehensive counterpoint to the ethnocentrism engrained in the widespread belief that scientific knowledge about education is typically Western. Stressing that the Western ′minority′ perspective cannot hold true for the ′majority′ of the world population situated outside Europe and North America, this edited volume explores traditional educational theories and practices developed in the majority world to study how they can improve modern schooling globally. Educational Theories and Practices from the Majority World probes the elements of culturally appropriate, quality schooling for various indigenous people in India, the Pacific and the Americas. One of the sections dwells on how to synergise the systems used in modern schools with the ones used in non-Western formal schools linked to religious institutions, such as Koranic, Sanskrit, Buddhist and Vodoo schools. Another section delves into educational policy issues in the context of globalization. This compilation brings together difficult-to-access theories and research by contributors from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America. It is an invaluable resource for policy makers in Education and for students, researchers and academicians studying Education and Anthropology.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Ethnocentrism in Education and How to Overcome it - Pierre R Dasen and Abdeljalil Akkari I: INFORMAL AND "INDIGENOUS" EDUCATION Informal Education and Learning Processes - Pierre R Dasen Ethnotheories of Developmental Learning in the Western Grassfields of Cameroon - A Bame Nsamenang, Pascaline J Fai, Gladys N Ngoran, Mairama Y Ngeh, Fedelis W Forsuh, Eunice W Adzemye and Glory N Lum Participatory Appropriation and the Cultivation of Nurturance: A Case Study of African Primary Health Science Curriculum Development - Robert Serpell Situated Learning and Compagnonnage Formation: Implications for the Education Systems of Poor (and Rich) Nations - John D Herzog II: CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE SCHOOLING FOR ABORIGINAL PEOPLE Curriculum Localization: A View from the South - George Robert Teasdale Education of Tribal Children in India - Ramesh C Mishra The Decolonization of Aboriginal Education: Dialogue, Reflection, and Action in Canada - Marie Battiste Issues and Challenges for Intercultural and Bilingual Education (IBE) in Latin America - Anahy Gajardo, Giovanni Carrarini, Jose Marin and Pierre R Dasen III: EDUCATION AND RELIGION Socialization, Learning and Basic Education in Islamic Contexts - Abdeljalil Akkari Sanskrit Schooling in India - Ramesh C Mishra and Aparna Vajpayee Sanskrit Schools in Varanasi between Traditions and Transition - Marie Anne Broyon Buddhist Education as a Challenge to Modern Schooling - Nilima Changkakoti and Marie Anne Broyon Education in Voodoo Convents in Benin - Adjignon Debora Gladys Hounkpe IV: GLOBAL POLITICAL ISSUES Paulo Freire: Building a Multicultural Pedagogy for Silenced Voices - Abdeljalil Akkari and Peri Mesquida Globalization, Education and Cultural Diversity - Jose Marin The Globalization of Schooling: Major Trends and Issues in the South and the North - Abdeljalil Akkari and Pierre R Dasen Index

About the Author :
Pierre R. Dasen is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology of Education and Cross-cultural Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology and Education of the University of Geneva. He studied developmental psychology in Geneva, was an assistant to J. Piaget, and received a PhD from the Australian National University. He studied the cognitive development of Aboriginal children in Australia, Inuit in Canada, Baoulé in Côte d’Ivoire, and Kikuyu in Kenya; he has also contributed to research in cognitive anthropology among the Yupno of Papua-New-Guinea, and in Bali. His research topics have included visual perception, the development of sensori-motor intelligence, the causes and effects of malnutrition, the development of concrete operations as a function of eco-cultural variables and daily activities, defi nitions of intelligence, number systems, and spatial orientation. He has also been concerned with intercultural education, and in particular with the access of illegal migrant adolescents to professional training. His main interests are in everyday cognition, informal education, and parental ethnotheories, and his current research in India, Nepal, and Indonesia is on spatial language and cognitive development. Abdeljalil Akkari is Professor of International Dimensions of Education at the Faculty of Psychology and Education of the University of Geneva and formerly Dean for research at the Higher Pedagogical Institute HEP-BEJUNE (Bienne, Switzerland). He received his PhD at the University of Geneva in 1992. He worked as professor of education at the universities of Geneva, Fribourg, and Baltimore. His major publications include studies on educational planning, multicultural education, teacher training, and educational inequalities. His main research interests focus now on teacher education and the reforms of educational systems in a comparative perspective. He is also consultant for the International Bureau of Education (UNESCO) and other international organizations. He is an expert on different educational projects in various countries: Switzerland, USA, Brazil, Tunisia, Algeria, Irak, and Madagascar. He is fl uent in Arabic, French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Review :
Educational Theories and Practices from the majority world is a scholarly publication…Several chapters and case studies in the book are written in a simple and lucid style which a layperson interested in educational practices around the world can understand and relate to. Well researched and referenced by all the contributors, and with a coherent flow, it is compulsory reading for scholars and post-graduate students in education; and must-hold for any library in an academic setting.