‘Caught’ between foreign cultural and development policies: perspectives of German Studies and German as a foreign language in Africa

The promotion of the German language abroad and of German Studies plays a central role in German Foreign Cultural Policy. With regard to Sub-Saharan Africa, otherwise a peripheral region for foreign policy, German as foreign language is firmly established as second language after English. Learners especially in Francophone West and Central Africa have increased over the past decade. Numerous funding programmes and actions are supported by German nongovernmental organizations at college/university levels. But bilateral cooperation between German and African academic institutions are challenged both by negative perceptions of the ‘Global South’ among Western colleagues and by an infrastructure adverse to research and to career development in most African countries. Additionally, North/South relations are traditionally seen in terms of (under-)development by German institutions, effecting cooperation. The paper develops a differentiated picture of African Studies in Africa, and outlines benefits that can be attained through collaboration ‘at eye-level’.     

‘Oxford in the bush’: the founding (and diminishing) ethos of Rhodes University

Over the years, many members of the Rhodes University community have proudly claimed their university to be a kind of transplanted Oxford, while others have viewed this claim as pretentious – hence the derogatory label ‘Oxford in the bush’. This article explores the connections and comparison between the two institutions. In the early twentieth century, both universities strongly identified with the British imperial cause; and for decades Rhodes University regularly celebrated its symbolic association with the historical figure of Cecil Rhodes, who also happens to be one of the most commemorated figures in Oxford. There was also a shared ethos, as both laid stress on a style of education that was character-building, a prerequisite for which was a strong grounding in the classics. There was, too, a cultural affinity between Rhodes and Oxford, exemplified in the strict segregation of the sexes, the importance attached to sporting achievement, and a tendency to engage in frivolous activities. The article goes on to show how over time the Oxford tradition at Rhodes came to be challenged and undermined, especially from the late 1960s onwards.     

The spaces of UK students’ unions: extending the critical geographies of the university campus

This article seeks to further our knowledge of the university campus by focusing on one particular aspect of most UK campuses: the students’ union. UK students’ unions have rarely been the subject of scholarly attention, despite them now occupying an important place within the higher education landscape. Nevertheless, in this paper we draw on a UK-wide study of students’ unions to explore, firstly, the role played by the buildings of the students’ union and, secondly, the ways in which aspects of the university’s campus influence union activity. We pay particular attention to the expansion of the university campus, in many institutions, from a single site to multiple sites, both within the UK and overseas. We contend that a focus on the materiality of the students’ union and the level of union activity (or inactivity) across various campus spaces can illustrate the values, ideologies and power relations that dominate contemporary British higher education.     

Young people's cartographies of school choice: the urban imaginary and moral panic

A critical geography of school choice illuminates how parental school choice reproduces unequal urban conditions. This paper contributes to this scholarship by arguing that the reproduction of urban spaces is reinforced by the ways the dominant urban imaginary shapes how youths imagine and organise their school options. I draw from the fields of critical geography, school choice, and sociology of moral panic to theorise how children's geographies are informed by the dominant urban imaginary and reconstituted reiteratively by moral anxiety. Through this lens, I analyse ethnographic data collected on school choice policy, along with interviews with 59 youth (ages 11–19) in Vancouver, Canada. My analysis demonstrates that the dominant forms of classed stigmatisation of marginalised urban schools are important to young people's rejection of those schools. My analysis also shows that moral panic and rising fears of violence underwrite the spatial patterns of youth participation in school choice.     

Transnational practices and language maintenance: Spanish and Zapoteco in California

The theoretical framework of transnationalism has become more prominent within migration studies, examining how (im)migrants maintain connections with communities in their homeland (Sánchez, P. 2007a. “Cultural Authenticity and Transnational Latina Youth: Constructing a Meta-narrative Across Borders.” Linguistics and Education 18: 258–282). Children's identities are also affected by maintaining ties to their parents’ homeland through language. In California, a group of (im)migrants from Mexico, of Zapotec-speaking backgrounds, were among the families who wanted their children to maintain their Spanish language by enrolling in a dual immersion school. Although California has exhibited anti-immigrant rhetoric and legislated against bilingual education, some programs supporting heritage language maintenance continue to exist. This article presents interview data from 10 students who attended this school and their parents. Students maintained transnational and intergenerational ties to their families and communities in both Mexico and southern California through the maintenance of Spanish, but a subset of students who spoke Zapoteco as a heritage language also valued this language and used it as social capital.     

为了平等而不平等——从学校向工农开门看新中国的教育平等努力(1949—1965)

中国共产党自成立起就把争取工农群众受教育权利和受教育机会作为己任。新中国人民民主专政政权的建立,使广大人民获得了平等的受教育权,但是长期以来工农教育劣势却不是自然而然就能改变的。学校向工农开门就是中国共产党为增加工农受教育机会、实现真正的教育平等而做出的一种努力。在实践中,虽然采取了各种优先照顾工农青年、工农子女入学的措施,但是工农入学机会尤其是高等学校入学机会却一直不能与其他群体相比肩。于是,1958年以后学校向工农开门力度进一步加大,并且随着阶级路线的贯彻,一些"剥削阶级"子女接受高等教育机会受到限制。这就使新中国教育平等的价值追求呈现"为了平等而不平等"的特点。     

近代学人关于国学书目及大学国学教育的思考

近代学人为后学开设国学书目者甚众,但以大学生为对象拟定国学读书书目的并不多,其中较有名者有吴汝纶、梁启超、胡适等人。他们三人为大学生所拟国学书目虽各异其趣,却有诸多相通之处:一是所拟书目均以传承国学为宗旨;二是所拟国学均有学习程度上的层级划分,以适应不同层次大学生的学习需求;三是所拟书目基本上是按传统图书四部分类法分类筛选,这种书目筛选法在相当程度上保证了所拟国学书目能系统、完整地传承国学。他们关于国学范围的界定、国学书目的筛选、国学书目的分级与分类等问题的思考对于当今中国大学的国学教育仍然有一定借鉴意义。     

大学女生思想政治教育中“四弱四强”现象探析

针对当前大学女生思想出现的"四弱四强"现象,应加强理想和信仰教育,使大学女生树立正确的世界观、人生观和价值观;应深入实践,贴近实际,有的放矢,解决大学女生思想政治教育中的实际问题;应构建大学生思想政治教育的动态理念,创新大学女生思想政治教育方法,以变应变,推动大学女生思想政治教育工作。     

高校旅游教育发展研究

随着我国全面建设小康社会的现代化进程的加快,以及国际旅游业的蓬勃发展,我国高校旅游教育发展的重要性进一步凸显出来。本文就培养目标的定位、课程设置的确定、科学研究的支撑和高端教育的学科依托等几个当前中国高校旅游教育发展面临的紧迫问题进行了分析,并提出了相应的对策。     

试论日本华侨学校的法律地位及其所带来的问题

作为日本华侨社会的主要教育设施,华侨学校不仅为华侨子弟的教育做出了贡献,也为整个华侨社会的统合和稳定发展以及中日文化的交流立下了汗马功劳。华侨学校具有持日本国籍的学生增多、学生总体趋向多元化,毕业生去向以升人日本学校为主流,以民族教育和升学教育为两大教学目标及注重培养学生的国际化观念等特点。但由于华侨学校长期处于边缘化的法律地位,故在学生入学、升学及学校财政等方面都受到了极大的限制。这也直接影响到了华侨学校教育活动的实施。