This study explores what the lived experience of gardening is like for older, community-dwelling gardeners as it is uncovered through conversations, garden visits, and written notes from seven older ...gardeners. Over a two-year sequence, multiple in-depth individual conversations at the homes of the co-researcher participants unearth themes reflective of their gardening lives. Drawn forward by the methodology of hermeneutic phenomenology, the rich text of our dialogue mingles like compost and becomes something newly created that shows their passion for interacting with plants and living habitats. Using the existentials of lived place, lived body, lived time and lived relation we dig into how gardening is lived. Home and volunteer places for gardening keep these older adults curious and creatively engaged-characteristics of healthy agers. Their worn body parts go unnoticed in the presence of beauty they co-create, suggesting knowing the Earth through the senses is a source of tranquility and wakefulness that brings a renewed appreciation for the wonder of nearby nature. With interpretive literature, poetry, and cultural understandings of the gardeners' lives, we relate to metaphors surrounding gardening; the seasons and the circle of life are ever-present. Autobiographical stories of sustained volunteerism, land trusts, and conservancies for future generations reveal their caring for the planet and spiritual aspects of this physical activity, which they love. Reaching out beyond their gardens to share their bounty and wisdom about their relationship with living earth, the gardeners model a vision of respect for the planet and an ecological consciousness. Witnessing nearby nature, they blossom in the Fall of their lives. As a community health professional, my task is to educate and raise awareness about nature for human health and well-being; thereby building on current initiatives to foster accessible nearby nature. The study also sheds light on the value of environmental activism through autobiographical notions. In supporting a gardening life for older gardeners, we advocate the importance of interacting with nearby nature that we long to preserve. Our planet needs more earth keepers like these to bring us back into balance.
This study used existing data derived from interviews with parents of Black students who had participated in the Suburban School Achievement Study (SSAS) to explore what parents think about ...schooling, the schooling experiences of their children, and how they respond to their children's experiences and level of access to opportunities. This study highlighted the relationship parents have with their children's schooling in the context of race and culture by acknowledging the unique and significant space that Black students and their parents occupy in what some describe as America's "postracial" society. The primary theoretical frameworks that guided the study emphasized social capital and networks, as well as their operation both institutionally and among families. Stanton-Salazar's (1997) network-analytic approach provided a conceptual underpinning that places a great deal of importance on the formation of supportive ties or relationships with various types of institutional agents, gatekeepers, and informal mentors; these ties are considered critical for the success of minority and working-class youth. Coleman's (1988) theory of intergenerational closure established the concept of network support among families as a means to propel student success. To embed the ideology of Black cultural capital and funds of knowledge, the study references the work of Prudence Carter (2005) and Luis Moll (1992). Additionally, Ogbu's (2003) anthropologically based argument offered a compelling counter-explanation for why Black American students have been less successful in American schools than immigrant Black students. His controversial argument prompted thinking about the impact of culture as it relates to school success and was relevant to this study. This researcher approached the data analysis through an interpretive/constructivist paradigm. Several major findings emerged. Parents believed that their children experienced racial discrimination and that the school was uncommunicative with them. Parents also perceived that the school did not initiate an effective means to get information to them and involve them in school. Additionally, they did not form strong networks with peer parents that transmitted school information. Parents had a sense that social capital existed but felt that it seldom affected school matters and did not use it to maximize advocacy and support parental connections with the school. Based on the study's findings, the researcher formulated recommendations for school personnel, community policymakers, parents, and students. School personnel were advised to create opportunities for parent involvement and school--family goodwill development that build on families' individual strengths and take into account barriers that limit participation at school, including parent work schedules; such activities might include weekend and evening activities in which school personnel and parents can interact outside of school hours. Teachers were advised to maximize the effectiveness of parent-teacher conferences with Black parents by engaging in dialogue that focuses on the children's positive attributes as well as their weaknesses and identifying ways in which parents might assist their children at home. The researcher also suggested that teachers and administrators support parental in-home involvement by creating websites and parent learning packets containing parent-friendly exercises aligning with student assignments. Outgoing call systems transmitting parent announcements would also benefit parental involvement. Schools should also embrace opportunities for critical conversations about cultural diversity and participate in cultural-competency training to expose myths and falsehoods, stimulate thought, and influence practice. As well, school leaders were advised to create opportunities for staff to deconstruct and discuss their own feelings about race, gender, class, and culture. Community policymakers were advised to develop neighborhood-enhancement programs that promote the creation of strong parent-to-parent and parent-to-community informational networks, including social programs that take into account the dynamics of diverse neighborhoods by promoting positive interactions between residents and schools in the community. Policymakers should work with community stakeholders to identify key obstacles facing families in the community that limit these families' ability to identify success-oriented options for their children. They should also establish community centers that offer opportunities for interaction and collaboration among parents and school professionals. Students were advised to identify proactively the individuals available at school, at home, or in the community to serve as school advocates for them and to seek mentorship from African-American college students or young professionals in order to learn and observe success-oriented practices and coping techniques. Parents were advised to identify existing opportunities for engagement in developmentally appropriate representations of involvement in order to support, motivate, monitor, and discuss the progress of their adolescents. They should also communicate frequently and deliberately with schools to keep the academic needs of their children at the forefront and keep themselves informed about school practices. As well, parents were advised to empower themselves by engaging in current opportunities for school involvement and leveraging social capital by enlisting support from one another and the community to increase their influence upon schools. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.
The professional challenge this chapter addresses is that education systems swing from one political ideology to another when there are changes in power in the government and the colours of those in ...the chair change. Evidence from 23 Ground Work Case Studies from China, England, France, Israel (Arab perspective), Italy, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Russia, United States (Higher Education perspective), Egypt, Finland, Greece, Israel (Jewish perspective), Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Germany, Hungary, Guyana, India, Pakistan, and the United States (K-12 perspective) (Taysum et al., 2012; 2014)) reveals moralism within a balance between a welfarist and liberalist state, is the responsibility of those in power, and ultimately those that dominate the economies when developing education policy and strategies for achieving social justice. A carefully explained knowledge to action strategy has the potential to empower commonalities in schools and education systems around the world to (1) balance welfarism and neo liberalism with (2) Taysum and Collins Ayanlaja's Education Systems' Framework for Leadership, Logic and Language for Happiness and Peace that assures all the kids are okay.
Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2007.
Thesis research directed by: Education Policy, and Leadership. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by ...UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.
Ninety-one children aged 3-6 yrs were observed and video-recorded playing with the anatomically correct dolls in unstructured play settings. Parental permission had been obtained. The children's ...emotional, behavioural and overall play responses were rated. Whilst the dolls' difference from other dolls was clearly noticed, they did not traumatise the children, most of whom incorporated the dolls in imaginative play. Only five children's play with the dolls showed any sexualized quality, in three the source of sexual knowledge becoming apparent. Whereas the absence of sexualized play does not reliably exclude abuse, we suggest that explicit sexual play with the dolls may well arise from previous exposure to explicit sexual information or activity.
For 28 years, Mobutu Sese Seko has carefully and thoughtfully refined his system for transforming the public resources of Zaïre into private wealth, while using bribery, coercion and violence to ...thwart all movements for change. The consequences of his system, commonly known as 'kleptocracy' or government by theft, are well known: immiseration of the people; destruction of the nation's infrastructure; enrichment of Mobutu and his collaborators; the transformation of Zaïre into the prime staging ground for foreign intervention against other African nations. This article will focus neither on the consequences of kleptocracy nor the growing opposition which, for the past three years, has aggressively but so far unsuccessfully challenged Mobutu's rule.
It will instead examine questions of causation and culpability. It will identify some of the architects, beneficiaries and allies of kleptocracy; analyse the methods used for misdirecting Zaïre's wealth, and catalogue the benefits Mobutu, his domestic associates and his external sponsors drew from this system. It will also discuss the legal mechanisms a post-Mobutu government might use to recapture stolen assets or set aside debts arising from loans whose proceeds were stolen.
The UN's ill-fated attempt to intervene in the Belgian Congo in 1960 sheds light on the limits and dangers of intervention in a conflict situation, even in the 1990s. Andrew Cordier's involvement in ...the crisis is discussed.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
