Non-Western Educational Traditions: Indigenous Approaches to Educational Thought and Practice

by Timothy Reagan

This text provides a brief yet comprehensive overview of a number of non-Western approaches to educational thought and practice. Its premise is that understanding the ways that other people educate their children--as well as what counts for them as "education"--may help us think more clearly about some of our own assumptions and values, and to become more open to alternative viewpoints about important educational matters. The value of this informative, mind-opening text for preservice and in-service teacher education courses is enhanced by "Questions for Discussion and Reflection" and "Recommended Further Readings" included in each chapter.

New in the Third Edition:
*Chapter 2, "Conceptualizing Culture:" 'I, We, and The Other,' is new to this edition. It is a response to feedback about the problems inherent in our general discourse about "culture," and in addition provides an example of a culture that is near to us but nevertheless alien-the culture of the Deaf-World.

*Chapter 9-which deals with Islam and traditional Muslim education-has been substantially revised.

*The subtitle of the Third Edition has been changed to Indigenous Approaches to Educational Thought and Practice, reflecting not so much a change in the emphases found in the book, but rather, a recognition of the growing scholarly interest in indigenous peoples, their languages, cultures, and histories.

*Various points throughout the text have been expanded and clarified, and chapters have been updated as needed.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1996

About the author

Timothy G. Reagan is Professor of World Language Education and former dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine. He also holds the position of Research Fellow in the Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He has held a variety of senior faculty and administrative positions at institutions in the United States, South Africa and Kazakhstan, including at Gallaudet University, the University of Connecticut, Roger Williams University, Central Connecticut State University, the University of the Witwatersrand, and Nazarbayev University. Reagan has served as the editor-in-chief of the international journal Language Problems and Language Planning, and the founding co-editor of Critical Inquiry in Language Studies. He is the author of more than a dozen books and 150 refereed journal articles and book chapters.

Reviews

[Rachel Godfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has wonderful information. I wish it took a more critical lens with colonization and its impacts.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb overview of educational in non-western historical contexts. Includes China and Meso-America.

[Lizzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different from what I've read before...not sure how to make equilibrium in my brain of why I needed to read it for school