Promoting ethnic identity development while teaching subject matter content: A model of ethnic identity exploration in education

This grounded theory study was conducted to investigate how two veteran social studies teachers, one African American and one Japanese American, incorporated opportunities for students to explore their ethnicity while learning subject matter content. Four themes emerged that form the basis of a model that provides teachers with strategies for assisting students as they learn about their ethnic groups through existing subject matter curricula. These data, and teachers' reports of sustained student engagement when exploration of cultural heritage was incorporated into the curriculum, provide warrant for including instruction in ethnic identity exploration in teacher preparation programs.     

白马藏族的族属及其现状调查报告——以“格厘村”为个案研究

平武地区的白马藏族,与阿坝州九寨县和甘肃省文县的藏族,具有同属于一种族性类别的共同文化特性。但对平武白马藏族的族属问题上,学术界颇有争议,莫衷一是。本文以“格厘村”为个案,对白马藏族的族源及其现状进行考察。     

Recognising ethnic identity in the classroom: a New Zealand study

The recognition and affirmation of student identity in New Zealand primary schools is a policy requirement. While directives for its implementation are found in the current national curriculum, little, if any, guidance is given about what this means or how it might look in classroom programmes. This paper discusses a study concerning the beliefs, understandings and practices of teachers as they interpret the curriculum related to the identity directive. The findings indicate that a marked divergence exists between the identity directive encoded into the curriculum and the way in which teachers decode and enact the directive in their practice. This article argues that two unintended effects are produced as a result of this divergence. First, rather than promote the affirmation of student identity, the enactment of this directive might, in fact, lead to ethnic division. Second, attempts to recognise and affirm identity have led to the displacement of school subject knowledge in classroom programmes. These unintended outcomes are not only unacknowledged, but they continue to disadvantage the community the identity directive was intended to address.     

The dynamics of ethnic identity and student life

Students entering higher education need to integrate themselves into a new study community. Those coming from minority ethnic backgrounds may experience this phase more intensely since they may feel themselves to be different or consider that they are being treated differently. This article approaches ethnic identity as a dynamic concept. The differences characterizing students with varying ethnic self‐definitions are explored as subjective factors that are important for good study progress. Finally, study progress after one year is analyzed.     

Academic motivations of Yi youths in China: Classmate support and ethnic identity

To enhance the academic achievements of Yi ethnic minority youths in rural school settings, the authors examined the effect of classmate support and the meditating role of ethnic identity in promoting their academic motivation. Cross-sectional survey data were collected from Yi youths sponsored by a philanthropic organization to attend local schools in Liangshan, rural China (n?=?657; 7–12 years old; 52% boys). Results of structural equation modelling showed that classmate support positively affected ethnic identity-commitment and ethnic identity-exploration, which then had positive impacts on three academic motivation outcomes: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation-external and identified regulation, and extrinsic motivation-introjected regulation. The mediating effects of ethnic identity-exploration and ethnic identity-commitment were statistically significant, except for the pathway from classmate support to extrinsic motivation-introjected regulation via ethnic identity-commitment. The authors found that ethnic identity can be facilitated through building supportive classroom environment for positive academic motivations in Yi youths. Cross-cultural significance of this study is also discussed.     

Culturally diverse gifted: The need for ethnic identity development

Developmental programming for the culturally diverse gifted should focus on ethnic identity development and on the influence of reference group orientation towards this development.     

论民族认同性与多民族国家民族政策的成功调整

现代多民族国家 ,几乎共同面对这样一种矛盾 ,即 :如何让文化的多元与政治统一和内部秩序并存。矛盾的解决难以仅靠某一两项民族政策的调整便能奏效 ,有时甚至需要对整个政策以及制定政策背后的理念进行反思。对民族认同性复杂性的分析 ,对民族认同性对于多民族国家政治统一、内部秩序和谐的正反两方面作用的分析及相关变量的研究 ,可以启发我们的思路 ,增添思想上某种有益的兴奋感     

中国西南地区少数民族大学生民族认同心理研究

In China, ethnic identity refers to both one’s own ethnic identity and the identity of the Chinese nation. It is of great significance not only to individuals’ mental health and full play of psychological functions but also to ethnic solidarity and regional and national stability. On the whole, ethnic minority college students in the Southwestern regions have positive national identity and behavior tendency. Universities and colleges should further uplift students’ national identity and improve their behavior through education. __________ Translated from Minzu Jiaoyu Yanjiu 民族教育研究(Journal of Research on Education for Ethnic Minorities), 2007, 18(2): 32–36     

Culture and identity in higher education research

The aim of this article is to develop a cultural approach in higher education studies. It will be argued that the cultural approach is rooted mainly in two different intellectual starting points to analyze academic communities as cultural entities: studies of disciplinary cultures and institutional cultures. Notions of disciplines as cultural entities have been developed in Europe in relation to the two cultures topic and to issues developed in the sociology of knowledge. The institutional studies tradition is, in turn, rooted in the American intellectual tradition, where cultural concerns emerge from institutional level phenomena whether they concern students, faculty or higher education institutions. The article discusses the pros and cons of these traditions in order to find new avenues for future research. It will be argued that academic identity provides a seminal perspective for cultural studies in higher education.     

Ego development and ethnic identity formation in rural American Indian adolescents

Ethnic identity development was assessed in the context of ego development in 12- to 15-year-old students from a Southeastern American Indian community. Self-protective was the modal level and was characterized by awareness of ethnic group membership but little exploration or self-reflection. Impulsive adolescents had the least developed ethnic identities and highest levels of interpersonal vulnerability. Conformist adolescents expressed positive feelings about ethnic group affiliation, described relationships as harmonious, but demonstrated moderate social anxiety. Postconformist adolescents had the highest levels of agency, social competence, and identity achievement, but also had high levels of psychological distress and family conflict. Adolescent identity strivings may be understood in context with the level and timing of psychosocial maturity, for which ego development appears a useful marker.     

高校思想政治教育中的冲突以及缓解方法

师生冲突自古有之,但自20世纪90年代开始,高校师生冲突逐渐严重、升级,造成极其不良的影响和严重的后果。师生关系的和谐对教师和学生的发展起着至关重要的作用,本文以高校师生关系中的冲突为例,并从实际原因出发提出有效的缓解方法。     

Herder identity in Lesotho: implications for non-formal education

This paper reports on selective findings from a larger qualitative PhD study of 30 adult herders in Lesotho. It uses theories of identity and social capital to examine their life histories and educational needs in order to inform the national Non-Formal Education (NFE) policy. The key findings of the study were that the herders demonstrated two distinct identities – public and private. Their public identities were reflected through themes of culture which included notions of masculinity and negative experiences of being ‘othered’. This negative public perception of the herders influenced how they related to wider society and their ambitions to learn. However the findings revealed private identity characteristics which reflected a more positive inner sense of self and freedom to be who they are, supported by strong social capital networks and significant others. The study suggests that NFE should consider including these positive herder identities in a targeted curriculum that would facilitate more harmonious inclusion of the herders into the wider Lesotho society but also address issues of power relations that potentially impact on their access to education. The study also suggests that NFE should further explore the added value of significant others in supporting the provision of learning for the herders.