The ‘White Man’s Game’? West Indian Cricket Tours of the 1900s

The 1900s saw two tours of the United Kingdom (UK) by a mixed race cricket team representing the West Indies. This paper argues that the tours were part of a concerted cultural campaign largely organized by the West India Committee to raise the profile of the British West Indian colonies in the Mother Country in the light of competition for favour among the settler colonies. It analyzes the selection of the team and its reception in the UK to argue that the existing literature has been mistaken in portraying the team to have been subject to consistent hostility due to the inclusion of black players in the touring party. Rather it is argued that the team of 1900 was largely welcomed as a truly representative West Indian team but that by 1906 a tightening of the definition of who could represent the empire on the sports field, influenced by the settlement of the South Africa War, meant that mixed race cricket would be rejected and the West Indians unjustly excluded from the Imperial Cricket Conference, which became an all whites club.     

Thomas Tryon,Sheep and the Politics of Eden

The English writer Thomas Tryon (1634–1703) believed that sheep were survivors from the original earthly paradise, and that as morally perfect beings they could serve as role models for humans. Tryon advocated vegetarianism, pacifism and an end to slavery as it was practiced in the Caribbean. He was an ambitious and influential reformer on several fronts, but the restoration of Eden was his ultimate goal. Tryon celebrated sheep-like meekness, a stance that complicated his reform efforts. His agenda and sheep-inspired persuasive strategy reflect the momentous intellectual and moral ferment surrounding human relations with animals in the seventeenth century.     

Chemicals,Exercise and Hyperactivity: A Short Report

PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS have been shown to enhance children's short‐term performance on a number of cognitive and social interaction measures and there are encouraging indications that physical exertion can mimic these effects. Although the health benefits of aerobic exercise have been acknowledged for some time, other parameters of physical exertion are less well‐known, particularly in the domain of human cognition. The data presented, and briefly reviewed, are supportive of the hypothesis that physical activity can enhance problem‐solving performance and for so‐called hyperactive children, their ability to attend to the task at hand. Indeed, aerobic exercise may offer an alternative to traditional chemical treatments.     

The work of women teachers in primary literacy education: knowing and doing

This paper provides a retrospective account of three decades of my work as a literacy educator and researcher. Taking key insights from feminist sociologist, Dorothy Smith, including women's standpoint, the everyday world as problematic, institutional capture, a sociology for the people, I revisit my research on literacy, poverty and schooling. I argue that understanding better the effects of what we do in educational institutions, through collaborative research with teachers, can lead us to generate positive alternative equity‐driven practices.