“‘I Was Gonna Go Off,but My Best Friend is White.”: Hispanic Students’ Co-Cultural Reasoning in a Hispanic Serving Institution

The researchers engaged in a qualitative analysis (using journaling and focus group methodology) of the communicative behaviors of Hispanic students with White institutional members at a medium-sized, Southwest HSI. Utilizing Co-Cultural Theory and Elaborative Coding analysis, the authors mapped how Hispanic students narrated their co-cultural communication and reasoning (i.e., why they engage in one strategy rather than another). The findings show that, although Hispanic students used almost all co-cultural strategies, their responses were clustered primarily around assimilationist strategies – indicating that they engage in a high degree of self-monitoring and self-censorship when interacting with White institutional members in an HSI. These results suggest that even when Hispanic students constitute a large or majority part of the institution’s population, they still feel the need to engage in behaviors that navigate White norms. The study concludes by examining the findings for co-cultural theorizing as well as providing insights for instructors who wish to engage in inclusive teaching practices.     

An Instrumental Case Study Analysis of Anticipatory Leadership Practices in Community Colleges

This qualitative instrumental case study explored the experiences and perceptions of seven community college leaders of their use of anticipatory leadership. Two research questions guided this study: (a) How do community colleges use anticipatory leadership to respond to internal and external changes? (b) How do community college leaders use anticipatory leadership principles for problem solving? The themes that emerged to address question one were engagement with others is required to respond to change effectively, data analysis and currency of knowledge are required to identify gaps and to respond to them, leaders must be willing to take calculated risks, and leaders must communicate effectively in order for change to occur. The themes that emerged to address question two were analysis of data is instrumental to identifying and closing the gaps in institutions, leading to better informed decisions; and anticipatory leadership reduces the need to use reactionary leadership practices. The findings of the study are that the participants identified and supported that anticipatory leadership practices are effective for responding to change. The anticipatory leadership practices highlighted as needed by the participants included the need for leaders who are engaged, have the skills and ability to utilize data to make decisions, are current in their higher education knowledge, take calculated risks when needed, and can communicate effectively. These skills are needed for community college leaders to be able to be proactive versus reactionary in their decision-making, as well as effective with their gap analysis identification, trend predictions, decision-making, and problem solving.     

Diversity,Performance, and Satisfaction in Student Group Projects: An Empirical Study

This paper focuses on the effect that diversity has on the performance and satisfaction of student groups in a computer simulation project. Using structural equation modeling, we find evidence to support the contention of previous research that diversity negatively affects group satisfaction. This finding was strongest for undergraduate groups. While the relationship between diversity and performance is inconclusive, groups that are dominated by one person tend to have below average performance.     

Crazy Children, Fantastical Theories, and the Many Uses of Metaphysics

Woolley rightly challenges the incredible idea, held by some adults, that it is children who are peculiarly "fantastical" in their thinking. However, Woolley expresses little appreciation for "fantastical thinking" as it underlies the capacity for both grand delusions and amazing insights. In reducing "fantastical thinking" to conceptual error, she overlooks the mythical underpinning of her own theorizing and neglects the many constructive roles of "fantastical thinking" in development.     

Patient Tales: Case Histories and the Uses of Narrative in Psychiatry,by Carol Berkenkotter

Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness. By James Arnt Aune. New York: Guilford, 2001; pp. 217. $30.00.

The War Against the Poor. By Herbert Gans. New York: Basic, 1995; pp. 195. $12.60.

Created Unequal. By James Galbraith. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000; pp. 368. $26.00.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times. By Robert McChesney. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1999; pp. 427. $34.95.

The Working Class Majority: America's Best‐Kept Secret. By Michael Zweig. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000; pp. 208. $14.95.

While‐Collar Sweatshop. By Jill Andresky Fraser. New York: Norton, 2001; pp. 352. $26.95.

Protest and Popular Culture: Women in the U.S. Labor Movement, 7894–7917. By Mary E. Triece. Boulder: Westview, 2001; pp. 320. $44.00.

The Cultural Front. By Michael Denning. London: Verso, 1998; pp. 556. $22.00.     

Relationship maintenance behaviors

Canary, D. J., & Dainton, M. (Eds.) (2003). Maintaining relationships through communication: Relational, contextual, and cultural variations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.