Representation of indigenous languages employing a religious screen for the discursive construction of students' postcolonial national identities: A curious case of ‘internal colonisation’ and ‘cultural invasion’ in Pakistani schools

This study problematises the discourses of Pakistan's national curriculum textbooks to investigate how they represent Pakistan's indigenous languages/cultures through the prism of religion to constitute secondary school students' particular postcolonial linguistic identities. It also draws on the perspectives of 12 teachers and 424 students to record their responses. Taking insights from Paulo Freire's cultural invasion, Robert Blauner's internal colonisation and selected postcolonial perspectives, the study notes a dynamic interplay of the sampled textbooks, schoolteachers and the school as a site of discursive social practices. Jointly, they position students within an exclusionary homogenous Urdu-loving group—a language which is represented as Arabic's tributary. Indigenous languages are recognised, however, as an adjunct to Arabic and Urdu, emphasising their role in the proselytisation of Islam in the region. Similarly, fine arts and indigenous cultural festivals are represented from a particular religious lens. The students strongly identify with this curious case of internal colonisation and cultural invasion, and support it. They exhibit self-righteousness and aversion towards linguistic/cultural pluralism and minorities, which entails implications for Pakistan's national cohesion and educational parlance of equity and inclusivity.     

Teaching technology in the oil rich countries

As a result of the desire for development, there has been a sudden influx of modern technology in oil rich but tradition steeped countries. This influx has prompted the teaching of modern technology similar to that of industrialized countries of the west. However, problems have arisen due to the already existing level of technological knowledge and vastly different social patterns in these societies. These problems which can impede the teaching of technology and affect development are illustrated and analysed. Practical suggestions to improve the teaching of technology to suit the needs of students and their societies are also offered.     

Exploring the role of India’s secondary school compulsory curriculum textbooks in students’ national identity constructions in an overseas school

This study problematises the contribution of India’s school textbooks in students’ national identity constructions in an overseas school in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The textbooks construct students’ national identity on the concepts of India’s secular democracy, colonial resistance and equal citizenship rights. Notwithstanding study participants’ ambivalent identification with these ideals, they mostly express confusing identities evincing religious tendencies, gendered beliefs towards women and antipathy for India’s neighbouring states. This entails implications for India’s national cohesion and students’ ability to live in harmony with other communities in the diasporic setting. It also poses risks to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 2030.     

Childhood Maltreatment,Gender Nonconformity,and Adolescent Sexual Orientation: A Prospective Birth Cohort Study

This study tested whether associations between childhood maltreatment and adolescent sexual orientation were accounted for by childhood gender nonconforming behavior (GNCB) in a prospective birth cohort (N = 5,007). Childhood parental maltreatment (physical and emotional) and GNCB were assessed on multiple occasions up to age 6 years, and sexual orientation at 15.5 years. Boys with a history of maltreatment were significantly more likely to be nonheterosexual. Using propensity score weighting, maltreatment was associated with a 3.5% (p = .03) increase in the prevalence of nonheterosexuality accounting for confounders not including GNCB, and by 2.9% (p = .06) when also accounting for GNCB. These findings suggest that maltreatment is associated with an increased prevalence of nonheterosexuality in boys but may be explained by confounding factors including GNCB.     

Discursive construction of Pakistan's national identity through curriculum textbook discourses in a Pakistani school in Dubai,the United Arab Emirates

This study investigates Pakistan's secondary school children's constructions of their national identity in a Pakistani school in Dubai by drawing on data collected from students and teachers from the case school and analysing national curriculum textbooks used in the school. Informed by Foucault's concepts, the article problematises how the curriculum textbooks are employed as a technology of power for inculcating national consciousness in the students. The findings suggest that Pakistan's national curriculum textbooks deploy a specific version of Islam as a major technology, which then influences other national identity signifiers in the textbooks for shaping students' national identity. The school affords a crucial space for the complex interplay of these technologies, which construct students' ethnocentric national identities, encouraging social polarisation. This has implications for Pakistan's national social cohesion as well as the potential for subverting international peaceful coexistence and working relationships, particularly in the selected overseas study context.     

Expanding the Technology Acceptance Model to examine Personal Computing Technology utilization in government agencies in developing countries

This study assessed the use of “Personal Computer Technology” in public organizations of developing countries in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan [Qazi, R. (2006). Expanding the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM): A Consideration of Personal Computer Technology Use in Public Organizations of a Developing Country of South Asia, Pakistan (Doctoral dissertation, George Washington University, 2006). Dissertation Abstracts]. The study expanded the “Technology Acceptance Model” by adding additional external factors such as ‘Organizational Culture’ and ‘Individual Factors’ (e.g. ‘Level of Education’ and ‘Duration of Training’), and belief factors such as ‘Perceived Personal Utility.’ Financial compensation to employees was used as a control variable because preliminary data analysis showed that it explicitly differentiated results of the study between those employees who felt they were adequately rewarded (financially) and those who were not. For example, when respondents replied ‘Compensation’ was ‘Yes,’ i.e. that at least some level of direct compensation was provided for PCT utilization then a statistically significant, positive relationship between ‘Level of Education’ and ‘PCT Use’ was found. However, when respondents replied that ‘Compensation’ was ‘No,’ a statistically significant, negative relationship between ‘Level of Education’ and ‘PCT Use’ exists. Additional results of this study are presented in this article.