Suchergebnisse

Nationhood has always been characterized by ambivalence in terms of the content & contours of who belongs & how. As countries throughout the world confront the vagaries of globalization, political leaders & the public are struggling to negotiate a sense of belonging that reconciles the reality of global interconnectedness with the rhetoric of national particularism. For the US, this challenge is intensified by the need to reconcile a long-standing rhetoric of civic nationhood with the persistent (albeit malleable) reality of ethno-cultural exclusion. Resulting contradictions are particularly evident in the post-9/11 policies & rhetoric of political leaders & ethnic groups. This article uses these discourses to analyze contemporary nation-shaping politics in the US. Ambivalence is pervasive on the part of government officials & marginalized ethnic groups, but in a manner that ultimately confirms rather than rejects or transcends the hegemony of nationhood as a form of belonging. Adapted from the source document.

Aus indischer Sicht

This article is a by-product of research carried out on the interface between African isiZulu-speaking primary school learners and mainly English-speaking teachers of Indian origin. This took place in six schools in Indian-dominated residential areas, situated in five suburbs of Durban, South Africa. It is an attempt to create a theoretical framework out of two issues: ethnographic data from fieldwork with teachers in schools in the city of Durban, and the current reality of South Africa's political transformation. After the preliminary data was gathered on learner–teacher language communication for another project, it begged for further observations and interviews to be carried out. Teachers were asked to respond to three questions relating to awareness and consciousness on national issues that have had an impact on their situations in their classrooms. After a brief discussion on the historical and contemporary issues pertaining to South Africa, the article focuses on three issues that are intrinsic to the need for a theoretical framework to inform, inspire, and capacitate teachers in their roles as educators: outcomes-based education as it appears in the Revised National Curriculum Statement of 2002, cultural capital, and national consciousness. Analysis of the ethnographic data that appears in tabulated form in this article reveals serious complexities and the need to ensure an inter-connection of these three issues in order to achieve such a result – but which, it concludes, is only achievable within an ideological framework that converges with national economic goals.