Convergence: Volume 36 Number 2

Unintentionally this issue of Convergence focuses primarily on women and education, as women are the research concern of those authors who submitted manuscripts. Our lead article comes from Botswana where Raditloaneng and Mulenga provide an account of careful qualitative research on the relationship of poverty, the physical and psychological problems it fosters, and illiteracy that binds the women and their families through the conflation of these variables. Their findings support the critique that single pronged solutions are doomed to failure.

Another excellent research report from Taiwan documents how a small group of ordinary homemakers moved from traditional roles as women in the shadows to activist groups of women making demands and providing education for waste reduction, environmental clean-up, and cooperative buying. Liao documents their growth to a large, widespread, politically organized Homemakers’ Union and Foundation.

In western Canada, Butterwick and Selman, working on a two-year community-based popular theatre project, have utilised a participatory approach that promotes the creative process of the groups of women involved to use their own imagination to create from their own cultural base.

English is interested in those international workers who worked with others across cultural boundaries and, of course, her research touches on the concerns of any person who lives as immigrant or migrant as they transcend two cultures. The issues of identity and the so-called ‘third space’ are a concern for all who work across borders. This article helps to sharpen the issues of categorization and will make us all think more critically of the labels we attach.

We then turn from the subject of women to an interesting discussion of distance education by Menconi, who is looking at how the technique is utilised in its many forms by grassroots educators doing popular education. This is one of the more practical pieces in this issue, along with the homemakers’ programme in Taiwan and the popular theatre programme in Canada. The following piece by Nagai is also grounded as it describes a language bridging program in Papua New Guinea. As a policy, the vernacular language and culture was valued and the school needed to bridge from the vernacular to English. Although the emphasis was on the children’s language learning, the parents and the community were also involved in developing the bridging program.

This issue concludes with another Nigerian research study, concerned with entrepreneurship in adult education. Uwameiye and Clark surveyed 1200 vocational students to determine the efficacy of the vocational training and its relevance to economic development. The research found the training inadequate and provides an illuminating glimpse into the lives of Nigerian adult vocational students.

This is the last general issue of the year. We look forward to a double issue from our Guest Editor, Sergio Haddad as he provides a special report from the World Social Forum.

Phyllis Cunningham
pcunning@niu.edu
Editor