Call for Manuscripts “Ethics and International Curriculum Work: The Challenges of Culture and Context”
Expected Publication Date: Spring 2011
Curriculum innovations occur within specific contexts and reflect the values associated with those contexts. Their impact and efficacy can only be assessed within the particular social, cultural, and political environments in which they occur. Educators around the world, especially those in countries experiencing large-scale, systemic political change, often look to the U.S. and other Western countries for new approaches to curriculum and instruction practices that reflect more open, democratic, and participatory educational systems. As a result, educators are often asked to work with their colleagues in ‘emerging democracies’ to help in developing new approaches to teaching and learning and to find ways of adapting practices to the conditions and circumstances in other countries. But what are the challenges of adapting educational practices across national and cultural borders? What assumptions do educators in other countries make about the nature of teaching and learning? In what ways does culture matter when applying curriculum theories and practices in diverse settings? And, how does the educational policy context influence the success of curriculum innovations? Answers to these questions vary according to the particular setting, the content and subject matter, and the policy and institutional contexts in which curriculum innovations are implemented. These questions also raise ethical dilemmas for curriculum workers when their efforts, whether intended or not, may be perceived as forms of ‘cultural imperialism’ as they advocate certain educational practices, theories, or philosophical stances.
The editors of this volume are seeking manuscripts to be included that address the issues confronted by curriculum workers as they navigate these dilemmas. These may take the form of case studies of curriculum development work in international contexts where specific ethical dilemmas have arisen, syntheses of multiple cases, empirical studies of international curriculum development and implementation, program evaluations that focus on the issues raised here, essays dealing with current theoretical perspectives on curriculum development in international contexts, or other appropriate writing that addresses the general theme of the proposed book. We anticipate that this volume will draw from a variety of research traditions including scholarship on ethics in international development (e.g. Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha C. Nussbaum, John Rawls, and Amartya Sen, and Peter Singer), curriculum theory (e.g. John Dewey, William Pinar, Herbert Kliebard) citizenship education in global and multicultural contexts (e.g. James Banks, Walter Parker, Will Kymlicka).
If you are interested in submitting a manuscript for consideration please send a two-page précis to one of us by February 1st. In your précis be sure to be explicit about how your work is connected with the overall theme of the book as we have presented it above. Please feel free to contact either of us if you have questions.
Terrence C. Mason
Center for Social Studies and International Education
Indiana University – Bloomington
1900 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47406 (812) 855-0172 (CSSIE)
tmason (at) indiana.edu
Robert J. Helfenbein
Curriculum and Instruction
Indiana University-IUPUI
902 W. New York St., ES 3126
Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 278-1408 / rhelfenb (at) iupui.edu