Globalization, education, and cultural change in the Navajo nation: Snapshots of situated appropriation and adaptive intelligence in the U.S. southwest

Abstract

The situated appropriation of the content of globalization by Navajo people and institutions in their unique U.S. Southwest context is the focus of this chapter. The local is transforming the content of the global for local ends; this conversation narrative posits situated cultural exchange rather than a conversion narrative that implies a uni-directional mode of cultural assimilation. Reflections on cultural change in both formal and non-formal educational contexts based on the author's years of experience in the Navajo Nation provide data to freshly examine a conceptual framework for explaining cultural change amid contemporary globalization. The concepts of situated appropriation, adaptive intelligence, and mutual appropriation are employed in the analysis of cultural conflict and change in this chapter.

Citation

Brantmeier, E.J. (2008), "Globalization, education, and cultural change in the Navajo nation: Snapshots of situated appropriation and adaptive intelligence in the U.S. southwest", Hopson, R.K., Camp Yeakey, C. and Musa Boakari, F. (Ed.) Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies (Advances in Education in Diverse Communities, Vol. 6), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 367-389. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06014-2