The purpose of this paper is to discuss a vibrant social service culture in British and Indian higher education institutions in the period 1905-1919. The paper explores the many…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss a vibrant social service culture in British and Indian higher education institutions in the period 1905-1919. The paper explores the many reciprocal influences between India and Britain, which lay behind the student social service movement. Developments in metropole and colony were so influenced by transnational movements of people and ideas that the common approaches and shared ideals which emerged cannot be fully understood by study of either setting in isolation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a rich vein of college magazines and social service league publications as well as the writings of a range of enthusiasts for social service. The rapid spread of social service ideas across India and Britain relied on the exchange of ideas through English-language magazines and journals and the outreach work of leading social servants who addressed numerous student groups and meetings.
Findings
Developments in Indian and British student service were shaped by and shaped in turn a wider social movement in the early twentieth century. Indian and western educationalists spread ideas about student social service through lectures, publications and international exchanges. Student social servants in both metropole and colony shared a set of core values which made up an “ideal of service”. Students in both metropole and colony were enjoined to view their education as a period of preparation for greater service to the nation after graduation. Student service leagues were involved in reworking patriotic idiom to link social service with nation building.
Originality/value
The paper builds on recent work on social service and education to develop knowledge and understanding of transnational networks of educationalists, particular movements of people and ideas between colonial India and metropolitan Britain. Taking social service in higher education as a case study, the paper argues for the need to study developments in both metropole and colony in order to better understand reciprocal impacts.
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The article examines the differences in the reception of international and Indigenous students to understand the challenges faced by the first students who identified as…
Abstract
Purpose
The article examines the differences in the reception of international and Indigenous students to understand the challenges faced by the first students who identified as Indigenous, and to improve understanding of the 1950s, a pivotal decade in the development of university culture.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on archival sources and contemporary student magazines and newspapers, this article contrasts the attitudes towards international and Indigenous students at the University of Melbourne during the 1950s. It uses these populations to show that the idea of friendship specific to the populations of students and staff in the 20th century could both include and exclude groups within society.
Findings
The article shows that while students embraced the cultures of countries in Asia, and made friends with students who came to Australia to study, Indigenous students were less well received. This issue is explored in the context of the ongoing, earnest fundraising for scholarships for Indigenous students, and both the support and the backlash this engendered.
Research limitations/implications
The article focuses on the University of Melbourne, which established the Aboriginal Scholarships committee, and where the first Indigenous student graduated, but more work is needed to understand parallels elsewhere.
Practical implications
The article has implications for understanding the way in which university communities embrace outsiders and adapt to foreign cultures. It also sheds light on intolerance, informing approaches to respond to these issues today.
Social implications
The article reveals the many challenges faced by the first Indigenous students during the 1950s, the time when university education first became a priority. In this it helps to understand that the slow increase of numbers was not only caused by external factors but also originated within the academy.
Originality/value
This article makes a contribution to understanding the differences between the increasing acceptance in Australian universities of international students from Asia and the persistent resistance to accepting Indigenous Australian students.
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Jenny Collins and Tim Allender
The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical overview of the field of knowledge transfer and educational change and a discussion of the issues raised in the six papers in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical overview of the field of knowledge transfer and educational change and a discussion of the issues raised in the six papers in this special edition.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical analysis of the field of knowledge transfer.
Findings
The six papers consider issues such as the interplay of ideas between British and Indian educationalists, post-war debates over literacy standards, the use of curriculum materials for the process of citizen formation, the influence of international exchanges in the education of adolescents for citizenship, Vigotsky and the transfer of knowledge across time, space, culture, disciplines and networks, and the way constructions of Chinese identity within history books were shaped by knowledge processes that transcended nation states.
Originality/value
This special issue of the History of Education Review engages with new approaches that have become available to historians in the past decade illustrating how they might be applied for the first time to key issues in the history of education across colonial and state borders. It addresses questions about the movement of knowledge across national and cultural boundaries, and examines key problems facing educators in a range of colonial and postcolonial contexts.
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Salvador Barragan, Mariana I. Paludi and Albert Mills
The purpose of this paper is to focus on top women managers who act as change agents in the machista culture of Mexico. Specifically, the authors centre the attention not only on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on top women managers who act as change agents in the machista culture of Mexico. Specifically, the authors centre the attention not only on the strategies performed by these change agents to reduce inequality, but also on understanding the way in which they discursively reproduce or challenge essentialist notions of gender with respect to the cultural and organizational context.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 top women managers in Mexico who are actively involved as change agents. A feminist poststructuralist methodological framework using critical discourse analysis was used to uncover competing notions of gender and related strategies developed to promote gender equality.
Findings
The analysis reveals that the 12 change agents perform strategies for inclusion, and only half of them engage in strategies for re-evaluation. The authors were unable to recognize whether these change agents are engaged in strategies of transformation. These change agents also reproduce and challenge “essentialist” notions of gender. In some instances – based on their own career experiences and gendered identities – they (un)consciously have adopted essentialism to fit into the cultural context of machista society. They also challenge the gender binary to eradicate essentialist notions of gender that created gender inequalities in the first place.
Research limitations/implications
The experience of these 12 top women managers may not represent the voice of other women and their careers. Ultimately, intersections with class, organizational level, nationality, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation must be taken into account so to represent other women’s particular interests with respect to equality.
Practical implications
For those researchers-consultants who may be involved in an intervention strategy, it is important to focus on helping the change agents in reviewing and reflecting on their own “vision of gender equity”. During the strategic activities of mentoring and training, these change agents could potentially “leak” a particular “vision of gender” to other women and men. Thus, part of the intervention strategy should target the change agent’s self-reflection to influence her capacity to act as change agents.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the literature on change agents and interventions for gender equality. Intervention strategies usually centre on essentialist notions of gender. The study offers potential explanations for this approach by paying attention to the process of how change agents, in their efforts to promote gender equality, may be unconsciously projecting their own identities onto others and/or consciously engaging in strategic essentialism to fit into the machista context of Mexico.