Cognitive development in aborigines of central Australia : concrete operations and perceptual activities

This study investigates aspects of the cognitive development in Australian Aborigines which are related to the theory of Jean Piaget. The following tests were used: (a) Logico-mathematical tests: Conservation of Quantity, Weight, Volume and Length, and the Seriation of lengths; (b) Spatial tests: Linear, reverse and circular Orders, Rotation of landscape models and Horizontality; (c) Illusions: Mliller-Lyer, Horizontal-Vertical, Delboeuf and Oppel-Kundt figures, and the Size-Weight illusion. These tests were administered to children aged 5 to 16 years (and to some adults) in the following three samples: (1) 65 1'low-contact'' Aborigines, living on a remote reserve in Central Australia ('Areyonga'). (2) 100 ''high-contact'' Aborigines, living on a mission station in Central Australia with a long history of European contact (~Hermannsburg'). (3) 80 European children, living in Canberra. Three hypotheses were derived from previous cross cultural studies in genetic psychology and from an analysis of the ecological and cultural background of the Australian Aborigines: Hypothesis l: The qualitative aspects of operational development (i.e. the stages) are identical in Australian Aborigines and in Europeans, but the rate of development is lower in Aborigines: Hypothesis 2: The rate of operational development is faster in the high-contact group than in the low-contact group. Hypothesis 3: Aborigines, because of their cultural background will develop spatial concepts more readily than logico-mathematical concepts. Hypotheses 4 and 5 were respectively based on Piaget's theory of perception (Piaget, 1966, 1969a), and on Segall et al. 's (1966) ecological cue validity theory: Hypothesis 4: The following phenomena are inversely related to operational level: (a) the susceptibility to primary illusions; (b) the extent of the decrease with practice in susceptibility to primary illusions; (c) the age at which the maximum susceptibility to secondary illusions is reached. Hypothesis 5: (a) The order of susceptibility to the Mliller-Lyer illusion is the following (from highest to lowest): Canberra, Hermannsburg, Areyonga; (b) the order of susceptibility to the Horizontal-Vertical illusion is the following (from highest to lowest): Areyonga, Hermannsburg, Canberra. The following hypotheses were set up on the basis of the results of a previous study dealing with the development of conservation concepts in Australian Aborigines {de Lemos, 1966, l969b): Hypothesis 6: The order of difficulty usually found with the tests of conservation of Quantity and Weight is reversed in Australian Aborignes: easier than Quantity. Weight is found to be Hypothesis 7: At Hermannsburg, the performance of partblood Aborigines is better than that of full-blood Aborigines. Hypotheses l, 2 and 3 were confirmed. Hypotheses 4 and 5 received only qualified support, and hypotheses 6 and 7 were rejected. The results confirm Piaget's general theory of intellectual development, but indicate that specific environmental, cultural and ecological factors may influence the rate at which cognitive development occurs

Pluralité culturelle à l'école: les apports de la psychologie interculturelle

La psychologie interculturelle examine les processus psychologiques dans leur contexte culturel. Elle permet de prendre du recul par rapport à une psychologie ethnocentrique, élaborée uniquement dans un contexte occidental. Le potentiel d'application dans le milieu scolaire mérite d'être développé de façon plus explicite, en prenant en compte d'une part le développement cognitif, d'autre part les relations intergroupes et la communication interculturelle, enfin les psychologies sociales, scolaires et clinique

A educação no contexto da globalização: migrações e direitos humanos

To examine education in respect of migration and human rights it is necessary to situate education in a global historical and political macro context. We are therefore presenting a reflection of globalisation and the challenges faced by education from a cross-cultural perspective. The good intentions expressed in the rhetoric of international organisations do not materialise in reality. The significant difference which exists in the quality of education between rich and poor nations is one of the main reasons provoking migration. The intercultural perspective provides the possibility to question the dominant universal knowledge and to accept the existence of plural ‘knowledges’. The cultural diversity of knowledge, beliefs and world visions must be considered in the context of biodiversity. Education emerges as a fundamental question in the hope of sections of civil society that can be regrouped under the term ‘alter-globalisation’ which proposes the construction of a better world. Key words: education, cross-cultural, globalisation, cultural diversity, ethnocentrism.Analisar a educação nas suas relações com as migrações e os direitos humanos implica em situá-la em um amplo contexto histórico e político, com abrangência mundial. Trata-se, pois, de uma reflexão sobre a globalização e os desafios que ela representa para a educação, a partir de uma perspectiva intercultural. Os organismos internacionais se utilizam de uma retórica plena de boas intenções, mas que, como em toda retórica, não se realizam efetivamente, na maioria dos casos. Uma das razões que contribuem para provocar as migrações é a grande diferença que existe entre a qualidade da Educação nos países ricos e nos países pobres. A perspectiva intercultural constitui a possibilidade de negar a universalidade dos saberes dominantes e de respeitar a existência de uma pluralidade de saberes. A biodiversidade é um dos argumentos que reafirmam a diversidade cultural dos saberes. A educação se apresenta, então, como uma questão fundamental para reforçar a esperança das pessoas que constituem uma parte importante da sociedade civil. Esses argumentos podem ser articulados em torno da palavra altermundialismo, criada para ressignificar a construção de um mundo melhor. Palavras-chave: educação, interculturalidade, globalização, diversidade cultural, etnocentrismo

A educação no contexto da globalização: migrações e direitos humanos

To examine education in respect of migration and human rights it is necessary to situate education in a global historical and political macro context. We are therefore presenting a reflection of globalisation and the challenges faced by education from a cross-cultural perspective. The good intentions expressed in the rhetoric of international organisations do not materialise in reality. The significant difference which exists in the quality of education between rich and poor nations is one of the main reasons provoking migration. The intercultural perspective provides the possibility to question the dominant universal knowledge and to accept the existence of plural ‘knowledges’. The cultural diversity of knowledge, beliefs and world visions must be considered in the context of biodiversity. Education emerges as a fundamental question in the hope of sections of civil society that can be regrouped under the term ‘alter-globalisation’ which proposes the construction of a better world. Key words: education, cross-cultural, globalisation, cultural diversity, ethnocentrism.Analisar a educação nas suas relações com as migrações e os direitos humanos implica em situá-la em um amplo contexto histórico e político, com abrangência mundial. Trata-se, pois, de uma reflexão sobre a globalização e os desafios que ela representa para a educação, a partir de uma perspectiva intercultural. Os organismos internacionais se utilizam de uma retórica plena de boas intenções, mas que, como em toda retórica, não se realizam efetivamente, na maioria dos casos. Uma das razões que contribuem para provocar as migrações é a grande diferença que existe entre a qualidade da Educação nos países ricos e nos países pobres. A perspectiva intercultural constitui a possibilidade de negar a universalidade dos saberes dominantes e de respeitar a existência de uma pluralidade de saberes. A biodiversidade é um dos argumentos que reafirmam a diversidade cultural dos saberes. A educação se apresenta, então, como uma questão fundamental para reforçar a esperança das pessoas que constituem uma parte importante da sociedade civil. Esses argumentos podem ser articulados em torno da palavra altermundialismo, criada para ressignificar a construção de um mundo melhor. Palavras-chave: educação, interculturalidade, globalização, diversidade cultural, etnocentrismo

Geocentric Gestures as a Research Tool

This study1 is part of a large-scale cross-cultural research project on the development of spatial language and cognition, in India, Indonesia and Nepal, that focuses on a culturally particular way of organizing small-scale, table space, using a large-scale geocentric spatial orientation system (Dasen & Mishra, in preparation). One of the main questions is at what age this geocentric frame of reference starts to be effective. The study of language development does not provide a clear answer, because young children (ages 4 to 7) use ambiguous “deictic” descriptions, i.e., they just say “this way” accompanied by a gesture. Can these gestures be used to clarify the meaning of language? To answer this question, 234 video recordings of Nepalese children performing the “Perspectives” task (in which they have to describe the location of three objects placed on a table in front of them, under three different conditions) were analyzed separately for both language and gestures. The results show a good correspondence between language and gestures in 9 to 12 year olds. This allows us to interpret further the frame of reference used by the younger children. Out of 367 items on which young children (4 to 9 years) give an ambiguous deictic answer, only 17% are accompanied with an egocentric gesture, and 83% with a geocentric one (combining 48% large gestures linked to the use of cardinal directions, and 35% medium-large gestures linked to the use of situational local landmarks). This shows that a geocentric frame is at play as early as age 4, even when the child cannot express it clearly in the language

L'intégration en Suisse: un cas particulier?

Dans les premiers mois de l'an 2000, la Commission fédérale des étrangers (CFE) a rendu public un rapport intitulé "L'intégration des migrantes et des migrants en Suisse: faits - secteurs d'activité - postulats." Ce document fait suite à une "Esquisse pour un concept d'intégration" mise en consultation par la CFE en 1996. Cette esquisse avait l'avantage de réactualiser la question de la place des étrangers en Suisse quelque temps avant la votation par les chambres fédérales de l'article de loi sur l'intégration. Elle reprenait à son compte une série d'idées reçues, sans l'analyse critique que l'on aurait pu souhaiter dans un tel document. Ce dernier peut être considéré, nous semble-t-il, comme le témoin d'une façon de réfléchir aux questions de société que posent les migrations, un exemple de discours qui prévaut dans l'espace public et en politique, mais qui se construit quasiment hors du champ des recherches sur le sujet en sciences sociales