Beyond the borders : the Mediterranean between cultures, migrations and life-world

André Elias Mazawi reviews 'Beyond the borders : the Mediterranean between cultures, migrations and life-world' edited by M. Benguerna and E. Mangone whose book resulted from a rich collaboration among sociologists of different nationalities and reflects on Mediterranean as a strategic element to overcome the current crisis in Europe, becoming an incentive for the review of European policies and providing a solid foundation for the growth of a true European cultural heritage and knowledge, then passing it on to future generations. This book represents an attempt to go beyond the “boundaries” and this means rethinking the current idea of Europe and of the Mediterranean. The knowledge and cultural values of the Mediterranean can be the driving force to overcome the impasse of which Europe cannot free itself. Therefore, while some chapters strive to formulate more general categories, others deal with the concrete situated reality.peer-reviewe

Dis/Integrated orders and the politics of recognition : civil upheavals, militarism, and educators' lives and work

Given the Arab region’s turbulent political and military histories, the virtual absence of studies that examine educators’ lives and work, when the socio-political order disintegrates or collapses, is striking. This paper has two aims: first, it calls for the articulation of new research horizons concerned with the ‘modes of being’ of educators as actors embedded within dynamic contexts of practice; second, it emphasises the need to articulate an ‘epistemology of seeing’ through which research on educators’ lives and work can recognise educational leadership as constructed within multi-faceted and conflict-ridden contexts.peer-reviewe

Visual evoked cortical potential can be used to differentiate between uncorrected refractive error and macular disorders

The visual evoked cortical potential (VECP) is widely used to verify complaints of reduced visual performance and to identify the site of the disorder. In this study, we investigated the correlation between reduced visual acuity and VECP in volunteers with normal corrected visual acuity and in patients suffering from inherited macular degeneration or from age related macular degeneration (ARMD). Flash evoked VECP was not affected by the visual acuity in the cases of refractive error and in ARMD patients but was reduced in amplitude and delayed in implicit time in the patients suffering from inherited macular degeneration. The VECP elicited by pattern reversal checkerboard (PVECP) was not affected by the quality of the visual image in volunteers with uncorrected refractive error when checks of 60′ or larger were used but were considerably reduced in size and prolonged in implicit time for checks smaller than 15′. In both groups of patients suffering from macular dysfunction, pattern reversal VECP was very subnormal and was characterized by prolonged implicit time compared to values expected from their visual acuity. These findings indicate that the PVECP does not directly correlate with visual acuity but rather with foveal function. Therefore, we suggest that recordings of PVECP can be used to differentiate between refractive error and macular disorders as causing reduction in visual acuity when other clinical signs are missing or not available.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42621/1/10633_2004_Article_336241.pd

Inclusive education for Internally Displaced Children in Kenya::Children perceptions of their learning and development needs in post-conflict schooling

Abstract The Kenyan society has been characterised by tribal-political-instigated violence since the declaration of multiparty democracy in 1991. The 2007/8 post-election violence (PEV) particularly saw the scattering of families where some children lost months or years of schooling; others were permanently excluded from education, while the participation and achievement of those arriving in school were characterised by complex needs and experiences. This paper aims to analyse literature and report on findings from creative activities with 16 conflict-affected children (9–12 years) regarding their experiences and understandings of inclusive education during their post-conflict school-life. I conducted an intrinsic case study with aspects of ethnography in a post-conflict community primary school in Kenya whose majority (71%) pupil population was attributed to internal displacement following the 2007/8 PEV. Children perceived inclusive education in regard to their own learning and development needs as involving access and acceptance in the new school community, social-emotional development, ‘peer-keeping’ and community-consciousness. Whilst valuing their teachers’ pursuit for inclusion-sensitive practices, children’s understanding of their own circumstances resulted in group-made strategies like ‘peer-keeping’ and peer-constructed rules of interaction, helping them negotiate systemic constrains and distortion of values. This study underscores the fundamental role of children in social integration in post-conflict circumstances

The Arab Spring: A Higher Education Revolution Yet to Happen

The essay reflects on the challenges facing reforms in the governance of higher education in the Arab region at the light of the current wave of mass popular contestation