Contesting Europe: representations of space in English school geography

The development of national education systems was premised on the assumption that they would offer particular representations of the ‘national space’, and school subjects such as geography and history offered pupils specific accounts of space and time. The project of European integration suggests the need for school curricula to offer alternative ways of imagining space. This essay examines the representation of European space in school geography textbooks. The analysis suggests that the texts contain different versions of the ‘politics of space’ and that there is a need for a critically-reflexive stance on the ‘geographies of Europe’ as taught in schools

Disentangling religion and culture: americanizing Islam as the price of assimilation

This essay is an exploration into the social inevitabilities of culture shifts within the American Muslim community’s self-understanding of their faith. Rather than a theological explication of the reasons why and why not Islam may or can or will not assimilate in America, our approach will be strictly sociological thereby side-stepping the intricate dialectic of theological niceties in deference to the social realities of culture change. As a social psychologist, my duty is to acknowledge the inevitabilities of behavioral shifts brought about due to social and cultural pressures resulting from immigration into an alien cultural weltanschauung, i.e., worldview. Therefore in this essay, we will explicate the meaning and nature of de-ethnicization and re-enculturation as we endeavor to disentangle religion from culture, recognizing that much of what goes under the flag of religious orthodoxy is really culturally-mandated behavior and worldview. The assimilation process, however, will bear heavily upon the necessity for Muslim clergy in America to become professional by Western standards and we will in the process explore the complexities of religious secularism as a way of becoming an “American” Muslim. Finally, we will suggest liturgical and architectural “adjustments” to Western modes of public worship while indicating linguistic niceties which will prove helpful in the assimilation process which we have chosen here to call the “Islamicization of America”

Coleridge: A computer tool for assisting musical reflection and self‐explanation

This paper examines some of the problems involved when learning how to compose music. A prototype computer‐based music tool called Coleridge is described. Coleridge was used in a study that investigated the dialogues that took place when a mentor attempted to encourage creative reflection in students. Results of dialogue analysis suggested that because learners seem unable to make accurate predictions about how a musical phrase will sound, there is a real need for a computer‐based learning assistant. Finally, the paper reports on how these findings were used to motivate the design of a mentor's assistant in a new version of Coleridge

Floristic variation in Sphagnum-dominated peatland communities of the Central Highlands, Victoria

The floristic composition of Sphagnum-dominated peatlands in the Central Highlands region of Victoria was surveyed (37º 25´ S; 145º 50´ E). NMDS ordination and cluster analysis divided the peatland sites into two broad groups with altitude being the most important factor separating these groups. Other important factors were aspect, slope and the amount of shade. Group 1 included subalpine sites that are similar to those found at higher altitudes further east in Victoria. Important species included Empodisma minus, Epacris paludosa, Richea continentis and Baeckea gunniana. The two species of Sphagnum present were Sphagnum cristatum and the more inundation-tolerant Sphagnum novozelandicum. Group 2 included montane peatlands with abundant Sphagnum cristatum. These sites range from broad wet heaths dominated by Richea victoriana and Carex appressa, to narrower cool temperate rainforest and riparian systems. The ‘rainforest’ peatlands are characterised by Leptospermum grandifolium, Nothofagus cunninghamii, Carex appressa and Blechnum penna-marina, and are in varying stages of post-fire succession regulated by sitespecific microclimate. The conservation status and catchment function of these peatlands are briefly discussed