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Working Session: Schooling the Nation(s): Vernacular
Education, Nation Building and Cultural Identity in Oceania We had a very stimulating, productive, and well-attended working session in Canberra in 2008. Melanesia was particularly well represented in the papers given this year but we will retain an Oceania-wide perspective as we go forward to meet again as a working session in 2009 which will be re-titled: "Shaping Nations: Pacific Perspectives on Language and Vernacular Education." A dozen participants agreed to write papers for next year but we invite expressions of interest from others as well, especially those who attended our informal session in 2007. We are also particularly interested in soliciting contributions from non-Melanesian Pacific Island settings. We have agreed to work towards a publishable set of papers organized around the three main themes that emerged during the 2008 session: (1) language hierarchies and language interplay in multilingual settings; (2) vernacular education ideologies at both national and local levels; (3) vernacular education outcomes and prospects. The relation of language and vernacular education programs to nation building and development will remain a central focus across all the session themes. Participants will be required to submit their papers by November 1, 2008, well in advance of next year's conference, in order to allow time for a thorough internal review process. Ideally we will be in a position to move forward to publication immediately after next year's conference. John Wagner, Community, Culture and Global Studies, University of British Columbia - Okanagan, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, CANADA; tel.: (250) 807-9318; fax: (250) 807-8001; john.wagner@ubc.ca> Alice Pomponio, Anthropology Department, St. Lawrence University, Canton NY 13617, USA; tel.: (315) 229-5797 or 229-5106; fax: (315) 229-5803; <apomponio@stlawu.edu> |
