Examines major myths informing American education and explores how educators can better serve students, increase college retention rates, and develop alternatives to college that don’t disadvantage students on the basis of race or income Each year, as the founding headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy (BAA), an urban high school that boasts a 94 percent college acceptance rate, Linda Nathan made a promise to the incoming freshmen: “All of you will graduate from high school and go on to college or a career.” After fourteen years at the helm, Nathan stepped down and took stock of her alumni: of those who went to college, a third dropped out. Feeling like she failed to fulfill her promise, Nathan reflected on ideas she and others have perpetuated about education: that college is for all, that hard work and determination are enough to get you through, that America is a land of equality. In When Grit Isn’t Enough, Nathan investigates five assumptions that inform our ideas about education today, revealing how these beliefs mask systemic inequity. Seeing a rift between these false promises and the lived experiences of her students, she argues that it is time for educators to face these uncomfortable issues head-on and explores how educators can better serve all students, increase college retention rates, and develop alternatives to college that don’t disadvantage students on the basis of race or income. Drawing on the voices of BAA alumni whose stories provide a window through which to view urban education today, When Grit Isn’t Enough helps imagine greater purposes for schooling.

The symbiotic relationship between the United States and Latin America has been filled with bitterness and anguish, on the one hand, and hope and cooperation, on the other. Each provides something the other lacks, and thus the relationship has the potential to work to the advantage of both. Brewer provides an introduction to the most important events in the diplomatic, military, social, and economic history of the relationship between the United States and countries of Latin America. The symbiotic relationship between the United States and Latin America has been filled with bitterness and anguish, on the one hand, and hope and cooperation, on the other. Each provides something the other lacks, and thus the relationship has the potential to work to the advantage of both. Brewer provides an introduction to the the most important events in the diplomatic, military, social, and economic history of the relationship between the United States and countries of Latin America. Soon after the American Revolutionary War, the new nation needed to build a solid relationship with Latin American countries in order to survive. The apex of hemispheric relations was not reached until World War II, when the area witnessed an unprecedented level of cooperation and mutual collaboration. This era ended with the onset of the Cold War, when the competition between capitalism and communism was fought by proxy throughout the developing world, adversely affecting the ability of Latin American nations to develop independent identities or thriving economies. Brewer argues that the events of 9/11 changed this relationship very little. Indeed, many of the issues that have long plagued U.S.-Latin American relations are returning as the United States focuses on the War on Terror in the Middle East and neglects its southern neighbors.

Crossing Borders, Building Bridges: A Journalist's Heart in Latin America is both an inspirational journey about a life well-lived despite obstacles, and a guide to young journalists and social activists trying to create change-in whatever arena. Take this journey with Maria Martin, and you will learn much about Latinos in the United States and Latin Americans in the American continent.From her start as one of the first Latina news directors at the first bilingual public radio station in the U.S., and later as the founder of the national program LATINO USA, Maria Martin has been an innovator and leading creative voice documenting the Latino movement for justice and inclusion. Though many of her efforts were met with resistance in "'traditional newsrooms ' she always gets the story out." Martin documents Latino life in the U.S starting in the 1970's, then travels to Latin America to cover the civil wars in Central America and their aftermath, including the migration story on all sides of the borders through to the present. With her narrative, you'll follow Martin's trajectory as she reports on the everyday lives of those about whom she writes-from survivors of torture to politicians to families separated along the border.

In Puentes y fronteras/Bridges and Borders Gina Valdes uses the copla, a Spanish verse form that harks back to the Middle Ages and arises from the popular oral tradition, to explore the barriers between people and countries, whether those barriers are legal and physical, such as the border between the United States and Mexico, or personal, between lovers and friends. Valdes uses the copla both as a protest against elite poetic forms and for transmitting social protest. Her voice combines the feminist demand for power and expression with the social critic's demand for justice. This volume is a revised edition of her earlier work of the same title, previously available only in Spanish. The English translation is by the author and Katherine King.

The expectations of European planners for the gradual disappearance of national borders, and the corresponding prognoses of social scientists, have turned out to be over-optimistic. Borders have not disappeared – not even in a unified and predominantly peaceful Europe – but rather they have changed, become more varied and, in a certain sense, mobile, taking on an important role in the everyday lives of more people than ever before. Furthermore, it is now widely accepted that borders do not just hinder communication and the formation of relationships, but also channel and prefigure them in a positive way. Presenting a number of studies of everyday life in European borderlands, this book addresses the multifarious and complex ways in which borders function as both barriers and bridges. Focusing on ‘established’ Western European borderlands – with the exception of three contrasting cases – the book attempts a turn from conflict to harmony in the study of borderlands and thus examines the more mundane manifestations of border life and the complex, often unconscious motives of everyday cross-border practices. The collection of chapters demonstrates that even in the case of ‘open’ political borders, the border remains an enduring factor that is not adequately described as either a problematic barrier or a desirable bridge. The studies look at bordering processes, not only approaching them from different disciplinary angles – sociology, anthropology, geography, history, political science and literary studies – but also choosing different scales and making comparisons that range from different borders of one country to the reactions and attitudes of different individuals in a single borderland village.

Bridges and Boundaries offers a conversation between what might loosely be described as traditionalist diplomatic and military historians, and political scientists who employ qualitative case study methods to examine international relations. The book opens with a series of chapters discussing differences, commonalities, and opportunities for cross-fertilization between the two disciplines.To help focus the dialogue on real events and research, the volume then revisits three empirical topics that have been studied at length by members of both disciplines: British hegemony in the nineteenth century; diplomacy in the interwar period and the causes of World War II; and the origins and course of the Cold War. For each of these subjects, a political scientist, a historian, and a commentator reflect on how disciplinary "guild rules" have shaped the study of international events. The book closes with incisive overviews by Robert Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder. Bridges and Boundaries explores how historians and political scientists can learn from one another and illustrates the possibilities that arise when open-minded scholars from different disciplines sit down to talk.

South Asian diasporas can be considered transcultural legacies of colonialism, while constituting transcultural forms of postcolonial reality in today’s globalised world. The main focus of investigation here is South Asian women’s fiction, where diverse forms of identity negotiation undertaken by the protagonists in a number of contemporary novels (from the 1990s to the early 2000s) are read as transgressions. The themes of early gendered experiences of South Asian indentured labour migration, female genealogies and transmissions of cultural heritages down female lines, as well as negotiations of patriarchal violence, are read using a framework culled from postcolonial and feminist criticism. The literary representations of South Asian diasporic female experience in these texts are forms of commentary and critique by contemporary South Asian diasporic women writers. Hence these novels can be viewed as feminist strategies of textual creativity with distinct political aims of presenting transformative narratives addressing the tensions of diaspora and patriarchy. This book is intended to contribute to the current spectrum of academic work being done in diaspora studies, in that it brings together the concepts of diaspora, transculturality, contemporary women’s writing and transnational feminist critical approaches to bear on South Asian women’s diasporic literature. Contrary to the celebratory notion of the concept in much theory, transculturality, as represented in these texts, is fraught with ambivalence.

This edited collection of essays by leading and emerging scholars from Canada and the United States examines Canada's policy relations within a North American context. Contributors trace policy changes from the signing of CUFTA and NAFTA, through 9/11, and up to the present day. North American policy areas covered include: border management, security, the North, energy and environmental policies, immigration, cultural relations, and labour. Current and comprehensive, Borders and Bridges is the ideal text for students of Canada's international policy relations.

While no single volume can fully explain this issue, Bridges and Boundaries: African Americans and American Jews provides us with a means to challenge, and perhaps even to verify, our sense of the past - and in so doing to better understand the present. Fifteen critical essays by leading historians, scholars, and political and religious figures of this century provide historical overviews of the relationships between African Americans and American Jews. They also represent the diverse attitudes within the two groups, and reflect the multiple voices that have themselves shaped these attitudes. A visual essay that follows links texts and images of more than one hundred works of art and artifacts, first seen in an exhibit at The Jewish Museum, to explore the historical places at which the paths of African Americans and American Jews have crossed in meaningful ways during this century.

Compelling and accessible, this Very Short Introduction challenges the perception of borders as passive lines on a map, revealing them instead to be integral forces in the economic, social, political, and environmental processes that shape our lives. Highlighting the historical development and continued relevance of borders, Alexander Diener and Joshua Hagen offer a powerful counterpoint to the idea of an imminent borderless world, underscoring the impact borders have on a range of issues, such as economic development, inter- and intra-state conflict, global terrorism, migration, nationalism, international law, environmental sustainability, and natural resource management. Diener and Hagen demonstrate how and why borders have been, are currently, and will undoubtedly remain hot topics across the social sciences and in the global headlines for years to come. This compact volume will appeal to a broad, interdisciplinary audience of scholars and students, including geographers, political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, international relations and law experts, as well as lay readers interested in understanding current events.