Communication is vital to the prosperity and survival of the community, with the quality of communication amongst its members directly improving or worsening the value of the community. However, with the increase in immigration and relocation of refugees, the need to accommodate diverse cultural groups becomes imperative for the viability and survivability of a community while posing challenges to communication. Intercultural and interfaith dialogue can be used constructively to cultivate, manage, and sustain diversity and wellbeing in particularly deeply divided communities. Intercultural and Interfaith Dialogues for Global Peacebuilding and Stability is a critical research publication that explores the importance of conflict resolution strategies among populations that include a varied amalgamation of cultural and religious backgrounds. With the increasing emphasis on intercultural understanding promoted by governments, civil societies, and international mediators, this book offers relevant remedies for major afflictions in the world today, such as exclusion, marginalization, xenophobia, and racism. It is ideal for government officials, policymakers, activists, diplomats, lawyers, international trade and commerce agencies, religious institutions, academicians, researchers, and students working in a variety of disciplines including political science, international relations, law, communication, sociology, and cultural studies.

Literacy has traditionally been associated with the linguistic and functional ability to read and write. Although literacy, as a fundamental issue in education, has received abundant attention in the last few decades, most publications to date have focused on monolingual classrooms. Language teacher educators have a responsibility to prepare teachers to be culturally responsive and flexible so they can adapt to the range of settings and variety of learners they will encounter in their careers while also bravely questioning the assumptions they are encountering about multilingual literacy development and instruction. The Handbook of Research on Cultivating Literacy in Diverse and Multilingual Classrooms is an essential scholarly publication that explores the multifaceted nature of literacy development across the lifespan in a range of multilingual contexts. Recognizing that literacy instruction in contemporary language classrooms serving diverse student populations must go beyond developing reading and writing abilities, this book sets out to explore a wide range of literacy dimensions. It offers unique perspectives through a critical reflection on issues related to power, ownership, identity, and the social construction of literacy in multilingual societies. As a resource for use in language teacher preparation programs globally, this book will provide a range of theoretical and practical perspectives while creating space for pre- and in-service teachers to grapple with the ideas in light of their respective contexts. The book will also provide valuable insights to instructional designers, curriculum developers, linguists, professionals, academicians, administrators, researchers, and students.

East Asian societies continue to react to developments occurring in the Western part of the world as well as influence development elsewhere due to the global reach of East Asian economies and the increased political weight of East Asian societies. These systems have distinctive features often connected with local social and cultural traditions. However, these traditions are constantly being reinterpreted, and the changing meanings attached to them must be taken into account. Recent Social, Environmental, and Cultural Issues in East Asian Societies is an essential research book that explores various social, environmental, and cultural issues challenging modern East Asian cultures and their implications on society. Featuring a wide range of topics such as local identity, social risk, and government policy, this book is ideal for researchers, policymakers, sociologists, managers, anthropologists, politicians, diplomats, academicians, and students.

As we come upon the 30th anniversary of communism’s fall, it is a good time to reexamine what life was like behind the Iron Curtain and how communism impacted people for generations. The study of communication is important as it shows how much effect government type has on the principles its people support. Those interested in promoting and maintaining democratic ideals in countries around the world require a book such as this to better understand the effect communism has had. Impact of Political Socialization on the Support for Democratic Principles: Emerging Research and Opportunities examines life under communism in Czechoslovakia and Hungary with particular attention paid to education, religion, travel, and exposure to Western culture, as well as their transition to democracy and how successful that transition has been. The book makes the case that being politically socialized under communism has made embracing democratic principles more difficult. The evidence for this case is based on 200 interviews conducted in 2017-18 with people who lived in Czechoslovakia and Hungary during communism, present-day analysis of government and politics in the Czech Republic and Hungary, and survey data from the European Social Survey. The main struggles in transitioning to democracy are identified, and it is speculated whether the Czech Republic and Hungary can ever be long-term, fully functioning democracies. The main implications of this publication are how government type during political socialization affects support for democratic principles, and whether the United States could ever be at risk for democratic erosion. The book is intended for political scientists, government officials, historians, academicians, researchers, and students.

This book offers a multifaceted approach to education in the 21st century. It focuses not only on the problems schools have to face nowadays, but also on the numerous challenges that emerge and can be used as opportunities for reflection and renewal in education. The aim of the book is to holistically approach educational reality as shaped by the latest social, political and economic developments. The ultimate goal is not limited to a description of the current situation. Given its range and topicality, this book expands the discussion and examines the role of education in modern society, highlights the challenges and prospects for the schools of the future, enriches the relevant research, provides documented data for action planning in terms of educational policies, and presents examples of good educational practices which will be useful to teachers and everyone who works in education.

TheAnnual Review of Comparative and International Education 2021, Part A begins with a collection of discussion essays about comparative and international education trends and directions, followed by studies that focus on new developments in comparative and international education by regional area.

Nationalist movements remain a force in contemporary American politics, regardless of political party. Recently, social issues have moved to the forefront of American society, and civilian participation in activism is at an all time high. The nationalism that the world started to experience pre-2016, but much more intently post-2016, has impacted international alliances, global strategies, and threatened the fragile stability that had been established in the post-September 11th world. Major political events in more recent times, such as the American election, have brought social issues into stark focus along with placing a spotlight on politics and nationalism in general. Thus, there is an updated need for research on the most current advances and information on nationalism, social movements, and activism in modern times. Global Politics, Political Participation, and the Rise of Nationalism: Emerging Research and Opportunities discusses the ways in which nationalism and nationalist ideologies have permeated throughout America and the international community. This work considers the rise of neo-nationalism stemming from the Tea Party in the United States, Brexit and the era of the Tory Divorce from Europe, contemporary electoral politics that are helping in the spread of nationalist policies and leaders (providing a normalization of policies that are sometimes anti-democratic), the 2020 resurgence of Black Lives Matter after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the role of the coronavirus pandemic in helping to shape the world order to come. This book will be ideal for activists, politicians, lawyers, political science professors and researchers, international relations and comparative politics professors and students, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and anyone interested in the current state of global politics, nationalism, and activism in political participation.

The application of theory to practice in addressing social transformation still has a lot of room for growth and improvement. This is also true of theory being informed by practice. Too often, there are gaps between what is studied in the academy and what is needed in the field. The academy develops theories in isolation from the everyday lives of people, especially in post-conflict environments. Communities seeking innovative ways to address their social needs can benefit from the learning of theories and research conducted within academia. At the same time, these methods need to be relevant to the local contexts within which they are being used. While there are certain norms of communication in the academy of how research is conducted and disseminated, there needs to be a translation into practical terms to be used in the field. Redefining Theory and Practice to Guide Social Transformation: Emerging Research and Opportunities addresses the need practitioners and social change agents have in finding processes and practices to use in the field to engage with and transform communities. This critical reference book provides an innovative fieldwork method that leads to social transformation and suggests ways to further develop the relationship between academic theories and practices around social conflicts with the existing local knowledge. The chapters include mini case studies that have been developed over the years from the authors’ work with youth and community leaders with the objective of providing a methodology that allows practitioners to approach the field by engaging with local actors in ways that are generative and trustworthy, yet rigorous. While highlighting the practices, notions, and technologies that are at work in conflict, post-conflict, or transitioning out of conflict settings by local community leaders, this book is ideally for practitioners in the field of conflict, peacebuilding, and social and conflict transformation; community leaders and social organizers; as well as practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in social transformation.

Social innovation is identified as a mechanism response to burning social challenges and the evolution of hybrid organizations such as social enterprises. As a result, there is an overwhelming growing interest among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to know more about the significant concept of social innovation. Despite this significance, it is often argued that the meaning of social innovation is ambiguous and vague with theory lagging social innovation practice as the field is nascent, emerging, and remains underdeveloped. This may impede the research endeavors of conceptualizing and establishing its socio-economic underpinnings and the legitimization of the field. Theoretical and Practical Approaches to Social Innovation illuminates and consolidates multiple views of social innovation theory, research, and practice, which to date have not been presented in one publication. The book provides an in-depth theoretical and practical understanding coupled with an assessment of the current research in multidisciplinary perspectives complemented by case studies representing each knowledge cluster in social innovation research. In this unique way, this book links theory to practice demonstrating praxis. While highlighting topics such as social enterprise, urban studies, management, ecological resilience, and social policy and networks, this book is ideal for students, academics, practitioners, researchers, and entrepreneurs looking to expand their knowledge, skills, and passion, and to sustainably pursue their social missions to bring about real social change that can transform communities and ignite innovative approaches to solving social challenges.

Members of diasporic populations often have a unique, dual persona consisting of one’s migrant role as a permanent or transient member of a new country and one’s role as a citizen of one’s home country. Like all diaspora, the African diaspora is further composed of sub-groups of people of a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, such that there is a need for studies that properly encompass and address the African diaspora across a multitude of fields and pedagogies, including architecture, education, and business. Multidisciplinary Issues Surrounding African Diasporas is a pivotal reference source that explores the philosophical and epistemological issues regarding the African diaspora identity and navigates these individuals’ opportunities for professional and academic growth. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics such as higher education, cultural engagement, and xenophobia, this publication is ideally designed for sociologists, anthropologists, humanities scholars, political scientists, cultural studies academicians, university board members, researchers, and students.