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In this issue, CS&P takes up the theme of education.
We begin with a piece entitled "Anthropology and Praxis: Theory in Action." Stephanie Watson collaborates with other members of Anthropology and Praxis to reflect on the group's purpose and practice. It describes the ways in which members of the group attempt to actualize theory in their community and build their own critical consciousness.
The next piece is Miriam Solis' "Evaluation vs. Assessment: The Students Perspective on the Student Evaluation Process." Solis offers an analysis of a key tool for the empowerment of students as shapers of their own education at CSUMB, the student evaluation. She argues that there is a crucial discrepancy between what the evaluation is supposed to be and what students perceive it to be.
The third entry is an experiment in collaborative essay writing. Beginning with the notion of "education and globalization" a letter was sent in chain-letter fashion to each member of the Anthropology and Praxis team to be revised and added to according to each persons perspective and understanding of the exercise's goal. The result is a text as trace or artifact of a complex, contentious but ultimately enlightening process.
The fourth entry is an essay on the soccer leagues of Salinas by social and behavioral sciences major Arturo Figueroa. Arturo has taken the concepts and ideas he has learned at the university and applied them to his own community of origin. Using the subaltern studies notion of "practice and |
negotiation," he has found that for people in East Salinas soccer has functioned as a means for the preservation ethnic and racial identity and a tool for assimilation into the dominant community.
The fifth piece is a contribution from Juan José Gutiérrez, professor of anthropology. Gutiérrez takes a close look at the affirmative action controversy in relation to the education system in Monterey County and argues that any alternative to affirmative action must address the deep structural inequalities of the society as manifest in the schools of his community.
And finally, we present the graphics of our guest contributor, Hilarie Roseman. Derived from photographs of her sculptures, Roseman offers a startling series of images, each with provocative textual component, exploring the Third Millennium, or what she calls "the electronic age in which we live." It is a powerful, McLuhan-inspired disquisition in wire, paint, digital imagery and text on what we are and what we might be.
We hope you enjoy the issue. Adelante!
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