Youth Futures: Comparative Research and Transformative Visions
Edited by Jennifer Gidley and Sohail Inayatullah
Praeger Publishers. Westport, Conn. September, 2002.

ISBN 0-275-97414-6. C7414

Contributing Authors:

Bilal Aslam, Paul Brunstad, Sandra Burchsted, Marcus Bussey, Richard Eckersley, Riane Eisler, Michael Guanco, Shane Hart, Sabina Head, Eva Hideg, Cathie Holden, Raina Hunter, Francis Hutchinson, Seth Itzkan, Cole Jackson, Erzsebet Novaky, Alfred Oehlers, Anita Rubin, Richard Slaughter, Carmen Stewart, David Wright.

 

Description
Generally, youth are considered immature, irresponsible toward the future, cliquish, impressionistic, and dangerous toward self and others. They are considered as a mass market–two billion strong–the passive recipients of globalization. Most recently in OECD nations, youth have become fodder for political speeches–they are the problem that reflects both the failure of the welfare state (dependence on the state), the failure of globalization (unemployment), and postmodernism (loss of meaning and the crisis of the spirit). In the Third World, youth are seen not only as the problem, but equally as the force that can topple a regime (as in Yugoslavia). However, youth can also be seen as carriers of a new worldview, a new ideology.

These and other views concerning youth are examined in this volume of comparative empirical research. Studies from around the world provide intriguing answers to questions about how youth see the future and their future roles. This book will be of particular interest to scholars, students, researchers, and policymakers involved with youth issues and future studies.

 

Table of Contents

Preface: Youth Futures: The Terrain by Jennifer Gidley and Sohail Inayatullah
Mapping Youth Futures

• Global Youth Culture: A Transdisciplinary Perspective by Jennifer Gidley
• Youth Dissent: Multiple Perspectives on Youth Futures by Sohail Inayatullah
• Future Visions, Social Realities, and Personal Lives: by Richard Eckersley
• Partnership Education for the 21st Century by Riane Eisler
• Cultural Mapping and Our Children’s Futures by Francis Hutchinson
• From Youth Futures to Futures for All: Reclaiming the Human Story by Marcus Bussey

Youth Essay 1: Optimistic Visions from Australia by Raina Hunter

Comparative Research from Around the Globe

• Japanese Youth: Rewriting Futures in the “No Taboos” Post-Bubble Millennium by David Wright
• Reflections upon the Late-Modern Transition as Seen in the Images of the Future Held by Young Finns by Anita Rubin
• Imagining the Future: Youth in Singapore by Alfred Oehlers
• The Future Orientation of Hungarian Youth in the Years of the Transformation by Eva Hideg and Erzsebet Novaky
• Citizens of the New Century: Perspectives from the UK by Cathie Holden
• Longing for Belonging: Youth Culture in Norway by Paul Otto Brunstad
• Holistic Education and Visions of Rehumanized Futures by Jennifer Gidley

Youth Essay 2: Voice of the Future from Pakistan by Bilal Aslam

Case Studies: Teaching Futures in Educational Settings

• From Rhetoric to Reality: The Emergence of Futures into the Educational Mainstreamby Richard Slaughter
• Re-Imagining your Neighborhood–A Model of Futures Education by Carmen Stewart
• Learning with an Active Voice: Children and Youth Creating Preferred Futuresby Cole Jackson, Sandra Burchsted, and Seth Itzkan
• I Don’t Care About the Future (if I Can’t Influence it) by Sabina Head
• Rural Visions of the Future: Futures in a Social Science Class by Shane Hart
• Youth, Scenarios, and Metaphors of the Future by Sohail Inayatullah

Youth Essay 3: Shared Futures from the Philippines by Michael Guanco

Concluding Reflections by Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Gidley

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Endorsements of Youth Futures

“This book is astounding. In a time of rapid, world-wide transformation dealing with globalization, genomics, terrorism and much else, constructive and creative views of possible futures are essential. This book makes a monumental contribution on youth futures. While we are accustomed to hearing universal rhetoric on the importance of youth to the future, it seldom goes beyond platitudes. In 20 essays the authors present extensive theory and practice, including up to date trans-disciplinary research from around the world. This remarkable book will be a lasting resource for educators, policy makers, youth workers and all people committed to creating a better, brighter and wiser future for future generations.”

Professor David K. Scott, Former Chancellor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

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“Young people are increasingly viewed by scholars, practitioners, and policy makers as vital assets in the development of civil society. This book both gives voice to this positive conception of youth, and documents the power of young people to be active agents in actualizing their own healthy futures and in contributing to social justice and equity across the global community. This book is an impressive resource for all people concerned with understanding and enhancing the strengths of youth to build, sustain, and extend the quality of life in all nations of the world.”

Professor Richard M. Lerner, Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science
Tufts University, USA

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“This exciting and timely book is a milestone, bringing together for the first time international research on youth as both inheritors and creators of the future. Their hopes and fears for tomorrow, as reported here, are central to the future well-being of society – we would do well to listen to them. Essential reading for all those involved with young people, whether in formal or informal contexts, at home, in education or at work.”

Professor David Hicks, School of Education, Bath Spa University College, UK

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“The Youth Futures book by Gidley and Inayatullah is a very important contribution because there is so little cross cultural material on adolescence. It is a much needed antidote to our ethnocentric presentation of adolescence here in the States”.

Professor David Elkind, Professor and Chair, Elliott Pearson Department of Child Development,
Tufts University, Medford. Author of Best-selling Book: The Hurried Child

The University in Transformation: Global Perspectives on the Futures of the University

Edited by Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Gidley

Bergin & Garvey. Westport, Conn. 2000. 280 pages

LC 99-16061. ISBN 0-89789-718-8. H718

 

Contributing Authors:

Tom Abeles, Marcus Bussey, James Dator, James Grant, Anne Hickling-Hudson, Greg Hearn, Patricia Kelly, Peter Manicas, Ivana Milojevic, Shahrzad Mojab, Ashis Nandy, Deane Neubauer, Patricia Nicholson, David Rooney, Tariq Rahman, Michael Skolnik, Philip Spies and Paul Wildman.

 

Book Summary

Taking a long-term historical and future perspective on the university is critical at this time. The university is being refashioned, often by forces out of the control of academics, students, and even administrators. However, there remain possibilities for informed action, for steering the directions that the university can take. This book maps both the historical factors and the alternative futures of the university. Whereas most books on the university remain focused on the European model, this volume explores models and issues from non-Western perspectives as well.

Inayatullah and Gidley draw together essays by leading academics from a variety of disciples and nations on the futures of the university, weaving historical factors with emerging issues and trends such as globalism, virtualization, multiculturalism, and politicization. They attempt to get beyond superficial debate on how globalism and the Internet as well as multiculturalism are changing the nature of the university, and they thoughtfully assess these changes.

 

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

Forces Shaping University Futures by Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Gidley

WESTERN PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURES OF THE UNIVERSITY

University Traditions and the Challenge of Global Transformation by Philip Spies

Higher Education at the Brink by Peter Manicas

Will the Future Include Us? Reflections of a Practitioner of Higher Education by Deane   Neubauer

The Virtual University and the Professoriate by Michael Skolnik

The Futures for Higher Education: From Bricks to Bytes to Fare Thee Well by Jim Dator

Why Pay for a College Education? by Tom Abeles

Of Minds, Markets and Machines: How Universities might transcend the Ideology of Commodification by David Rooney and Greg Hearn

At the Edge of Knowledge-Towards Polyphonic Multiversities by Paul Wildman

NON-WESTERN PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURES OF THE UNIVERSITY

Recovery of Indigenous Knowledge and Dissenting Futures of the University by Ashis Nandy

Pakistani Universities: Past, Present, and Future by Tariq Rahman

Civilizing the State: the University in the Middle East by Shahrzad Mojab

Scholar Activism for a New World: The Future of the Caribbean University by Anne Hickling-Hudson

Internationalizing the Curriculum-for Profit or the Planet? by Patricia Kelly

ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSITIES

The Crisis of the University: Feminist Alternatives for the 21st Century and Beyond by Ivana Milojevic

Homo Tantricus: Tantra as an Episteme for Future Generations by Marcus Bussey

Universities Evolving: Advanced Learning Networks and Experience Camps by Patricia Nicholson

Consciousness-Based Education: A Future of Higher Education in the New Millennium by James Grant

TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE UNIVERSITY

Corporate Networks or Bliss for All: The Politics of the Futures of the University by Sohail Inayatullah

Unveiling the Human Face of University Futures by Jennifer Gidley

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Comments On The University In Transformation

This book is admirably comprehensive. Its authors look at the impact on universities of all the major trends of our times. Even better, they go beyond the usual western focus and attempt a genuinely world view. A very stimulating contribution to the debate.

Sir John Daniel, Vice-Chancellor, The Open University

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Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Gidley have responded to the present crises of higher education by bringing together a must-read collection of papers. Firmly grounding their work on past trends, both the Western and Non-Western authors of these papers challenge conventional thinking as they explore possible, probable, and preferable futures for the university. A first-rate piece of work that might help us avoid a potential coming educational catastrophe.

Professor Wendell Bell, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Yale University

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…University in Transformation is highly recommended as an engaging, informative, and visionary text for those concerned with the critical role of universities in personal and national development in the 21st century.

Professor Robert Arnove, Professor of International and Comparative

Education, Indiana University, Bloomington

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This book is a `must’ reading for all professionals in higher education and those policy makers who have influence upon the direction of higher education in the U.S. as well as other countries….While thoughtful in insight, it is also practical in ideas. Anyone who reads it will come away with the importance of higher education and its role in building a global society where humanity will ultimately prevail.

Professor Glenn K. Miyataki, President, The Japan-America Institute of

Management Science, Honolulu, Hawaii

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A very impressive collection… This book arrives just-in-time for universities that want a future.

Gordon Prestoungrange, Global President, International Management Centers

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This is an interesting and thought-provoking book that gives other perspectives to the important debate on the role and effectiveness of the university in modern society.

Professor John Rickard

Vice-Chancellor, Southern Cross University

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Gidley and Inayatullah give equal weight to non-Western perspectives and … “alternative universities.”

Warren Osmond

Editor, Campus Review

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Editors Inayatullah and Gidley have created a solid collection of     significant if tantalizing essays addressing the basic question:    Can–or should–the university as we have known it continue to exist in view of new forces engulfing the world? They observe an increasingly multicultural, globalized, and politicized world in which the Internet can virtualize a university’s walls. Will technologies reach Third World universities and modernize them, make them more open, less parochial, and more inclusive? As the university becomes more tied to the corporate world in a globally capitalist system, will it abandon its noble purpose as a repository of truth and knowledge and lose its potential to transform society? These are among the questions discussed.

The authors, most of them Futurists, all agree that within the near future universities will be radically transformed. Some predict that in market-driven universities tenure, academic freedom, and commercially nonviable disciplines will evaporate and student-teacher contacts will dwindle in an atmosphere of human redundancy. Others see bright futures for alternative universities in which information technology and virtualization will play major roles. Optimists, they see current trends not as threats but as opportunities for professors, administrators, and policy shapers. The book, well organized and edited, will be especially valuable for graduate students in postsecondary education.

O. Ulin, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Choice Magazine (Current reviews for Academic Libraries, published by the American Library Association) October, 2000

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