This book addresses the troubling dearth of knowledge that many American undergraduate students have about Africa. Many scholars with research interest in Africa are caught by surprise at the superficial knowledge that students bring to their classrooms; it is a knowledge base that is bereft of an insightful analytical framework of the pertinent issues just as it is deprived of a well-informed historical context of the events. There is no mistaking of the import the mass media and neighborhood folklore in shaping the students' perception about the realities of Africa's developments. Mitigating these effects requires access to a college-level introductory textbook on Africa covering a gamut of themes that are germane to the contemporary realities of the continent. It is a textbook that does not romanticize Africa, but addresses the persistent stereotypes that characterize issues about the region. The book does so in two significant ways. First, it offers a refreshing examination of African issues from an afrocentric perspective. This allows the writers to present issues from which they have practical experience, and for the reader to examine them from insider scholarship. Second, it provides an opportunity for scholars and readers to analyze the issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. Interdisciplinarity is a testament that issues are complex and no single discipline can sufficiently address them. A combination of these two approaches ensures that the book does not develop into a limited and parochial view of issues. The themes covered in the book include: disciplinary perspectives in African studies, ethnocentricism in teaching human geography of Africa, and topics of geography, religion and spirituality, mathematics, psychology, government and public policy, the transformation of higher education, rural development, communication and socio-economic development, culture and decision making styles all as they relate to Africa.

*THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AS OPEN ACCESS BOOK ON SPRINGERLINK* This book examines multiple facets of language diversity and mathematics education. It features renowned authors from around the world and explores the learning and teaching of mathematics in contexts that include multilingual classrooms, indigenous education, teacher education, blind and deaf learners, new media and tertiary education. Each chapter draws on research from two or more countries to illustrate important research findings, theoretical developments and practical strategies. This open access book examines multiple facets of language diversity

*THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AS OPEN ACCESS BOOK ON SPRINGERLINK* This book examines multiple facets of language diversity and mathematics education. It features renowned authors from around the world and explores the learning and teaching of mathematics in contexts that include multilingual classrooms, indigenous education, teacher education, blind and deaf learners, new media and tertiary education. Each chapter draws on research from two or more countries to illustrate important research findings, theoretical developments and practical strategies. This open access book examines multiple facets of language diversity

Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (MSTE) emerged as a research discipline in the 1960s, and continues to reflect the distinctive flavour and character of its roots in Western societies, and science. In this mode, often based on positivist frameworks, research environments are characterised by idealised environments, sanitised research conditions; depoliticised neutralised data and contested analyses. The book arises from needs in the mathematics and science education research community in Southern Africa for a methodology text that is responsive to rapidly changing educational environments; and to the challenges and possibilities of research in contexts characterised by inequality, diversity, poverty, violence, the particular history within which research takes place, and the consequent ethical and socio-political considerations. The book also acknowledges and works with the practical and political realities of education and schooling in much of Southern Africa, where schools are often poorly resourced and communication with them is often difficult, and where research methodologies and ethics have to take account of the complexities of school operations and school-community relationships. The book does not aim to position itself as a counterpoint to 'conventional' research methodologies. It aims to build on the established base of mainstream MSTE and seeks to elevate and widen the debates, raise methodological issues, and offer innovative possibilities and pedagogies. To this end, the chapters present theoretical, meta-level reflections on issues in research design in the fields of mathematics, science and technology education. In this shift of focus, the book draws on a number of fairly recent research approaches. These include ethno mathematics, cultural studies in science education, place-based education, community-based education, environmental education, socially critical theory, and education for social and economic development.