In this article, we discuss theater productions we mounted in the Marshall Islands as a case example of how the theatrical process, shaped by "polycultural" inclinations, contributes to the personal development of youth in the Marshall Islands. We contextualize and detail a unique theatrical process that has potential for fostering…

Current prominent models of identity face challenges in bridging across divergent perspectives and apparent dichotomies such as personal or social-collective, conscious or unconscious, and epigenetic or discursive-relational, and affording pursuit of research questions that allows integrative answers. This article presents a coherent theoretical…

Palestinian youth face developmental, cultural, and political barriers that impede them from fully engaging in civic life. Non-traditional, youth-centered pedagogies of engagement, like community-based service-learning (CBSL), have shown promise to motivate marginalized populations and provide space and roles for them to form individual identities…

In this article I outline a co-regulation model of identity that is based on an emergent interaction perspective derived from Vygotskian theory. I use this model to suggest the role of motivation in identity development. The co-regulation approach is one of many modern attempts (e.g., social cognitive, social constructivist, sociocultural) to…

As people consider the critical importance of inner control in the development of human functioning, it might be wise to reexamine a fundamental insight from cultural psychology: from the very beginnings of life the growth of the individual mind is a reflection of and response to the minds around people, including the stimuli to which those…

This article concerns the impact of educational reforms on young people in Bolivian society as they transition into adulthood, against the backdrop of globalisation and far-reaching structural changes. Ethnicity and cultural capital are linked in complex ways with social stratification in Bolivia. In a pluricultural society, the language of…

Feminist researchers in psychology and education have been theorizing about the kind of sexuality girls ought to have. They are not afraid to investigate morality and what makes a good life. While they explore the meaning and cultural context of girls' sexual development, the good sexual life they describe may be an elusive ideal that, in the end,…

Selves and cultures are not independent entities. Focusing on the processes by which individuals and cultures participate in each other's functioning, we can begin to understand how personal and communal dimensions of selfhood must be represented in some form in all the world's cultures. (Contains 1 figure.)

In this article, the author writes lyrically of the struggle of young people to find meaning and hope in an increasingly secular world, and focuses his discussion on potential roles for adults "who are in serious life-shaping relationships with young people. . . to recognize and respond to the spiritual development of young people." The…

Metaphors influence one's perceptions and thinking, from fairly inconsequential concepts, to some of the most basic matters. A root metaphor is one that is foundational to other beliefs and conceptions. In this article, the author explores what she believes has become the dominant root metaphor of today's gifted youth. Here, she illustrates some…

This chapter examines the development of self from the Hindu perspective, which views the "Atman" or inner self as the real self, transcending the empirical self that is socially embedded and subject to change across the life span and with intercultural contact.

Presents and describes the adolescent developmental pathways paradigm, a rites-of-passage model for African American youth that provides a developmental framework for ethnic identity development and integrates it into the current literature on adolescent rites of passage. Attention is given to the ecological context within which adolescent-focused…

This paper presents a rationale for using a biographical approach in understanding how teachers think and act and how they have come to think and act in the way they do. This approach is seen as being able to provide a fundamental understanding of the teacher's perspective. Understanding how teachers individually and collectively think, act,…

Discusses the self as socially constructed by comparing George Herbert Mead and Robert Kegan and then addresses the construction of the religious self by focusing on Mead, Kegan, and George Lindbeck. Considers the "theonomous self" (identity related to God). Concludes by discussing ecclesial practices that correspond to the theonomous…

Tribal colleges play a powerful role in the personal development as well as the academic development of American Indian students. By providing access, exposure to native culture, personal support, preparation for further education, and a sense of empowerment, tribal colleges are influential in advancing self-awareness, interpersonal sensitivity,…