A comparative analysis of perceptual and demographic predictors of sense of place dimensions in the State Mosques of Malaysia

The study in this article is part of a more in‐depth research investigating the architectural and physical design influences on sense of place dimensions in the context of contemporary mosques in Malaysia. The focus of this paper is human–place bonding in sacred and religious settings, based on a framework including aspects of sociality, physicality and spirituality, in addition to demographic variables such as ranges of length of experience with, and frequency of presence in, the environment of the studied mosques. The effects of the perceptions of architecture and physical design, social environment, and spiritual atmosphere on dimensions of sense of place were studied using a structural equation modelling analysis based on 302 questionnaires completed in seven state mosques across the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia. Meanwhile the socio‐demographic effects on sense of place dimensions were also tested based on several analyses of variances (ANOVA) in various demographic groups through sense of place dimensions. In doing so, we adopted the multi‐dimensional approach towards sense of place consisting of cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. As major findings, this research provided empirical evidence for the existence of direct relationships between perceptions of the key environmental factors studied and the sense of place dimensions in contexts with extensive religious and sacred attributes; on the other hand, no interactive relationship was found between most of the socio‐demographic variables and those dimensions. This article discusses in detail each of those approved and rejected relationships.     

Eyes on the street: Photovoice,liberation psychotherapy,and the emotional landscapes of urban children

Eyes on the Street is a therapeutic photovoice program which empowered 25 predominantly African American children (ages 7–12) to use digital photography to express and process emotions about their neighborhood, the Hilltop South community of Pittsburgh. Many of the Hilltop South neighborhoods suffer from the effects of systemic sociopolitical disenfranchisement and trauma. This program implemented photovoice as a trauma-healing intervention to empower youth in the Hilltop South to recognize, utilize, and artistically express their emotional responses to the public places of their neighborhood. The program's objectives were to create activities and spaces where children can practice emotional agility by articulating their feelings as images, and to introduce children to a self-advocacy tool with which to assert the needs of their community. This paper lays out the principles of liberation psychotherapy, discusses how they have guided the program development for Eyes on the Street, and showcases the details of the trauma-healing photovoice curriculum.     

The educational theorists, the teachers, and their history of education

The following contribution expands the current discussion on the status and function of the history of education at the methodological, or epistemological, level by introducing the perspective of a history of educational knowledge. This opens up a theoretical option for educational historiography that avoids the identification of history of education with history of a discipline, or the institutionalized knowledge of education and teaching. As a consequence, some history of education topoi – as the history of a discipline – can be called into question and practiced historically rather than educationally or morally.