Communal Versus Individual Learning of a Math-Estimation Task: African American Children and the Culture of Learning Contexts

The authors compared the performance of 78 African American 5th-grade students who studied a math-estimation task in one of two learning contexts. Learning contexts differed in the degree to which they afforded the expression of communalism. ANCOVA confirmed that posttest performance was best for students who studied in the high communal-learning context. The findings support A. W. Boykin's (1994) contention that the cultural context of learning can be a critical mediator of children's performance.     

“Born Black and Male”: Counseling leaders’ self-discovery of strengths

Africentric/Afrocentric psychology frames the interview findings on five African-American male leaders in a racial, ethnic, and culturally diverse counseling association. The consensual qualitative research method was used to extrapolate themes from the five interviews. Africentric cultural strengths suggested in the themes are (a) autogeny, (b) primacy of the person in the context of community, (c) consubstantiality of primordial substance, (d) perpetual evolution, and (e) living forever. Two themes related to counseling practice are (f) social justice and (g) cultural empathy. Common trends in statements across interviews are illustrated with rich quotations and summaries. Although the framework of continental African world view facilitated understanding a few African-American male counseling leaders, the study evidences a larger universal human dimension of individuals’ pain, resilience, self-discovery of strengths, and leadership bound to a collective self-concept by which leadership can take place both individually and collectively.     

Parental Attachment,Family Communalism,and Racial Identity Among African American College Students

Parental attachment and familial communalism were examined as contributors to the racial identity of 165 African American college students. Students with secure attachments and high reports of communalism were in the later stage of their racial identity development, whereas students with insecure attachments and lacking communalism were in the earlier stages of their racial identity development. El apego parental y el comunalismo familiar se examinaron como contribuyentes a la identidad racial de 165 estudiantes universitarios afroamericanos. Los estudiantes con apegos seguros y alto índice de comunalismo se encontraban en la etapa avanzada del desarrollo de su identidad racial, mientras que los estudiantes con apegos inseguros y falta de comunalismo se encontraban en las etapas tempranas del desarrollo de su identidad racial.     

Rejecting Sectarianism: Palestinian Christians' Role in Muslim–Christian Relations

The study of Muslim–Christian relations often focuses on Islamic theology and Muslim behavior while overlooking the role that Christians play in shaping interreligious encounters. This article examines a series of historical examples from various periods of Palestinian history that highlight Arab Christians' insistence that they were Palestinian Arabs first and were fully engaged in the nationalist movement. Palestinian Christians' approach to local politics, even in the face of interreligious conflict, allowed them to maintain far better relations with Muslims than Arab Christians in some neighboring Arab countries. By way of comparison, the article highlights the Druze's acceptance of a unique communal relationship to the Zionist leadership and later, to the state of Israel. The article concludes that, while modern Islamism presents a challenge to minority Christian groups, historical examples suggest that Christians' actions have a profound impact on the nature of Christian–Muslim relations.