CERC Studies in Comparative Education, No.11 
 

Knowledge Across Cultures: A Contribution to Dialogue Among Civilizations

Edited by Ruth Hayhoe & Julia Pan

ISBN 962-8093-73-8. (2000, 391pp.)

HK$250 (local), US$38 (overseas) [add $5 /copy for air mail]

published by Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC)

At the start of the new millennium, the United Nations designated 2001 the 'Year of Dialogue among Civilizations'. This dialogue emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and changed much of the field of comparative education. The dialogue draws attention to deep-rooted cultural differences around the world which shape approaches to education.

This book gives voice to outstanding scholars from three major Eastern civilizations - Chinese, Arabic and Indian - who have entered into dialogue with equally distinguished scholars from the West. One of the authors, Abdus Salam, was the first scientist from Pakistan to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. The themes of the book include challenges to knowledge in the late modern era; Eastern contributions to scientific knowledge; knowledge transfer across regions and civilizations; indigenous knowledge and modern education; and past and present influences from China. The book will contribute to an ongoing dialogue among civilizations, and enhance mutual understanding in the increasingly globalized society of the 21st Century.

Ruth Hayhoe is Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and is an Associate Member of the Comparative Education Research Centre of the University of Hong Kong. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the University of London Institute of Education, and Advisory Professor to ten universities in different regions of China. She has devoted two decades to studies of China's education and Chinese-Western relations in education.

Julia Pan teaches at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She has recently led two major projects of educational and scientific collaboration between Canadian and Chinese scholars, supported by the Canadian International Development Agency. At the start of the new millennium, the United Nations designated 2001 the 'Year of Dialogue among Civilizations'. This dialogue emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and changed much of the field of comparative education. The dialogue draws attention to deep-rooted cultural differences around the world which shape approaches to education.

This book gives voice to outstanding scholars from three major Eastern civilizations - Chinese, Arabic and Indian - who have entered into dialogue with equally distinguished scholars from the West. One of the authors, Abdus Salam, was the first scientist from Pakistan to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. The themes of the book include challenges to knowledge in the late modern era; Eastern contributions to scientific knowledge; knowledge transfer across regions and civilizations; indigenous knowledge and modern education; and past and present influences from China. The book will contribute to an ongoing dialogue among civilizations, and enhance mutual understanding in the increasingly globalized society of the 21st Century.

Ruth Hayhoe is Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and is an Associate Member of the Comparative Education Research Centre of the University of Hong Kong. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the University of London Institute of Education, and Advisory Professor to ten universities in different regions of China. She has devoted two decades to studies of China's education and Chinese-Western relations in education.

Julia Pan teaches at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She has recently led two major projects of educational and scientific collaboration between Canadian and Chinese scholars, supported by the Canadian International Development Agency.

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Contents:

Foreword (Mark Bray)

Introduction
A Contribution to Dialogue among Civilizations (Ruth Hayhoe & Julia Pan)

Part 1: Challenges to Knowledge
1. Knowledge, Politics, and the Future of Higher Education: Critical Observations on A Worldwide Transformation

2. Science, Universities and Subjugated Knowledges: A "Third World" Perspective

3. Paradigm Shifts in the Social Sciences in the East and West

4. First Nations and Higher Education: The Four R's - Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity, Responsibility

5. The Challenge of Cultural Dependency: An African and Islamic Perspective

Part II: Eastern Contributions to Scientific Knowledge

6. Indian Mathematics and the West

7. Historical Reflections on Scientific Knowledge: The Case of Medieval Islam

8. A Modern Interpretation of Sinic Science

9. Inheritance, Creativity and Society

Part III: Knowledge Across Cultures: Issues of Knowledge Transfer

10. Science, Technology and Science Education in the Development of the South

11. East-West Medical Exchanges and their Mutual Influence

12. Gigantic Peripheries: India and China in the International Knowledge System

13. World Bank Transfer of Technology and Ideas to India and China

14. Development as Transfer of Knowledge: A View from Egypt

Part IV: Indigenous Knowledge and Modern Education

15. Art, Technology and Knowledge Transfer

16. On the Indigenousness of Chinese Pedagogy

17. Cultural Survival of Education in Iran

18. Social Justice through Non-Formal Education and University Extension Education: an Indian Case Study

Part IV: China's Influences Past, Present and Future

19. An Ancient Bridge: The Influences of the Arts of China on the West

20. Chinese Influences on the Enlightment in Europe

21. A Brief Overview of Sino-Western Exchange Past and Present

22. Meeting Points of Transcultural Exchange - A Chinese View

23. A Bridge Rebuilt: Artistic Interchange between China and the West in the 1980s

24. The Concept of General Education in Chinese Higher Education

25. Lessons from the Chinese Academy

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