Who’s an “Indian”?: classification and implications

December 1, 2014

Who’s indigenous? And does it matter? These are significant questions, with significant answers. They are relevant to TOK both through the new area of knowledge, indigenous knowledge, and an old area of knowledge, ethics – as well as to all the ways of knowing...

Good thinking in a complex context

November 15, 2014

I’ve used this work in class and I keep returning to its central idea, which is essentialized in the English translation of the title of Amin Maalouf’s Identites meurtrieres.  The English title also is given a subtitle: In the Name of Identity: Violence...

Poppies and remembrance: symbolism and perspectives

November 11, 2014

Controversy again over poppies and remembrance – or in TOK terms, over symbolism and shared knowledge! In Britain, a headscarf with a poppy pattern has been sold to Muslim women to “raise awareness about the 400,000 Muslims, most of them Indian, who fought alongside...

Misinformation, implications, and responsibility: fact-checking on Africa

November 9, 2014

“What do these statements about Africa have in common? A white farmer is killed every five days in South Africa. Earlier this year Nigerian Islamists Boko Haram burnt 375 Christians alive. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the rape capital of the world....

Pareidolia in Your Pocket

October 21, 2014

Virtually everyone who carries a cellphone with a vibrating mode in that handy pocket regularly experiences “phantom phone vibrations”(estimates are as high as 90%). Also called, a little frivolously, “ring-xiety”,...

Schooling the World: free preview this month

October 2, 2014

Schooling the World has just announced that their film  is available this month for free preview.  Schooling the World: The White Man’s Last Burden is now streamed with subtitles in eleven languages.  Its free downloadable discussion guide has abundant material...