The idea that children's learning is influenced by economic, political, ecological, cultural and other influences is being focused upon by educators world-wide. The editors of this volume point out that there is a huge amount of scientific knowledge from different disciplines that could be a basis for the necessary changes in teaching and learning both in and out of school, on different educational levels and under different institutional conditions. The editors define learning activity as a special kind of activity directed towards the acquisition of societal knowledge and skills through their individual reproduction by means of special learning actions upon learning objects. Learners can acquire skill and knowledge, they add, only by actively acting with the material according to its substance and structure, and through the co-ordination, communication and co-operation between learners and other people since that is one of the most essential features of learning activity. The book explores how learning proceeds. "Societal forms of thinking and knowledge" considers the interdependency between the societal traditions of production, science, art an public life and personal thinking modes and knowledge. "Teaching, learning activity in theory and practice" explores the relation between content of knowledge, teaching and learning activity. "Social interaction, development of motives and self-evaluation" examines the core aspects of learning activity. "Play, spontaneous learning and teaching" looks into the transition from pre-school to school and the transformation of activities as preconditions for children's learning activity.

The transition from foraging to farming in prehistoric Denmark has been a topic of debate over the past sixty years. Michael Stafford contributes to this discussion via an analysis of stone tools from several well-known sites in Denmark spanning the transition to agriculture. Results of this analysis are applied to several recent theoretical approaches seeking to explain how and when the transition happened, and a new perspective is synthesised and defended.

Current research into photography from a European perspective strikes a solid contrast to North American studies. This synopsis of Continental thought covers recent attempts to re(write) the history and theory of photography. In assessing current research, the contributors argue that photography is the matrix according to which we produce images in the broadest sense, including imaginary ones. Major emphasis is placed on the reception of the image. Individual authors comment on the task of verbally describing a photograph, survey historical issues of visuality and interpretations, discuss new documentary practices, and measure the significance of the subject in the statement made by the photograph. The work of Victorian photographer Clementina Hawarden and her sensual, rarely pictured pictures are featured. In studying gender aesthetics and politics, the essays explore the connection between photography and pornography, reject standard psychoanalytic interpretations, and incorporate new linguistic philosophical approaches to the medium. Death, memory, the traumatic, and photography's muteness towards the past are also discussed. A final essay assesses how the impact of photography will vary once a passive viewer becomes a use of interactive video. This book should be of use in advancing theories of photography and photography's place in the post-modern consciousness.

Text in Danish and Latin.

Two-Volume Set. This is the last volume in the series of reports from the Danish excavations on the ancient Tall of the important Syrian site and town of Hama. It presents the medieval architecture of the mound from the Arab conquest in 636 to 1401 when the citadel of Hama was destroyed by Timur Lenk. The excavations revealed that the early Islamic town was not as insignificant as previously believed. The periods of Hama's greatest strength were, however, the 12th and 13th centuries, when many different structures were built on the mound, such as a bath, mills and other industrial structures (among these a workshop for the production of grenades). Its fortifications mainly dated from the 12th century, although an older Byzantine wall was also found.

This study examines how in the dispute between Thukydides and Hellanikos, scholars have long taken it for granted that the preserved historian was right and the lost one mistaken, despite the fact that the Battle of Oinoe, for example, does not fit into the chronology of Thukydides. By restoring the dates recorded by Hellanikos, Schreiner asserts that a reliable chronology can be established. The first historian to record the period from the Persian Wars to 431 BC was Hellanikos, the author of the lost "History of Athens" from its mythical origins through the fifth century BC. He reported there was one war between Athens and Sparta from 431 to 421 and another from 412 to 404, and that the first was caused by contemporary events of the 430s. Thukydides, writing a monograph on a war he sought to establish as the most disastrous to date, criticised Hellanikos as chronologically inaccurate and lacking an appreciation of the impact of a stronger Athens. Thukydides asserted that there was only one war, beginning in 431 and ending in 404, caused by the growth of Athens following the Persian Wars and the fear that growth inspired in Sparta. The book, in reviving the text of Hellanikos, should encourage scholars of antiquity and military history to re-evaluate their interpretations of the era.

A study of the palaces of Hellenistic kings, highlighting their role as the principal cultural centres and cultural mediators of the period. Overviews the palaces of the Hellenistic period, including governors' and private palaces, with emphasis on architecture and on functional aspects. Also covers early Roman palaces.

This survey by scholars, experts and politicians with knowledge of, and influence in, the Caucasus region reflects its many conflicting ethnic groups and nations. An introductory section deals with the entire region from the historical perspective, drawing special attention to its geographical importance and relations with the former Soviet Union and the present Russian Federation. Subsequent essays analyse the ethnic and national problems in North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Crimea, Nagorno-Karabakh and Chechenia. The concluding articles discuss the Turkish influence on Caucasian conflicts.

Novelist Sean O'Faolain, playwright Brian Friel, and poet Seamus Heaney have been highly critical of the Irish revolutionary generation for its oversimplification of the interstice between past and present. These post-war writers complain that the nationalists see Irish history as a great romantic narrative with a tragic beginning and possibly a happy ending. The present collection of essays centres on the implications of an intricate conception of Irish history and identity. It emphasises both the historical considerations and the literary representations of Irish identities. The text of the "Good Friday Peace Accord" is included along with individual chapters on the slow triumph of politics, historical revisionism, uses of the national anthem, on Sean O'Faolain, on Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes", and nationalism and unionism in this decade. The chapters on literary representation discuss the peotry of Northern Ireland, of John Hewitt and Seamus Heaney, James Joyce's "modern hells", Samuel Beckett, and the state of the Irish theatre. Apart from essays by such Irish writers as Tom Garvin, Colm Toibin, Edna Longley, and Fintan O'Toole, the collection contains contributions by American, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish scholars.

This volume brings together international scholars of American Studies whose work explores the issues of ethnicity, race, gender, national, and cross-cultural identity in American literature and culture. The ramifications of this discussion go far beyond the borders of North America; in our era of European consolidation and global communications, even the seemingly most homogeneous of national literatures find themselves at last responding to and acknowledging external cultural influences. With articles ranging from an examination of early colonial texts through postcolonial theory to a theoretical discussion of Michael Wigglesworth's Diaries and the latest work of Maya Angelou, "Other Americans, Other Americas" will appeal to a wide academic audience as a significant contribution to the latest scholarship in the field of multicultural studies.

The Japanese educational system is admired and envied for its success in providing a well-educated population and contributing to the spectacular post-War industrialisation and modernisation of the nation. It is also criticised for inhibiting creativity and spontaneity, seen as crucial talents in the forthcoming information age. "Moving Mountains" is based on two propositions: that the educational system is undergoing a number of changes, despite charges to the contrary, and that there is a conflict between the rhetoric of the National Council on Education Reform undertaken by Prime Minister Nakasone (1982-1987) and its emphasis on issues like internationalism vis-à-vis the national and economic needs as defined by the politicians.

Explores the problems faced by refugees and migrants in the rich society of the western world today as they are seen by the refugees and migrants themselves. The main focus is on the literature written by these displaced persons. The writers discuss the issues of language, cultural transmission and racism and give artistic expression to their thoughts and feelings. The book also includes an article by Peter Noble, Sweden's ombudsman for refugees who traces the legal concept of refugees.

What was the relationship between city and country in the Roman Empire? The writings which have been preserved show an enormous empire, divided into "cells", each with a city at its centre. But the written sources are few, and focus mainly on the cities of Italy; they do not tell what life was like in the Roman provinces. Through systematic studies of the ancient landscape in Northern Tunisia, archaeologists have reconstructed the day-to-day history and economic activity of the rural population around the city of Segermes. Over 100 persons have been involved in this joint Danish-Tunisian project. The findings presented in these two volumes indicate that in Roman times, the valley was given over to intensive cultivation of wheat and olives, maintained at a high output level by means of extensive irrigation works. The population was dense and, surprisingly, reached its peak between 350 and 550 AD, a period of economic decline elsewhere in the Roman Empire.

Every second year the Danish Institute at Athens publishes a volume in this series presenting results of Danish field research archaeology in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean and research in this area by Danish as well as international scholars.

This volume presents maps and plates of the excavation area, together with additional material introduced in the previous seven volumes. German text.

Text in Danish and Latin.