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The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived wellbeing benefits of the unstructured camping experience for young adults.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive phenomenological study. Young adults between the ages of 21 and 30 years with recent experiences of camping were invited to participate in the study. A descriptive phenomenological approach was taken, involving photograph-guided semi-structured interviews and Colaizzi’s seven-stage analysis framework. Ethical approval was granted by the university where the study was managed.

Four female participants were interviewed; each interview lasted approximately 60 minutes in duration. Unstructured camping holidays were perceived to heighten general perceptions of health and wellbeing. Five themes emerged: “Getting away”, “Appreciation of the Natural Environment”, “Relationship Maintenance”, “Tranquility and Relaxation” and “Freedom and Adventure/Exploration”. The unstructured nature of the activity encouraged participant’s freewill to appreciate the natural environment and to engage in physical activity. Escape from everyday stressors to a tranquil environment provided the space and time to think and talk, relax and be active.

Green care initiatives could use the unstructured camping experience, or what the authors have framed as the “back to basics” model of camping, as a tool to promote general health and wellbeing in clinical and non-clinical young adult populations. Further research is needed to substantiate the evidence base, especially to probe further around the benefits of the spontaneity of the “back to basics” camping experience, in contrast to the structured group camp experiences the authors advocate in the UK and overseas for children’s leisure or health purposes.

The south of Chad has seen an influx of many tens of thousands of refugees within the last three years. After the president of the neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR), Felix Patasse, was overthrown in a coup d'etat in March 2003 more than 50.000 people fled to Chad, across the northern border. From the beginning of the refugee crisis, UNHCR has been present in the area to house and protect the refugees.

Following a renewed influx of large numbers of refugees in autumn 2005, UNHCR adopted a new strategy of ‘integration’ for their newest camp ‘Gondje’. ‘Integration’ aims for a joint use of camp facilities, such as schools and clinics, by the refugee population as well as by the local Chadian population. It is meant to bring benefits to the underdeveloped region of southern Chad. On the other hand, this strategy can also lead to a permanent resettlement of the refugees from CAR in Chad. Based on recent fieldwork in the area and in the camp of ‘Gondje’, this paper traces the strategy of ‘integration’ through a number of narratives as well as spatial analyses, puts it into a context of the planning strategies of refugee camps followed by UNHCR, and speculates on the effects and repercussions of this strategy. As emergency situations and the field of developmental work are becoming the areas within which architects are increasingly practicing, the article also sheds light on the responsibilities and the dilemmas the profession faces when operating in these humanitarian contexts.

This chapter examines the processes of rewriting nationhood in educational narratives regarding the Second World War (WWII) in Poland. Using mixed methods, this case study analyzes narrative change in state-approved history textbooks published between 1977 and 2008, thus covering the period of political transition from a communist to a democratic Poland. Although trends in learning theory and international norms suggest that attention to diversity should have increased in textbooks, in Poland these trends have been subsumed by more long-lasting Polish specific cultural tropes. WWII narratives, in particular, emphasize an ethnically homogeneous nation. Throughout the 31-year sample, educating youth about WWII in Poland continues to be focused on reclaiming “Polishness” rather than on espousing global understandings and citizenship.

Higher education can offer hope and a way forward for vulnerable populations. In particular, access to internationally recognized degrees and credentials has the potential to be a key protection priority for refugee populations, opening alternative solutions to displacement through economic empowerment and increased mobility.

While innovations in online learning have opened new pathways, the delivery of higher education to refugee learners in resource-deprived settings – including camps and urban environments – remains notoriously challenging. Therefore, there is an imperative to draw upon lessons learned from existing programs in order to identify promising practices and emerging innovations.

In this chapter, we draw on our experiences of developing a higher education model for refugee and vulnerable learners to argue that successful delivery of accredited degrees to populations affected by forced displacement relies upon the following three key elements:

• 1)

  Flexible mode of degree delivery and assessment.

• 2)

  Robust blended learning model with in-person academic support.

• 3)

  Provision of adaptive and context-specific interventions and resources.

Flexible mode of degree delivery and assessment.

Robust blended learning model with in-person academic support.

Provision of adaptive and context-specific interventions and resources.

The case study for this chapter is an initiative called the Global Education Movement at Southern New Hampshire University, which delivers accredited degrees to refugee and refugee-hosting populations in five countries. Evidence from the program in Rwanda, operated in partnership with a local partner, Kepler, suggests it is possible for a full degree program to be successful in reaching vulnerable learners, including refugees.

Drawing on the anthropological literature, this paper aims to develop a model of taboos (morality) that applies to the marketing, consumer behaviour and consumption contexts.

The paper is mainly conceptual but illustrates the general premises of the model with a case study of “dark” tourism and the contemporary marketing of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The paper shows that even extreme taboos can be commodified and traded-off, and that not even the horrific deaths and large-scale suffering that occurred at Auschwitz are “sacred”. This can occur through reframing and seeing the same taboo through different national lens.

Questions pertaining to consumer morality are relative rather than universalistic, and even the most extreme cases of taboo can still be successfully marketed.

The paper is among the first to attempt to conceptually design a model and then explain the taboo process as it applies to a marketing and consumption context.

Purpose: The aim of the chapter is the analysis of the processes of inclusion and/or exclusion experienced by Italian and immigrant students who live in rural areas. This chapter specifically focuses on the forms of belonging that they develop in their districts and at school.

Study approach: The analysis is based on a mixed methods study that was carried out in a middle school of a rural town in Central Italy. For the research, a focus group was first carried out with middle school students, then a semi-structured questionnaire was administered to the students. Privileged witnesses (e.g., school managers, people working for voluntary associations, social service operators, political actors) were also interviewed. Their interviews provided additional information about the territory under study.

Findings: Findings indicate that school reproduces processes of stigma and marginality for immigrant school students. This is best illustrated through their sense of belonging to the district in which they live and the school where they attend.

Originality: This study analyzes the lives of young migrants and their Italian peers who live in a rural area of Italy. Additionally, it considers the processes that schools play in promoting inclusion and exclusion among young migrants and Italians. This work contributes to the literature on children and youth migrants, as well as the sociology of education. It motivates future research on the experiences of life and schooling among migrants who live in rural communities.

This study examines the mental health initiatives in two locations of Loluccan internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sulawesi, Indonesia, and investigates whether those fit the local needs. The locations of IDPs are described based on observations, in‐depth interviews and dicussions with refugees and relief workers. Results showed that the Moluccan IDPs suffered from almost all short‐term mental health symptoms indicated in literature. Long‐term consequences, such as aggression, behavioural changes and family problems have been recognised among IDPs in both areas, but these could be a result of the local IDP situation rather than signs of traumatisation. Women are more at risk of developing mental health problems owing to their specific roles. Children are more at risk, because parents seem reluctant to explain the events to them. Some recommendations for services that target the social aspects of suffering and healing are presented.

To explore the potential of conversations with an authentic audience through blogging for enriching in young writers the understanding of the communicative function of writing, specifically language and vocabulary use.

We situate our work in the language acquisition model of language learning, in which learners develop linguistic competence in the process of speaking and using language (Krashen, 1988; Tomasello, 2005). We also believe that language learning benefits from formal instruction (Krashen, 1988). As such, in our work, we likened engaging in blogging to learning a language (here, more broadly conceived as learning to write) through both natural communication (acquisition) and prescription (instruction), and we looked at these forms of learning in our study.

We were interested in the communicative function of language learning (Halliday, 1973; 1975; Penrod, 2005) among young blog writers, because we see language learning as socially constructed through interaction with other speakers of a language (Tomasello, 2005; Vygotsky, 1978).

The readers and commenters in this study supported young writers in their language study by modeling good writing and effective language use in their communication with these writers. Young writers also benefited from direct instruction through interactions with adults beyond classroom teachers, in our case some of the readers and commenters.

Blogging can extend conversations to audiences far beyond the classroom and make writing a more authentic endeavor for young writers. Teachers should take advantage of such a powerful tool in their writing classrooms to support their students’ language study and vocabulary development.

is a memoir. The events of World War II (WWII) took place around the world disrupting the daily lives of children. In school students often examine WWII only from the perspective of their own nation and thereby fail to learn and understand how their lives today were impacted by a war that began 70 years ago and continues to impact the world today. This lesson examines a detailed memoir of Annelex, a child in the Dutch East Indies during WWII and in its immediate aftermath. Annelex describes her fears and how her mother and grandmother helped her overcome uncertainties in living to survive and grow.