Contributors focus on three main questions, the answers to which are vital for understanding the needs of both national policy and personal fulfilment in widely differing cultures. The contributors examine the concept of the self that underlies the idea of virtue which facilitates learning in Japan, the Confucian-style bonding between generations in Chinese society and the authority of the traditional teacher with the modern Quaranic School. They study phenomena as diverse as the effect of Christian and Islamic influence on the native cultures of Africa, and the life strategies of Japanese business women, spanning a geographical range from Morocco to Fiji.

Part I Psychologies of the person and cultural context for personal change. 1.Psychotherapy and culture: healing in the Indian tradition. Sudhir Kakar. 2.Source and Influence: A Comparative Approach to African Religion and Culture. Lamin Sanneh. 3.Healing and Transformation: Perspectives on Development, Education and Community. Richard Katz. 4. Social Change and Personal Crisis: A View from an Indian Practice. B K Ramanujam. Part II Social Organization and Environments for Learning . 5.The Making of a Fqih: the Transformation of Traditional Islamic Teachers in Modern Cultural Adaptation. Jennifer E Spratt and Daniel A Wagner. 6.Cultural Continuity in an Educational Institution: A Case Study of the Suzuki Method of Music Instruction. Lois Taniuchi. 7. Learning Elementary School Mathematics as a Culturally Conditioned Process. Carlos E Vasco. Part III Cultural Perspectives on the Life Course . 8.The Work of Mourning: Death in a Punjabi Family. Veena Das. 9. Heart and self in old age: a Chinese Model. Julia Shiang. 10. Skills and Life Strategies of Japanese Business Women. Sumiko Iwao. 11. Selfhood in Context: Some Indian Solutions. Prakash Desai and Alfred Collins.