Indigenous and minority education : international perspectives on empowerment

This collection of papers is one of the outcomes of a conference entitled, “Education, Social Development and Empowerment among Indigenous Peoples and Minorities: International Perspectives”, which was held at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel on June 16-18, 2004. We would like to thank the sponsoring organizations, The Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education (FUCAE) in Israel, Shatil (New Israel Fund’s empowerment and training center for social change organizations in Israel), and the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Israel, which developed the idea for the conference and provided the financial support, and the Native Nations Law and Policy Center at UCLA, which played a crucial role in bringing together the distinguished international participants. We are indebted to each of these organizations for their on-going dedication to education and their visionary commitment to making global connections. acknowledgements