Introduction

This is, I believe, the first international handbook of curriculum studies. As such, it represents the first move in postulating an architecture of a worldwide field of curriculum studies. By worldwide, I do not mean uniform. As I have noted on another occasion, at this stage of formulation, curriculum studies tend to be embedded in their national and regional settings, often stipulated by national educational policies and/or in reaction to them (see Pinar, in press). This fact is evident in the chapters comprising this handbook. The point has a political dimension; it may work against the cultural and economic imperialism associated with the phenomenon known as globalization. In the preamble to the recently established (spring 2001) International Association for the Advancement, that point was prominent:

I regard this book as a companion event to the formation of International Association; both provide to the field much-needed infrastructure. Also important in this regard are Bjorg Gundem and Stefan Hopmann (Eds.), Didaktik and/or Curriculum, the proceedings of the 1995 Oslo conference, William E. Doll, Jr., William F. Pinar, Donna Trueit, and Hongyu Wang (Eds.), The Internationalization of Curriculum Studies, selected proceedings of the 2000 LSU Conference on the Internationalization of Curriculum Studies, a meeting that followed a 1999 LSU Conference which focused on the intersec-

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between philosophy of education and LSU conference, the organizational Committee of 100 formed-which led to the eventual establishment of the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.