Table of Contents

Introduction Harry Daniels, Michael Cole and James V. Wertsch; Part I. Vygotsky in Context: 1. Vygotsky in context: 1900–35 Rene van der Veer; 2. Vygotsky's demons David Bakhurst; 3. An interesting resemblance: Vygotksy, Mead and American pragmatism Anne Edwards; 4. Vygotsky, Mead, and the new sociocultural studies of identity Dorothy Holland and William Lachicotte, Jr; 5. Vygotsky on thinking and speaking Vera P. John-Steiner; Part II. Readings of Vygotsky: 6. Terminology in L. S. Vygotsky's writing Boris Meshcheryakov; 7. Mediation James V. Wertsch; 8. Vygotsky and culture Michael Cole and Natalia Gajdamaschko; 9. Thought and word: the approaches of L. S. Vygotsky and G. G. Shpet Vladamir Zinchenko; 10. The development of children's conceptual relation to the world with focus on concept in pre-school children's activity Mariane Hedegaard; 11. Inside and outside the Zone of Proximal Development: an eco-functional reading of Vygotsky Amelia Alvarez and Pablo del Rio; Part III. Applications of Vygotsky's Work: 12. Pedagogy Harry Daniels; 13. Sociocultural theory and education of children with special needs: from defectology to remedial pedagogy Alex Kozulin and Boris Gindis; 14. Putting Vygotsky to work: the change laboratory as an application of double stimulation Yrjo Engestrom.

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A comprehensive text providing a critical perspective on Vygotsky and his work.

About the Author

Harry Daniels is the Director of the Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research (Bath) at The University of Bath, UK. He is also Adjunct Professor, Centre for Learning Research, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, and Research Professor, Centre for Human Activity Theory, Kansai University, Osaka, Japan. Harry Daniels is the author of Vygotsky and Pedagogy and editor of An Introduction to Vygotsky and Charting the Agenda: Educational Activity after Vygotsky. His books have been translated into Japanese, Portuguese (in Brazil and Europe), and Spanish. Michael Cole is the University Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Human Development and Director of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition at the University of California, San Diego. He also holds the Sanford Berman Chair of Language, Thought and Communication. He is the author and coauthor of several books and many articles on culture and development. He is a member of the National Academy of Education, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Russian Academy of Education. James V. Wertsch, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. He holds joint appointments in Education, the Russian Studies Program, and the Program in Philosophy, Neuroscience, and Psychology. He is the director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy. His topics of study are collective memory and identity, especially in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as in the United States.

Reviews

"The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky, for many reasons, makes a strong contribution to readers' efforts to appropriate an informed Vgotskian perspective. The roster of authors is impressive, representing nine nations and including chapters by a near-predictable who's who of Vygotskian scholars...This review, while undoubtedly too long, is far too brief to do this book justice...There's much to be learned from The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky and much to be constructed in relation to it." Peter Smagorinsky, University of Georgia "The Companion makes a compelling case for the unfinished status of many of Vygotsky's ideas and therefore the value of new Vygotskian scholarship...This book illustrates that Vygotsky's unfinished legacy is a profound platform that permitted these contributors, in dialogue with Vygotsky and each other, to say and do things anew." Janet E. Kuebli, PsychCRITIQUES