| Foster?s concerns with the decline of the local are examined in the context of schools? embeddedness in intersections of social, economic, and political forces of the communities in which they are located. Three readings are taken of Foster?s call to explore political and economic undercurrents when viewing schools as agents of, and for, community. A concluding interpretation of the three readings of Foster?s concerns calls for a new socioeconomics of education and nuanced analyses of the dilemmas of deliberation. Promising approaches to promoting critical praxis are drawn fromemerging scholarship on perspectives of educational leadership from native and indigenous populations. Efforts to explore the communicative processes required to mediate ideas and interests and to enact institutional reforms are called for. The author concludes that multidisciplinary scholarship holds promise for enhancing understanding of the praxis of educational leadership in fostering the politics of local convening for deliberative democracy in a globalized world. |