What is the effect of

the different

histories of

colonization in regard to

 the DEAF-WORLD?

The effect of differing histories of

colonization on many nations have left

differing practices in their

 wake with regards to Deaf people.

These factors combine with the countries

different cultures, geography and

 economy have had an effect on the

 Deaf to forge a common language to

congregate, to advocate for their own interests

 and to participate in national political life

What country is considered the cradle of

Western Deaf education?

More signed languages in the

 Western world today,

 including ASL, trace

 their roots to  .........?

LSF

French Sign Language

The first public school for

 the Deaf was

established where and

 by whom and when? 

The first public school for the Deaf was

established in Paris, in the 1760's by

abbe de l'Epee

In 1789, as Eppe lay dying, a delegation from

 the legislature of the new French Republic

joined the pupils at his bedside to tell him

that his wish - the certain continuation of

his school, was assured. This moment in

 Deaf history was painted by whom?

French Deaf artist Frederic Peyson

It was displayed at the Paris Salon des

beaux-Arts in 1839.

What was the predominant language

 in the French Deaf schools

LSF became the predominant language

among pupils and Deaf faculty

although Signed French was often used

in the classroom

True or False:

LSF and Signed French were

 constantly under

 attack and frequently banned

in favour

of the exclusive use of French

Why is France so protective

of its language?

From 1789, France felt threatened by the

 diversity of languages within its borders. This

was even more important as languages, such as German,

 were spoken across its borders by its

 enemies. The legislature created primary schools

 where all children would learn French and only

French would be used in instruction.

 Minority languages were discouraged.

In the 1830's what happened to

signed and spoken French?

It fel into disuse in the French

 schools for

 the Deaf. LSF was used

for instruction

What was the Congress of

 Milan and

 what happened in its wake?

LSF was banished from

public education

 of its Deaf children and

all the Deaf teachers

 were fired on the grounds

 that they would be

 likely to use LSF.

Name some of the teachers that

lost their

jobs in the aftermath of

 the Milan Congress.

Dusuzeau - science teacher and Deaf leader

Tessieres - author of the national curriculum

for Deaf pupils

Theobald - history teacher and Deaf leader

M Trone - writing teacher

M Simon - deputy headmaster

When was the earliest Deaf association

founded and by whom?

What did it provide?

The earliest Deaf assoc. was founded in 1834

 by a towering intellectual in French Deaf

history - Ferdinand Berthier.

It provided mutual aid and an athletic,

cultural and leisure programme

to Deaf adults. It was named the

 Comite des Sourds-Mutes (Deaf -Mute Committee)

 In 1838, it was renamed the

Central Society for the Assistance and

Education of Deaf-Mutes

Deaf adults could no longer

 work in education

 in the years following the

Milan Congress.

Where did they find work?

Deaf leaders were active politically. What

civil rights did they manage to secure

 for Deaf people?

The right to marriage and to an

education and protesting the hearing

 dominance of Deaf education.

This activism was reflected in 3

international congresses on the

Deaf held in Paris at the

turn of the century.

What two-pronged argument do the

 French make for their language?

1) French is one of the world's great

languages with resources in grammar,

vocabulary and texts that can enable people

 developing nations to gain access to the

world's store of knowledge, its corridors of

 power and its boardrooms of commerce

2) the local languages cannot fulfill these

 functions.

French educators of the Deaf said

what of signed language?

The world will never learn signed language

and LSF can never fulfill the

functions of French.

The French administration and

 law consider LSF

speakers- not as a linguuistic

minority but as

 French speaking citizens with a disability.

In 1975, what did the French national

television do?

In 1975, at the WFD meeting, the French

were impressed with the place that had

 been made for ASL in American society

and the large number of American Deaf presenters.

 In that same year they started a weekly

programme aimed

at Deaf and hard-of-hearing that was

interpreted into signed language

What was the Confederation

Nationale

 des Sourds de France?

He published numerous articles

and books

He created the first known social

organisation of the Deaf. In 1834 

he founded the Comite des Sourds-Muers

(Deaf-Mute Committee)

in 1838 it was renamed the Central

Sociery for the Assistance and

 Education of Deaf - Mutes

vice-pres of the first welfare

organisation for the Deaf.

Member of literary and historical

societies

Wo was Bernard Mottez

and Harry Markowiez?

Mottez was a French sociologist and Markowiez

 was a sociolinguist. They

studied the Deaf

community and began a

 graduate seminar

on the Deaf Community. They

conducted lectures and

published a hard-hitting underground

newspaper that focused on

the Deaf community

What was the International Visual

Theatre and who led it?

The IVT had an all Deaf cast led by

 Alfredo Corrado. It was founded in Paris

 and presented avant-garde plays in

LSF for both Deaf and hearing audiences

Gallaudet held 4 summer institutes.

What did the French take away

from these get-togethers?

Some of the Deaf and hearing participants

worked together to reclaim French Deaf

 history and to investigare LSF.

Academy of French Sign Language was

established at the Paris Nat'l Institute for

 Young Deaf PeopleLSF dictionary

was compiled

LSF classes started

bilingual education-Deux Langues

 pour Une Education

Were all of the French Deaf people

 happy with all these developlments?

No all. they viewed these activities with

 skepticism. They accused the activists of

promoting the exploitation of Deaf people

by hearing people and of seeking a position of superiority.

In 1985, events at a

residential school

brought the growing

 stuggle between

advocates of LSF and spoken

 French to national attention -

 what happened?

Some hearing teachers

and Deaf adults

at the school staged a

 hunger strike to demand

 inclusion of LSF and Deaf teachers.

A year after the hunger strike

what happened?

Some Deaf people and their friends

rallied at the Basiille on behalf of official

recognition of LSF and then 3000-5000

people marched to the offices of the

 prime minister. This enlightened millions

of French people to the plight of Deaf education.

In July 1990 there was

an international

conference on signed

 languages in Poitiers -

 what happened at this meeting?

It drew inspiration from the 1989

 international Deaf culture conference -

 DEAF WAY. It was also a political

gathering to chart a course for reform.

In 1991 bilingual education for Deaf

children was approved by the

French Parliament.

Who starred in the second run of

Les Enfants du Silence

(Children of a Lesser G-d) in 1993?

Emmanuele Laborit

She is the most visible

of the Deaf actors

 trained at the

 International Visual Theatre.

The present situation in France's

DEAF-WORLD is both good

 and bad - what is bad?

resistance of French society to accepting the DEAF-WORLD

The institutions that are serving the Deaf is directed and staffed

with hearing people whose attitude is paternalist and intolerant of their language/French Deaf education is under the auspices of the Ministry

of Health/no degree granting programmes for interpreters

public schools cannot employ Deaf teachers/Spoken French is

 used and mainstreaming is pushed/deaf students rarely receive the

regular high school degree and cannot go on to college but it is

available to hearing people/Deaf are directed into the manual

 trades even though these are dying out

Deaf activism in suppoprt of LSF and bilingual education

classes for Deaf children have led to passage of a law

that allows parents of Deaf kids to choose to have their kids educated with both LSF and French/ some French

universities have begun providing basic services for Deaf students /Deaf people are increasingly providing

professional services to Deaf people as mental health

 workers as museum tour guides and instructors as

 teacher's aides and interpreters

Pluralistic Society

A society comprised of people from numerous different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Although some integration and acculturation is only natural, a pluralistic society is one that acknowledges and allows for the cultural diversity of its citizens.

WHat is the French view

of minorities in general?

In French view, a democracy without

institutionalized cultural distinctions is

more just - for example - to give

everyone equal educational opportunity

is to give each person equal access

to schools conducted in French.

True or False:

The USA is more pluralist and ready to

 institutionalize the wishes of the minorities.

The difference in pluralism

 between the USA and France is what?

It is not so much in demographics as in

the pluralism of government structures.

France is a pluralistic society with many

of their citizens speak as the primary

language arabic, turkish, vietnamese and

 LSF, etc but these people were not found in the political parties. This is slowly changing.

How is Sweden different from France in

its embrace of cultural pluralism and of

 Deaf culture in particular?

The govt has a policy of preserving

minority languages and cultures. In

matters that affect minorities, the

Swedish gov't deals preferentially

with formal representative organizations

 from those minorities.

In the first half of the 20th century,

 Sweden allowed only the spoken and

 written national language to be used

in Deaf ed. What happened in 1969?

In 1969, free interpreter services were

 recognized as a right of Deaf people

and an interpreter training programme

was established, conducted by the

Swedish Federation of the Deaf

(Sveriges Dovas Riksforbund, SDR)

In 1981, as a result of activism by SDR,

by the assoc. of parents of Deaf kids and

by linguists at the University of Stockholm -

 what transpired?

Swedish Sign Language was formally

recognised as one of the nation's minority

languages and bilingual ed. was instituted in the nation's schools for Deaf kids.

In 1983, what was added to the

requirements for admission for

educational programmes for teachers

 planning to teach the Deaf?

Knowledge of Swedish Sign Language

is a requirement. The knowledge that

Deaf people have concerning  their

 language is respected and seen as

essential to the successful education

and psychological development of Deaf kids.

THere is another development in Deaf Ed.

coming out of the 1981 decision.

What was it?

More Deaf teachers have been hired

Swedish is now taught as a second language

 using SSL as a vehicle for this instruction

there are courses in Deaf history,language and

culture speech training for those kids

that can profit from it

Describe the outreach programme that

Sweden has in place.

It is bringing SSL and Deaf adults into the lives of

hearing families with Deaf children

Bringing those hearing families together as a

support system

Special preschools/Deaf home visitors/short-term

 live in arrangements

Deaf clubs host SSL classes and parents meetings

Blocked mainstreaming

What percent of the Deaf population

in Sweden belong to the SDR?

In the USA, Deaf clubs have been

 closing due to lack of membership.

Is the situation the same in Sweden?

NO - they offer lectures, films, videos, social events

and some have resort facilities. In addition some offer

courses in SSL and the Stockholm Deaf Club also teaches

ASL and 9 other subjects. There are 4 clubs with

 recreational themes and the sports club has 14

sections ranging from bowling to volleyball.

There is folk dancing and special interest groups

 such as youth, seniors, women and so forth

What is the Swedish National

 Athletic Assoc. of the Deaf seeking to do?

They want to withdraw from a disability

coalition and gain entrance to the Swedish Confederation of Sports as they do not

see themselves as disabled

SDR is the official and centralized

organization of Deaf people. Name

some of the facets of Deaf life

 they are involved in.

issues debated in local Deaf clubs are brought

 to a national level for discussion and action

education/establishment of a professorship in SSL /

involved in teacher education/ interpreter ed/ child care/

health care/ employment/recreation/services for the

elderly and people with disabilities/audiology centres/

development of technology/nat'l newscasts interpreted into SSL/

research on sign language/Deaf theatre/ they

have their own TV production unit

Formed in 1986, it publishes a newspaper -

 Signpost

It is an international workshop

 for Deaf researchers focusing

on sign languages

particiaption is restricted

to Deaf scholars

WHat happened in the European

 Parliament in 1988?

They voted a motion urging all

member states to promote and

preserve their signed languages.

Most Deaf adults in Europe were

educated how?

Orally and oral education

remains widespread.

What new trends are making in-roads in

the developed nations?

1) Total Communication or SimCom - entails

 speaking and signing at the same time with

the order of the signs following the

order of the spoken words

2) bilingual/bi-cultural education

3)mainstreaming

Deaf ed. in Europe continues to prepare most

Deaf students for non-professional jobs

The Deaf are excluded from decision-making

about their own lives

Does Europe prepare most Deaf students

for college and professional jobs?

NO - Deaf students are funneled into

non-professional jobs. They are

not so much unemployed as underemployed

pushed into trades such as carpentry,

 printing, leather work,baking,tailoring

and dress-making

True or False

Deaf people have a big say

about their lives?

What has been a significant force on

the world Deaf scene?

WFD

World Federation of the Deaf

The WFD grew out of the international

congresses of Deaf people late in the

19th century which were organized in part

to defend Deaf language and culture in the

 aftermath of the Congress of Milan.

The WFD General Assembly is a

 law-making body comprised of two Deaf

delegates from every national Deaf assoc.

The General Assembly convenes every

 4 years to elect members to the WFD

 Board and to adopt policies and programmes.

The WFD has standing commissions that

focus on developments in what fields?

Audiology, education,psychology,

signed language, interpreting

and Deaf culture

The commissions make formal

presentations at the WFD congresses

and they make recommendations and

 propose resolutions based on those formal

 papers and resulting discussion.

At the 11th Congress of the WFD, in

 Vienna in 1995, Liisa was elected

the first woman president.

What is the oldest nationwide

Deaf organisation in the world?

What is the second oldest

 Deaf assoc.

 in the world?

British Deaf Assoc.

modeled after NAD.

What did some communist govt's

 force the

 Deaf and

H-H persons to do?

They forced Deaf and H-H persons to

 form a single organisation but these

separated again in several countries after the communist collapse.

In recent years, the WFD has

 emphasized what ?

Outreach to developing nations

whose Deaf citizens comprise 80%

of the Deaf people in the world.

Kenya is compared in size to

what US state?

How many languages are Deaf kids

in Kenya taught?

Deaf children in Kenya who are taught

in English are often working on their

4th language.

the languages are their tribal language,

 Swahili (Kenya's national language)

 signed language and English

What is the percentage of kids that

 attend school?

How many schools for the Deaf are

there in Kenya?

17 residential schools and one for the

Deaf - Blind

these are all elementry

1 high school

5 self-contained classes in schools

for hearing kids

The teachers of the Deaf attend a

 2 year training course. Who

conducts this programme?

The Ministry of Basic Education

An inspectorate monitors their

performance in the classroom

what is the purpose of the Kenya

 Institute of Special Education?

It runs a 3-year programme to teachers of

special ed. It takes a teacher's certificate

and 3 years experience to be considered

for admission.

The institute is also concerned

with assessment, documentation,

research, teaching aids, correspondence

courses and in-service training

Although schools for the Deaf have the

same curriculum and use the same

examinations as regular schools -

they are different in two aspects -

 what are they?

The emphasis in Kenya has been

 on what method of teaching?

Were Deaf children doing well

on national exams?

NO this prompted teachers and

 officials to advocate the use

of signed language in Deaf ed

What book did the Kenyan Nat'l Assic.

of the Deaf publish?

A dictionary of signs. A Deaf member

of the Kenya Institute of Special Ed

supplemented a basic list of Kenyan

 signs with others fron ASL. This has

not been met with joy by everone.

It was a new residential school and

 they used both sign and speech.

It was established with help from

Sweden. It cost $250 per student.

 Instruction is conducted in spoken

 English with each word

accompanied by a sign.

True or False

3 of the 17 residential schools

are vocational?

True

the students must pass

national trade exams

Name some of the advantages

Deaf people have in Kenya

enthusiastic and well informed officials and

teachers/ an inspectorate for monitoring

 and improving classroom practices/

uniform nat'l exams to evaluate the

 system's success and failures/

dymanic parents assoc which founds

clinics,gathers data,raises funds and

meets boarding expenses of

about 1/2 of the Deaf kids

True or False

Oralist practices from Great Britain

 are very successful in Kenya.

What is the prime source

of income in Burundi?

Almost all of the adult population

is engaged in subsistence agricuture

 on scattered family plots.

Are Deaf people integrated

 into Burundi society?

True or False

As in Kenya, Deaf people have

a full developed signed language

False

There is a complex system of

home grown manual language.

What are the twp major ethnic

groups in Burundi?

What are the two

common languages?

The two manor ethnic froups in

Burunde are the Hutus nd the Tutsis.

The common language is Kirunde

and a second official language is French.

Is education as accessable 

as in Kenya?

Not Really

Less than a 1/4 of the adult

 population is literate.

1 child in 3 attend promary school

What kind of education is

available to Deaf kids?

There is no system of Deaf

education/ Deaf kids are

 unwelcome in hearing schools

Deaf children are uneducated

and believed uneducatable.

She is a Burundian psychologist.

 She interviewed a dozen parents

of Deaf children in Burundi.

It revealed the perception of Deaf people by

hearing adults who cannot communicate with them.

she was able to discern the highly restricted

roles assigned to Deaf people

she discovered the significance of the

discovery of Deafness for the family

 and the family's ultimate adaptation

There are two church - related schools

 for Deaf children. What effect are

these schools having on

 the hearing population?

these two schools are changing

 hearing peoples perception of

 Deaf people and Deaf peoples'

perception of themselves.

The interviews that Assumpta Naniwe

conducted made clear the reason

that hearing folks believe that the

 Deaf are mentally retarded.

 What is the reason for this belief?

The breakdown in communication

 between the two worlds. This is

why they are assigned modest

social roles and largely

excluded from education.

For all cultures, we may

distinguish

 5 types of instruction.

 What are they?

self instruction

peer instruction

parental teaching

community teaching

formal instruction

Why don't many children

(hearing or Deaf)

 receive formal instruction?

Either because they simply

 do not have physical access

 to it or because they do not

 have linguistic access to it

 since that instruction is

 conducted in a language they

do not know and cannot understand.

What happens to a child that

doesn't receive formal instruction?

Is this child a recipient of

 any learning at all?

He frequently grows up to

become an economically

 disadvantaged adult

Such a child still receives

informal instruction from

friends and parents and

relatives and neighbors.

When Harlan Lane visited Burundi,

what in the schools astonished him?

Although very few Burundians

 know English, he was astonished

to see teachers using signs from ASL

 --in French word order

He was the first Black person

to graduate from Gallaudet

He eatned master's degrees in

special education and in missionary work

He founded the Christian Mission

 for Deaf Africans in 1956

Foster's presence changed African's

beliefs about the

potential of Deaf people.

How did Andrew Foster change

 the way one school taught?

He gave a 3 month training

 course in Nigeria

The youngest children learn math

and written French and the later grades 

add natural and physical sciences

and finally history and

geography come on-board.

Where do the vast majority

 of Deaf people live?

They live in the developing nations

and this underscores the importance

of gaining a general

understanding of the common

 problems that Deaf people face.

What did the WFD pubish in

1991 and what did it show?

In 1991, the EFD published a survey

of Deaf people in the developing world.

This survey showed that unemployment

 among Deaf folks is 3 times higher than

the national average in the developing world.

There is major discrimination against Deaf people

in employment/lack of vicational training/legal

 discrimination ie no drivers license and 1/2

the countries have no interpreters or only

 1 or2 for the entire nation.

In developing nations, what

were the living conditions

for Deaf folks like?

Living conditions frequently involve

 violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights/

they cannot vote/cannot marry a Deaf person or marry at all/establish a club or organisation/in 17 countries they

 cannot gather formally at all so there

is no national Deaf organisation.

There are some countries where they can

 gather in a club or church

There are Deaf sports and cultural events which include theatre,mime,magic and dance

What did the WFD survey say

about signed languages

in developing countries?

There is some form of signing used in their schools

but rarely the natural language - an invented system

12 countries report that the signed language

has official recognition.1/2 report little or no sign lang.

instruction.where there is classes hardly anyone

enrolls and the teachers are not fluent. 1/2 the

 countries do not have an interpreter

Who is partnering with WFD in

 encouraging development

 of signed language?

What is the WFD policy

 regarding signed language

 in developing countries?

Indigenous signed languages

should be given priority over

the importation  of foreign

signed languages such as ASL or SSL

In the developing countries,

 who initiates Deaf education?

In the developing countries

that have Deaf education,

 what kind of instruction is popular?

They tend to an oralist philosophy.

Why? Because of the

former colonizing power

Special Education in the

Developing Countries f the

British Commonwealth

illustrates their ideas about Deaf folks .

Deaf children cannot think

in words so their mental growth is severely

 retarted/pupils are taught in

outdated sign language

Deaf folks cannot be trained to

a satisfactory standart as

 teachers of the deaf

Who undertook the job of

 discrediting the British view of the Deaf?

What did they do?

UNESCO

They invited experts from

more than a dozen countries

 to convene and advise it on the

different approached to

 educating Deaf kids.

What did the report

 from UNESCO affirm?

Deaf folks have the same intellectual capacities

as hearing folks

Deaf adults have an important role to play

 in the socialization and education of Deaf kids

Signed language should be accorded

the same standing as oral language

Rejected is the idea that signed language

interferes with learning the national language

True or False

In geographically isolated

places around the world

such as islands, forests or

 mountainous regions, there

are and were areas with

very high percentage of Deaf

Name a few of the places that

 had a high population of Deaf.

Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Yucatec Mayan village, Mexico

Admorobe village, Ghana

Providence Island, Columbia

Urubu, Brazil

Where do the ancestors 

 on Martha's Vineyard come from?

They have been traced to an

 area in the county of Kent called

the Weald. This was a land locked

 sheep-raising region whose people

married within their own villages

 or nearby villages

Why did these folks

 come to the New World?

Some were Puritans.

They settled in southern

Massachusetts. As new

folks came from Kent, they

joined their countrymen.

Many carried the recessive

gene for Deafness

What was unusual

 about Martha's Vineyard?

Since so many were Deaf,

everyone signed-hearing or Deaf.

People intermarried with Deaf

and the Deaf had a full life there.

They developed their own sign language.

On Martha's Vineyard,

were the Deaf educated?

They were very well educated

receiving early education in the

 home. When they went to

 the American School in Hartford,

they brought their sign

language with them and

 eventually it found its way into ASL.

What led to the demise

of the Deaf society?

Improved transportation

 and marriage with off-islanders.

By 1952 there were no Deaf

living on Chilmark.

What is the term for communities

 such as Martha's Vineyard?

Assimilating

Since Deaf folks and hearing folks

 both learned the signed language,

 Deaf people are assimilated into

 the larger hearing society

For a community to be assimilative,

three ingredients appear to

be essential. What are

 these 3 ingredients?

Several generations of Deaf people (which

 assures the transmission of language and culture)

A relatively high incidence of Deaf people

 (which motivates hearing people to

 learn the signed language

Geographic isolation encouraging

intermarriage (which perpetuates

the Deaf population) and

face-to-face communication

What was the first international

Deaf organisation  known as

 and when was it

 established and for what ?

The first international Deaf organisation

is now known as the International

 Committee for Deaf Sports was

established in 1924 to host

 the quadrennial World Games for the Deaf

How often does the World

Federation of the Deaf

hold its international congresses?

The WFD has held its

quadrennial international

congresses at which member

 states are represented since 1951.

Deaf scholars also have meetings.

What is the name of their

 meeting and what is discussed there?

Deaf scholars gather at

the International Workshops

for Deaf Researchers and at

international and regional

congresses on signed language,

Deaf history and other disciplines.

Partly because of international

organisations, contacts among

Deaf people from different lands

have proliferated. How do they

 communicate with each other?

A contact language known as

International Sign has developed

allowing speakers of mutually

unintelligible signed languages

to communicate.

Deaf participants from developing

countries are often unaccompanted

by intertreters of their signed languages.

 How do they communicate with others?

The vocabulary used in such

 contact situations is quite restricted

 consisting mostly of nouns and verbs with a few adjectives and adverbs.

Vocabulary comes from 3 sources

- what are they?

The national signed language of

 the interlocutors

Mime

A limited number of signs that

 have been adopted informally

over the yearsas a standardized

International Sign vocabulary

In the 1970's WFD led an

effort to expand and standardize

 the vocabulary of International

 Sign. What did they do?

Three books were publishedpresenting about

1500 signstaken from various signed languages.

The first two books were inspired by

the goal of a shared international language

The third - GESTUNO - sought to facilitate

 communicationat international meetings.

Deaf people do not live apart

from hearing society but live in

 its midst. Yet there is quite

a difference from one country

 to another. Explain this difference

Deaf integration in Burundi because of

 geography and history and poverty,

have very limited possibilities of

communicating. This is called

integration with isolation.

In Sweden, Deaf people's integration

is founded on their distinct culture,

language  and ties to the DEAF-WORLD.

This is integration with autonomy

What type of integration

 do Deaf people prefer?

Integration with autonomy. THe kind of integration

 requires that Deaf kids grow up with pride in

themselves and their DEAF-WORLD, fluency

 in the language and strong bonds with

 its members

How do hearing people try to

 achieve this integration and

why is it wrong?

Mainstreaming

It sets the Deaf child apart, keeps

him from learning about his

signed language and culture.

What it amounts to is

integration with isolation

Talk about the grammar of

 the international sign language.

The grammatical structures are surprisingly

complex for a pidgin

Subjects and objects are placed in space

and verbs are made to agree with those locations

facial expressions are used in questions

 and negation as well as several other

 negation markers such as a finger

wag, palm up and zero

Questions about signed

languages in the WFD survey

of developing countries

revealed what?

Families with several Deaf

develop their own signs. Schools foster

the development of sign lang. by

bringing Deaf folks together

Signs from foreign signed lang

are intreduced into the community

by teachers trained abroad,

missionaries and Deaf folks

educated in toher countries