Who needs Cantonese,who speaks? Whispers across mountains,delta, and waterfronts

This essay digs into the ‘dirtiness’ of cultural studies to prioritize praxis, or as the way my mountain folks collect summer lotus: putting our feet in the muddy water, and finding ways to get the stems underneath the smooth leaves. Using Cantoneseness as a case to locate such ‘dirtiness’, I draw on personal/familial histories as well as research projects to tell how conjunctures of Cantoneseness are politically and unevenly lived. This complex journey travels roughly from my childhood in the Yuebei mountains of northern Guangdong through my teenage and early adult years in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) to my current location as a temporary resident in the East Pacific port of Vancouver. I selectively emphasize and speak on three different locations: first, the rural inland Cantonese location of Yuebei mountains – the borderland and hinterland experiences of my family and myself living what the mountains would offer and how these have changed; second, the industrial superior Cantonese location of PRD in Shenzhen and Guangzhou – my personal experiences and identities as a migrant youth, combined with a case study including interviews with migrant peasant-workers and their children; and third, the western transnational Cantonese location of East Pacific waterfronts in Vancouver and Richmond – my personal engagement with social activism as an ethnicized, international student, combined with a narrative study including interviews with social activists with different Cantoneseness and migration routes. While this mix of whispers speaks in its own way towards using cultural studies with more seriously (global) space-sensitive and (social justice) praxis-sensitive approaches, the primary focus is more modestly on my autobiographical accounts and research efforts as a specific case: to show some strategic locations of ‘Cantonescape’ on the one hand, and to invite wider conversations around cultural-spatial politics on the other.     

Humanitarian action in developing countries: who evaluates who?

Humanitarian NGOs and intergovernmental organisations are usually assessed by their funders, not their beneficiaries. In most cases, their evaluation relies on interviews with “professionals”, neglects field surveys, does not use opinion polls and seldom tries to assess the socioeconomic impact of relief. Moreover, it is commissioned by stakeholders at the risk of being judge and party. Such a system brings several conflicts of interest: (1) it needs to be approved by those who are evaluated and so does not deal with “bad eggs” that refuse to be investigated; (2) it produces biased analysis, does not name names and passes over fundamental issues; (3) it is very formal and technocratic, if not meaningless; (4) it does not help to learn from past mistakes. Hence this article proposes a framework to develop third party evaluations. It is suggested that, to be really independent, evaluation should neither be paid or commissioned by stakeholders, i.e. NGOs and institutional funders. To facilitate learning, its methodology and its results must also be available to the general public. To be accepted by those who are evaluated, finally, it should highlight the difficulties, explain the political context, acknowledge its subjectivity, recognize its limits, focus on processes more than results and develop qualitative analysis out of quantitative indicators.     

The voter who wasn’t there: Referenda,representation and abstention

We analyze single binary-choice voting rules and identify the presence of the No-Show paradox in this simple setting, as a consequence of specific turnout or quorum conditions that are included in actual rules. Since these conditions are meant to ensure a representative outcome, we formalize this concern and reach our main result: no voting rule can ensure representation if abstention is possible, unless restrictive assumptions are made on the preference domain of abstainers. We then focus on the main referendum systems and show that appropriate restrictions do make them compatible with representation. The main purpose of our paper is, however, to provide a tool for referendum design: rather than imposing arbitrary restrictions on the preference domain of non-voters, we recommend instead that a conscious choice be made on how abstention is to be interpreted and that this choice be used to derive the corresponding referendum rule.The idea for this paper started with some jocose but insightful notes written by José João Marques da Silva at the time of the first referendum held in Portugal (1998). When José João passed away in August 2000, ISEG lost a bright, interested and friendly scholar. May we dedicate this paper to his memory. This paper was presented at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Public Choice Society and Economic Science Association, San Diego, CA and a preliminary version was presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the European Public Choice Society, Paris. We would like to thank Mathew Braham, Moshé Machover, Eric Maskin, Vincent Merlin, Hannu Nurmi, Katri Sieberg, Frank Steffen, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments. The usual proviso applies.     

Who counts and who is counted? Conversations around voting,access, and divisions in the disability community

Online voting platforms have been introduced in some locations as the solution to the many barriers to political participation that disabled people continue to face. Reading the experiences of disabled student voters on university campuses alongside broader trends in electoral reform taking place in jurisdictions across Canada allows us to attend to the dangerous ways in which conversations around access have been limited through virtual solutions that encourage the physical absence of disabled voters. This article situates these absences alongside other categories of exclusion – including groups who are formally disenfranchised – and recalls many unstated values that are active in shaping citizenship cultures. Probing online voting through a critical disability angle, we present a critique of techno-fixes that builds upon broader notions of accessibility and inclusion.     

Racism awareness who helps the client?

Abstract

“Part of living in Britain and being Black entails, at the one end, the denial of difference, and at the other, prejudice and hostility on the grounds of difference” (Ann Kutek, 1987). Local authorities have set up training in Racism Awareness, and more recently, Anti-Racism Training (RAT and ART). These moves have led to the assumption that black clients are now receiving a better service. However, research undertaken at Bradford and Warwick Universities suggests that practice, in terms of social work delivery to the client, still remains unhelpful (Jervis, 1986).

My contention is that the initiatives of RAT or ART may certainly have led to a greater political recognition of the needs of black families, but they have not necessarily led to better service. I find it particularly helpful to look at the Four Life Positions formulated in T. A. Harris' book on Transactional Analysis (1970), “I'm O.K. You're O.K.”. There he says that all human interactions fall into one of the following four categories:

Current training in aspects of Racism emphasises that the white races have perceived black races as being inferior and second class. It then attempts to reverse the situation. From a position where the white races feel “I'm O.K.”, and put down the black races into the “You're not O.K.” position, training reverses the roles. The interaction still remains a struggle for power and control, and moves between positions 1 and 3, often via position 2. The training does not seem to facilitate a move on to the fourth T.A. position above, which involves understanding, valuation and respect for each other's differences, and an ability to move on to a shared equal partnership in the immediate here-and-now situation.

I give below a cast-study of an Asian family, in which I hope to demonstrate clearly how they failed to get appropriate help from both a white social worker and an Asian community worker. In looking at these workers' responses, I will attempt to demonstrate how the various interactions during the history of the case stayed locked in Harris' positions 1 and 3, with occasional forays into position 2. In the meantime, the family was pushed further and further down the spiral of total breakdown because the workers remained unable to move on to position 4. Only in this position could they have respected and trusted each other enough to pool the resources of their two agencies in order to move on to concrete constructive steps forward for an extremely stressed and vulnerable family.     

“You see,one day they cut”: The evolution,expression, and consequences of resistance for women who oppose female genital cutting

ABSTRACT

It is estimated that more than 200 million women alive today have undergone female genital cutting (FGC). While emerging evidence shows that attitudes toward FGC may evolve for immigrants as they acculturate to the host country, scant empirical research explores how women come to oppose the practice. This qualitative study used grounded theory methods to explore the trajectory of resistance to FGC for seven women circumcised in childhood who sought asylum in the United States as adults to protect their daughters from the practice. Participants originated from Burkina Faso, Guinea, The Gambia, and Chad. Analysis revealed nine themes tracing the evolution of resistance to FGC and other gender role norms for participants: coercion, threat, and retribution narratives; traumatic memories of circumcision; growing awareness of the personal implications of circumcision; emergence of critical thinking; trangressive thoughts and acts; navigating the consequences of resistance; everyday reinforcement; negotiating resistance dilemmas; and making meaning of resistance. In contrast to previous studies linking opposition to FGC to post-settlement acculturation or pre-migration exposure to organized international human rights campaigns, findings of this study indicate that traumatic memories of the circumcision rite, combined with the capacity to reflect on “taken for granted” cultural practices and to employ critical thinking skills, may lead to resistance to FGC for some women. Furthermore, findings highlight that FGC, and opposition to it, has lasting consequences for women from societies where the practice is embraced, and these consequences persist after migration. Practice and policy recommendations are drawn from the analysis.     

Human genetic technology: who shall control?

The biotechnical "revolution" has fast come upon us. It promises to produce both substantial benefits and difficult dilemmas for individuals and society. Despite the growing attention being paid to biotechnology, a major unanswered question is who shall control the development and use of the powerful array of human genetic and reproductive innovations. Should the decisions be left to individual consumers and private industry or should they be made by the government or other social institutions? After briefly reviewing development in human genetics and reproduction and describing trends toward commercialization of them, this article discusses the dilemmas these trends raise for a democratic society. It argues for the urgent need to delineate societal goals and priorities for the future and for technology assessment as early as possible in the developmental process. The article concludes by presenting some examples of the social policy problems now emerging.     

Comment on Cross, Fine, Jones, and Walsh (2012): Do mental health professionals who serve on/with child advocacy centers experience role conflict?

Cross, Fine, Jones, and Walsh's (2012 ) article "Mental health professionals in children's advocacy centers: is there role conflict?" challenges two recent publications' criticisms that child advocacy centers create role conflict for mental health professionals and explains how child advocacy centers actually work, describing the different roles for mental health professionals who participate in them. This commentary points out that more precise data would have helped to specifically address the critics' concerns. Furthermore, professional ethics and licensure issues may have served as an additional but unacknowledged check on the "spillover effect" that the critics have alleged comes with being associated with prosecution. This commentary also highlights three main strengths of the Cross and colleagues' article.     

Report from Wuhan:Protection Law Aids Women who Divorce

ONCE a rarely accepted reality in China, today divorce is no longer unusual for most Chinese to understand, which reflects changing ideas about the quality of marriage. At the same time, however, a women's right to divorce has become a concern in society. In Wuhan City, Hubei Province, the following situation is no exception. According to an informal survey, civil cases have always comprised half of the cases at the Wuhan Municipal People's     

The “what” and “who” of co-optation: gendered racialized migrations,settler nation-states and postcolonial difference

In this article, I focus on the management of postcolonial difference and the production of belonging in a white settler nation-state in order to rethink the notion of co-optation. I first develop a theoretical framework for understanding co-optation by separating the “who” and the “what” of co-optation: actors who embody diversity in public, political debate become the “who” of co-optation, as their agency is shaped by gendered and racialized processes of subject making. The “what” of co-optation revolves around particular conceptualizations of practices, rights and freedoms, associated in this case with “gender equality,” which is rendered an empty signifier in the process. I then illustrate this framework by drawing from research on the Sharia-based arbitration debate that took place in Ontario, Canada, between late 2003 and early 2006. I focus on the claims of two Canadian Muslim women activists to show that co-optation occurs as attempts to further liberation instead advance illiberal practices.     

Police-reported intimate partner violence during pregnancy: who is at risk?

The objective of this retrospective cohort study was to determine risk factors for police-reported intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy among Seattle residents with a registered live birth or fetal death in Washington State. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals for the association between demographic, behavioral, and obstetric history risk factors and any, physical, and non-physical police-reported IPV. Significant risk factors for any police-reported IPV during pregnancy included unmarried status (aOR 2.36), public health program use (aOR 1.33), smoking or alcohol use during pregnancy (aORs 1.45 and 1.80, respectively), previous live birth (aOR 1.39), and previous spontaneous or induced abortion (aORs 1.39 and 1.34, respectively). Risk factors for physical IPV varied only slightly from those for any IPV, and fewer factors were associated with nonphysical IPV. Demographic, behavioral, and obstetric history risk factors are potential markers of IPV risk during pregnancy.     

Tightening income documentation in a means-tested program: who stays away?

Programs using means tests to identify low-income households face a trade-off between promoting access and ensuring program integrity. The authors use a comparison-district design to estimate the effects of a pilot program to improve the accuracy of the process of certifying students for free or reduced-price meals in the National School Lunch Program. This pilot program required households to provide income documentation with their applications for these benefits. Requiring income documentation did not reduce the proportion of ineligible households getting free or reduced-price meals. Furthermore, this requirement did reduce access to the program among eligible households.     

‘Idealists Headed to Israel,Pragmatics Chose Europe’: Identity Dilemmas and Social Incorporation among Former Soviet Jews who Migrated to Germany

Since German reunification in 1989, about 185,000 former Soviet Jews have been granted refugee status in Germany. Drawing on my observations and in-depth interviews with recent immigrants in five German cities, this qualitative study explores the identity dilemmas faced by Russian Jews who moved to the lands of the historic nemesis loaded with the memories of the Holocaust. The findings suggest that for most informants migrating to Germany (rather than Israel or North America) was a pragmatic decision based on the anticipated benefits from the German welfare system, security and comfort of living in Europe. All but a few informants were secular and had limited interest in the Jewish life, keeping in touch with the Jewish communities only inasmuch as it proved useful for their resettlement. Most middle-aged informants were traumatised by their occupational downgrading and/or chronic unemployment, but many also believed that the welfare aid they receive from the German state is morally justified as a continuing retribution for the wartime crimes. Older immigrants did not even try to narrow a cultural gap with German society, kept to their co-ethnic social circle, and were permanently intimidated by the shadow of anti-Semitism. Conversely, many younger informants opined that past grievances were no longer relevant, tried to adopt some cultural features of the mainstream, and saw themselves as citizens of unified Europe, rather than Germany as such.     

Progress or procrastination? The education of young people who are looked after

The education of young people who are looked after by local authorities continues to be an issue which is inadequately addressed across England and Wales as a whole. However, recent research has shown that a number of local authorities are developing initiatives to enhance the educational experiences of this cohort of vulnerable young people. This article identifies the difficulties and, from research data, outlines some of the strategies which have proved effective. The data indicate that the problems can be resolved, given commitment, and suggest that practitioners in local authorities must continue to strive to ensure that all young people who they are looking after have an equal opportunity to experience a positive educational career.