Black Agrarianism: The Significance of African American Landownership in the Rural South

Agrarianism is important in the American mythos. Land represents both a set of values and a store of wealth. In this article, we ask how land matters in the lives of rural, southern, Black farmland owners. Drawing on 34 interviews, we argue that, since the end of slavery, land has continued to operate as a site of racialized exclusion. Local white elites limit Black farmers’ access to landownership through discriminatory lending practices. At the same time, Black farmland owners articulate an ethos in which land is a source of freedom, pride, and belonging. This we term “Black agrarianism.” They cultivate resistance to the legacies of slavery and sharecropping and contemporary practices of social closure. These Black farmland owners, then, view land as protection from white domination. Thus, we demonstrate how landownership is a site for the re‐creation of racial hierarchy in the contemporary period while also offering the potential for resistance and emancipation.     

Becoming a New Farmer: Agrarianism and the Contradictions of Diverse Economies*

A resurgence of agrarianism has motivated new farmers to enter farming, not for profit, but for lifestyle and socio‐ecological values which are frequently associated with diverse economies. Proponents of diverse economies argue for an ontological reframing that accounts for non‐capitalist forms of economic exchange. However, these perspectives have not fully addressed the conditions—often structured by race and class—that facilitate participation in diverse economies. This paper is based on mixed‐methods research on the life cycle of new farmers in Hawai‘i that include participants of farmer training programs. We investigate what drives new farmers into farming, by what mechanisms they are able (or not) to establish a farm, and what limits the duration of their participation. Our analysis reveals three contradictions of diverse economies in agriculture: (1) the inadvertent undervaluation of farmwork that undermines broader efforts to improve the welfare of farm labor; (2) the tension between the value of scaling up and the vulnerability of cooptation; and (3) the ways in which the duration of new farmers' engagement is structured by their ability to mobilize unpaid labor and external resources. These contradictions challenge long‐term and inclusive participation in diverse economies in ways that constrain their emancipatory potential.     

The Political Dimension in the Agrarian Question: Strategies of Resilience and Political Entrepreneurship of Agrarian Elite Families in a Philippine Province1

ABSTRACT This paper on the rural political sociology of a Philippine province relates the strategies of political resilience of landed oligarchies to the political dimension of the agrarian question in the Philippines. Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao is used to illustrate how pioneer agrarian families have protected their economic privileges and survived the political challenge posed by migrant politicians. Despite differences in their economic bases and social backgrounds, pioneer families and migrant politicians share strategies of political entrepreneurship and rent-seeking that have maintained oligarchic rule: (1) establishment and maintenance of kinship networks, through intermarriage, and non-kinship, ritual ties; (2) diversification into non-agricultural economic activities; (3) control of political parties and state patronage (primarily electoral) machinery; (4) cooptation or mobilization of political symbols, issues, and movements; (5) use of political power to obstruct progressive legislation, particularly on land reform and taxation; and (6) the strategic management of political violence. Analysis of provincial and national political dynamics, as played out in Bukidnon, shows how the nexus of property, power, and privilege is consolidated, contested, and reconstructed in the ongoing competition among Bukidnon elites. These strategies are integral to the political practices of a landed capitalist class and have serious implications for agrarian transition and industrialization in the Philippines.     

Emerging Hispanic English: New dialect formation in the American South

Although stable Hispanic populations have existed in some regions of the United States for centuries, other regions, including the mid‐Atlantic South, are just experiencing the emergence of permanent Hispanic communities. This situation offers an ideal opportunity to examine the dynamics of new dialect formation in progress, and the extent to which speakers acquire local dialect traits as they learn English as a second language. We focus on the production of the /ai/ diphthong among adolescents in two emerging Hispanic communities, one in an urban and one in a rural context. Though both English and Spanish have the diphthong /ai/, the Southern regional variant of the benchmark local dialect norm is unglided, thus providing a local dialect alternative. The instrumental analysis of /ai/ shows that there is not pervasive accommodation to the local norm by Hispanic speakers learning English. There is, however, gradient, incremental adjustment of the /ai/, and individual speakers who adopt local cultural values may accommodate to the local dialect pattern.     

Disconnected Geography: A Spatial Analysis of Disconnected Youth in the United States

Since the Great Recession, US policy and advocacy groups have sought to better understand its effect on a group of especially vulnerable young adults who are not enrolled in school or training programs and not participating in the labor market, so called ‘disconnected youth.’ This article distinguishes between disconnected youth and unemployed youth and examines the spatial clustering of these two groups across counties in the US. The focus is to ascertain whether there are differences in underlying contextual factors among groups of counties that are mutually exclusive and spatially disparate (non-adjacent), comprising two types of spatial clusters – high rates of disconnected youth and high rates of unemployed youth. Using restricted, household-level census data inside the Census Research Data Center (RDC) under special permission by the US Census Bureau, we were able to define these two groups using detailed household questionnaires that are not available to researchers outside the RDC. The geospatial patterns in the two types of clusters suggest that places with high concentrations of disconnected youth are distinctly different in terms of underlying characteristics from places with high concentrations of unemployed youth. These differences include, among other things, arrests for synthetic drug production, enclaves of poor in rural areas, persistent poverty in areas, educational attainment in the populace, children in poverty, persons without health insurance, the social capital index, and elders who receive disability benefits. This article provides some preliminary evidence regarding the social forces underlying the two types of observed geospatial clusters and discusses how they differ.     

Beyond Spatial Models: A New Perspective on American Operational Ideology Using Latent Class Analysis

Analyses of operational ideology—the pattern of correlations between different political attitudes—in the American public generally assume “spatial” models of ideology. Using Latent Class Analysis, we relax many of these assumptions by treating operational ideology as a latent categorical variable and analyze the changing structure of American operational ideology between 2004 and 2020. We find that some Americans during this period held consistently liberal or conservative views and were well sorted into the “correct” political parties. For other Americans, however, we observe complex and shifting relationships between partisanship and economic, moral, and racial attitudes. We find that Racial Justice Communitarians consistently prefer to identify as Democrats, while Nativist Communitarians and Libertarians both tended to identify with whatever party won the most recent presidential election. Future studies of operational ideology should be wary of simplifying assumptions that obscure important dynamics in American politics.     

奥巴马的中东政策初见端倪

奥巴马总统入主白宫以来,美国对外政策的第一要务是处理自身当前面临的严重金融危机问题,中东问题处于美国对外战略中相对次要的位置。根据奥巴马的外交理念,新政府将更加强调使用外交手段解决中东问题,并吸引地区和世界各国与美国开展安全合作,建立稳定的中东安全新架构。奥巴马中东政策所要应对的主要任务是：尽早解决伊拉克问题,分阶段从伊拉克撤军,卸下包袱;继续视伊朗为潜在战略威胁,但将奉行具有弹性的接触政策;启动多边外交机制来实现美国的国家安全战略目标;积极推动巴以和谈,消除中东伊斯兰世界的反美情绪;探索与哈马斯等伊斯兰组织的对话与交流渠道;积极争取中俄在中东对美国的支持,鼓励两国发挥负责任大国的作用,帮助美国减轻中东外交压力。     

奥巴马的中东政策初见端倪

奥巴马总统入主白宫以来,美国对外政策的第一要务是处理自身当前面临的严重金融危机问题,中东问题处于美国对外战略中相对次要的位置.根据奥巴马的外交理念,新政府将更加强调使用外交手段解决中东问题,并吸引地区和世界各国与美国开展安全合作,建立稳定的中东安全新架构.奥巴马中东政策所要应对的主要任务是:尽早解决伊拉克问题,分阶段从伊拉克撤军,卸下包袱;继续视伊朗为潜在战略威胁,但将奉行具有弹性的接触政策;启动多边外交机制来实现美国的国家安全战略目标;积极推动巴以和谈,消除中东伊斯兰世界的反美情绪;探索与哈马斯等伊斯兰组织的对话与交流渠道;积极争取中俄在中东对美国的支持,鼓励两国发挥负责任大国的作用,帮助美国减轻中东外交压力.     

Buffering Effects of a Family-Based Intervention for African American Emerging Adults

This study focused on the buffering effects of Adults in the Making (AIM), a family-centered preventive intervention, on the link between life stress and increases in risk behaviors among 347 rural, southern African Americans as they left high school. Of the families, 174 were assigned to the prevention condition and 173 to a control condition. Emerging adults reported risk behaviors at pretest, posttest (7 months after pretest), and long-term follow-up (10 months after posttest). A significant Life stress × Prevention condition interaction emerged: Increases in risk behaviors were significantly greater among emerging adults in the control condition who experienced high stress levels than among those in the prevention condition who experienced equally high stress levels.     

A Question of Genesis: An Analysis of the Determinants of Public Authorities

One of the central questions in the study of special purposegovernments is how to explain their proliferation over the pastfifty years. Of particular concern to scholars has been therise of a hidden government that is not highly accountable throughregular democratic processes. This article looks specificallyat one form of special purpose government, known as a "publicauthority," and amends the conventional explanation that localgovernments principally create public authorities to addresspublic finance concerns. First, I argue that full "service publicauthorities," which administer and make policy about a particularservice arena, raise different concerns about democratic accountabilityfrom a "conduit authority" and are a nonparsimonious solutionto a public finance problem. Second, drawing on an archivalsurvey of the institutional choices of county governments indealing with solid waste policymaking in New York State, I findthat while public finance is a driver in the choice to createa service public authority, equally, if not more important,are the needs of local government to resolve a policy problemin a politically competitive environment.     

Grandparents as Caregivers: Emerging Issues for the Profession

Over the last two decades, the number of grandparents caring for their grandchildren has grown exponentially. The 2010 census revealed that 7.5 million children lived with a grandparent. This article is based on a study to find out from grandparents in the southwest region of the United States the circumstances that led to caring for their grandchild, needs and challenges in their role, and finally, to examine the level of stress they experience as a result of the parenting role. Based on the findings, recommendations related to social work practice and policy are provided. Additionally, the need to educate social workers in competency-based education is highlighted.     

Transformative Processes in Marriage: An Analysis of Emerging Trends

The study of conflict has dominated psychological research on marriage. This article documents its move from center stage, outlining how a broader canvas accommodates a richer picture of marriage. A brief sampling of new constructs such as forgiveness and sacrifice points to an organizing theme of transformative processes in emerging marital research. The implications of marital transformations are explored including spontaneous remission of distress, nonlinear dynamic systems that may produce unexpected and discontinuous change, possible nonarbitrary definitions of marital discord, and the potential for developing other constructs related to self‐transformation in marital research.     

Value Chain Development and the Agrarian Question: Actor Perspectives on Native Potato Production in the Highlands of Peru

Value chain development seeks to integrate smallholder farmers into competitive markets to promote economic and social development. This article, conceptually based on the agrarian question, considers how the perspectives of various value chain actors, with particular focus on smallholders, have important implications for the outcomes of these market‐oriented initiatives. Utilizing Long’s concept of social interface, we present a mixed‐methods case study that analyzes how smallholders, an NGO, and agrifood corporations, including PepsiCo, partnered to establish value chains for native potatoes in the Peruvian highlands. We find that a thorough understanding of the various perspectives held by value chain actors provides important insight into why value chain initiatives have divergent trajectories. Based on the findings, we conclude that accounting for how actors are responding to development initiatives and one another helps explain development outcomes and that therefore the agrarian question remains relevant in current agricultural development discourse and practice.     

Cross-Dressers in Cyber-Space: Exploring the Internet as a Tool for Expressing Gendered Identity

The authors explore the ways in which the Internet functions to communicate about cross-dressing as part of a larger cultural discourse surrounding gender. As a widely used tool to dialogue on the topic of appearance, the Internet also helps to establish and even alter gendered identities. The seamless realm of the Internet allows such identities to cross cultural boundaries instantly and without regard for real physical space. Based on 30 Websites of cross-dressers collected and analyzed, this essay examines the ways that individuals use this virtual world for purposes of cross-dressing. As a study of human behavior and dress, this research has important implications for furthering our understanding of how cyberspace operates as a newly established socio-cultural realm and participates in the current scholarly discourse on the topic of the Internet as a new vehicle for the study of dress and identity.     

Developing Wellbeing as a Critical Tool in Social Work Education: An Example from the Field of Learning Disability

This paper will explore how ‘wellbeing’ is used in social work education to develop a critical understanding of the current English personalisation agenda, in relation to people with ‘moderate to severe’ learning disabilities. Drawing upon a short thematic analysis of policy for Learning Disability and Social Work Education, the paper will develop the argument that social wellbeing is an important factor for critical engagement and practice with this service-user group. Based upon teaching – incorporating service user and care views, as well as current research-in-progress, Schalock's (2004) taxonomy of wellbeing is developed to focus upon three themes: friendships and relationships; community engagement and structural factors. The importance for social workers of exploring aspects of community, in its widest sense, is emphasised, contrasting with a narrower view presented in policy implementation. The application of wellbeing as a practice and analytical concept therefore provides a framework for a critically reflective and engaged practice.     

新媒体环境下美国青少年道德思维发展状况

互联网技术主导下的新媒体环境为美国青少年的道德发展提供了新的生长土壤,对青少年的道德思维发展产生了重大影响。哈佛大学教育研究院凯莉·詹姆斯等人依据美国儿童发展心理学家科尔伯格的道德发展阶段理论,认为青少年在新媒体环境中存在三种道德思维方式:个人中心主义思维、道德思维、伦理思维,并据此要求父母与教育者应通力合作以促进青少年道德思维向更高品质发展。     

An Analysis of the American Dream in the Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’ s classic twentieth-century story of Jay Gatsby’ s quest for Daisy Buchanan, examines and critiques Gatsby’s particular vision of the 1920’s American dream. F. Sc...     

Money as a Tool for Negotiating Separateness and Connectedness in the Therapeutic Relationship

It is nothing new to suggest that money has meaning. Whether or not one accepts Freud's (1908)linkage of money and feces, within our culture money is frequently seen as a direct pathway to feelings of power, agency, self-directedness, and personal satisfaction. Trachtman (1999) states, Money, psychologically speaking, is our projection onto coins, bills, bank accounts, and other financial instruments of our beliefs, hopes, and fears about how those things will affect who we are, what will happen to us, and how we will be treated by others or by ourselves...(Trachtman, 1999, p. 283). Yet this material is often unavailable for therapeutic exploration or understanding until it explodes into the therapy, often in unmanageable and countertherapeutic ways. This article will look at some of the ways in which money can be utilized to negotiate the ever-changing tensions between self and other, object and subject, intrapyschic and interpersonal, connection and separation that appear in every relationship. In particular, it will explore some ways that money issues within the therapeutic relationship can be turned into significant tools for understanding and working with anxieties about connection and separateness, both within and outside the therapeutic dyad.     

The Composite Biography as a Methodological Tool for the Study of Childhood in History

This article presents a composite biography of an orphaned girl and her mother in Medieval London. Though the mother was sound in mind and body, she had no control over her daughters inheritance and place of residence. In addition, her underage daughter was married without her consent. The composite biography can bring to life the otherwise dry renditions of families experiences that are present in court records and other historical documents.