Unsettling research versus activism: how might critical disability studies disrupt traditional research boundaries?

Abstract

This article responds to the call for producing activist-oriented scholarship by engaging with theoretical and methodological approaches that explore the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in Vietnam. We consider possibilities for connecting different forms of knowledge and activism by reflecting on research practices designed to foster social change. Specifically, we ask: how can critical disability studies be more reflexive about knowledge which privileges particular ways of knowing from the Global North? What alternative possibilities can exist to foster more inclusive and transformative knowledge that tackles systemic forms of oppressions in colonial and postcolonial contexts? Reflecting on an ongoing collaborative project in Vietnam, we argue that critical disability studies which engages with different forms of activism through critical reflections on our privileges can tackle exclusion by opening a new platform for debating social justice transnationally.     

Voices from Vietnam: experiences of children and youth with disabilities,and their families,from an Agent Orange affected rural region

This study examines the experiences of young people with disabilities from ethnic minorities, and their families, in central Vietnam. The study is set in an area contaminated by Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Data were gathered from interviews with youth with disabilities and interviews and focus groups with mothers who had children with disabilities. Respondents expressed confronting multiple barriers to inclusion, education, health and well-being similar to other persons with disabilities and their families from around the world. Participants sought broad-ranging human rights as they described experiencing stigmatization and marginalization from negative social reaction toward disabilities and by residing in a location known for dioxin contamination. The participants’ voices are not only important in informing program responses to support implementation of Vietnam’s new National Law on Persons with Disabilities, but also timely as the US government considers proposed legislation providing material support for Vietnamese nationals affected by Agent Orange.     

Perspectives of inclusive education in Russia

This paper discusses the issues of exclusion and inclusion of children with disabilities in educational policies. The background and context for inclusion in Russia is described, with a short overview of the history of special education and with the emphasis on the current legislative conditions for inclusion. The article analyzes peculiarities of the hidden curriculum in a Russian boarding school for children with disabilities, and discusses the ways in which special education constructs the students’ identities. In particular, practices of socialization in an educational institution for children with motor impairments are considered using the qualitative methodology of ethnographic observation and interviews. In addition, the attitudes of contemporary mainstream school students towards the idea of inclusive education are explored and a case of integration of a disabled child into a regular school setting is considered. Finally, the authors outline some policy recommendations and the prospects for inclusion.     

‘Vietnam is my country land,China is my hometown’: Chinese communities in transition in the south of Vietnam

Studies of Southeast Asian Chinese are voluminous; yet, those about the Chinese in Vietnam are comparatively few. This article provides an updated account of the Chinese Vietnamese with focuses on the Chinese associations in the South of Vietnam and the shifting Chinese identity. Many have discussed the Chinese Vietnamese who fled Vietnam in the 1970s and 1980s, however, little is known about the plights of the Chinese inside Vietnam during those decades. This article elaborates on their situations in the post-unification decade in Ho Chi Minh City and the subsequent changes after the doi moi reforms in the 1990s. It will show how a liberalized economy and accommodative ethnic policies have resulted in a more proactive relationship between the Chinese minority and the Vietnamese society, which consequentially led to changes in the relationship between the Chinese in Vietnam and China.     

Vietnamisation of Southern Vietnam during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

From the third decade of the nineteenth century, the central court of the Nguyen dynasty in Vietnam implemented an ambitious ethnic programme in southern Vietnam, where diverse ethnic groups had co-existed. Under this policy, Khmer, Chinese and other ethnic groups of southern Vietnam were forced to assimilate into the Vietnamese. They had to learn Vietnamese language, dress in Vietnamese style, and follow Vietnamese ways of life. Non-Vietnamese cults such as those symbolised in pagodas, shrines, and statues were also targets of the assimilation policies. Chinese settlers in this region experienced severe discrimination from the central court, forcing them to be reborn as Vietnamese. Vietnamese southerners, who had once been against the central court, willingly joined the vanguard of Vietnamising other ethnic groups. Southern Vietnam, which had previously been ethnically heterogeneous with about 30-35 per cent of non-Vietnamese areas and probably a similar proportion of non-Vietnamese people to the total southern population, began to be actively Vietnamised from this period. This policy, in fact, resulted in ethnic segregation and intense clashes between the two groups: Vietnamese and Non-Vietnamese. On the other hand, this process was an important motivation for Vietnamese southerners to strengthen their affiliation to the king in Hue.     

Other Attractions in Vietnam

This paper analyses the place of highland ethnic minorities in Vietnamese visual culture. For decades, artists have appropriated markers of ethnic difference in propaganda posters about national unity and progress. Vietnamese notions of ethnic groups draw on a historical trajectory that involves colonial racial classifications as well as the anti-colonial notion of 'the people'. The inclusion of ethnic minorities in official portrayals of the people draws on the historical conditions of nation building and an armed struggle for independence. Equally important, the visual appropriation of the markers of ethnic and national difference projects national progress through the mapping of backwardness on highland ethnic groups. The recent emergence of the same ethnic markers as an international tourist attraction draws on similar progressivist narratives, and the growing market in souvenirs recycles visual exercises in national unity as a just-discovered Other Vietnam.     

WORKING TO EXIT POVERTY WHILE CARING FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN VIETNAM

Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1986, levels of urbanization, industrialization, and women's labour force participation have increased in Vietnam. This article focuses on the experiences of parents in Vietnam and how labour and social conditions affect their ability to work and exit poverty while caring for their children's health and development. We interviewed a sample of 147 parents in Ho Chi Minh City using in-depth, semi-structured questionnaires. Sixty-three percent of parents had faced loss of income or promotions or had difficulty retaining jobs because they had to care for children. Fifty-eight percent of parents lost income while caring for their sick children because they had to take unpaid leave from work to care for their children or because they had to decrease productivity if they were able to continue working. Fifty percent of parents with school-age children experienced barriers to helping with homework, to attending meetings, or to participating in other aspects of their children's education. The aftermath of the Vietnamese – American War affected parents through loss of extended family members, limiting access to a major traditional source of support. The war had affected other parents by preventing them from completing their education, which left them with job choices that offer little or no work benefits. Although Vietnam has made significant progress in providing early childhood care and education and legislating labour laws, working families’ experiences demonstrate the need to ensure that paid leave and work flexibility policies are available and implemented in all work sectors and to expand affordable, quality child care in order to help low-income working parents in Vietnam meet work demands and exit poverty while meeting their children's needs.     

A room with a view: a metaphor analysis of Vietnamese women’s representations of living with depression using photo elicitation

Depression is complex and it is known that how people name and give meaning to this experience when they are from cross cultural backgrounds differs to that of dominant Anglo cultures. Yet surprisingly very little is known about the naming and meaning-making conventions particularly for Vietnamese communities. In Anglo cultures, people commonly describe their experiences of depression as ‘travelling through dark tunnels toward a light’; ‘climbing out of a hole’; ‘a black dog’, and the ‘descent of a black cloud’. These metaphoric representations provide us with visual messages and new meanings about the experience of depression and how it impacts individuals. In this article, we describe a study that aimed to examine if a photo elicitation method could provide a group of women from Vietnamese backgrounds with another language set by which to represent their experience of depression in the face-to-face interview context. Women were provided with a digital camera and asked to take a minimum of 10 photos about their everyday experiences of living with depression. Recruitment and face-to-face interviews were completed with an interpreter already known to participants employed at the community health centre. Participants were asked to select five key photos for discussion within the interpreted interview. In the following article, a metaphor analysis is presented to reflect on how the photos enabled further insight into Vietnamese women’s representations of living with depression and examine the application of this participatory visual method for cross cultural research settings.     

Individuals with Disabilities and Professional Education Programmes: an analysis of legislation, court rulings and policy

Despite the protection provided by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, there remain barriers to inclusion of people with disabilities in institutions of higher education and in particular in professional programmes. Focusing on the case, Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Case Western Reserve University (1996), this paper presents legal actions that are helping to clarify the policies protecting people with disabilities from exclusion from institutions of higher education. In particular, the paper focuses on a legal decision from the Ohio Supreme court affirming the right of Case Western Reserve's Medical School to reject a blind woman for admission to the medical school. By analysing this case using a policy analysis framework, the paper discusses the present impact and concerns for the future of these pieces of federal legislation on people with disabilities related to inclusion in institutions of higher education.     

Vietnamese public relations practitioners: Perceptions of an emerging field

Our exploratory research into contemporary PR practice in Vietnam is underpinned by 12 semi-structured interviews with senior Vietnamese PR executives from various agencies. We selectively use professionalism as an underlying theoretical framework to explore key areas of PR as a profession in Vietnam by considering the impact of environmental variables such as culture and the media system. This paper provides a current snapshot of how an industry introduced by Western multinational corporations has adapted to the Vietnamese context.     

Employment situation and life changes for people with disabilities: evidence from Nepal

In this study we attempt to bring attention to the situation of people with disabilities in the developing world by focusing on the labor market of Nepal. Utilizing a unique dataset collected from people with hearing, physical, and visual impairments through questionnaire-based interview methods, we compare across employment based on type of impairments and education levels to identify variation in occupational choices, as well as examining any positive life changes brought by employment. Results indicated that people with hearing, physical or visual impairments often dominated a specific employment sector. Numbers of people with physical, hearing and visual impairments were respectively large in the non-governmental organization sector, restaurants, and local schools. In addition to income, greater social inclusion, respect in the community, more friends, increased confidence, and discovering the new abilities were some of the positive life changes experienced by employees with disabilities.     

Editorial

Abstract

This comprehensive research study examined how schools of social work in Canada have responded to disability issues. The study focused upon specific policies and practices ofthe Canadian schools of social work which have been developed to create a more inclusive environment for students, staff, and faculty members with disabilities and to prepare students for practice in dealing with individuals who are disabled. A ten page survey consisting of closed and opened-ended questions was sent to the deans and directors of the thirty-five schools of social work in Canada. This study found that although there have been significant changes in these schools over the last ten years, there are many barriers to disability inclusion from recruitment and admissions; accommodations; retention, graduation, and employment; curriculum; hiring faculty and staff with disabilities; and university relations/resources. It concludes with recommendations for schools of social work.     

Local implementation of disability policies for “high incidence” disabilities at public schools in Japan and the U.S.

This study examines educators' responses to the local implementation of national special education policy changes for children with “high-incidence,” (mild cognitive and behavioral) disabilities. Sensitized by a sociocultural, developmental perspective, we examined Japanese and U.S. national educational policies for the support of children with high incidence disabilities and their implementation in local public schools. Twenty-six Japanese and 18 U.S. elementary school educators participated in individual interviews and discussed their experiences and perceptions of special education policies and their local implementation. Educators in both countries expressed common challenges, specifically, balancing legal requirements with everyday practices, adjusting to policy shifts, and negotiating support for children within and outside of their classrooms. Yet their experiences were culturally nuanced reflecting 1) relatively flexible (Japan) or fixed (U.S.) legal requirements, 2) shifts to more specialized (Japan) or more classroom-based (U.S.) support, and 3) established practices of classroom-based support (Japan) or pull-out support (U.S.). These cultural differences are examined in historical and sociocultural contexts, and implications are discussed for educators, social work practitioners, and policy makers in both Japan and the U.S.     

Digital baroque: New media art and cinematic folds

The decision to use participatory visual methods with young people in education, health or public policy research is linked to a desire to allow them to have some greater voice in the research and the professional activities that impact on their lives. But how that ‘voice’ is produced, whose voice it represents, and how the product of that research is used and interpreted are all contentious issues for researchers. This article analyses some of these conceptual, methodological, political and pragmatic issues from the perspective of a current Australian Research Council-funded project working with young people across education and health domains. It is argued that allowing or not allowing visual accounts to speak for themselves is not simply a political decision but one related to epistemological understandings about meaning, and also to different purposes of different visual projects, in particular their relative emphasis on voice as a window to the world of the young people, compared with voice as a window to ‘who I am’. The project discussed is one which aims to give greater authority and centrality to the visual accounts and voices of young people, but also one where researchers understand both the visual and voice as constructed rather than given. Case studies from the project are used to illustrate the way in which these commitments frame decisions about technology and methodology, and also to show and argue for an approach which treats the meaning of the visual evidence as something to be constructed ethnographically and reflexively over time.     

Leadership in an Able-bodied Social Context: one principal's impact on an inclusive urban school

While success and barriers to success for individuals with disabilities in the workplace have been the subject of research, there has been very little research on individuals with disabilities in leadership positions. Successful leaders with disabilities work in a society designed for the able-bodied, a society which generally expects less of them because of their disability. The authors present a qualitative study of a successful public elementary school principal with a serious visual impairment. His story reveals how he was able to succeed in the workplace and create a model school and an inclusion program for students with disabilities by bringing all members of the school community into his world of disability.     

Development Assistance: disability and education in Southern Africa

This paper discusses development assistance on disability and education in southern Africa. Development assistance for people with disabilities has for a long time been based on the charity and medical models. It has not been perceived in the context of national development. Many development agencies and charitable organisations tend to emphasise their own agenda, which may not necessarily be that of the local people with disabilities. As a result, the anticipated impact of development assistance in the region for people with disabilities has not been realised. This paper challenges this position and advocates for a more participatory approach by the locals. Using Lesotho as an example, the paper shows how development assistance can be made to be more successful through community participation and change of attitudes across all sectors of the community.     

越南童话的德育价值特点及作品赏析——以《蝼蛄历险记》为例

童话因满足儿童极富想象力的天性而深受孩子们的欢迎。而儿童期是对孩子进行道德教育的重要时期。利用极富教育意义的优秀童话故事对孩子进行潜移默化的道德教育能收到很好的效果。优秀的童话能跨越国界,让不同国家的孩子接受教育。越南的童话历史悠久,其中不乏许多优秀的作品。本文总结了越南童话故事的德育特点,并选择越南童话大师苏怀的代表作《蝼蛄历险记》来赏鉴,以期使读者对越南童话有着较为清楚的认识。     

A Survey of Common Practices in Infancy Research: Description of Policies,Consistency Across and Within Labs,and Suggestions for Improvements

Psychology is currently in a period of unprecedented self‐reflection, with particular attention being paid to research practices and policies. Although infancy researchers have a history of attending to research practice in the form of papers outlining how to best implement various methods and paradigms, less is known about the particular practices currently being used by researchers in the field, making it difficult to identify areas for improvement. To address this issue, we developed an online survey for measuring methodological practices in infancy laboratories around the world. Our results suggest that infancy researchers adopt a range of a priori research practices. Individuals earlier in their training (particularly within the first year) were more likely to report not knowing their lab's policies, especially regarding issues that arise late in the research process. Members of the same lab agreed on lab policies at above‐chance levels; however, improvements could be made. The use of clearly problematic research practices was relatively rare; however, several “risk‐permeable” practices were identified that may, under select circumstances, threaten data integrity. We discuss how our results could be used to improve practice in infant research.     

Understanding the social exclusion and stalled welfare of citizens with learning disabilities

Despite the UK’s recent history of promoting the social inclusion and equality of men and women with learning disabilities they remain a significantly disadvantaged group. Compared with their non‐disabled peers they are more likely to be unemployed, less likely to own their own homes and are at a significantly greater risk of physical and mental ill health. The first part of this paper discusses the welfare rights of citizens with learning disabilities in terms of New Labour’s welfare to work policies. The second part discusses the UK’s mixed welfare economy and its impact upon services for men and women with learning disabilities. The paper concludes by considering whether the social inclusion of men and women with learning disabilities can be promoted solely through policies that emphasise inclusion through work and the personalisation of welfare services.     

Negotiating a third space for participatory research with people with learning disabilities: an examination of boundaries and spatial practices

The focus of this article is participatory research with and by people with learning disabilities. Drawing on discussions that took place across a series of seminars, we use the concepts of space and boundaries to examine the development of a shared new spatial practice through creative responses to a number of challenges. We examine the boundaries that exist between participatory and non-participatory research; the boundaries that exist between different stakeholders of participatory research; and the boundaries that exist between participatory research with people with learning disabilities and participatory research with other groups. With a particular focus on participatory data analysis and participatory research with people with high support needs, we identify a number of ways in boundaries are being crossed. We argue that the pushing of new boundaries opens up both new and messy spaces and that both are important for the development of participatory research methods.