Supporting Traditional African Mediators Project (STAMP) for Family Violence

Supporting Traditional African Mediators Project (STAMP) is a program that has been working with African/Australian community leaders to prevent family violence. This program has been carefully developed through building long‐term relationships, transparency and openness with an emphasis on navigating the intersection of cultures in order to enhance understanding and collaboration around family violence prevention. The training program has successfully engaged both men and women and enhanced participation, cross cultural learning and positive outcomes by creating an open and safe environment. The paper highlights the knowledge gained by participants and project workers and explores the challenges experienced by people who emigrate from other countries when responding to family conflict in an Australian context. It introduces the formation of a support group Marula that has added value and support to Traditional African Mediators in their work to address family violence within their communities.     

(Ap)parent Boundaries: Parents' Boundary Work at Cultural Events for Families with Children Adopted from China

Abstract

The adoption of children from China by American families represents a rich case study for an expanding sociological literature on boundaries: it brings to life many of our most salient borders and highlights their very permeability. This paper represents one aspect of a larger research project on parents' efforts to bridge perceived ethnocultural boundaries within the China adoptive family. Through ethnographic fieldwork and semistructured, in-depth interviews, I examine parents' interpretations of and participation in Chinese cultural events organized by and for China adoptive families. These events are significant sites for social research on boundaries because they: (1) appear to assume permeable ethnocultural borders; and (2) bring previously incoherent individuals together as a bounded group. Drawing on classic and contemporary theories of ethnic identification and collective identity, I reveal how parents activate existing symbolic and social boundaries and create new symbolic and social boundaries in their efforts to construct community. In particular, I demonstrate how previously incoherent parents cohere as a bounded community by actively distinguishing themselves from “authentic” Chinese/Chinese American referents and the “imagined community” of biological families. Likewise, I reveal how the community's boundaries and cultural events both mask and alienate a growing percentage of the China adoption contingent: African American and Asian American China adoptive parents, lower-middle-class and working-class China adoptive parents, and the adoptive parents of Chinese sons. Through this case-based analysis, I add general theoretical and methodological contributions to the diffuse boundaries literature.     

Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners

The idea of a community of learners is based on the premise that learning occurs as people participate in shared endeavors with others, with all playing active but often asymmetrical roles in sociocultural activity. This contrasts with models of learning that are based on one‐sided notions of learning— either that it occurs through transmission of knowledge from experts or acquisition of knowledge by novices, with the learner or the others (respectively) in a passive role. In this paper, I develop the distinction between the community of learners and one‐sided approaches from the perspective of a theory of learning as participation, and use two lines of research to illustrate the transitions in perspective necessary to understand the idea of communities of learners. One line of research examines differing models of teaching and learning employed by caregivers and toddlers from Guatemalan Mayan and middle‐class European‐American families; the other line of research involves a study of how middle‐class parents make a transition from their own schooling background to participate in instruction in a public US elementary school.     

Participation Structures as a Mediational Means: Learning Balinese Gamelan in the United States Through Intent Participation,Mediated Discourse,and Distributed Cognition

Participation has presented a complex unit of analysis for interactional sociolinguistics. In this study I add another dimension to participation by considering recent theories related to sociocultural activity theory—mediated discourse analysis and distributed cognition. Drawing on examples from maguru panggul, the traditional pedagogy of Balinese Gamelan music, I argue that participation structures are a mediational means that enable students to augment their learning. Focusing on two participation structures that involve keen observation and listening-in, I also consider how intent participation is a part of these participation structures and maguru panggul pedagogy. What emerges is an understanding of how participation structures used as mediational means can have an effect on the division of cognitive labor within a classroom.     

The Process is Pedagogy: What Does Community Participation Teach?

Does participation in community activities increase the knowledgeand skills of the volunteers? If so, which knowledge and skillsare gained? What is the relationship between learning throughcommunity activities and a volunteer's age, gender, level ofeducation and level of involvement? To examine these questions, data from a survey conducted ina small American community were used. Respondents were askedif they had learned any new knowledge or skills, or had extendedtheir existing knowledge and skills from participating in communityactivities. The analysis shows that all volunteers increasedtheir knowledge and skills. Most of what they learned was generalknowledge rather than specific skills and was not new but extensionsof existing knowledge. The question format greatly influencedinterviewee response. The authors conclude that people's knowledgeand skills are increased by becoming involved in community activitiesand the greater their involvement, the greater the learning.The process is the teacher!     

Understanding the African American Research Experience (KAARE)

Summary

Despite recognition that the African American population is underrepresented in studies of health and mental health treatment and prevention efforts, few investigations have systematically examined barriers to African American research participation. Without their participation, treatment and prevention strategies designed to curtail the spread of HIV in their communities will be bound to achieve less than optimal outcomes. Based on the assumption that successful recruitment of African Americans requires knowledge of (a) their beliefs about research, (b) their perceptions of the research process and researchers, (c) their motivations to participate, and (d) the historical and social factors that may be the source of at least some ambivalence, the current study undertook semi-structured interviews with 157 African American, low-income mothers residing in a large urban community where they and their children were at high risk for HIV. Given the sensitive nature of the research topic, members of the community were trained to conduct the interviews. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the interview content suggest that despite having been consented, many participants (a) are not aware of their rights under informed consent and (b) lack knowledge of how the research will be used. Despite this and the subtle suspicion of White researchers held by some, many decide to participate for altruistic reasons. The implications for recruitment of participants in general and African Americans in particular into HIV prevention studies are discussed as are the implications for service providers directly or indirectly involved in the development and delivery of these interventions.     

Negotiating Homelessness through the Saliency of Family Ties: The Personal Networking Practices of Latino and African American Men

Abstract

This paper examines the role family networks play in the daily survival of homeless Latino and African American men. Using a qualitative research design and a semi-structured interview technique, I examine how these men initiate, participate in and maintain kin-based social networks and how their networks function. The analysis is carried out comparatively for Latinos and African Americans. Two research questions guide the analysis. First, how do the personal networks of homeless men operate? Second, how do the personal networks of homeless African American men differ from those of homeless Latino men? Key findings suggest differences in provisions for social support available within the respective networks of these men. Overall, participants commonly activated social capital within their personal networks, through the practice of filial fluidity which relaxes expectations of social debt and obligations and thus, facilitates the flow of resources vital to the well-being of these homeless men. These findings support a more empowering view of homeless men as active, rational and competent actors engaged in negotiating their situations of homelessness by maintaining active family-based networks.     

Schooling youth (sub)cultures in East Asian education: the case of high school rock in Taiwan

Over the past few years, some articles in this journal began to propose avenues of inquiry that would go beyond the long lasting subculture/post-subculture debate. This article aims to contribute to this emerging literature through examining the semi-independent role of ‘schooling’ in shaping specific patterns of youth (sub)cultural participation with specific reference to the role of high school rock music in Taiwan. I analyse how certain schooling structures and institutions – such as academic ranking and exams – frame the way students engage in their rock activities, and how this facilitates the popularity of heavy metal rock and the replication of exam culture in students’ rock subculture. Extending Shildrick and Macdonald’s use of the term ‘leisure career’, I suggest that an in-depth analysis of the interplay between young people’s ‘educational career’ and their focused leisure activities can be useful in understanding how specific patterns of decision making shape young students’ everyday culture and contribute to the distinctiveness of their subcultural participation.     

Second‐Generation Effects of Chicago's Gautreaux Residential Mobility Program on Children's Participation in Crime

Data from the Gautreaux residential mobility program, which relocated low‐income African American families from high poverty, segregated inner‐city, Chicago neighborhoods into mostly European American, suburban neighborhoods, and mostly European American or mostly African American neighborhoods within Chicago, are used to assess whether children's later involvement with the Illinois criminal justice system is associated with the characteristics of their placement neighborhoods. I find that suburban placement provides a strong protective benefit for boys, primarily for drug offenses. Conversely, girls placed in suburban neighborhoods were more likely to be convicted of a criminal offense. Qualitative data indicate that children placed in the suburbs experienced a dramatic reduction in direct exposure to gangs and drugs. Children placed in higher SES neighborhoods within Chicago still attended lower performing schools and the surrounding neighborhoods offered many opportunities for participation in delinquent activities.     

Urbanization, Disadvantage, and Petty Entrepreneurship: Street Peddling among African American Men in Southern and Northern Cities during the Early Twentieth Century

Two theories attempt to explain why minority groups are often involved in small-scale entrepreneurial activities. The urban adjustment hypothesis holds that when such groups urbanize, their members establish themselves economically through self-employment in pursuits that require little start-up capital. The disadvantage theory argues that exclusion from the labor market impels members of oppressed groups to become self-employed in marginal enterprises. Applying these theories, I use census data to analyze the participation of African American men in street peddling during the pre-World War II era. Consistent with the urban adjustment hypothesis, the involvement of African American men in street peddling increased markedly when African Americans urbanized during the period from 1890 to 1940. Consistent with disadvantage theory, the involvement of African American men in street peddling was positively associated with labor market disadvantage. Finally, in southern cities, African American men were overrepresented in street peddling, a finding that suggests that these men had a niche in the petty-trading sector of the South's informal economy.     

Community Integration of Older People with Developmental Disabilities in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

To understand the community integration of adults with developmental disabilities in Hong Kong, a comprehensive measure includes four dimensions, pertaining to social activity, social services, interpersonal behavior, and people involved in social interaction. Applying this measure to 692 adults (aged 15–62), the territory-wide study finds that these adults lack company for out-of-home activities and community activities despite their higher knowledge, assertiveness, social interaction, and feeling accepted in the community. With the strengthening of many conditions (including knowledge and community support) for community integration, the adults tend to have greater need for empowerment to enhance their active participation in community activities.     

The nightmares of the heteronormative

Abstract

Race and sexuality have always intersected in African‐American racial formation. In this article, I argue that this intersection has inspired certain epistemological, political, economic and cultural formations. In terms of epistemology, American sociology and African‐American literature have historically addressed the connections between race and sexuality. Both were interested in the ways that African‐American racial formation transgressed ideal heterosexual and patriarchal boundaries. As far as cultural formations were concerned, such transgressions materially and symbolically aligned African‐American racial formation with homosexuality. Attending to the political and economic effect of this alignment, I maintain that it helped to articulate African‐American racial difference and worked to exclude African‐Americans from the privileges of state and capital. Thus, the article argues that African‐American racial subordination can best be understood as it converges with heteronormative and patriarchal modes of regulation and exclusion. After showing how the most prominent sociology during the 1940s (Gunnar Myrdal's American Dilemma: The Negro and American Democracy) marked African‐Americans as pathologically heterosexual, I go on to read James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain to determine how the alignment between blackness and homosexuality suggests alternative and oppositional epistemological, cultural and political practices.     

A growing tradition?

This article develops a basic knowledge of African American family foundations from which additional research can be generated. It addresses the following questions: From what types of professional backgrounds do the founders of African American family foundations hail? In which areas of the country are African American family foundations located? What is the range of assets possessed by African American family foundations, and how are these assets managed? How do African American family foundations use board members, employees, and volunteers to support their organizations? What are the overarching goals of African American family foundations? And in what areas are they concentrating their donations?     

The Contribution of Social Behavior to Diabetes and Obesity: Do Health Behaviors Matter in the African‐American Community?

The obstacles experienced by those who are overweight and suffering from associated ailments are immense. This literature review evaluates the health behaviors and the socio‐structural barriers among African‐Americans that contribute to the high prevalence of obesity and diabetes. These include behaviors of African‐Americans that contribute to diabetes such as diet behavior, social behaviors, as well as behaviors that manifest in socioeconomic status. This assessment will be used to provide insights as they pertain to African‐Americans, cultural beliefs and practices, and their impact on the development of diabetes. This review illustrates that many of the aforementioned behaviors are embedded within and are shaped by broader social structures. This literature offers policy recommendations to assist in the elimination of health disparities specifically within the African‐American community.     

Caregiver Engagement in Religious Urban Elementary Schools

ABSTRACT

This article examines how school leaders in a religious school serving traditionally marginalized students improve their school communities through constructing space for caregiver engagement. This study suggests how counter-narratives of critical care can inform social justice leadership in schools. The results, from a case study of a Catholic urban elementary school that uses innovative and effective strategies to engage caregivers, show that educational leaders create spaces for engaging caregivers by developing relationships with them and systematically reducing barriers to their participation in the school community. Analyzing these results through the critical care theory lens illuminates how these spaces value diverse forms of social and cultural capital are strengthened by alliances with nontraditional support structures. This research contributes to our evolving understanding of caregiver engagement by presenting a textured analysis of a case study as viewed through a critical care conceptual framework.     

Community Revitalization in Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Critical Analysis of Social Capital in an African American Neighborhood

ABSTRACT

This research explored the role of social capital, particularly civic engagement and social trust, in community revitalization efforts in a primarily African American post-Katrina neighborhood (n?=?153). Findings reveal high levels of participation in neighborhood and political activities but low levels of social trust. Eighty-four percent of this primarily African American sample reported that they do not trust people of other races as compared to 23 to 32% of African American respondents in the national study. Drawing from critical theoretical perspectives, we offer a critique of the limits of social capital theory as well as a discussion of the importance of building social and racial trust as central components of community development practice. Implications include emphasizing organizational capacity-building activities, community organizing training, and racial reconciliation efforts in post-disaster environments.     

A city within a city: A “snapshot” of aging in a HUD 202 in Detroit, Michigan

Because of a recent surge of aging in place literature, we know a considerable amount about how older adults wish to remain in long lived-in homes and communities. However, there are still gaps in our knowledge. What happens when older adults live in a community that does not support their everyday needs? This paper represents an initial attempt to explore how one group of poor, non-white, central city residents in Detroit, Michigan make sense of and organize a new age-segregated home. Findings presented in this article are based on 30 in depth and photographic elicitation interviews with African American, low-income, older adults living in one Housing and Urban Development 202 (HUD 202). Findings suggest that participants in this sample cultivated a new urban space within the facility to compensate for the deficiencies of a deteriorated inner-city neighborhood. I use these findings to encourage broader conceptualizations and consideration for the aging in place model to be more inclusive to the lived experiences of older adults who occupy oppressed places.     

Art in the Time of Frugality: Scarcity,Cooperation, and Change in American Art Museums

Funding for American art museums has undergone significant changes in the past 20 years. In particular, federal and corporate giving have substantially declined following the Great Recession. These changes impact museums’ ability to secure funding for exhibitions. This study addresses how funding scarcity affects American art museums, specifically with regard to staff’s ability to execute their own tasks and the strategies of action they use to compensate for these changes. Drawing from literature on resource scarcity, I explore how funding declines have prompted museum staff to use “strategic cooperation” as a means of diversifying limited financial resources. Moreover, using interviews with curators and development officers, I identify three cooperative strategies they may use: coordinating inter‐professional activities, pooling professional knowledge, and finding creative financial solutions. These findings add to work on resource scarcity by identifying inter‐group cooperation as a diversification strategy. More importantly, I add to this literature by specifically identifying multiple forms of strategic cooperation individuals may employ to combat resource scarcity. Finally, while literature on the arts has focused on museums’ propensity for inter‐professional conflict during times of duress, my work demonstrates that, despite this, cooperative action is a present and viable strategy in cultural organizations.     

‘It’s Quite Stylish’: Representations of American English and American Culture in English-Training Milieus in Delhi,India

English-training institutes seem to be ubiquitous in India, and they often index the United States through reference to ‘American accent’ training, American teachers, or simply American flags on their storefront signs. Against the broader backdrop of globalization, and through an examination of institute signs and advertisements and interviews with institute students and teachers, I show how ‘America’ is represented, produced, and consumed as a symbolic and cultural category within the cultural domain of English-training institutes.     

Adolescent Secretive Behavior: African American and Hmong Adolescents' Strategies and Justifications for Managing Parents' Knowledge About Peers

Drawing upon the expectancy violation‐realignment theory of autonomy development, this qualitative study examined African American and Hmong adolescent autonomy‐seeking behaviors and parent–child communication about activities and relationships with peers. Twenty‐two African American and 11 Hmong adolescents in grades 6–12 and 14 African American and 8 Hmong primary caregivers were interviewed. Participants discussed their perspectives on adolescent information management regarding activities with friends. Four categories of information management strategies and four primary types of adolescent justifications were identified. Adolescents were pragmatic in their decisions about secretive behaviors but also considered the impact of their behaviors on their relationships with parents. Adolescent strategies were consistent across ethnic groups, whereas justifications for secretive behaviors were embedded within cultural and family experiences.