Caught in the Cross Fire: Children’s Right to Education During Conflict — The Case of Nepal 1996–2006

The article focuses on the impact on children, schools and education during the 10 year conflict in Nepal and raises questions for further research on schooling in the post‐conflict era. The article is based on research undertaken as part of a British Council funded Higher Education Link. Focus group discussions and interviews were conducted with school children, parents, teachers and community leaders between 2004 and 2006 and draws on informal discussions and observations with NGOs and teachers in the post‐conflict period, including NGOs visual methods to enable children’s voices to be heard in the peace process.     

When Battlefields become Marketplaces: Migrant Workers and the Role of Civil Society and NGO Activism in Thailand

The vast majority of migrant workers in Thailand are employed predominantly in low‐paying occupations commonly described as “3‐D jobs” (dangerous, dirty, and difficult). Currently, there are nearly two million documented and undocumented migrant workers, mostly from neighbouring Burma, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Cambodia, employed in various industries, including domestic service, throughout the country. While over half a million migrants are officially registered to work in the country, both documented and undocumented migrant workers remain unprotected primarily due to the lack of concrete measures to monitor, implement and enforce laws regarding working and living conditions. Regardless of where they are employed, migrant workers face common problems: low wages; harmful working conditions, poor living conditions; discrimination and harassment, the threat of arrest and deportation; and lack of access to basic resources such as medical care and legal assistance. Based on preliminary research conducted in the summer of 2005, this article looks at the situation of migrant factory and domestic workers in Thailand and explores the ways in which local activists, NGOs, community‐based organisations, and international bodies have been looking to assist and protect migrant workers. Successful migrant workers’ struggles and ongoing efforts of mobilization have been made possible with the help of these support groups, and raise the possibility that union and NGO activity have the potential to improve the situation of migrants in Thailand. This also raises the question of whether advocacy groups should be acting in lieu of the state rather than alongside the state, especially when it appears that they are fulfilling their civic duty as enforcer and monitor of migrant workers’ problems.     

When controversial businesses meet dialogic communication: Insights from public relations practitioners in the oil and gas industry

This study investigated how public relations practitioners understand and practice dialogic communication in the controversial oil and gas industry. Guided by theoretical works of dialogic theory of public relations, the dialogic ladder, and negative spaces of dialogue, in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 practitioners who held public relations/communication positions serving the oil and gas industry in Canada. The findings suggest some points of alignment between practitioners’ understanding of dialogic public relations and the related theoretical orientation. Practitioners reported predominantly using an interpersonal approach for shallow dialogue followed by mediated and procedural approaches with different stakeholders in practice. Interviewees also shared the unique challenges they face in practicing dialogic communication due to the controversies surrounding the industry. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The way bullying works: How new ties facilitate the mutual reinforcement of status and bullying in elementary schools

This study addresses the puzzle how high-status bullies in elementary school are able to maintain high status among their classmates despite bullying (some of) them. The dynamic interplay between bullying and status was studied, focusing on how relational bullying affects the creation, dissolution, and maintenance of status attributions, and vice versa. Longitudinal round-robin peer nomination data were obtained from 82 school classes in 15 Dutch elementary schools (2055 students; 50% boys) followed over three yearly measurements, starting out in grades 2–5 when students were aged 8-11. An age-dependent effect of bullying on the creation of new status attributions was found. Whereas the youngest group punished bullying by a refusal to attribute status to the bully, this turned into a reward of bullying in the oldest groups. Unexpectedly, high-status bullies seemed to avoid continual bullying of the same victims, pointing to explanations of why their status can persist.     

Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea: The development of tourism in Cuba

The Cubans are relying upon tourism to revive their ailing fortunes.They also wish to preserve their environment and cultural identity.Through the use of Partnerships, they may benefit by others'past experiences, avoid the negative effects of tourism sufferedby many other locations, and achieve the development of sustainabletourism.     

应以科学发展观指导毕业生就业工作

1 应时而生,称雄行业 成立于1994年的新大泽集团属国内专门从事螺旋藻研究、养殖、生产、销售一条龙的民营外向型企业.公司本着"以资源为依托,以市场为导向,以创新为动力,以效益为核心"的指导思想,近年来公司迅速发展和壮大.历经十余年的发展,现已成为我国规模最大、产量最高、品种最多、质量最好、技术最先进的以高科技为先导,集科、工、贸为一体的螺旋藻集团化企业.     

Now — and Now — and Now: Time,Space and the Material Entanglements of the Classroom

This study examines time and children in the classroom based on free‐flowing observations written in class by 10‐year‐old pupils. The concept of entanglement is activated to consider time together with space and matter and explore the dynamics in which these elements interact. The analysis unsettles the notion of time as a separate, ‘outside’ parameter: rather than examining children in time, this viewpoint enables us to see children as being or becoming of different times and entangling with material elements. On the other hand, entanglements also produce different moments of now, which are seen as multiple and hybrid. The author suggests an understanding of research with children as ‘lively entanglements’ in which special attention should be given to things that matter to children.     

Parent—Child Interaction in the Context of a Chronic Disease

The parent—child relationship plays a crucial role in every chronic disease and especially in the course of childhood diabetes type 1. The present study explores the characteristics of parent—child interaction in Greek families in which one child suffers from diabetes, and the way that this relationship has affected the family's capacity to deal with the psychosocial aspects of the disease. Our extended research employed qualitative methods (observation and in‐depth interview), using criteria based on the structural model of the ‘psychosomatic family’. We provide a typology of the parent—child relationship in these families: enmeshment, mother—patient coalition, parental splitting, over‐protectiveness, lack of limits, the patient's involvement in marital crisis, parentification of a non‐symptomatic child, and ambiguity of roles and rules. These characteristics seem to typify the parent—child relationship in various chronic diseases.