Migration Narratives: Expanding Methods to Examine the Interaction of Person and Environment Among Aging Gay Men

As they age, gay and bisexual men are embedded in multiple environments and communities. This article reanalyzes data collected as part of a larger qualitative study of crystal methamphetamine use in New York City. Focusing on the migration narratives of 30 racially/ethnically diverse men, age 40 years old and older, recruited from multiple venues several key areas emerged: ostracization, lack of affirmation as well as movement activities. Interactively they transformed social practices and increased spaces to explore sexuality, build community engagements and exchange resources. This study suggests that assessment of gay men (and other marginalized groups) may be enhanced through application of migration narratives.     

The cultural currency of a 'good' sense of humour: British comedy and new forms of distinction

Traditionally considered lowbrow art par excellence, British comedy has grown steadily in legitimacy since the 'Alternative Comedy Movement' of the early 1980s. Yet while there might be evidence of a transformation in British comic production, there is little understanding of how this has been reflected in patterns of consumption. Indeed, there is a remarkable absence of studies probing comedy taste in British cultural sociology, most notably in Bennett et al's (2009) recent and otherwise exhaustive mapping of cultural taste and participation. This paper aims to plug this gap in the literature by examining contemporary comedy taste cultures in Britain. Drawing on a large-scale survey and in-depth interviews carried out at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, it argues that comedy now represents an emerging field for the culturally privileged to activate their cultural capital resources. However, unlike previous studies on cultural capital and taste, this research finds that field-specific 'comic cultural capital' is mobilized less through taste for certain legitimate 'objects' of comedy and more through the expression of rarefied and somewhat 'disinterested'styles of comic appreciation. In short, it is 'embodied' rather than 'objectified' forms of cultural capital that largely distinguish the privileged in the field of comedy.     

Ten Thousand Tonga: A Longitudinal Anthropological Study from Southern Zambia, 1956–1991

The Gwembe Study was launched in 1956 to monitor the responses of 57,000 Tonga-speakers from the Middle Zambezi Valley to involuntary relocation. Since then, periodic censuses and frequent field visits have generated a wide variety of information. This article examines the demography of four Gwembe Tonga villages from 1956 to 1991, a period characterized first by relocation, then prosperity, and finally by economic hardship. White nuptiality does not respond significantly to socio-economic trends, marital fertility falls sharply during relocation, rebounds with the onset of prosperity, and decreases slowly during the most recent decade of economic hardship. Mortality of the very young and old is also sensitive to such changes. There is striking excess male mortality in all periods, especially among male infants and in particular male twins. The sex ratio at ‘birth’ is 92. This abnormal sex ratio at birth may be the result of conscious sex preference favouring females.     

VICTIMS OF CRIME AND LAW AND ORDER IDEOLOGY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This article will argue that conservative forces in the community have used the renewed concern for crime victims in order to further their own political positions, rather than to genuinely advance crime victims' interests. These forces, commonly referred to as the ‘law-and-order’ lobby, include right wing politicians, the police and some sections of the media. The ideology which informs their approach will be critically examined, as well as the most important specific policies relating to crime victims deriving from this ideology.     

Ethnic and religious perspectives on disability and the helping professions

This note looks at ethnic and religious perspectives of people who are training for and/or working in the helping professions in regard to their views of disability. The Modified Issues in Disabilities Scale (MIDS) was administered to a sample of people training for and/or working in the helping professions. A statistically significant association was found between ethnic and religious perspectives and scores on the MIDS.