Why Joanna Baptista Sold Herself into Slavery: Indian Women in Portuguese Amazonia, 1755–1798

In 1780, in Belém, Brazil, Joanna Baptista sold herself into slavery. This article probes Joanna's motives and situates her actions not only in the milieu of slaveholding Brazil, but also in the more specific context of Portuguese Amazonia during the Directorate (1758–1798). Indians, especially former slaves and their descendants, faced forced resettlement and increased labor demands. Joanna's case and contemporary petitions demonstrate how women of Indian and mixed descent, especially single women, widows and orphans, used legal means to defend their autonomy.     

Maternal Health Policies in Countries in Transition: Poland and Kyrgyzstan, 1990–2006

ABSTRACT

Starting with the initiation of democratic and market economic transitions, unsupportive policies concerning women's reproductive health were implemented in Kyrgyzstan and Poland in the period 1990–2006. These policies were expressed by (1) political decisions limiting available funding to support medical practices protecting women's reproductive health, (2) diminishing or restricted dissemination of knowledge about family planning, and (3) the implementation of new contraception and abortion policies. Could these changes be perceived as combat between democratic liberalism, cosmopolitanism, and tolerance versus traditionalism, insularism, and fundamentalism? We use analyses of policies concerning women's reproductive and maternal health to manifest rivalry between economic crisis and the push toward modernity and between traditionalism and liberalism. We demonstrate that the return to traditional gender roles and gender policies, and their practical application expressed in maternal health policies, illustrates cultural backlash toward diffusing Western liberalism in countries in political and economic transition.     

Strategies for Preventing Neighborhood Violence: Toward Bringing Collective Efficacy into Social Work Practice

Neighborhood violence has profound effects on issues associated with social work practice, such as health, safety, and the positive development of children, youth, and families. This article brings together the literatures in criminology and public health that examine violence and social work's history in community practice to develop violence prevention strategies. One important concept from the criminology and public health literatures is collective efficacy, defined as neighbors having shared values, trust, and a willingness to intervene in neighborhood problems. By building on the community practice literature and studies from peacemaking criminology, the article provides examples of ways that collective efficacy can be built and implemented in low income neighborhoods. Strategies include awareness of collective efficacy, relationship building, bystander education, and restorative justice.     

Parent Perspectives on Intensive Intervention for Child Maltreatment

Multi-level intervention, based on an ecological perspective, has been promoted at the preferred model of providing parenting support to high-risk families. However, parent views regarding such interventions have not been determined. Focus groups consisting of 24 parents who had recently completed an intensive parenting program yielded results supporting multi-level interventions but highlighting processes rather than content within such programs as well as the reciprocal effect of particular level interventions. Processes identified at intervention levels included Affirming Parent Self-Worth, Non-Directive Instruction, Promoting Social Connections, and Empowering Communication. Increased understanding of and attending to processes in intensive intervention with high-risk families is indicated.     

Effects of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Threat from Terrorism on Restriction of Civil Liberties

In an Internet survey (N = 275), we investigated how right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), personal values, and political ideology predicted attitudes toward restriction of civil liberties and toward surveillance measured one year later. Feelings of threat from terrorism were also taken into account. RWA, SDO, political ideology, security values, and self-direction values were significant predictors. In addition, RWA interacted with threat from terrorism, in that threat reinforced the positive effect of RWA on support for surveillance measures. Thus, the study contributes to the understanding of psychological reasons for support for political measures related to civil liberties.     

Treatment with children and adolescents traumatized by the September 11th attack

In the aftermath of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, a myriad of complicated issues faced us all. Among these issues were how to provide support and ease anxiety during a time when taking in what had occurred was painful for us all, and everyone felt uncertain about the future. In this article, we describe how some New York City children and adolescents in close proximity to the devastation experienced the day and managed in the aftermath. We offer two case examples as characteristic reactions and describe the fine balance of getting to the material while respecting the defenses of our young clients. These school-based sessions offer insight into the unique parameters of school-based work, and the flexibilities and limitations available in this setting. We describe treatment grounded in psychodynamic theory and in the adolescent case, the implementation of some cognitive techniques. Both cases illustrate that the effects of prior trauma play significant element in the experience of present day trauma.     

Management of HIV/AIDS in the Australian federal system

The purpose of this article is to analyse the effect of the federal structure on public health policy in a crisis situation. Federalism has been one of the most important features of the Australian political system shaping AIDS policy because it has created problems with the coordination of policies and has limited the Commonwealth's capacity to introduce a coherent national monitoring, education, protection, testing and legal framework. My main point is that in the situation of crisis, there is a tendency to rely on the political will of the centre. The political will of the federal health department, subsumed by conflicts and difficulties, has not lasted long enough to construct a new, more uniform structure (a uniform surveillance, legal and health acts framework). It can be concluded that while political intervention and political will cannot be overestimated as means of overcoming organizational rigidities in an emergency situation, the need for a framework conducive to rapid and coordinated responses is obvious. The lesson from the AIDS epidemic points to the need for more uniform public health legislation, for more uniform system of recording data on HIV and for more uniform civil liberties legislation.     

Time and environmental crisis: An exploration with special reference to pollution

The present environmental crisis is gaining prominence on the sociopolitical and scientific agenda. There is widespread consensus about what constitutes the crisis but little agreement about its causes and potential solutions: what is a solution for one person is often considered a source of the problem by another. Focusing on aspects that are normally ignored allows us to sidestep these hardening oppositions and gives us a new access to environmental issues and their analyses. While the spatial dimension has been brought to the fore in a number of disciplines, the temporal equivalent has stayed implicit. Explication of what remains invisible in conventional analyses can shed light on the familiar, agreed upon and disputed.     

The Origins of Charisma as Process: A Case Study of Hildegard of Bingen

A case study of the twelfth‐century visionary Hildegard of Bingen is presented to examine the process through which a charismatic relationship is constructed in interaction between an individual and significant others and more distant followers. Hildegard's identity as a charismatic prophet developed over a number of years through a process of interaction with various ecclesiastical authorities; alterations occurred in both the prophet's self‐identity and the way others viewed her, leading finally to her authorization as a prophet and visionary. The cultural context provided plausibility structures, relevant symbols, and limitations that influenced the form of Hildegard's charismatic status. This status led to unprecedented achievements for a woman of her time, but her efforts mainly supported and strengthened the institutional tradition in which she served.