Indigenous persons with disability in remote Australia: research methodology and Indigenous community control

Abstract

Decolonisation aims to deconstruct the hegemonic traditional Western academic practices and values that oppress Indigenous peoples. Decolonising research methodologies is a relatively new practice in disability research in colonised nations. This paper details the Indigenous community-controlled research methodology that underpinned a disability research project with the Anangu and Yarnangu of Central Australia, ‘Walykumunu Nyinaratjaku: To Live a Good Life’. The project aimed to identify and explore how to support Indigenous people with a disability in the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Lands to live a good life. The research was structured on a decolonising methodology to situate the control and governance of the research with the Indigenous peoples. Our experience could assist other disability researchers working with Indigenous peoples in remote communities.     

Does intergenerational social mobility affect antagonistic attitudes towards ethnic minorities?

Up till now, no study satisfactorily addressed the effect of social mobility on antagonistic attitudes toward ethnic minorities. In this contribution, we investigate the effect of educational and class intergenerational mobility on ethnic stereotypes, ethnic threat, and opposition to ethnic intermarriage by using diagonal mobility models. We test several hypotheses derived from ethnic competition theory and socialization theory with data from the Social and Cultural Developments in The Netherlands surveys (SOCON, waves 1995, 2000, and 2005) and The Netherlands Kinship and Panel Study (NKPS, wave 2002). We find that the relative influence of social origin and social destination depends on the specific origin and destination combination. If one moves to a more tolerant social destination position, the influence of the social origin position is negligible. If on the other hand, one is socially mobile to a less tolerant social position, the impact of the origin on antagonistic attitudes is substantial and may even exceed the impact of the destination category. This confirms our hypothesis that adaptation to more tolerant norms is easier than adaptation to less tolerant norms. We find only meagre evidence for the hypothesis that downward mobility leads to frustration and consequently to more antagonistic attitudes.     

Modernism,postmodernism and global standards setting

This paper discusses the key features of modernism and postmodernism, and critiques global standards setting from a postmodern theoretical perspective. The main areas of critique consist of the possibility of the creation of yet another totalizing discourse or grand narrative; debates around the particular and the universal; issues around representation; and power, knowledge and discursive formations. We argue that to treat modernism and postmodernism as a linear progression and as a bi‐polar categorization is to fall within the traps of modernism itself. We have thus avoided making a choice between modernism and postmodernism—between justification, objectivity, reason, universalism, proof and unity of science on the one hand and the postmodern emphases on language, power, and the particular, contingent and relational on the other hand.     

Book Review

Homophobia: An Australian History Shirleene Robinson (ed), The Federation Press, Sydney, 2008, pb, x + 262 pp., $35.00     

Autocastration and autopenectomy in a patient with transsexualism and schizophrenia

Previous research focusing on changes in gay male sexual practices as a result of AIDS often avoids taking into consideration the meanings which sexual practices have within the gay community. As an alternative, the present study used a content‐analysis of personals advertisements within the personals section of The Village Voice to assess changes in the language gay men use to refer to their sexuality between the years 1978, 1982, 1985, and 1988. A significant increase in personals advertisements suggesting a concern with health is noted from 1982 to 1985. This increase continues from 1985 to 1988. Corresponding in time with these changes are increases in the number of personals advertisements which express a rejection of “stereotypical” presentations of self within the gay community. This rejection is seen as an attempt at self‐affirmation of characteristics perceived by gay men themselves as being desirable at particular historical moments. Implications for the basis of future policy interventions in reaction to AIDS are discussed. Finally, the utility of personals advertisement columns as an indicator of the meanings which people of various sexual preferences attach to their sexuality is discussed.     

Psychological distress among black and white Americans: differential effects of social support, negative interaction and personal control

This study examines the relationships among social support, negative interaction, financial strain, traumatic events, personal control, personality, and psychological distress among African American and white adults. These analyses: (1) test the overall adequacy of various models (i.e., main, mediator, and artifactual effects) of these effects, (2) examine the role of social support and negative interaction within the context of financial strain and traumatic events, and (3) verify possible indirect effects of social interaction on distress by assessing their impact on personal control. Data from The National Comorbidity Survey were used to examine these relationships using structural equation modeling techniques. Findings indicated different models of these relationships for African Americans and whites. Overall, personal control mediated the relationship between negative interaction and psychological distress. For whites, negative interaction was an overall stronger predictor of distress and contributed to the impact of financial strain and traumatic events on psychological distress. Among African Americans, social support was a stronger predictor of distress. The findings suggest that the underlying models of these relationships are different for African Americans and whites.     

How Long are Exposures to Poor Neighborhoods? The Long-Term Dynamics of Entry and Exit from Poor Neighborhoods

Although discussions of poor neighborhoods often assume that their residents are a distinct population trapped in impoverished environments for long durations, no past research has examined longitudinal patterns of residence in poor neighborhoods beyond single-year transitions. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics from 1979 to 1990 matched to census tract data, this paper provides the first estimates of duration of stay and rates of re-entry in poor (20%+ poor) and extremely poor (40%+ poor) census tracts. The results indicate that (1) there is great racial inequality in longitudinal patterns of exposure to poorneighborhoods – mostAfrican Americans will live in a poor neighborhood over a 10 year span, contrasted to only 10 percent of whites; (2) exits from high poverty neighborhoods are not uncommon, but re-entries to poor neighborhoods following an exit are also very common, especially among African Americans; and (3) length of spell in a poor neighborhood is positively associated with low income, female headship, and, most of all, black race. Little of the racial difference is accounted for by racial difference in poverty status or family structure. Implications for research and public policy are discussed.