A Global Clan: Scottish Migrant Networks and Identities Since the Eighteenth Century

Malcolm Cross, Migrant Workers in European Cities: Concentration, Conflict and Social Policy (Birmingham, SSRC Research Unit on Ethnic Relations, Working Paper on Ethnic Relations, No. 19, 1983). Pp. 31. £2.75.

John Solomos, The Politics of Black Youth Unemployment: A Critical Analysis of Official Ideologies and Policies (Birmingham, SRC Research Unit on Ethnic Relations, Working Paper on Ethnic Relations, No. 20, 1983). Pp. 23. £2.25.     

The roots of black resistance: race,gender and the struggle for urban land rights in Salvador,Bahia, Brazil

In Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, during the past ten years, the city has transformed its historical centre into cultural sites for leisure tourism. This process has included projects of ‘slum clearance’, negatively impacting black communities who have historically occupied these areas. In this essay, I present an ethnographic account of Gamboa de Baixo, a black coastal community in the centre of Salvador, and its political movement against urban renewal programmes. Specifically, I focus on the articulation of racial and gender politics in black women's grassroots activism against land expulsion and for access to material resources. This case in Salvador unearths one aspect of institutional racism in Brazil and the formation of an anti‐black racism resistance movement. Resistance to urban renewal plans in Salvador demonstrates how struggles for urban land rights are a crucial part of engaging in the broader national and international politics of race. In black communities in Brazil and throughout the African diaspora, urban land and territorial rights are the local idioms of black resistance.     

Gender Identity and Social Services: Barriers to Care

ABSTRACT

Transgender people seek social services for a variety of reasons. This literature review highlights needs assessments and social science research articles (N = 30) from the last 16 years that demonstrate the many ways in which social services are further revictimizing transgender people. Studies indicate that transgender people often encounter ignorance, hostility, and transphobic environments while attempting to access social services, and these environments can dissuade transgender people from gaining needed care. Suggestions are made to address these inequalities and include simple measures that social service agencies can begin with to make their services more transinclusive. Future research should address the bias in social services more directly and also develop a clear plan of action and best practices to help agencies remove discrimination from social service settings.     

Effects of the Chernobyl Accident on Public Perceptions of Nuclear Plant Accident Risks

Assessments of public perceptions of the characteristics of a nuclear power plant accident and affective responses to its likelihood were conducted 5 months before and 1 month after the Chernobyl accident. Analyses of data from 69 residents of southwestern Washington showed significant test-retest correlations for only 10 of 18 variables--accident likelihood, three measures of impact characteristics, three measures of affective reactions, and hazard knowledge by governmental sources. Of these variables, only two had significant changes in mean ratings; frequency of thought and frequency of discussion about a nearby nuclear power plant both increased. While there were significant changes only for two personal consequences (expectations of cancer and genetic effects), both of these decreased. The results of this study indicate that more attention should be given to assessing the stability of risk perceptions over time. Moreover, the data demonstrate that experience with a major accident can actually decrease rather than increase perceptions of threat.     

Do black family headship structures make a difference in teenage pregnancy? A comparison of one-parent and two-parent families

"The black communities of the United States have a disproportionate number of single-parent families: In point of fact, over one half of all black families with children are single-parent families; the great majority of these single-parent families are headed by females. The fastest growing segment of single parent families is young never-married females who...have incomes below the poverty line. Using a causal model analysis, this particular study undertook to compare subsamples of continuous two-parent and one-parent families to find out what intra-familial dynamics 'cause' early versus late teenage pregnancy. The results suggest that positive child-parent affect is generally associated with delayed teenage pregnancy, and negative child-parent affect is generally associated with early teenage pregnancy. Moreover, the father's influence is significant in both two-parent and one-parent families."     

Violence against and the Harassment of Women in Canadian Public Housing: An Exploratory Study*

Aucune étude nord-américaine n'a examiné de façon systé'matique l'importance des divers types degressions sexuelles, notamment le harcèlement sexuel et racial, que subissent les femmes dans les logements sociaux. Les logements sociaux et les rues des quartiers pauvres du centre-ville sont les endroits typiques où se jouent les relations de force entre les sexes et où l'influence de la drogue a exacerbé la violence exercée contre les femmes. À l'aide de données provenant du Quality of Neighbourhood Life Survey, dans lequel sont interrogés des ménages habitant dans six logements sociaux situés dans un centre urbain de Test de l'Ontario, cet article permet de combler une lacune importante dans la recherche. On y étudie les données exploratoires sur l'incidence de la violence conju-gale et de la violence extérieure ainsi que trois types de harcèlement vécus par des femmes vivant dans des logements sociaux. No North American study has systematically examined the extent of various types of woman abuse in public housing, including sexual and racial harassment. Public housing communities and inner-city ghetto streets are key arenas where gendered power relations are played out, and where the influx of drugs has exacerbated the degradation and abuse of women. Using data from the Quality of Neighbourhood Life Survey, administered to households in six public housing projects in an urban centre in Eastern Ontario, this paper helps fill a major research gap. Exploratory data on the incidence of intimate violence, stranger violence, and three types of harassment experienced by women in these dwellings are discussed. As men on the street lose their former authoritarian power in the household, they lash out against the women and children they can no longer control. Men are not accepting the new rights and roles that women are obtaining; instead, they are desperately attempting to reassert their grandfathers' lost autocratic control over their households and over public space.