Black Jacobins in Contemporary France: On Identities on Politics,Decolonial Critique,and the Other Blackness

Formerly, issues of race were written out of the public landscape of the French Republic. Now the “black condition” is openly debated. This shift is informed by self-identified black movements and their responses to French Republican avoidance of thematizing racialized social inequalities. It is simultaneously contested by groups that experience anti-black racism as it reduces their alternate use of race and ethnicity. Does blackness lead to the homogenization of black experiences or can it initiate solidarity? This article examines current debates on blackness in Paris by drawing upon ethnographic activist research with a black activist group. I analyze how the group maneuvers through a supposedly race-blind discourse, in which the act of identifying race risks being disqualified as communitarian. I argue that a conception of blackness is introduced that provides the potential to recognize the pluralities of blackness, re-shaping notions of blackness, and the abstract Republican model itself.     

Reliability and Validity of the European Portuguese Version of the Social Touch Questionnaire

Social touch is essential for physical and emotional well-being. However, different meanings can be attributed to physical contact during social interactions and may generate bonding or avoidant behaviors. This personal and unique experience is not usually taken into account in health and social care services. The aim of this study is to produce a valid and reliable European Portuguese version of the Social Touch Questionnaire (STQ, Wilhelm et al. in Biol Psychol 58:181–202, 2001. doi: 10.1016/S0301-0511(01)00113-2). The STQ is a self-report questionnaire for adolescents and adults measuring behaviors and attitudes towards social touch. The original version was translated into European Portuguese using a forward-back translation process and its feasibility was examined. To evaluate the psychometric properties, a total of 242 Portuguese university students participated in the study (21.3 ± 3.8 years). The STQ was considered feasible, showed adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .734), and the test–retest correlation with the STQ items demonstrated a high concordance between the tests over a two-week interval (ICC = .990; n = 50). Validity tests were performed, comparing the total score of the STQ with that of the anxiety and avoidance subscales of the Social Interaction and Performance Anxiety and Avoidance Scale (SIPAAS). A very significant conceptual convergence was confirmed between the STQ and with the SIPAAS-Anxiety (r = .64; p < .0001) and with the SIPAAS-Avoidance (r = .59; p < .0001). The exploratory factor analysis, with Promax rotation, revealed 3 factors: dislike of physical touch, liking of familiar physical touch and liking of public physical touch (Cronbach’s alphas ranged from .68 to .75). Psychometric properties confirmed the adaptation of the STQ to the Portuguese culture. It is a reliable and valid self-report questionnaire and it appears to be a useful tool to assess behaviors and attitudes towards social touch.     

Portuguese adopted adolescents' perception of attachment relationships to parents

The establishment of emotional bonds is one of the most important tasks of the adoptive family. Most research about attachment in adoption focuses on young adopted children, as opposed to adoptees in other stages of development. The present study aims at assessing the adopted adolescents' self‐perception of attachment relationships with their adoptive parents, by pairing them with a group of institutionalized adolescents and another one of adolescents in the community. One hundred sixty‐five adolescents (55 adopted, 55 in residential care, and 55 living with their birth family), aged 12 to 19, participated in this study. Data were collected using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment to assess attachment relationships with parents on three dimensions: trust, communication, and alienation. The results showed that adoptees perceived their relationship with their parents in a similar way to peers in the community and presented higher results when compared to institutionalized adolescents in trust and communication and lower scores in alienation. The results highlighted the relevance of family context experiences and suggested that adoption can offer the possibility of building a secure attachment relationship, which is not the case in the context of collective care, as happens within institutionalized care.     

Linkages between parent—child interaction and conversations of friends

In this study we examined how mothers' and fathers' parenting behavior during parent—child interaction related to children's ability to successfully interact with peers. Children's ability to engage in coordinated interaction, and their negativity and positivity towards peers were examined. Observational data were collected on 56 families in both parent—child and peer interaction settings. Results suggested that father's emotional volatility was related to children's tendency to play at a low level of engagement with their best friends (e.g. engage in parallel play or monologue). Both mother's and father's affective communication were related to children's tendency to play at a higher level of engagement, such as through establishing common ground activities, exchanging information, and self-disclosing personal information or feelings. Parental intrusiveness, low engagement and use of derisive humor was also related to children's negativity during peer interaction. Results support the hypothesis that both fathers and mothers provide a context for children's development of the ability to engage in and maintain interpersonal interaction, and mothers' parenting may influence the amount of positive affect children express during dyadic play.     

Civil Society Actors as Catalysts for Transnational Social Learning

This paper explores the roles of transnational civil society organizations and networks in transnational social learning. It begins with an investigation into social learning within problem domains and into the ways in which such domain learning builds perspectives and capacities for effective action among domain organizations and institutions. It suggests that domain learning involves problem definition, direction setting, implementation of collective action, and performance monitoring. Transnational civil society actors appear to take five roles in domain learning: (1) identifying issues, (2) facilitating voice of marginalized stakeholders, (3) amplifying the importance of issues, (4) building bridges among diverse stakeholders, and (5) monitoring and assessing solutions. The paper then explores the circumstances in which transnational civil society actors can be expected to make special contributions in important problem domains in the future.     

Generation,resistance, and survival: African-American children and the Southampton Rebellion of 1831

The Southampton Rebellion of 1831, Nat Turner’s Rebellion, stands as the most famous slave rebellion in American History. Historians have studied the rebellion extensively often focusing on Turner’s biography, the incident’s violent sequence of events, and the wide social, cultural, and political impact of the rebellion. The most recent scholarship on the Southampton Rebellion focuses on the wider community that produced the violent event that resulted in the death of nearly 60 whites and an uncountable number of people of color. African-American children made up a significant demographic in antebellum Southampton. They were present everywhere, just as children were present in most antebellum communities. Yet their appearances in the trial records associated with the Southampton Rebellion are all but unstudied. The Southampton Rebellion was not the result of Nat Turner’s singular genius focused on immediate results. It was a rebellion constituted in the community with future liberation in mind. Children, the literal embodiment of slavery’s future, then were necessarily included and involved. This article engages the extensive court documents associated with the Southampton Rebellion’s aftermath to investigate the possible role of children in the rebellion and their significance to the resistance of enslaved communities.     

Review and appraisal of guidelines for the management of asthma during pregnancy

Background

Asthma affects 12.7% of pregnancies in Australia. Poorly controlled asthma is associated with increased maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Optimal antenatal management of asthma during pregnancy has the potential to reduce complications relating to asthma. Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines help to translate health research findings into practice and when implemented can improve health outcomes. National and International guidelines currently provide recommendations for optimal asthma care in pregnancy.

The evolutionary diversity of urban forests depends on their land-use history

Urban Ecosystems - Urbanization leads to strong modifications of landscape structure and ecosystem functioning, and urban areas are spreading rapidly. The aim of this study was to investigate how...     

Changes in type 1 diabetes health indicators from high school to college

ABSTRACT

Objective: Evaluate trajectories of type 1 diabetes health indicators from high school through the first year of college. Participants: Seventy-four students with type 1 diabetes who maintained pediatric endocrinology care during the first year of college. Methods: Hemoglobin A_1c (HbA1c), blood glucose monitoring frequency, body mass index (BMI), and clinic attendance data were collected via retrospective medical chart review in spring 2012. Group-based trajectory models evaluated diabetes-related health indicators over time and identified distinct growth trajectory groups. Results: BMI increased and clinic attendance decreased in the first year of college. Trajectories for other health indicators were heterogeneous and stable over time; 69% of students were classified as having stable good glycemic control. Racial minority youth and youth on conventional insulin regimens were disproportionally represented in higher-risk groups. Conclusions: Diabetes health indicators are stable or decline upon college entrance. Results signal the need for targeted support for college students with type 1 diabetes.