THE POLITICS OF MOTHERING IN A “MIXED” FAMILY: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION

Interweaving excerpts from her personal journal with research and literature about mixed race, interfaith, and bicultural experience, Nora Lester Murad uses autoethnographic methods to explore the experience of mothering in an American–Jewish and Palestinian–Muslim family. She pushes theoretical discussion beyond the experiences of “mixed” people to consider how the identity of otherwise monoracial/ monocultural parents may be transformed through the experience of parenting across socially/politically significant differences, particularly, national origin, culture, and faith. She also extends theoretical discussion beyond the confines of identity to consider parenting as a political process with an impact within and beyond families.     

Aussiedler and Ausländer:* Transforming German national identity

Abstract

I analyse the changing conceptions of German national identity since the idea was first articulated after the French Revolution. I distinguish between universalist concepts of national belonging and particularist ones, specifying at the same time their respective class articulations. Within this context, I address both historical and contemporary politico‐legal conditions for German citizenship. These conditions for German belonging entail differential treatment for ethnic Germans coming from beyond the borders of the German state (Aussiedler), whether West Germany before unification or united Germany since, and foreigners living under direct German jurisdiction (Ausländer). The claimed bases and inclusionary/exclusionary effects of these differentiations are interrogated, and their contemporary political implications assessed.     

Depression, marital satisfaction, and marital and personality measures of sex roles*

The present study examined the relationship between depression, marital satisfaction, and marital and personality measures of sex roles. Subjects included 50 couples in which the woman was clinically depressed (and of which 26 were maritally distressed), and 24 nondepressed, nondistressed control couples. Results indicated that compared to nondepressed couples, husbands and wives in relationships in which the wife was depressed showed greater inequality in decision making and dissatisfaction with the distribution of decision making and household tasks; wives additionally indicated greater dissatisfaction with distribution of childrearing responsibilities. The relationship between marital roles and depression was largely mediated by the impact of marital distress in the clinic couples. In addition, depressed wives were less masculine than nondepressed wives, and women with high levels of masculinity reported less depression than women with low levels.     

Living Differences: Ethnicity and Fearless Girls in Public Spaces

Its strength (of the book of Jules Verne, Snr) comes precisely from knowing never to invent, but paying acute, almost hypnotic, attention to the real, so as to get it to yield up its secret and reveal its possibilities.(Writings on the City)