Contending masculinities: the gendered (re) negotiation of colonial hierarchy in the United Nations debates on decolonization

The emergence of legal decolonization in the mid-twentieth century, as evidenced by the 1960 United Nations Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, is often understood through the lens of race and the disruption of racial hierarchy. If we take seriously the transnational feminist contention that the colonial racial order was also gendered, however, how might this perspective shift our understanding of decolonization? In this article, I explore the debates on decolonization that take place in the UN General Assembly from 1946–1960 that lead to the 1960 Declaration from a transnational feminist perspective to answer this question. Specifically, I use comparative historical and discourse methods of analysis to explore how colonialists and anti-colonialists negotiate the onset of legal decolonization, focusing especially on how colonialist hierarchies of race, culture, and gender are addressed in these debates. I argue that, on the one hand, colonialists rely on a paternalist masculinity to legitimate their rule (i.e., our dependencies require our rule the way a child requires a father). In response, anti-colonialists reply with a resistance masculinity (i.e., “colonialism is emasculating;” “decolonization is necessary for a return of masculine dignity”). I argue that decolonization in the United Nations transpires via contentions among differentially racialized masculinities. Ultimately, a transnational feminist perspective that centers the intersection of race and gender offers a richer analysis than a perspective that examines race alone.     

An application of ranked set sampling when observations from several distributions are to be included in the sample

ABSTRACT

In this article, we propose a method to estimate the common location and common scale parameters of several distributions using suitably defined ranked set sampling. Efficiency comparison of the obtained estimators with some of the standard estimators is made. Illustration of the results to real life data sets is also described.     

The distribution of the first j digits of beta related random variables

This paper gives the discrete distribution of the first j significant digits of two random variables: (1) a beta variable with integer parameter n and the other parameter m > 0, and (2) the reciprocal of (1). As a special case for n=1, we obtain the distribution of the first j significant digits of the pwoers of uniformly distributed random variables. These generalize the results of Kennard and Reith (1981) and Friedberg (1984), who considered only uniformly distributed random variables.     

Environmental sampling with a concomitant variable: A comparison between ranked set sampling and stratified simple random sampling

In many environmental sampling situations, the variable of interest is either not easily observable or is too expensive to observe. Under such circumstances, the need arises to observe another variable, related to the variable of interest, so as to estimate the population parameters of interest. We study the performance of two different sampling procedures, i.e. ranked set sampling and stratified simple random sampling, when both stratification and ranking are accomplished on the basis of such a concomitant variable. The relative precision of the two methods is obtained and expressed as a function of population variance, between-stratum and between-rank variation, and the correlation coefficient between the variable of interest and the concomitant variable. The relative precision is computed for several important families of distributions that occur frequently in environmental and ecological work. Under equal allocation of sampling units, stratified simple random sampling is found to perform better than ranked set sampling, when the costs incurred to obtain sample measurements are ignored. When optimum allocation is considered for both methods, ranked set sampling performs better than stratified simple random sampling, when the concomitant variable is not highly correlated with the variable of interest. Furthermore, when the costs of sampling and the costs of measurement are incorporated into the assessment of the relative precision, the ranked set sampling is seen to be more efficient than stratified simple random sampling, particularly when the cost of stratification is high compared with that of ranking. This is generally the case in practice.     

Identifying Gaps in Health Research among Refugees Resettled in Canada

While the global number of resettled refugees rises annually, the summaries of research on refugee health needs in countries of asylum remain sparse. We conducted a systematic review of published research on refugee health in Canada in order to: (i) identify studies addressing health outcomes among refugees recently resettled in Canada; (ii) identify general trends in health research conducted in Canada among refugee populations; (iii) identify significant gaps in current knowledge of health‐related issues among refugees recently resettled in Canada; (iv) evaluate the quality and consistency of available information; (v) develop a summary of available research results; and (vi) identify priorities for future research. A search of several major citation indices resulted in the analysis of 196 research reports after reviewing more than 5,000 articles. This review is timely, systematic and inclusive; furthermore, potential biases in methodology are clearly assessed. The results indicate an immediate need to address specific gaps in health knowledge for refugee populations and lead us to draw five primary conclusions. First, mental health outcomes dominate the research landscape. Second, cross‐sectional studies are most commonly the study design of choice. Third, studies examining some aspect of health among refugees from Asia dominate the literature. Fourth, there is a notable lack of information on cardiovascular diseases and its antecedents. Fifth, indications show that screenings for pre‐existing conditions are biased towards communicable diseases. These findings have implications for health monitoring, evaluation and policy affecting the health of refugees resettled in Canada and elsewhere.