Intersectional Epistemologies of Ignorance: How Behavioral and Social Science Research Shapes What We Know,Think We Know,and Don’t Know About U.S. Black Men’s Sexualities

Epistemologies of ignorance describe how ignorance influences the production of knowledge. Advancing an intersectional epistemologies of ignorance approach that examines how conscious (or unconscious) ignorance about racism, heterosexism, and classism shapes empirical knowledge about Black men’s sexualities, we conducted a critical review of the behavioral and social science research on U.S. Black men, ages 18 and older, for two time frames: pre-1981 and the most recent decade, 2006–2016. Our search yielded 668 articles, which we classified into five categories: sexual violence, sexual experiences and expressions, sexual identities, cultural and social-structural influences, and sexual health and sexual risk. We found that most of the research, particularly pre-1981, centered the experiences of White heterosexual men as normative and implicitly constructed Black men as hypersexual or deviant. Most of the research also color-blinded White privilege and ignored how racism, heterosexism, and classism structured Black men’s inequities. We also found notable exceptions to these trends. Black men who are gay, bisexual, or who have sex with men, and research on HIV risk were prominent in the past decade, as was research that emphasized the social-structural (e.g., poverty, heterosexism, racism) and cultural (e.g., masculinity, religion) contexts of Black men’s lives and sexualities. We provide 10 recommendations to avoid intersectional epistemic ignorance in future research.     

Charles Tilly and the Practice of Contentious Politics

Charles Tilly developed the concept of the repertoire of contention over a long and distinguished career. It wasn't easy and it wasn't quick. In addition to being easily distracted, Tilly also needed to develop the analytical tools with which to study repertoires and performances and complete his transformation from what he called "an old structuralist" to what he came to call a "relational realist." This long development came to final fruition in the book he completed shortly before his death, Contentious Performances, which the author of this tribute regards as his masterpiece.     

Queens Field Instruction Center: A Field Instruction Center for Multilevel Education in Social Work

This paper will describe the organization and educational program for undergraduate and graduate social work students in the Queens Field Instruction Center, an administrative unit that provides a closer working relationship between schools of social work and social agencies on all levels. The center's structure and program allow for the concurrent and integrated placement of social work students. Research opportunities are offered to identify and conceptualize the outcome and learning experience for each level. The field instruction program offers further research possibilities in examining whether multimethod training provides students with skills equal to those receiving single-method training.     

Book reviews

Steven E. Aschheim, Brothers and Strangers. The East European Jew in German and German Jewish Consciousness, 1800–1923 (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1982). Pp.xiv + 331. $25.00.

Ezra Mendelsohn, The Jews of East Central Europe Between the World Wars (Bloomington and London, Indiana University Press, 1983). Pp. 300. £19.25.

Hans van Amersfoort, Immigration and the Formation of Minority Groups: The Dutch Experience 1945–1975 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982). Pp.vi + 243. £19.50. (Translated from the Dutch by Robert Lyng).

Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, The Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in ‘70s Britain (London, Hutchinson University Library, 1982). Pp.324. £5.95.

Susan Benson, Ambiguous Ethnicity: Interracial Families in London (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982). Pp.xi + 172. £16.50 (hardback); £5.50 (paperback).

Ashok Ohri, Basil Manning and Paul Curno (eds.), Community Work and Racism: Community Work Seven (London, Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1982). Pp.xv+188. £5.95.

Harold Pollins, Economic History of the Jews in England (London, Associated University Presses, 1983). Pp.339. £20.

Australian Council on Population and Ethnic Affairs, Multiculturalism for All Australians (Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1982). Pp.54. NP.

Peter D. Osborne, The Other Australia: The Crisis in Aboriginal Health (Occasional Monograph 2, Department of Political Science, University of Tasmania, Hobart, 1982). Pp.144. NP.

J.W. Blassingame (ed.), The Frederick Douglass Papers: Series One, Volume 2: 1847–54, Speeches, Debates and Interviews (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1983). Pp.616. £38.

Robert Ross, Cape of Torments: Slavery and Resistance in South Africa (London, Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1983). Pp.xi + 160. £9.50.     

Frail men's perspectives on food and eating

Food shopping, preparation, and serving traditionally tend to be the domain of women. This article, however, focuses on the rarely examined world of frail old men who live in the community and on the meanings and themes that underlie their attitudes and behaviors in relation to food and eating. Based on the analyses of face-to-face qualitative interviews with 15 men, 76–95 years old, four inter-related themes emerged: (1) eating to live and wish to survive, (2) centrality of concern about the physical body, (3) the pervasive need for maintenance of masculinity, and (4) importance of sociality to the eating experience. Findings demonstrate how themes of masculinity in these men affect their narratives and perceptions about food and eating.     

Transactions of the Statistical Society of London (1837)

Summary. The Transactions of the Statistical Society of London (1837) appeared before the journal of the Royal Statistical Society began publication and represents the substantial statistical work that had been undertaken in the early years of the existence of the Society. The contents of this publication are summarized here against the historical background of the time.     

The relationship between childhood abuse and suicidality in adult bipolar disorder

This study evaluates the effect of childhood sexual and physical abuse on suicidality in adults with bipolar disorder. We conducted a retrospective chart review of adult outpatients (N= 381) with DSM-IV-TR-defined bipolar disorder seeking evaluation and treatment at an academic specialty research program (i.e., Mood Disorders Pharmacology Unit, University Health Network, University of Toronto) between October 2002 and November 2005. Eighteen percent (n = 68) of adult patients with bipolar disorder had a recorded history of childhood abuse (p = 0.009). Sixty-three percent (n = 43) of bipolar patients with a history of childhood abuse reported lifetime suicidality (chi2 = 6.885, df= 1, p = 0.009). Logistic regression analysis indicated that Childhood abuse was a significant predictor of lifetime suicidality in adult bipolar patients (OR = 2.05, CI = 1.19-3.510). Childhood abuse is associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adults with bipolar disorder. Anamnestic inquiry regarding childhood maltreatment is salient to risk assessment, illness management planning, preventative strategies, and treatment interventions in bipolar disorder.     

U.S. foreign economic policy and illegal immigration

It is often suggested that the most effective policy for the United States, if it wishes to curtail illegal immigration from nearby countries, is to manipulate foreign economic instruments to support their economic development. The Reagan administration's Caribbean Basin Initiative is responsive to this approach in its proposals for increased aid and trade and tax preferences for beneficiary countries. Analysis of U.S. trade, investment, and aid relations with migrant-sending countries leads to the conclusion that these preferences could have a marginal impact on job creation in these countries, but there is no assurance that a modest rise in economic opportunity will lead to a decrease in emigration in the foreseeable future. In addition, preferential trade and tax treatment for some countries involves a departure from U.S. policy and would lead to a clamor for equal treatment by other countries.