Performing blackness,forming whiteness: Linguistic minstrelsy in Hollywood film1

The ideological and indexical aspects of linguistic representation have been extensively examined in contemporary sociolinguistics both through investigations of language crossing in everyday interaction and through analyses of mediatized linguistic performances. Less well understood are the indexical meanings achieved when language crossing itself becomes the focus of linguistic representation. One prominent instance of this phenomenon is the use of African American English by European American actors in Hollywood films as part of what is argued to be a complex language‐based form of blackface minstrelsy. As mock language, linguistic minstrelsy in such films involves sociolinguistic processes of deauthentication, maximizing of intertextual gaps, and indexical regimentation of the performed language, but unlike earlier forms of minstrelsy these performances are typically problematized within the films as transgressions of the ideology of racial essentialism. In the two films analyzed in detail in the article, linguistic minstrelsy is shown both to reproduce and to undermine the symbolic dominance of hegemonic white masculinity.     

From probability to proof: The respective roles of scientific reviews and the non‐scientific press in the publicizing of medical research and its clinical applications

Can and should clearly denned distinctions between probability and proof be offered to the public by the mass media in response to popular demand for the latest medical information? Isn't the need to know both legitimate and ever‐more pronounced?

The pressure for prompt public disclosure of clinical trial or medical research results emanates from a variety of highly vocal sources (the patients themselves, the investigators, the business world, the new academic commentators, the mass media, the healthy population and its requirement for “healthful”; life styles). And yet in spite of all this pressure, clinical research but rarely moves forward with a giant leap. Reasonable solutions in view of balanced and equitable release of information both to and by mass media have been proposed in editorials highlighted by the best‐known medical journals. On the one hand, the critical importance of the mass media in transmission of medical knowledge to the scientific community has been stressed. On the other hand, the highly decisive role of the best‐known medical journals in the furthering of objective release of clinical research or trial results has been corroborated by several recent initiatives of best‐known medical journal editors. A great step forward in dealings between medical journals and the mass media was approved in London in 1993 by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, by dint of four main recommendations. These balanced and equitable recommendations may at one and the same time: stimulate legitimate public demand for access to important medical information without unreasonable delay; and prevent that media reports on scientific research lead to wide‐spread dissemination of premature and inaccurate conclusions.     

Fired up with passion: Investigating how job autonomy and passion predict burnout at career start in teachers

This study examines a motivational premise of burnout: in order to burn out, an employee must first be fired up. Based on the dualistic model of passion, we propose that the types of passion – harmonious or obsessive – that drive novice teachers differentially affect the three components of burnout. We further propose that job autonomy (i.e. decision latitude) differentially predict the two types of passion for work. These hypotheses are tested in two studies conducted in Canada in teachers with five years' or less experience. Study 1, using a cross-sectional design, showed that job autonomy positively predicted harmonious passion but negatively predicted obsessive passion. Harmonious passion negatively predicted all three components of burnout, whereas obsessive passion positively predicted emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. A second, 12-month longitudinal study revealed unidirectional effects of job autonomy on the two types of passion. The results also showed unidirectional effects of harmonious passion on professional efficacy and obsessive passion on emotional exhaustion. Neither type of passion predicted cynicism over time. These findings suggest that a more nuanced understanding of passion is required to predict burnout at career start. Implications for theory and further research on burnout and passion for work are discussed.     

Work-related episodic memories can increase or decrease motivation and psychological health at work

ABSTRACT

Research on the psychological mechanisms underlying employee motivation and psychological health at work has been limited to general and chronic workplace factors, such as job strenuousness or management style. In two studies, we examine how unique and time-specific work life events encoded as episodic memories can influence employee motivation and psychological health at work as a function of how these events are recalled having been experienced in terms of need satisfaction. In Study 1, participants described a self-defining work-related memory and rated it for need satisfaction. They also completed scales of need satisfaction at work, self-determined motivation, and positive and negative indicators of psychological health (i.e. work satisfaction and burnout). In Study 2, participants completed the same tasks and scales, but they did it again two years later. Results revealed that need satisfaction in self-defining work-related memories was associated with self-determined motivation and indicators of psychological health at work, over and above demographics (age, sex, weekly hours worked, education) and general perceptions of need satisfaction at work. Moreover, it predicted increases in self-determined motivation and in work satisfaction and decreases in burnout over two years. The present findings underscore the importance of considering unique work life events encoded in memory.     

Family and child characteristics linking neighborhood context and child externalizing behavior

Neighborhood conditions are related to children's externalizing behavior, although few processes that help explain this association have been identified. With data from 189 primarily low‐income Anglo and Mexican American families, we tested a stress process model that included 3 potential mediators of this relationship. The results showed that child stressful life events, association with deviant peers, and parent‐child conflict mediated the relationship between neighborhood context and child externalizing behavior when household income and maternal depression were controlled. The model explained more than 25% of the variance in externalizing behavior. Furthermore, differences in results for families with a U.S.‐born versus Mexico‐born mother showed that neighborhood influences on families and children may be quite complex.     

A preliminary investigation of the roles and backgrounds of school interpreters: Implications for training and recruiting

The backgrounds and roles of school interpreters who provide interpretation services for limited English proficient students were investigated through a survey study. The results are based on a total of 89 interpreters working in schools throughout New York State. A total of 29 languages were represented in the two samples of interpreters with Spanish being the most frequently used language. Most of the interpreters had Bachelors Degrees or higher but very few had any formal training in interpretation. The results suggest that most interpreters work on a part-time basis. The interpreters reported providing services for a number of different school personnel while fulfilling numerous roles that included interpreting during assessment sessions as well as during parent meetings. The implications of the findings are discussed from the perspectives of the training and recruiting of school interpreters. The limitations of the findings are also examined.     

An Exploration of Family and Juvenile Justice Systems to Reduce Youth HIV/STI Risk

Using in‐depth interviews with 20 probation youth (60% female; 35% White; 30% Hispanic; mean age: 15 years, range = 13–17), their caregivers (100% female; mean age: 44 years, range = 34–71), and 12 female probation officers (100% White; mean age: 46 years, range = 34–57), we explored how family and probation systems exacerbate or mitigate sexual risk. We conducted thematic analyses of interviews, comparing narratives of families of sexually risky (n = 9) versus nonsexually risky (n = 11) youth. Family functioning differed by youth sexual risk behavior around quality of relationships, communication, and limit setting and monitoring. The involvement of families of sexually risky youth in probation positively influenced family functioning. Data suggest that these families are amenable to intervention and may benefit from family‐based HIV/STI interventions delivered in tandem with probation.