The political economy of fraud in a globalised industry: the case of seafarers' certifications

This paper reports on the first systematic and international investigation of the fraudulent trade in seafarers’ certifications of competence. The shipping industry more than any other traditional industry has been transformed by globalisation, so that there is now effectively a single global labour market for seafarers. International regulation of labour standards in the industry is extensive, but so is regulatory avoidance. This paper seeks to investigate the political economy of fraud, through an exploration of the links between economic features of the globalised shipping industry and regulatory avoidance of labour standards.     

A Consistency Test for AHP Decision Makers

Saaty's analytic hierarchy process assessed attribute importance by soliciting decision makers' (DM) importance ratios to compute weights. Saaty suggested a decision rule for accepting DM judgments based on a consistency measure derived from the DM's importance ratios. This paper investigates the distribution of random inconsistency and decision rule implications. Stricter consistency requirements for three- and four-attribute criteria matrices are suggested.     

Black women queering the mic: Missy Elliott disturbing the boundaries of racialized sexuality and gender

Though there were and always have been djs, dancers, graffiti artists, and rappers who were Black women, they are placed on the periphery of hip-hop culture; their voices, along with "gay rappers" and "white rappers" devalued and their contribution to the global rise of hip-hop either forgotten or eschewed. This article is an attempt to articulate the existence of Black women who work outside of the paradigms of the "silence, secrecy, and a partially self-chosen invisibility" that Evelynn Hammonds describes. At the center of this article lies an attempt to locate a new configuration and expression of desire and sexuality, opening a door, wide open, to gain a different view of Black women, their sexuality, their expression of it, and the complexities that arise when they attempt to express it in hip hop nation language.     

Whose crazy investment in sex?

By probing the processes of exclusion of transsexuals from the political sphere, this article offers contributions to social and political theory through an examination of the processes of exclusion from the category "human." This article considers how the erasure of investment in their own embodied sex constructs a platform from which to blame others for sex/gender variance, as well as to justify that blaming. Bringing together Giorgio Agamben, Georges Bataille, Judith Butler, and Nikolas Rose with transphobia, medicalization in psychiatry, law, and ethopolitics, this article questions whose investment in sexed embodiment counts and why that investment might be seen as "crazy."     

Book reviews: Nobody wants to talk about it

Abstract

Refugee Women's Mental Health Edited by Barbara Ferguson & Eileen Piitaway (1999) Transcultural Mental Health Centre Monograph Series, Culture and Mental Health Soft Cover, $25 RRP     

Qualitative exporation of relationships with important non-parental adults in the lives of youth in foster care

Foster youth are at risk of poor adult outcomes. Research on the role of mentoring relationships for this population suggests the value of strategies that increase their access to adult sources of support, both while in foster care and as they reach adulthood. We conducted semi-structured, individual qualitative interviews with 23 former foster youth ages 18-25 regarding their relationships with supportive non-parental adults. We sought to identify factors that influence the formation, quality, and duration of these relationships and to develop testable hypotheses for intervention strategies. Findings suggest several themes related to relationship formation with non-parental adults, including barriers (e.g., youth's fears of being hurt) and facilitators (e.g., patience from the adult). Distinct themes were also identified relating to the ongoing development and longevity of these relationships. Youth also described multiple types of support and positive contributions to their development. Proposed intervention strategies include systematic incorporation of important non-parental adults into transition planning, enhanced training and matching procedures within formal mentoring programs, assistance for youth to strengthen their interpersonal awareness and skills, and the targeting of specific periods of need when linking youth to sources of adult support. Recommended research includes the development, pilot-testing, and evaluation of proposed strategies.     

The Value of Instructional Communication in Crisis Situations: Restoring Order to Chaos

This article explores the nature of instructional communication in responding to crisis situations. Through the lens of chaos theory, the relevance of instructional messages in restoring order is established. This perspective is further advanced through an explanation of how various learning styles impact the receptivity of various instructional messages during the acute phase of crises. We then summarize an exploratory study focusing on the relationship between learning styles and the demands of instructional messages in crisis situations. We conclude the article with a series of conclusions and implications.