Super-diversity and the art of living in ethnically concentrated urban areas

This article discusses how local diversity is being experienced by Somali immigrants who have previously lived in the Netherlands and are now residing in London. It explores the various challenges and potential advantages of living in homogenous urban areas within a super-diverse city and focuses on three situations: (1) when homogeneity is functional and leads to living in parallel worlds; (2) when homogeneity creates social reproduction, even when located in a super-diverse city; and (3) when people manage to oscillate between both worlds – i.e. between homogenous urban areas and the potential offered by a super-diverse city. The article argues that migrants trace different pathways in the context of super-diversity. They have the ability to operate at different scales – the locale and the cosmopolitan super-diverse metropolis. However, the most vulnerable people have more difficulty in accessing and benefiting directly from the potential offered by super-diversity.     

‘A ondi queras’: Ranchero identity construction by U.S. born Mexicans on Facebook

This study describes how transnational second‐generation Mexican bilinguals use a stigmatized variety of Mexican Spanish to communicate on Facebook and construct an identity. The stereotyped features of this variety index a ranchero identity. Historically, ranchero is an ambivalent identity for Mexican society in general. On the one hand, ranchero culture is a positive reminiscence of Mexico's agrarian past, while on the other, rancheros, along with indigenous Mexicans, are at the bottom of the hierarchy in Mexican society. A discourse‐centered, ethnographic analysis of digitally mediated conversations demonstrates how language use allows participants to reminisce about their collective past, maintain Mexican identities tied to their ancestors, fit their identities to contemporary U.S. Mexican culture, and distance themselves from the stigma associated with the ranchero background.     

Toward a Culturally Informed Rehabilitation Treatment Model for American Indian/Alaska Native Veterans

American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) have a long tradition of military service, allying with Western forces in North America since the 1700s. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that AI/AN veterans experience higher rates of overall disability and service-related disability than veterans of other races and ethnicities. It is not clear, however, that AI/AN veterans with disabilities are receiving effective, culturally informed rehabilitation services. This article examines the incidence of disability among contemporary AI/AN veterans, considers barriers to effective treatment, and points out model programs tailored to the particular needs of this population, with attention to the historical and cultural context of AI/AN military service.     

Mental Disabilities in an Aboriginal Context

Aboriginal (meaning original peoples) North American mental health is acknowledged to be in a more precarious state than that of the dominant cultures. Disability arises from the conditions of poverty, homelessness, and lack of resources that are compounded for North American aboriginal people by the historical trauma of conquest, being placed on reservations, residential schools, and continued discrimination. We present culturally sensitive and syntonic intervention programs that can reduce the impact of Aboriginal mental disabilities and discuss the commonality among these programs of celebrating culture, language, and tradition.     

Law and Identity in Spatial Contests

Law has had a traditional reference to land, conceived as territory, in the notion of a jurisdiction, where the law of the land applies equally to all individuals. Recent critiques of this view have suggested that a plurality of laws may apply in particular places. How this spatial pluralism impacts on dominant views of law is considered through two instances in which law has interacted with competing conceptions of place and territory in relations between European and Indigenous Australians. Space, law and identity are seen to constitute each other in complex forms. Indigenous beliefs and practices challenge the claims to universality of Western conceptions of law and space deriving from Roman law and spatial practices.     

村落纠纷中的“外人”

本文通过对一个村落中关于“外人”的纠纷的全面考察，发现村落社区中存在着事实上的“外人”，他们受到了村落共同体特定的歧视性待遇，而村民对此习以为常，并认为这样是合理的。基于这种生活逻辑，在纠纷中，“外人”常常作为一个符号被人为地建构出来，这是因为在特定的村落文化中，符号是同力量和可利用的资源相联系的。     

三元种植结构与农业可持续发展——以黑龙江省安达市为例

农业结构的调整和升级与农业生产和农业经营的质量与效益密切相关。以传统的二元结构的农业生产转向三元结构的农业生产,是我国农业发展的一项重要战略,也是建设新农村和发展农业生产力面临的重大挑战。文章在分析国内外农业结构特点的基础上,在理论上探讨了种植业三元结构与高效农业、循环经济、生态环境和农业可持续发展的高度相关性和内在规律性,然后以黑龙江省安达市在“十五”期间进行种植业结构调整为例,进一步说明了三元结构在调整农业结构和建设社会主义新农村的必要性和重要性。     

论农村政策基础研究--对当前中国农村研究的反思及建议

当前以实证材料为基础的中国农村研究,主要是以与西方对话为特点的农村学术研究和以总结推广农村实践经验为特点的农村政策研究.这两类研究的共同弱点是,缺乏对中国农村社会状况尤其是其非均衡状况的关注.通过研究农村政策在农村实践的具体机制及后果,以理解中国农村非均衡的内部结构,从而将抽象的中国农村具体化,可以构成农村政策基础研究,从而为农村政策研究提供理论资源.     

Ethnic and cultural differences in knowledge about HIV and AIDS: a study of 150 young women from Sweden, Chile and Ecuador

This article illustrates the differences in knowledge about HIV and AIDS and attitudes among 150 young women from three different countries (Sweden, Chile and Ecuador). In each country, 50 consecutive women, visiting a family planning clinic answered 23 structured questions. The questionnaire was translated into Spanish. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of age, education, ethnicity and religion on young women's knowledge of HIV and AIDS. This study shows that ethnicity is the most important independent variable influencing the level of knowledge (stepwise logistic regression). Also, in Chile and Ecuador, less than 10% of the women in the study required that their partner use a condom. In Sweden the use of condoms is often combined with another contraceptive, yet more than two thirds of the women in Sweden were unprotected from a sexually transmitted disease during coitus.     

Spiritual Need and the Core Business of Social Work

This paper examines the development of social work practicein spiritual care and the attitudes towards spirituality andreligion demonstrated by social workers in the UK, through reflectionon key findings from two empirical studies conducted ten yearsapart. Fieldwork for the first study, conducted by the author,was undertaken from 1990 to 1992 and was the first of its kindto examine the treatment of spirituality in social work practicein the UK. The second study reported in 2004. Comparison ofthe findings from these two studies showed that the increasedsympathy towards ‘spiritual practice’ is not asgreat in social work as is demonstrated amongst other humanservices professions, and that there is continuing inhibitionand resistance in the UK in social work education in particular.The paper argues that much of the problem for practitioners,even where they identify spiritual need as an issue, lies inthe inadequate theorizing and lack of practice guidance developedin the context of UK social work. It concludes by discussingthe particular context of mainstream social work practice inthe UK and examines how assessment of spiritual need and spiritualinterventions might connect with social work’s core business.