Fighting words? Joning as conflict talk and identity performance among African American preadolescents

This study examines how preadolescent African American students in Washington, D.C., used a linguistic practice called ‘joning,’ a style of verbal play similar to ritual insults, in peer interactions. Sociolinguists have focused on how children socialize each other into vernacular styles appropriate for peer group use but often assume that they disalign with social and linguistic norms for classroom behavior. Drawing from a nine‐month ethnographic study that the author conducted in an after‐school program, this article analyzes the structure and function of joning as a vernacular style of African American Vernacular English and its uses in constructing classroom identities. Joning often facilitated student learning, but it was perceived as a socially and physically risky linguistic practice because of its uses as conflict talk in the local community. Focusing on preadolescence as a key stage of language socialization, this article shows how minority students modify peer‐learned linguistic practices to pursue academic success on their own terms.     

Examples of practice: an intercultural approach to translate Romanian children’s folklore into Spanish

Due to the great number of Romanian pupils in Spanish public school, the local administration organises extra-curricular Romanian courses in order to preserve the Romanian language and culture. This is a way to contribute to build and consolidate a bicultural and bilingual profile of the young people. Besides, it is also an opportunity to align with plurilingual and pluricultural competence established by The Common European Framework of References for Languages (2002). Based on the premise that “children's literature is an intercultural instrument”, I choose as corpus the Romanian children's folklore represented by games, formula-songs, recital-stories, household words, incantations, riddles and lullabies to translate into Spanish. After the translations, Romanian children had to find similarities and differences between the Romanian and Spanish children's songs, in order to augment the knowledge about both cultures.     

Who Is the Residential Parent? Understanding Discrepancies in Unmarried Parents' Reports

Research examining parental reports of children's living arrangements has often relied on information about legally ordered custody agreements following divorce. This analysis used data from matched pairs of parents (N = 1,156) in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study who live apart to compare mother and father reports of their child's residence 5 years after a nonmarital birth. The authors found that over one third of unmarried parents disagreed about who their child lived with and that conflicting reports were much more likely when fathers spent nights with the mother (an indicator of part‐time cohabitation) and had overnights with the child on their own. The results further suggest that discrepancies in unmarried parents' reports were more closely associated with the complexity and ambiguity of their living situations than with the quality of their relationships with each other. Implications for measuring children's living arrangements in families formed outside of marriage are discussed.     

‘My Parents told us that they will always Treat my Brother Differently Because he is Autistic’ – Are Siblings of Autistic Children the Forgotten Ones?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) does not only affect the child alone, but the family unit as well. This qualitative study explored the impacts of ASD on the relationship between parents and their neuro-typical children and how the neuro-typical children cope with the impacts of having an autistic sibling in the family. Utilising principles of the social relations theory, five Singaporean families (n = 10) consisting of five mothers and five neuro-typical children were interviewed. Both the mothers and the neuro-typical children were seen to be equal agents in influencing the interactions with each other, and contributed in maintaining the close relationship through various strategies. Findings revealed that having an autistic child in the family imposed certain constraints and additional responsibilities for the family members. Despite so, the neuro-typical children coped well with such constraints. The in-depth data highlight the value of considering both the agency of mothers and the neuro-typical children and how they bidirectionally influence each other while sharing the caregiving roles for the autistic child in the family. It is strongly recommended for practitioners to incorporate elements of child's agency when expanding their scope of psychosocial intervention work with the neuro-typical children.     

Short Break and Respite Services for Disabled Children in England: Comparing Children's and Parents' Perspectives of Their Impact on Children

Researchers, health and social care workers often seek to understand the perspectives of children; but gathering views directly from children can present difficulties. Parents are often asked to provide accounts of children's feelings or opinions on the assumption that their proxy reports are accurate and unproblematic. This qualitative thematic analysis of open‐question responses from 352 parents and 73 disabled children examines their accounts of the impact of short break services on disabled children. Participants' perspectives differed; children tended to describe immediate outcomes such as enjoying activities and participation; parents acknowledged these, but focused on longer term developmental outcomes for children.     

‘A person with some sort of learning disability’: the aetiological narrative and public construction of Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle’s audition for the television talent competition Britain’s Got Talent attracted global attention and widespread media discourse. In this article, I would like to examine this discourse to consider how Boyle’s success troubles conventional constructions of both learning disability and celebrity.

I extend Ciara Evans’s recognition that learning disability is invisible to reflect on the media responses to Boyle’s impairment. This reflection notes that even within Boyle’s own discourse, she is loosely positioned as having ‘some sort of learning disability’.

Detailed attention is given to the aetiological account of the ‘brain damage’ Boyle ‘suffered’ at birth. The analysis will consider the correlation with scientific discourse, trauma theory and the imposed biography to suggest that the construction of Boyle as both contained and unpredictable is already implicit in the aetiological narrative.     

负重前行：创伤视角下的奥古斯特·威尔逊

美国黑人剧作家奥古斯特·威尔逊以其＂20世纪黑人体验史＂系列剧而著名。他对黑人历史的关注源于自身的创伤经历。从文化创伤角度来探讨,威尔逊作品中的一个持续主题是,作为背负历史创伤的族裔,黑人怎样能既不忘记奴隶制、种族歧视的痛苦历史,又要走出它产生的创伤阴影。通过分析其三部代表性作品可以看出,他的态度是：只有正确认识理解过去、将个人记忆和集体记忆相连,个体和个体发生关联、共同承担创伤,黑人才能汲取力量、继续前行。其作品体现出威尔逊通过对文化创伤的塑造建构族裔认同的不懈努力。     

中原经济区建设中的城建档案信息资源开发

城建档案信息对城市的发展具有重要价值。中原经济区建设战略的实施,必将使城市建设规模迅速扩大,由此形成的城建档案数量急剧增多。重视城建档案信息资源的收集、整理,充分开发利用城建档案资源,不断提高其利用率,是发挥档案信息资源效益服务中原经济区建设的一条重要途径。     

The dilemmas for black social work professionals: Therapeutic implications

This paper explores the nature of social work and therapeutic practive from the perspective of black practitioners in Britain today. Black practitioners carry their histories of hurt, loss and reunion, migration and racism with them, and this lends a particular meaning to the idea of 'therapeutic' for them. The writer articulates some of the complexities and tensions of black professional social work identity through a number of vignettes based on her own experience and biography. The paper was presented as a keynote address at the Therapeutic Social Work Today conference at the Tavistock Clinic in 2001.