Citizenship Social Work: A Community Environmental Scan of Re-enfranchisement Social Work Supports after Felony Conviction

Alexander (2012) argues that the corrections system relegates African American men to permanent second class status. Although social work has advanced the democratic project, African Americans often have had to forge a parallel social assistance system. In a community environmental scan, the authors apply the Citizenship Social Work framework to assess availability of services, supports, and advocacy efforts to address civil, political, social and economic rights for African American men with felony convictions. The authors find that a number of social work services are available, but the majority focus on social and economic rights, rather than civil and political rights, perhaps emphasizing professional service over social justice.     

African American Street Gangs: A Quest for Identity

Abstract

This paper examines the phenomenon of African American street gangs. It examines the scope of the gang problem, gives a historical review of gangs in America, and examines gang activity and membership for African American youth. Some of the causes for gang formation are delineated, and comprehensive programs for addressing the gang problem are proposed.     

Family Ties and Young Fathers' Engagement in Cape Town,South Africa

Young South African fathers are often engaged in their children's lives even if they do not live together. Using longitudinal data on children (n = 1,209) from the Cape Town area, the authors show that although only 26% of young fathers live with their children, 66% of nonresidential fathers maintain regular contact, and 61% provide financial support. The father–child relationship, however, is embedded in broader family ties. The type of father–mother relationship is strongly associated with whether fathers coreside with their children but not with fathers' contact with nonresidential children. Close mother and maternal grandmother bonds reduce the likelihood that fathers live with their children, whereas close ties between fathers and paternal grandmothers increase the chance that fathers visit nonresidential children. Family ties do not affect fathers' financial contributions, which are driven by men's current economic situation. These findings illustrate that father–child relationships are best understood in the context of interacting family systems.     

Empty Signifiers of Transformation in Participatory Planning and the Marginalization of Black People in South Africa

There is no doubt that participation as a development paradigm for the transformation of planning in South Africa took off in the early days of democracy with a revolutionary zeal. The mood of transforming planning practice from apartheid planning associated with top-down authoritarian modernist systems towards bottom-up post-apartheid democratic systems was marked by the emergence of a deluge of African metaphors such as indaba, lekgotla, simunye, tswele pele, etc. These metaphors immediately entered the scene of planning and policy documents, and this was seen largely as signifying the increased participation of black people marking moments of inclusion, transformation and empowerment. However, the legacy of apartheid planning still pervades through the work that planners do and its arresting impact remains unabated in South Africa. This paper explores the emergence of these African metaphors in participatory planning and their implications on the transformation of planning in South Africa. The paper advances the argument that African metaphors of participation have acted as empty signifiers of transformation for black people in the integrated development planning process. While the metaphors are used to construct politically sellable image for participatory processes, participation has gained ideological traction to support Eurocentric and globalist traditions of urban change. Participation reflects a new way of thinking about order, peace and development, and the African metaphors are not instrumental in changing the Eurocentric and global capitalist logic presiding over the constitution of law, theory and the technical instruments of planning.     

Boundaries of Frenchness: cultural citizenship and France’s middle-class North African second-generation

Based on 45 interviews in the Paris metropolitan area, I focus on the middle-class segment of France’s North African second-generation and use the framework of cultural citizenship to explain why these individuals continue to experience symbolic exclusion despite their attainment of a middle-class status. Even though they are successful in terms of professional and educational accomplishments and are assimilated by traditional measures, they nonetheless feel excluded from mainstream French society. Because of this exclusion, they do not feel they are perceived as full citizens. I also discuss how this segment of France’s second-generation draws boundaries around being French and how they relate to these boundaries. Despite their citizenship and their ties to France, they are often perceived as foreigners and have their ‘Frenchness’ contested by their compatriots. I argue they are denied cultural citizenship, because of their North African ethnic origin, which would allow them to be accepted by others as part of France. Applying cultural citizenship as an analytical framework provides an understanding of the socio-cultural realities of being a minority and reveals how citizenship operates in everyday life.     

当代中国马克思主义理论创新方法论研究述评简

马克思主义理论创新方法论是指导主体进行理论创新的思想方法和具体方法。是马克思主义世界观和方法论在当代中国理论创新实践中的丰富和发展,其具有实践特色、理论特色、民族特色和时代特色。方法论的根本意义在于推进马克思主义解决中国建设和改革实践中突出问题而丰富自身理论体系,其根本价值取向始终是全心全意为人民服务,满足人们的理论需要和现实利益诉求。方法论科学性集中体现在与时俱进。在当代中国,“结合”前提下坚持与发展、继承与创新,整体性研究和创新方法,以实际问题为中心的方法,解放思想、实事求是的思想方法,群众路线的工作方法,文本文献研究而提炼的经典方法等构成了当代中国马克思主义理论创新方法的主体框架。党和学界,对理论创新方法论基本内涵、根本特征、实践意义、价值诉求、历史经验以及体系建构和经典理论家理论创新方法论思想进行了比较深入的研究和总结。当前,理论创新方法论建构仍然需要更加开阔的视野、行之有效的实践方法、马克思主义经典理论支撑、中国特色的思维话语权威支持,其中亟需解决的重大问题主要有：一是方法论主体的层级界定和分类培养：二是马克思主义经典文献和经典理论中的经典方法论学习和研究;三是中国马克思主义理论创新历史经验总结和当代方法论建构;四是理论创新主体的方法论自觉性和自信心培养和树立;五是方法论主体的责任意识养成;六是方法论知识构成和实践逻辑的大众化推进;最后是方法论体系建构以及推进方法论实际效果检验和自身体系拓展的基本范式。     

Socially Sanctioned Violence Against Women: Female Genital Mutilation Is Its Most Brutal Form

A historic survey indicates that Female Genital Mutilation occurs not only in the Third World but has also been practiced in the Occident. Though the differences in the practices, scope, and extent of the genital mutilations performed in these two divergent cultures are great, the basic goal has been the same. In the prevalent patriarchal societies, men sought and seek to curb, at times even eradicate, women's sexuality. Psychoanalytic findings indicate that the motive for female genital mutilation is based on men's unconscious fear of women's sexuality. The minimal psychic consequences following the mutilation of female genitals are loss of trust, a prevailing lack of bodily well-being, post-traumatic shock and depression.     

Reaching African-American Men on the “Down Low”: Sampling Hidden Populations: Implications for HIV Prevention

ABSTRACT

Studies on the impact of the HIV epidemic among African-American men who have sex with men (MSM) have largely neglected men who self-identify as heterosexual but engage in same-sex behavior. These men, commonly referred to as men on the “down low,” pose formidable challenges to researchers conducting prevention studies. This article addresses the methodological issues that create limitations in sampling this population. It presents a novel approach to locate and access these men, describes the success in using this approach, and suggests implications for future research employing this sampling approach.     

Adolescent Depression as a Contributing Factor to the Development of Substance Use Disorders

An exploratory investigation of the variables linking adolescent substance abuse and depression was conducted using the “grounded theory” qualitative research approach. A convenience sample was drawn from African American adolescents, aged 12 to 18 years, who reside in a public housing community in Baltimore, Maryland. The results revealed approximately 5% of the sample openly admitted to using drugs because they are sad, feel like a failure, lack energy and because they have family problems. Moreover, 26% of the respondents reported drinking alcoholic beverages; 26% of the population reported smoking marijuana and 16% of the respondents reported they smoke cigarettes. Additionally, life stressors (i.e. an absent parent from the home, childhood illnesses, family discord, living in kinship or foster care environments, living in single-parent households and unemployment) are adversely impacting the lives of African American adolescents residing in a public housing community.