Support programmes for Roma children: do they help or promote exclusion?

This article critically examines current education programmes for Roma primary school students in the Czech Republic and the impact of these programmes. The research described here, based on in‐depth case studies, challenges popular beliefs in the ‘success’ of Roma oriented programmes, as well as the stereotypical negative images of Roma parents. The studies also explore the dilemmas experienced by teaching staff and their views of both Roma and the majority ‘non‐Roma’ children.     

日本的和平博物馆与和平研究

日本所拥有的和平博物馆数量位居世界之首,但大多数公共和平博物馆与战争博物馆一样,没有展示日本的侵略历史;即使涉及这方面,也只是展现日本作为第二次世界大战中原子弹爆炸受害者的形象,而完全忽略亚洲其他国家人民遭受日本蹂躏的苦难经历。然而另有一些公共和平博物馆和私人博物馆如高知民众所,却客观地反映了日本在二战中的侵略历史,市民们在那里建构和平的活动很是积极。在和平教育中,和平博物馆不仅在学校而且在社区均扮演着重要的角色。在冲突化解和宣扬和平思想方面,和平博物馆将发挥相当的作用。     

How Changes in Sending Countries Influenced Patterns of Interracial Families Through Intercountry Adoption

The racial characteristics of children adopted from abroad by American parents have fluctuated sharply over time in response to changing legislation and attitudes toward intercountry adoptions in the United States and the sending countries. This study investigates how the likelihood of parents adopting a White versus non-White child varies by the characteristics of the adopted child, the parents, and the household. Our analyses, using the 2008–2012 American Community Survey, show that parents consider the child's age, sex, and health; the presence of adopted and biologically related children in the household; and shifts in the availability of children across major sending countries.     

Fertility preferences and subsequent childbearing in Africa and Asia: A synthesis of evidence from longitudinal studies in 28 populations

Survey data on fertility preferences have played a central but controversial role in fertility research and advocacy for family planning. We summarize evidence from longitudinal studies in 28 Asian and African populations on the relationship between preferences and subsequent childbearing. While we found no consistent association between women's desire to delay childbearing and subsequent fertility, the baseline desire of women to stop childbearing was a powerful predictor of subsequent fertility in all populations and increased in strength as overall contraceptive use in the study populations rose. Partners’ desire also exercised some influence but was of modest importance in most populations. However, the correspondence between desire to stop and behaviour was found to be far from perfect. Weak implementation of preferences by contraception is likely to be the major cause of this preference–behaviour discrepancy. Uncertainty and instability in preferences may also contribute to the discrepancy, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Desirable Difference: The Shadow of Racial Stereotypes in Creating Transracial Families through Transnational Adoption

The article analyzes how parents decide to adopt a child transnationally by detailing how the meaning of race is articulated in the formation of family. Drawing from my interviews with adoptive parents, I examine how they internalize ideas about different racial groups. For example, I investigate how what they have learned from the adoption agencies, their own perceptions of racial stereotypes, and their perceptions of the communities in which they reside influence their understanding of race. The article suggests that adoptive parents, when considering whether to adopt children from the U.S. or overseas, use a criteria dictated by racial stereotypes in understanding Asian Americans as the model minority, African-Americans as a deficient group, and Latinos occupying an intermediary position.     

Constructing Interracial Families Through Intercountry Adoption*

Objective. This article analyzes the role of race and ethnicity in constructing American families through intercountry adoption. We argue that such adoptions illustrate the fluidity and tenacity of specific racial boundaries in American families. Methods. Data are drawn from the U.S. 2000 Census—the first to contain information on children's adoptive status—to examine whether race of parents and adopted children match and whether racial matching varies by the characteristics of adoptive families and adopted children. Results. Our findings indicate that minority‐race parents are more likely than white parents to adopt a child of the same race as themselves, and that the odds of white parents, in particular, adopting a white versus nonwhite child from abroad are related to factors such as the age, sex, and health status of the child, as well the presence of other children in the household. Conclusion. Parents weigh a constellation of factors, including attributes of the adopted child and the children already in the household, when adopting a child of the same or different race from abroad.     

The Eugenic Transition of 1996 in Japan: from law to personal choice

The Eugenic Protection Law, which regulated sterilisation and abortion in Japan, had two aspects: one was to prevent the birth of people with specific diseases and impairments, and the other was to permit women to have an abortion for specified reasons. This law was criticised by both disabled people and feminists, and finally amended in 1996. Another eugenic practice related to both disabled people and women is prenatal screening. One prenatal diagnostic check, serum screening is a simple blood test carried out on the mother with little risk and no need for sophisticated techniques. It became very widespread in Japan around 1996 and was used with too little thought. As a result, it led to controversy. This paper discusses Japanese eugenics by reference to the Eugenic Protection Law and prenatal screening from the standpoint of both women and disabled people.