Ana Clavel’s “outlaw” desires in Las ninfas a veces sonríen

As a writer whose fiction is known for its transgressive themes and forms, it is no surprise that the Mexican author Ana Clavel has continued to revel in such contraventions in her novella Las ninfas a veces sonríen (2012). In this article I seek to examine how these, also new transgressions, materialize in the novella specifically within a queer framework. The queer showcases Las ninfas’ exploration of “outlaw” sexual desires as well as the fantastical and intertextual genre-bending. By defying heteronormative sexual normalcy, Clavel is seen to challenge certain “givens” within (Mexican) society, whether these be religious, moral, sexual, or cultural, and thus creating a fascinating representation of society’s particular fears, anxieties, and disavowed desires. In the context of the female character’s sexual experiences, transgressive queereness can be understood by making reference to various theories including those of Kristeva’s abjection/uncanny and Creed’s/Braidotti’s monstrous feminine, whereby the female is positioned in terms of an ambiguous oscillation between unthreatening object of male desire, monstrosity, and celebratory female sexual agency. Ultimately by thus delving into outlawed “no-deseos”, Las ninfas can be posited as a prime example of a Barthesian text of “jouissance” which disrupts the reader’s pleasurable reading experience.     

Community Service by High School Students: A Cure for Civic Ills?

In response to what some see as a crisis in civic attitudes and participation, there has been a reinvigorated effort to involve high school students in school-based community activities and in less formal, volunteer community service. Yet little is known about the extent of participation or its effects. Using a nationally representative sample of 9th–12th graders from 1996, we document a high participation rate but also note that many students perform service only once or twice a year and in limited capacities. Participation rates are related to certain student, family, and school characteristics; school policies are also significant, though arranging but not requiring participation may be the key. Participation appears to stimulate greater political knowledge, more political discussions with parents, enhanced participation skills, and higher political efficacy, but not more tolerance of diversity.     

The Will to Change: Lessons from Canada's Successful Decarceration of Youth

In 1997, Canada's youth custodial facilities held 3825 sentenced youths. Eighteen years later, this number was 527—an 86 percent reduction. Overall youth imprisonment (sentenced + pretrial detention) decreased by approximately 73 percent. This paper uses Canada's successful decarceration of youths to understand what might be learned about decarceration more broadly. By examining the reforms that transpired in Canada's treatment of young offenders since the 1960s and the political/cultural shifts that occurred since the 1990s, we demonstrate that the decline resulted from changes occurring in various parts of the system. Finally, we contrast this decarceration with more than 60 years of relative stability of Canadian adult imprisonment rates as well as Canada's failure to substantially decrease youth pretrial detention in order to identify those factors seemingly necessary to reduce imprisonment more generally.     

Arts Entrepreneurship in China: Exploring the Professional Career Development Model for Chinese Emerging Western Classical Musicians

Artists’ career management has become an urgent topic in the scholarship of arts administration and the creative economy in many Western countries. Although Chinese creative and cultural industries have also experienced significant attention and growth, the worklife experiences of Chinese cultural workers are rarely discussed in the international academic literature. Addressing that gap, this study investigates artistic careers and professional development of a small sample of emerging Western classical musicians in a Chinese second-tier city. We found similar patterns in career portfolios and strategies of career entrepreneurship between Western and Chinese musicians, although differing career opportunities and explicit career strategies seem related to local context.     

A new Fair Trade registration scheme based on the relations of production

Fashion, accessories, and homeware fall outside the regulations of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), which certifies mostly food products. A handful of fashion-led Fair Trade enterprises are now providing ranges of high-quality desirable products, made by workers employed in urban enterprises as well as independent producers in cooperatives. Tabeisa, an NGO involved in Fair Trade retailing, has developed a new regulatory framework which uniquely starts by defining the relations of production between all actors in the chain. This ensures that those not previously covered by existing standards are made visible and receive fair pay and conditions.     

Are Children's Best Interests Really Best? ZH (Tanzania) (FC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Although the Supreme Court's decision in ZH (Tanzania) is an important one, as this note explains, it is less novel than many suppose – and is in some ways disappointing. By stressing the importance of immigrant children's best interests, it fails to use this opportunity to promote their Convention rights effectively.