Reviews & Resources

Theatre

The Miss Firecracker Contest, by Be A Henley at Westside Arts Theatre, New York City.

Me and My Shadow by Terry Wolver‐ton, at ABC No Rio in New York City, Fall 1984.

A Good American Novel, by Beth Lapides, at P.S. 122, New York City, December 1984.

nubs? (?nubs/'nebz/n: an ugly woman), by Lisa Goldberg, produced at SUNY‐Binghamton Fine Arts Center, December 1984.

Out/In The World: Life in the Work of Jane Bowles, created, directed and performed by Ellie Covan, produced by Open Channels in New York City, October‐November, 1984.

Dance

Pooh Kaye and Eccentric Motions at Dance Theatre Workshop, New York City, October 1984.

Sequestered Gestures, Carol Martin, Experimental Intermedia Foundation, December 1984.

Senta Driver's Harry, Emanu‐El Midtown YM‐YWHA, New York City, October 1984.

Marie Chien Noir at the Jerusalem Festival, Israel, Summer 1984.

Film

A Question of Silence, directed by Marlene Gorris, Netherlands. A Quartet Films Release, 1982.

An earlier version of this review, “Ordinary Women Who Kill,” appeared in the New York Native, August 13–26, 1984.

Books

The Diaries of Judith Malina: 1941–1957 by Judith Malina. NY: Grove Press, Inc., 1984. 464 + index. Cloth: $22.50; paper: $11.95.

Women in Motion by Alexa L. Foreman. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1983. 245 pp. + bibliography. Cloth: $19.95.

Women Composers, Conductors, and Musicians of the Twentieth Century by Jane Weiner LePage. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, Inc., Volume I, 1980; Volume II, 1983. 275 pp. and 360 pp. respectively, index. Cloth: $18.50 and $21.50 respectively.

Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen by Linda Dahl. NY: Pantheon Books, 1984. 268 pp. + notes, discography, bibliography, index. Paper: $12.95.

Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey by Sandra B. Lieb. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981. 173 pp. + discography, appendices, notes, bibliography, two indices. Paper: $9.95.

Listings     

Mona Caird (1854-1932): wild woman,new woman,and early radical feminist critic of marriage and motherhood1

Abstract

This paper, which makes available previously unknown pictures and personal information drawn from interviews, introduces aspects of the life and work of a neglected First Wave feminist writer. In particular, it examines Caird's analysis of the social construction of marriage and motherhood and the dynamics of mother-daughter relationships. The conceptual framework within which Caird wrote, while being embedded in its historical context, bears striking resemblance to some theories within Second Wave thought, especially those of Carol Gilligan and Adrienne Rich. The paper addresses the problem of how to negotiate the danger of ahistoricism when establishing ideological and conceptual links between feminists of different historical periods, and argues for regarding Caird as a radical feminist in the making.     

Fact,fiction and method in the early history of social research: Clementina Black and Margaret Harkness as case-studies

The development of social science research methods by women reformers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is a largely buried history. This article examines the work of Clementina Black and Margaret Harkness, two British reformers who conducted many social investigations using a wide range of research methods. They also crossed genres in writing fiction, which was an accepted method at the time for putting forward new ideas about social conditions. Black and Harness were part of a vibrant network of women activists, thinkers and writers in late nineteenth century London, who together contributed much to the growing discipline of social science and to imaginative forms of writing about social issues.     

When,How and Why Are Junior Coalition Parties Able to Affect a Government's Foreign Policy? A Study of Swedish Coalition Governments 2006–2014

Junior partners in a coalition government are torn between an eagerness to profile themselves, and to show loyalty to the coalition. We investigate when, how and why junior coalition parties affect foreign policy and profile themselves despite demands for national unity. We study two Swedish centre‐right governments in 2006–2010 and 2010–2014. The parties' foreign policy positions in election manifestos are compared to the foreign policy positions presented in the joint Alliance manifesto and yearly government declarations. An explorative analysis of possible explanations for junior parties' influence is based on elite interviews. The results indicate that junior coalition parties might influence the foreign policy in symbolic value related issues, but less so in issues with real policy implications. Our analysis reveals the importance of the leading member of the coalition and how junior parties converge over time towards the position of the senior coalition member.     

Neonaticides in Hamburg, Germany, from 1998 to 2008

In the analyzed period from 1998 to 2008, the autopsies performed at the Hamburg Institute of Legal Medicine included 13 cases in which an investigation for neonaticide had been initiated by the public prosecutor. The killed neonates showed a nearly equal distribution between both sexes. The most common method of neonaticide was suffocation. Most of the perpetrators were young, unmarried primipara with an average educational background. Almost all of them were suffering under psychological stress and had negated their pregnancy. In most cases, birth and neonaticide happened alone in their flat, and there was no medical attendance in any case. In the cases brought to court the women were charged with manslaughter (Section 212 German Criminal Code) and those found guilty were always granted a mitigated sentence pursuant to Section 213 Criminal Code.     

Predictors of Positive Development in Emerging Adulthood

This article responds to recent calls for a focus on successful development in young people and examination of its developmental precursors, in order to identify potentially modifiable targets for interventions. The current study examined child and adolescent precursors of positive functioning in emerging adulthood, including individual characteristics, relationship factors, and connections to the community, using a multidimensional positive development measure at 19–20 years. The sample consisted of 511 males and 647 females who were participants in the Australian Temperament Project, a population based longitudinal study that has followed young people’s psychosocial adjustment from infancy to early adulthood. Higher levels of positive development in emerging adulthood were associated with stronger family and peer relationships, better adjustment to the school setting, higher family socioeconomic status, and better emotional control. Some significant gender differences were observed, with emotional control, family relationships, and community orientation all being stronger predictors of males’ than of females’ positive development. The findings provide possible targets for child and adolescent interventions to promote positive development in early adulthood.     

Comparative study of electrochromic enhancement of latent fingerprints with existing development techniques

To address the challenge of capturing latent fingerprint evidence from metal surfaces, a new method of latent fingerprint enhancement based on electrochromic polymer films has recently been developed. Here, we present a study comparing the development and visualization of nonvisible fingerprints on stainless steel substrates using this electrochromic enhancement approach with three classical methods (dusting, wet powder, and cyanoacrylate fuming). Two variants of the electrochromic enhancement method were utilized with polyaniline and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) as the electrochromic materials. Fingerprint samples were taken from different donors (varying in age and gender) and were exposed to different environments for systematically varied periods of time (up to 28 days). The environments represent plausible evidential scenarios: left under ambient conditions, washed with aqueous soap solution, washed with acetone, submerged in water, and maintained at elevated temperature. The electrochromic enhancement procedure frequently outperformed the traditional methods, particularly for samples exposed to more challenging histories.     

RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS FOR SECONDARY GIRLS OF INCARCERATED PARENTS

In a review of the literature on child gender and gender‐specific effects for children of incarcerated parents, the present paper examines what we do and do not know about gender‐specific protective and risk factors for children of incarcerated parents. The nuanced effects of parental separation based on child gender are offered, drawn from secondary level girls in an all‐female support group operated at a secondary school in Little Rock, Arkansas for the past six years. Other programs are examined that evidence gender‐specific effects for boys and girls in those programs. A few basic statistical indices suggest that the gender of an adolescent separated from his or her incarcerated parents has differential impacts to be better studied and possibly considered in service programming. The results may enhance the outcomes for the girls, and perhaps the boys.