Notes on contributors

‘Women's empowerment’, as used by international development organisations, is a fuzzy concept. Historical textual analysis and interviews with officials in development agencies reveal its adaptability and capacity to carry multiple meanings that variously wax and wane in their discursive influence. Today a privileging of instrumentalist meanings of empowerment associated with efficiency and growth are crowding out more socially transformative meanings associated with rights and collective action. In their efforts to make headway in what has become an unfavourable policy environment, officials in development agencies with a commitment to a broader social change agenda juggle these different meanings, strategically exploiting the concept's polysemic nature to keep that agenda alive. We argue for a politics of solidarity between such officials and feminist activists. We encourage the latter to challenge the prevailing instrumentalist discourse of empowerment with a clear, well articulated call for social transformation, while alerting them to how those with the same agenda within international development agencies may well be choosing their words with care, even if what they say appears fuzzy.     

The comparative endurance and efficiency of religion: a public choice perspective

Public Choice - All of the major religious confessions existing today have outlasted every single secular ruling regime known in human history. That observation poses an interesting puzzle for...     

Subway Train‐Related Fatalities in New York City: Accident versus Suicide*

Abstract: We examined the characteristics of subway train‐related fatalities in New York City between Jan. 1, 2003 and May 31, 2007 in order to determine which factors are useful in differentiating accident from suicide. Subway train‐related deaths with homicide and undetermined manners also are included. During this period, there were 211 subway train‐related fatalities. The manners of death were: suicide (n = 111), accident (n = 76), undetermined (n = 20), and homicide (n = 4). The causes of death were blunt trauma (n = 206) and electrocution (n = 5). Torso transection and extremity amputation were more frequent in suicides. Antidepressant medications were more frequently detected in suicides, whereas cocaine and ethanol were more frequent in accidents. However, autopsy findings should be weighed in the context of the entire evaluation along with other circumstantial and investigative findings. In unwitnessed deaths where additional information is unavailable or discrepant, the most appropriate manner of death usually is undetermined.     

Racial variation in the proximal and distal femur: heritability and forensic utility.

The femur has been studied successfully by physical anthropologists for many years. Such traits as femoral head diameter and bicondylar width have been examined extensively and are of great value to forensic anthropologists and other skeletal biologists in sex identification. A number of studies over the past decade by the author and his former students have shown marked racial differences in the shape of the proximal femur and in at least one trait of the distal femur--intercondylar notch height. Anterior-posterior (AP) diameter of the proximal femur is much greater among Whites and Blacks than among East Asians and American Indians. Blacks have slightly greater intercondylar notch height than Whites. Other features, such as torsion, also differ between the major geographic racial populations. Current analysis suggests that the East Polynesians fall close to the American Indians and East Asians in the degree of flatness of the proximal femur. One study has tracked the degree of change in flatness during individual development, and finds little change within major populations from the youngest to the oldest individuals. Temporal changes within populations are likewise minimal. Two studies have examined sex differences within populations, which are also found to be very slight. Racial differences, on the other hand, are quite significant, and individuals of admixed ancestry fall intermediate between the two parental populations. Such suggestions of high heritability in the shape of the proximal and distal femur make these traits very useful in assessing ancestry in forensic contexts.     

Learning for change: The art of assessing the impact of advocacy work

The field of advocacy work is growing and changing rapidly and there is much to be done in exploring not only how best to carry out effective advocacy, but also how best to use the tools of monitoring & evaluation and impact assessment (M&E/IA) to promote learning, improve accountability, and assess the value of advocacy. This paper starts by exploring the complex and changing nature of advocacy work, arguing that standardised forms of M&E/IA are likely to be inappropriate--they will probably provide misleading information, and may create perverse incentives that undermine joint action. However, while there are obvious pitfalls, there are few ready-made answers. The authors suggest that NGOs involved in advocacy at all levels should identify essential elements of their work at the outset and ensure that they monitor and evaluate those areas that they deem most important. Indeed, evidence shows that short-term successes of advocacy work may often be won at the expense of longer-term aims-- such as building capacity among partners and contributing to more fundamental change in the future. Throughout, the authors argue that an analysis of power and power structures should guide advocacy strategy and the ways in which advocacy can effectively be evaluated. A successful M&E approach must be flexible enough not only to adapt to external events, but also to be a tool for reshaping the campaign. Those of us concerned with developing M&E/IA tools for effective and accountable advocacy need to start breaking new ground.