Metropolitan Forensic Anthropology Team (MFAT) case studies in identification: 2. Identification of a Vietnamese trophy skull

A Vietnamese trophy skull, apparently a victim of the Vietnam war, was recently received for analysis in a New York State homicide case. The skull, which is well preserved except for the missing mandible and maxillary dentition, is compared to trophy skulls of Japanese military personnel, also brought back to the United States by American soldiers following wartime duty in Asia.     

Performance and Accountability: Budget Reform in New Zealand

Since 1984, New Zealand has made major changes in public sector management. This article describes the perceived problems with the previous New Zealand system and discusses the reforms designed to address these problems. The changes attempt to increase efficiency by: (1) separating commercial functions from other government operations; (2) strengthening lines of ministerial and executive accountability; and (3) designing budget and financial management systems to improve measurement of public sector performance. This last reform includes shifting from an input to an output-based system, changing from cash to accrual accounting, and creating different forms of appropriations for different types of government activities. While it is too early to assess whether the reforms are successful, we note potential problems.     

A personal issue: feminist standpoint theory,epistemologies of ignorance,and perceptions of HIV transmission among northern Tanzanian wildlife conservation professionals

Drawing on ten months of qualitative research from 2009/10, we present a case study of situated HIV transmission knowledge claims among wildlife conservation actors in northern Tanzania. Utilizing feminist standpoint theory and epistemologies of ignorance, this article explores why a single professional group consistently articulated divergent explanations of the causal forces shaping on-going HIV transmission dynamics. Elite respondents were more likely to consistently attribute viral transmission to individual-level behaviors, while non-elite conservation actors more often situated HIV transmission dynamics in relation to extra-personal structural forces. This case study reveals the experiential grounding of HIV-related knowledge claims; illuminates the partiality of authoritative knowledge and the intersections of practices of power, embodied understandings and socio-structural location with hierarchical matrices of status and privilege; disrupts the presumed accuracy of certain forms of knowledge by foregrounding the insights of those in positions of subordination; and exposes ineffectual HIV/AIDS interventions in northern Tanzania.     

The percentage of HIV treatment and prevention services in Kenya provided by faith-based health providers

ABSTRACT

Although the percentage of health services provided by the faith-based sector in sub-Saharan Africa is often cited along a range from 30% to 70%, depending on the country, such citations tend to be anecdotal and without reference to actual analysis of health service data. This article reports on a secondary analysis of health service data in Kenya to determine the percentage of HIV services provided by faith-based health providers. It then discusses the contributions of faith-based providers in light of these data, identifying opportunities and challenges involved in efforts to ensure that the resources of the faith-based sector are maximised.