When is a wife not a wife? Some observations on the immigration experiences of South Asian women in West Yorkshire

This article uses black feminist analysis to explore the ways in which the racialized stereotypical image of the passive South Asian woman has informed the categorizing of this group of minority ethnic women within the system of British immigration control. Such stereotypes have led to a very specific category of 'South Asian woman' being regarded as a legitimate immigration applicant: namely that of the traditional South Asian wife dutifully going to live in the country in which her husband is settled. Using interview data from a study of South Asian women's immigration experiences, this article assesses the extent to which South Asian women entering the system of British immigration control actually fit this racialized category of 'wife'. It is also shown that those wives who sponsor a husband to come to the UK, and therefore do not fit the immigration service's assumptions of the South Asian wife, face even more difficulties, due to gender and racial discrimination within the system of British immigration control.     

Procedural Justice and Conflict Management at School

In this research, we explored the contributions of perceived procedural justice (PPJ) to the conflict management behaviors of adolescents when they experience conflict with their teachers. We tested an extensive model to determine how PPJ contributes to conflict management. We also extended research on PPJ to examine its impact on adolescents. Our results, acquired from a large and diverse sample of 256 high school students, indicate that PPJ had an impact on adolescents' approach to managing conflicts with their teachers. Students who perceived that their teachers' decision processes were just were less dominating and more avoiding, obliging, and compromising. In addition, we found that students' perceptions about the legitimacy of their teachers' authority mediated the relationships between PPJ and conflict management style. This study contributes to the rather scarce research on PPJ's role in conflict management and should be useful for educators searching for constructive, relationship‐based tools for conflict management.     

Narrating the cultural trauma of 3/11: the debris of post-Fukushima literature and film

Abstract

Images of debris dominate our understanding of the 3/11 triple disaster – earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown – that took place in Japan on 11 March 2011. They have been effectively used to rewrite the story of individual suffering into one of collective tragedy. In this article, debris is a locus for examining the construction of the narrative of 3/11 as cultural trauma. The article analyzes three texts that deal directly with images of 3.11 debris: Fujiwara Toshi's documentary film No Man's Zone and two short stories: Murakami Ryū's ‘Little eucalyptus leaves’ (Yūkari no chisana ha, 2012 Murakami, Ryū, 2012b. Yūkari no chisana ha. In: Sore de mo sangatsu wa, mata. Tokyo: Kōdansha, 245–60. [Google Scholar]) and Saeki Kazumi's ‘Hiyoriyama’ (2012) Saeki, Kazumi, 2012a. Hiyoriyama. Trans. Jeffrey Hunter. In: Elmer Luke and David Karashima eds. March Was Made of Yarn. New York: Vintage Books, 163–81. [Google Scholar]. Fujiwara interrogates the position of the viewer via images of destruction, Murakami connects 3/11 to the multidirectional memory of other global traumas like Auschwitz, and Saeki constructs a local narrative that contrasts the personal experience of the disaster with a televisual or filmic representation. These texts are engaged in the cultural work of constructing 3/11 as collective trauma. They create a collective identity, a ‘we’, for this trauma that speaks both for and against the national narratives of recovery. This article examines images of debris around the one-year anniversary of 3/11 and speculates on the concurrent lack of images of bodies.     

German parties and internet campaigning in the 2002 federal election

This article examines German national parties' use of the Internet in the 2002 federal election. Its main goals are to determine what the parties were doing in their online campaigns and how far their use of the Internet can be understood in terms of two party-specific variables – organisational size and primary goal. These questions are of significance given the relatively limited study of parties' use of the net in Germany in the comparative literature on this topic. Also, research on parties' use of the Web across countries has suggested that while context does produce differences in approach, partyspecific factors also play a major role in determining online strategy. The article attempts to investigate these questions systematically by examining nine German parties' use of the Internet (specifically websites, e-mail, and intra-nets) using questionnaire data from national party personnel and content analysis of web pages. Our findings show that while the divide between major and minor parties can be seen quite clearly in the German context in terms of website quality and visibility, evidence to support the impact of party outlook in shaping parties' online strategy can also be found. In addition, the study reveals that major parties are now beginning to take the Internet very seriously as a communication tool, particularly in terms of election campaigning.     

Psychological abuse and posttraumatic stress symptoms in college students

Research suggests that among college students, physical and sexual abuse in intimate relationships are associated with posttraumatic stress. Psychological abuse occurs in intimate relationships among college students, and though there is evidence that such abuse has a negative emotional impact, posttraumatic stress has not been extensively researched as an outcome in this population. The purpose of this study is to determine the associations of past-year psychological abuse with posttraumatic stress symptoms while controlling for other types of past-year relationship abuse and lifetime trauma history. The sample consists of 191 college men and women (81.7% women and 89.5% White). Linear regression analyses demonstrate that trauma history, but not past year relationship violence, is a significant predictor of PTSD symptom severity for women, and neither set of variables significantly predicts PTSD symptom severity for men. Implications for future research are discussed.     

It Looks Good,but What is it Like to Live There? Exploring the Impact of Innovative Housing Design on Crime

This paper reports on the findings of a collaborative project (funded by the Home Office and managed by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment - CABE) which was conducted in late 2009 and early 2010. The project set out to strengthen and update the evidence base on the impact of design on a range of crime types – with a specific focus upon housing developments acclaimed for their innovative design and award winning architecture. This paper presents the findings of an in-depth assessment of the impact of housing design features on crime. Utilising a comprehensive data collection exercise, the specific design features of thousands of homes were collated and assessed against police recorded crime data. The design features were based upon the key elements of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) including road layout, house design, surveillance, territoriality, car parking, communal space, management and maintenance and physical security. The unique and painstaking methodology not only provided an excellent dataset for analysis, but also highlighted the need both for greater conceptual clarity within CPTED and for crime-risk assessments to be based on the careful operationalisation and measurement of CPTED factors. As well as assessing the impact of specific (and combined) design features upon crime, the research also resulted in the production of a new data collection tool designed to address the weaknesses of existing checklists in assessing innovative contemporary developments, which are often unconventional in nature. The paper explores the degree of conflict and/or synergy between the traditional principles of CPTED and contemporary directions in architecture and design. Finally the paper considers the extent to which traditional CPTED principles remain relevant within contemporary residential developments and explores whether areas of revision are required.     

New assisted reproductive technology laws in Victoria: a genuine overhaul or just cut and paste?

A new Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act was passed in Victoria on December 2008 and came into effect on 1 January 2010. The new legislation changed who was eligible for assisted reproductive technology (ART) and the types of services that clinics could provide. This article reports on interviews with service providers in Victoria who experience first hand the impact of legislation on clinical practice and patients, as well as regulators who are able to provide insight into the values underpinning the regulatory framework. The new legislation was viewed by all participants as an improvement on the old Act because of the removal of discriminatory and ambiguous aspects. The authors argue that while some of the details of the legislation have changed, the underlying principles and the framework have not.