Historical trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska communities: a multilevel framework for exploring impacts on individuals, families, and communities

Over multiple generations, American Indian communities have endured a succession of traumatic events that have enduring consequences for community members. This article presents a multilevel framework for exploring the impact of historically traumatic events on individuals, families, and communities. The critical connection between historically traumatic events and contemporary stressors is also discussed at length.     

Immigration Reform and the Latino Small Service Sector

Immigration reform is a policy of particular concern within the low-wage service sector and among self-employed ethnic entrepreneurs. This study uses U. S. Census microdata to show that Latino entrepreneurs differ in earnings by nativity and industry. Although foreign-born entrepreneurs usually have lower earnings than native-born Latino entrepreneurs, the situation reverses itself among restaurateurs and small retailers. The study then uses data from the "Six-City Study" to examine nativity and industry as variables affecting attitudes toward IRCA. High levels of support toward IRCA are reported, but the expected variations by nativity and industry emerge.     

From “Whores” to “Victims”: The Rise and Status of Sex Trafficking Courts

ABSTRACT

Views of people involved in the commercial sex trade have shifted. Once seen as prostitutes or “whores,” they are increasingly perceived as exploited “victims.” The behavior associated with commercial sex has been redefined from voluntary and disreputable to coerced and deserving of rescue. This new framework is part of a broader anti-trafficking movement in society to recognize and save vulnerable individuals who are exploited for sex. In this context, the model of problem-solving or specialty courts has been extended to sex trafficking cases. The goal first is to identify trafficking victims–also known as “victim-defendants”–and then to address their risk factors with services. The current review examines the prevalence and the effectiveness of sex trafficking courts. Although some promising evaluations have been conducted, it remains unclear whether such courts are addressing the unique needs of victim-defendants. Investigating this question is essential, given that trafficking courts are likely to grow in popularity and in number.     

Fighting for Fame: The ‘Heroines of Pervyse’ and the Disputed Construction of a Public Image

Abstract: This investigative analysis bases itself on an array of documentary material from the archives of the Imperial War Museum in its effort to recover the intricate story behind the two British volunteer nurses who made their name during the First World War with the first-aid station they set up in Pervyse, a mere stone's throw away from the Belgian firing line. The essay juxtaposes a variety of documentary sources—the unpublished diaries of the two women, Geraldine Mitton's reconstruction of the story out of the nurses' journals and letters in The Cellar-House of Pervyse (1916), and two photograph albums, ‘The Women of Pervyse’, bequeathed to the Imperial War Museum—in a quest to understand how the two nurses came to acquire their status of national heroines. Sifting through the source material, this investigation reveals the numerous inconsistencies and gaps that exist between the published and the unpublished accounts of the dressing station, whose true genesis is obscured by several competing narratives. A close reading of Mitton's account and the photographic portraitures discloses that neither of these documents ought to be taken at their face value. They need to be understood as valuable tools in the nurses' own battle for authority, public recognition and their opportunity to feature as genuine protagonists in the arena of war.