When is a bologna sandwich better than sex? A defense of small-n case study evaluations

This paper discusses the value of quasi-experiments with small numbers of cases - small-n case studies. It argues that these evaluations of crime prevention have value. The first part of the paper shows that small-n evaluations are practical methods for producing information and that discarding this information reduces our ability to learn what works in crime prevention. The solution is to examine small-n evaluations in systematic reviews. In the second part this paper shows that more rigorous evaluations can sacrifice generalizability to gain internal validity and that this, too, reduces our ability to learn. The solution is to create a mixed portfolio of intrusive, less-intrusive, and non-intrusive evaluations. In the third part this paper shows why inference processes that make use of theory should replace naïve inductionism. One implication of this is that ignoring theory also discards evidence. Another implication is that taking theory into account when we review program effectiveness allows us to better use small-n evaluations when we generalize. In the final part, this paper gives three recommendations for making use of small-n evaluations: adopt case study procedures developed in political science, improve the value of process evaluations, and improve crime theories.     

异与同:翻译的困惑

如何对待异与同是文化视域中的翻译无法回避的难题。对于翻译实践来说,译者要有这样的文化态度,即认识到由于文化的互动发展,文化比较应该是一个客观动态的过程,从而采取适时的翻译策略。对于翻译研究来讲,论者应正确对待传统翻译理论跟西方翻译理论,着眼于理论的互动发展,避免民族性的过分张扬。     

社会性别与法学研究

社会性别的分析方法对于法学研究而言,极具启示性与颠覆性。社会性别研究方法有助于揭示性别平等对于社会和谐的重要意义;有助于从“有性人”的视角考量法律文本的性别平等,启示人们从“行动中的法”的角度重新考察现实生活中的性别平等;社会性别研究方法弥补了传统法学关于妇女权利研究方法的不足,更是对法学研究领域中传统的阶级分析方法的修正。     

Between Chaos and Diversity: Is Social Memory Studies a Field?

Is (or are) memory studies, social or otherwise, a field? If so, does anything hold it together beyond the mere use of the phrase “collective memory”? Memory studies is simultaneously still in its charismatic phase, though it no longer has a right to be, as well as highly resistant to efforts to escape from it, though it clearly needs to do so. To be a field, it needs a memory of its own.     

Developing a critical pedagogy of ‘research-based’ teaching in Islamic studies

Studying Islam and Middle Eastern politics has become highly popular, particularly in American and British universities after the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist events. Unfortunately, the increasing interest in Islam and Muslims in the West is often based on (mis)recognition of images of Muslims in the media. This has created a new set of problems of ignorance and misunderstandings about terrorism and the Islamic world. The intent of this article is to outline a ‘critical pedagogy’ of research-based teaching for Islamic studies and illustrate how this kind of pedagogical engagement better equips students to ‘problematise the natural, cultural and historical reality’ and dominant Orientalist assumptions about the relationship between Islam and terrorism. This article shows how research-based teaching can help students to become critical thinkers to connect knowledge and power while studying Islam and Middle Eastern politics.     

‘People and personal projects’: a rejoinder on the challenge of teaching development studies

Abstract

In response to Juan David Parra Heredia’s criticism of her earlier article about her use of post-development as a tool in teaching development studies, Wendy Harcourt reflects further on how the course analysed in 2016 has evolved in the last three years and corrects the misreadings of the pedagogical position-taking by the teachers in the course.     

A critical-historical genre analysis of reality television

Abstract

The objective of this article is to investigate the criticism that reality television defies precise definition because it shares generic conventions with genres such as game shows, talent shows, talk shows and documentaries. We started this investigation by using the historical genre approach to etermine the historical roots of reality television. The historical approach also enabled us to identify four genre conventions associated with reality television, that is, the focus on ordinary people, voyeurism, audience participation, and the attempt to simulate real life. These characteristics furthermore explain the popularity of this genre with the viewing audience. To make provision for one genre ‘borrowing’ from another, we suggested the use of the hybrid mix (or generic mix) model which enables researchers to identify the content (e.g. the narrative) of reality programmes as well as its unique, formalistic characteristics.     

Leaving area studies behind: the challenge of diasporic connections in the field of African studies

Abstract

In recent years, diaspora has become one of the key terms of social analysis in various fields. Emphasizing the multiple trajectories out of which present identities – inasmuch as political or economic realities – are forged, the concept forces us to reconsider the scope of classical area studies (and associated disciplinary boundaries) in radical terms. The article looks at the colonial foundations of African Studies as area studies and examines some ways by which to overcome enduring colonial epistemologies. The author suggests a theoretical framework in which Africa herself is considered as diasporic. Moreover, she calls for a critical perspective that will facilitate the comparative analysis of different diasporic discourses and practices.     

Support provided by corporate social responsibility programmes for the creation of universal access to ICT: a content analysis of corporate websites

ABSTRACT

This study analyses messages within corporate web pages as physical indicators of the following: the extent to which sampled companies provide information communication technology (ICT) to the South African society in terms of geographical spread; the types of ICTs they provide; the nature of their support; and the members of society targeted. Through latent coding, it seeks to deduce whether the companies realise their role in social development by focusing their corporate social responsibility programmes on societal needs and to establish whether their support is broadly aligned with government priorities.

Although the study is exploratory in nature, it reveals the following noteworthy issues: The geographical spread indicates that seven of the 11 companies analysed focus their support for ICT on the country as a whole; most companies tend to provide a whole range of technological equipment rather than one type; the provision of equipment is coupled with training; and the support for ICT is largely aimed at schools.

It is inferred that the companies realise their societal obligations; support government priorities; and are committed to social development by creating appropriate mechanisms for access to ICT.     

Saving virgins,saving the USA: heteronormative masculinities and the securitisation of trafficking discourse in mainstream narrative film

Sex trafficking has become a high-profile, celebrity endorsed issue, attracting much international attention. Accompanying this has been a proliferation of films, including full-length feature films, which address the topic and have done much to influence public perception of the issue. This paper analyses two of these films which were made for the mainstream US market: Trade and Taken. Both films present a conservative and heteronormative perspective revolving around middle-aged North American law enforcement officers rescuing innocent young girls. Hence, these films participate in the general securitisation of trafficking discourse in which the US has been a leader. In spite of their ostensible concern about the exploitation of women, these films present trafficking mostly as an occasion for the redemption and rehabilitation of the beleaguered white American male, appropriating the problem of trafficking in the service of a US-led neo-imperialism bolstered by masculinism and xenophobia, and implicitly problematising women's independence and justifying the control of their movements and sexuality.