Health,Poverty and Service Use Among Older West Indian Women in Greater Hartford

SUMMARY

This study brings to light the phenomenon of aging in the West Indian migrant community in the United States. It presents the results of a cross-sectional exploratory survey of 107 community-dwelling West Indian women aged 55 years and over living in the Greater Hartford region of Connecticut. The data analysis reveals positive self-reports of health and few limiting or disabling conditions. However, there is substantial income inequality, a negative relationship between age group and income and limited use of services among those women most likely to require them. The findings suggest that some of the qualities which contributed to West Indians becoming the “Black success model” in the U.S. may be counterproductive for successful aging. A community-based strategy for addressing these issues is outlined.     

African American and Latino Youth and Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

Abstract

Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) is found more frequently in inner-city African American and Latino youth than in European American youth. Previous research on PTSD and its relationship with inner-city violence, minority youth, school violence and institutionalized oppression is examined. School counselor's roles and possible interventions are discussed and an interdisciplinary collaborative model for helping students with PTSD is introduced.     

Analysis of current events: “towards the rule of law in Kosovo: EULEX should go”

Strong civil society provides individuals with arenas to bring their interests to the attention of policymakers. In so doing, civil society organizations (CSOs) can support state policies, but can also criticize policies. This paper argues that most minority rights advocacy CSOs in the Baltic states have little say in the crafting of policy and are compartmentalized into the existing agendas, with only a few groups able to evaluate policies independently. It concludes that the Baltic civil society is weak because the CSOs working on minority issues ask policymakers either too much, or too little. The findings suggest that policymakers quell criticism of their work from the side of the CSOs by ignoring their activities. Alternatively, by funding the CSO that shores up the state agenda, policymakers delegate their responsibilities to civic actors, keep critical voices from public debates and claim that their policies have the full support of a vibrant civil society. This paper investigates the options available for civil society actors to relate to policymakers in a nationalizing state by drawing on the data collected in 77 semi-structured interviews with the CSOs working with Russian and Polish minorities in the Baltic states between 2006 and 2009.     

Writing as resistance: Berber literature and the challenges surrounding the emergence of a Berber literary field in Morocco

This article discusses the development of Berber literature in Morocco and the connections between this literature and Moroccan national identity as well as the pan-Amazigh identity movement. Over the last 40 years, the political conjuncture in Morocco has led Berber writers to affirm an alternative definition of Moroccanness, not exclusively based on Arabness, but one in which Berberity is included. This article aims to shed light on modern Berber literature, and on the social space in which it is embedded. It argues that there is no autonomous Berber literary field, the literature being intrinsically bound up with identity issues, but a Berber literary space, located at the intermingling of several fields (the political field and the field of language production in particular). The article first reconstructs the Moroccan political context by exploring the Amazigh movement, its aspirations and its reality. It then focuses on the relationship between the language issues (alphabet, standardization, etc.) and the emergence of a Berber “neo-literature.” Lastly, it moves beyond Morocco into the wider pan-Berber world – the Maghreb and those countries to which Berbers have emigrated – to question the possibility of a transnational Berber literature.     

Estonia caught between East and West: EU conditionality,Russia's activism and minority integration

This article takes a subjective approach to studying norm compliance in order to determine how EU conditionality and Russia's activism have affected elite attitudes toward minority policies, majority–minority relations, and language use in Estonian society in the post-accession period. The results of a Q method study and semi-structured interviews with integration elites in spring 2008 reveal four distinct viewpoints. The study casts doubt upon the success of EU conditionality in Estonia by demonstrating that European minority rights norms remain contested and have not been internalized by a substantial portion of elites. In addition, the study points to an important role for Russia's activism in the development of a more inclusive society. Russia's activism actually works against minority integration by reinforcing pre-existing domestic norms that are not compatible with European minority rights standards and by aggravating tensions over history and language, which frustrate integration efforts. This article ultimately contributes to studies on the effects of international pressure on minority integration by pointing to the need for greater attention to the ways in which multiple actors at both the international and domestic levels structure the influence of EU conditionality.     

The Limits of Criminal Disenfranchisement

Abstract

This article begins with the assumption that criminal disenfranchisement is at least sometimes theoretically defensible, as a component of punishment. From this assumption, I argue that it is only legitimate in a constrained set of cases. These constraints include: implementing disenfranchisement only for serious crimes; tying disenfranchisement to both the electoral cycle and to the length of imprisonment imposed for an offence; and assessing a background condition of sufficient justice present within the state that wishes to disenfranchise. Once these constraints are considered, I argue that there are very few instances in which disenfranchisement is defensible. To prove this, I examine both current disenfranchisement practices and the commonly present factors that undermine the constraints outlined above.     

Decomposing disproportionate minority contact in juvenile justice

The objective of this study was to decompose racial disparity in juvenile justice decision-making into a part explained by differing characteristics of racial groups, and an unexplained part often attributed to discrimination. Individual case-level data from Alabama and logistic regression were used to model detention, petition, and disposition decisions in the juvenile justice system. Decomposition of racial disparity between white and black juveniles using the nonlinear Blinder-Oaxaca methodology suggested that about a half to three fourths of the racial gaps in the three juvenile justice decision points were caused either by discrimination or unobserved predictors. Decomposition of racial disparity in juvenile justice can help devise effective public policy by quantifying the extent to which specific policies can reduce disproportionate minority contact.     

我国少数民族受教育权的保障与实现--以西部民族自治地区为例

受教育权是我国宪法明确规定的公民所享有的一项基本权利 ,它也是人权的重要组成部分。虽然 ,我国的教育事业在蓬勃发展 ,但是在我国民族自治地方少数民族的受教育权情况却不容乐观。本文通过阐述受教育权的基本内容 ,列举民族自治地方少数民族受教育权的现实状况 ,分析了公民受教育权的法理基础 ,揭示少数民族受教育权与民族发展权、民族特性保护之间的关系 ,从而提出了保障和实现民族自治地方公民受教育权的对策与完善方案。     

少数民族地区法律援助的现状、问题与对策研究——以凉山彝区某县调研为基础

我国是多民族国家,少数民族是其中的一大民族种群,由于民族发展的特殊性、生产力水平低下以及其独特的社会关系等多方面的原因,在少数民族地区形成了“德古调解机制”,调整着民族生活的方方面面。在凉山彝区,“德古”调解在化解本民族的生活纠纷过程中起着举足轻重的作用。随着社会发展的需求,法律援助解决机制也在彝族地区得到适用,那么,在解决彝区法治问题上该如何将德古调解机制和法律援助结合,值得深思。     

从语言功能看我国少数民族语言的合理性

语言功能和语言本身严格说来不能混同。人类在礼会生活中由于需要某种东西来协调和整合人们的各种行为以构建一个有利于生存的和谐社会,才创制和发明了语言。是语言所应承载的功能决定其存在的合理性。虽然语言的表层功能多种多样,但都服务于构建和谐社会、体现民族精神的终极功能。每一种民族语言,特别是少数民族语言在其历史传承过程中以自身特有的方式履行语言的功能以使本民族和民族之间的人们能和谐共处。我国是一个多民族多语种的国家,少数民族语言是宝贵的文化遗产,和所有的语言一样,是带有普遍性的特殊性,具有必然的合理性。