Gender Differences in the Educational Expectations of Urban,Low-Income African American Youth: The Role of Parents and the School

This study examined how youths’ gender is related to the educational expectations of urban, low-income African American youth, their parents, and their teachers. As predicted, African American boys (ages 9–16) reported lower expectations for future educational attainment than did their female counterparts. Parents and teachers also reported lower expectations for African American boys (ages 6–16) than for girls. These findings held even when controlling for academic achievement. Contrary to predictions, the magnitude of the difference in expectations for males vs. females did not increase as a function of youths’ age. In keeping with our hypotheses, parental expectations fully mediated the relation between youths’ gender and youths’ expectations. Finally, certain school-based factors (i.e., positive teacher expectations and positive youth perceptions of the school environment) appeared to protect youths’ expectations from the deleterious impact of low parental expectations.

船员外派人身伤亡案件中船员服务机构地位辨析

船员外派是指船员被选派到境外,且通常在外籍船舶上提供劳动服务。《中华人民共和国船员条例》把船员服务机构定义为从事代理船员办理申请培训、考试、申领证书等有关手续,代理船员用人单位管理船员事务,提供船舶配员等船员服务业务的机构。结合《中华人民共和国船员条例》《中华人民共和国船员服务管理规定》以及2008年颁布的《中华人民共和国劳动合同法》,对在船员外派中船员服务机构的身份和法律地位进行分析,厘清船员、船员服务机构和境外船东三者关系,从而确定船员服务机构在此类案件中应承担的责任。     

新《保险法》适用环境下中国海上保险制度的完善

修改后的新《中华人民共和国保险法》于2009年10月1日开始生效。针对海运市场的特点和实际需要,就海上保险合同的定义所涉及的投保人与被保险人,海上保险合同的诺成性所涉及的保险费交纳与保单签发,海上保险合同的订立与生效,海上保险格式条款的适用规则,投保人的告知义务,保险人的说明义务等诸问题进行研究,并提出修改中国海上保险制度的若干建议。     

联邦国家的中央与地方立法分权模式研究

联邦制的启示在于,要实现中央和地方关系的法治化,有必要从宪法上合理配置中央和地方的立法权。虽然联邦国家的中央和地方分权历经变迁,但还是有章可循,而联邦国家的立法分权模式为中国的中央与地方关系法治化提供了可资借鉴的经验。     

韩国财政预算管理体制考察及启示

财政预算管理体制与政府部门有着千丝万缕的联系,考察分析韩国现行财政预算管理体制应首先从韩国财政机构的构成着手,比较分析中韩两国财政预算在编制、执行、决算等预算环节的异同。这对解决中国目前预算年度与立法机关审议批准时期冲突、预算编制时间短、预算编制机构设置不合理和预算执行进度过慢等问题有借鉴意义。     

Visions of Tsafendas: Literary Biography and the Limits of “Research”

Abstract

Research seminar, research cluster, research output. The word is almost a fetish within the contemporary academy—but what does “research” actually mean in a discipline like literature? And what happens when a research project overspills its bounds, or pushes up against disciplinary limits and protocols? In this piece, I explore such questions via the figure of Demetrios Tsafendas, the "mad Greek" who assassinated apartheid Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd in 1966, supposedly acting on instructions from a tapeworm inside him. It is one of the strangest facts in South African history; it is also, of course, a kind of fiction, and one that has been refracted into a range of literary and artistic works. Reading across both official and “creative” archives, I address a range of methodological problems that I encountered in attempting an academic treatment of Tsafendas and his (as the presiding apartheid judge put it) “useless life”.     

Dancing with Difference: Hugh Tracey on and in (African) Music

Hugh Tracey (1903–1977) founded the International Library of African Music (ILAM) and is well known for his recordings of traditional African music. This paper examines Tracey’s written representations of African music and of the musical interactions involved in the formation of his archive, finding contradictory repressive and collaborative elements in his work and an ambiguous stance toward musical difference. In doing so, it reveals Tracey’s implication in racialized colonial and apartheid power structures and challenges the celebratory view of him as a champion of indigenous culture.     

The Revolution and its Discontents: Grenadian Newspapers and Attempts to Shape Public Opinion during Political Transition

Abstract

What role did the newspaper play in attempting to influence public opinion in the early stages of the Grenada Revolution and what are the terms in which printed discourses on the revolution were conceptualised? The Grenada Revolution was a discursive political process where branding and narration were necessary elements in securing the revolution’s authority and legitimacy. This paper argues that Cuba functioned as a metonym through which the revolution was translated in Grenadian periodicals. Even before the coup of 13 March 1979 Grenadian media represented the New Jewel Movement—the revolutionary party—as Cuban-inspired and socialist. In order to examine how socialism in general, and the socialist character of the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) in particular, was narrated, a comparison is staged between two newspapers—the government-run Free West Indian and the privately owned The Torchlight. Competing discourses on Cuban communism are analysed for the ways in which they stood-in for the Grenadian people’s hopes, aspirations and anxieties in the midst of radical political change. Issues including race, gender equality, property ownership, freedom of religious practice and freedom of travel are examined in relation to capitalism and socialism, and the PRG’s efforts to maintain narrative authority of the revolution.     

Looking back,thinking forward: Understanding the feasibility of normative supranationalism in the African Union

The creation of the African Union (AU) in 2002 was seen as a significant paradigm shift in the course of continental integration. Unlike its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, the AU has a normative framework that espouses supranational aspirations. Various aspects of the AU framework, such as the nature of some of the AU institutions, the declared right of intervention, and the objective of harmonising the policies of Regional Economic Communities under the AU umbrella, are allusions to supranationalism. Furthermore, it appears that normative supranationalism is the goal, in that these aspects indicate the intention on the part of the architects of the AU to create a regime under which AU laws and policies are superior to national and sub-regional rules. The fact that, after a decade of the AU's existence, little or no progress has been made in this regard requires serious introspection. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore some of the factors that militate against the effective operation of normative supranationalism in the AU and proffer recommendations on how to address those constraints.     

Outsourcing a partnership? Assessing ACP–EU cooperation under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement

Since 2000 the cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states has been governed through the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. This article complements existing research that focuses on Brussels-based stakeholders with an analysis drawing on the existing literature and on stakeholders' perceptions of ACP–EU cooperation and ACP institutions gathered via interviews in nine ACP countries. The findings presented observe a social disconnect between, on the one hand, the Cotonou Partnership Agreement's institutions and Brussels-based representatives, and, on the other hand, the broad-based and multistakeholder partnership they are tasked to promote. The article points to low levels of support in ACP countries, particularly in Africa, to continued ACP–EU cooperation in its present form, and stresses the need for an open and participatory process of reviewing and reshaping ACP–EU relations.