Exploring the Impacts of Racial Disparity Within the American Juvenile Justice System

The racial disparity in the American juvenile justice system impacts the lives of many youth of color. Youth of color constitute 34% of the U.S. population, however, they make up 62% of the youth charged in the juvenile justice system. The cycle of racial inequality and imprisonment are factors influenced by residential segregation and policing practices. Juvenile justice involvement leads to poorer physical and mental health in youth, stymied social outcomes, poorer familial relationships, decreased graduation and employment rates, increased rates in violence, and long-term negative future outcomes. The article advocates for mental health treatment and family services to be incorporated within incarcerated settings. Clinical strategies and future direction are discussed to begin to combat these various adverse impacts.     

Turkish secularism and Islam under the reign of Erdoğan

ABSTRACT

This article introduces a collection of articles that explore the role of religion (Sunni Islam) in the transformation of Turkey under the reign of President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalk?nma Partisi, AKP). This special issue argues that the Turkish understanding of secularism was also one of the building blocks or/and constitutive elements of Turkey’s modernisation until the rise of the AKP. Currently, however, it seems that religion has become a new or re-born element of the new Turkey and has been transforming many areas such as: the media, the Kurdish issue, implementation of the rule of law, foreign policy and gender issues. This special issue aims to scrutinise the question: how does a religion-based transformation in Turkey influence the raison d’etat of the state?     

Practice-based insights in developing and implementing a sport-based programme for girls

Parivartan Plus is a structured sports mentoring programme for girls, implemented in a Mumbai slum where social expectations around gender-appropriate behaviour and good parenting restricts girls’ mobility and visibility in public spaces. This article presents practice-based learning from developing and implementing programme theory to empower girls in achieving changes in their everyday social interactions at home and beyond. Gender and social norms theory were combined with local practical wisdom to turn main implementation challenges into opportunities. The article reflects on the strategies that gave visibility to, and achieved community endorsement for, the erosion of restrictive gender norms while ensuring community safety.     

'Neither man nor woman'? Female Transvestism,Object Relations and Mourning in George Moore's 'Albert Nobbs'

Heilmann offers a psychoanalytic reading of Moore's narrative of cross-gender impersonation 'Albert Nobbs'. First published in A Story-Teller's Holiday (1918) and later transferred to Celibate Lives (1927), the story features a woman who passes herself off as a man, until a chance meeting with another male impersonator happily equipped with a wife galvanizes her desire for a companion. Her inability to reveal the secret of her body to her prospective bride, however, coupled with the marked absence of any expression of sexual passion, leads to the break-up of the relationship, and Albert dies, a loner hoarding money in order to sublimate her thwarted longing for love. In this text the no (wo)man's land of cross-gender masquerade operates as a psychological marker of Albert's social (hence internal) lack of identity. An illegitimate child brought up by a nurse, she never knew her parents, whose absent presence was embodied by an allowance discontinued after their death. Drawing on Kleinian object-relations theory, Heilmann argues that Albert's (mis)performance of 'manhood' constitutes a subliminal quest for her missing parents, a desire always frustrated and ultimately displaced into the hard currency of material commodities. If Moore's story represents the female tranvestite as a castrated, sexless and depressed 'perhapser', an 'outcast from both sexes', fatherless and yet forever locked into a male-authored, patronymic text, Simone Benmussa, who in 1977 adapted the story for the stage ( The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs ), offers a more subversive reading of the female cross-dresser as a 'figure that disrupts' (Marjorie Garber) cultural categories and binary oppositions. The article ends with a consideration of Benmussa's revisionary strategies.     

(Re)creating gender hierarchies within northern landscapes: a study of stories about nature and gender

This article examines how gender hierarchies are (re)created within the context of northern landscapes. We analyse data from fieldwork and interviews with middle-class female Russians having settled in a small town in northernmost Norway, most of them as marriage migrants. Inspired by the phenomenology of the body, feminist phenomenology and gender theory, the analysis shows how the participants talk about nature as ‘recreation’ and ‘poetry’, but also as a venue that is vital for (re)shaping their gendered identities. In particular, the Russian women talk about their strong, skilful outdoors Norwegian husbands as ‘experts’ in nature, and about themselves as ‘novices’. This ‘expert–novice’ relationship creates a hierarchical distinction between the Norwegian man and the Russian woman, but also attributes additional value to the equality-oriented, but in several cases neither highly educated nor highly paid, Norwegian husband. Through this ‘re-masculinisation’ of their Norwegian partners, the Russian women create a complementary, but subordinate space for themselves. The analysis reveals that our participants situate themselves in contrast to the Norwegian equality ideal while creating a room of their own where they can form a separate and unique Russian femininity. This illustrates how constructions of gender are interwoven in translocal ‘minoritising’ and ‘majoritising’ processes.     

Self-protection in Greece: sticking with groups,communicating, protesting,and fighting

Despite the international community’s responsibility to protect (R2P) mandate, we are years away from effective international enforcement mechanisms. It is therefore important that we better understand and seek to support local capacities for self-protection. Migrants and refugees in Greece have shown us four central ways they cope with insecure environments. They stick together in groups, communicate warnings of danger, protest when conditions are threatening, and fight when all else fails. This practical note offers three recommendations on how to support the capacity of displaced people to protect themselves.     

Participatory community analysis: identifying and addressing challenges to Ethiopian smallholder livelihoods

In 2012, Africa RISING conducted participatory community analysis (PCA) as the first phase of a participatory development approach in the Ethiopian highlands. The PCA identified trends, constraints, and opportunities – and shed light upon how farmers perceive livelihoods to be changing. Inputs, diseases, pests, soil fertility, post-harvest management, and fodder shortages were seen as challenges, while off-farm income has become increasingly important. Gender differences in livestock and crop preferences for food security and income sources were observed. PCA established development priorities in a way that researchers may have approached differently or missed, providing research development priorities for Africa RISING scientists.     

Understanding accessibility to healthcare for elderly people in Bangladesh

Healthcare facilities for the rising number of elderly people living in rural and semi-urban areas in Bangladesh are insufficient. This article assesses the accessibility to healthcare for elderly people living in rural and semi-urban areas. Data collection was carried out using surveys, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews, and both quantitative and qualitative tools were used in analysis. Upazila hospitals, which are geographically easily accessible for elderly people in rural and semi-urban areas, have a dearth of specialist doctors to treat their chronic diseases and lack sophisticated diagnostic facilities. It is recommended that a course on gerontology be introduced in the medical curriculum to increase the number of available geriatricians, and resources allocated for sophisticated diagnostic facilities in upazila hospitals.