On that supercharged day in 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala., she rode her way into history books, credited with helping to ignite the civil rights movement.
But there was another woman, named Claudette Colvin, who refused to be treated like a substandard citizen on one of those Montgomery buses — and she did it nine months before Mrs. Parks. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his political debut fighting her arrest. Moreover, she was the star witness in the legal case that eventually forced bus desegregation.
Yet instead of being celebrated, Ms. Colvin has lived unheralded in the Bronx for decades, initially cast off by black leaders who feared she was not the right face for their battle, according to a new book that has plucked her from obscurity.
We are pleased to announce that three wonderful tours have been added to the 2010 Diversity Conference in Belfast, Ireland from 19 July - 21 July! Register soon - space is limited!
Belfast City Hall
Introduction to Belfast:
Beginning from Queen’s University, this tour tells the story of Belfast as it developed around High Street. The story begins in 1611 when James I chartered the settlement and includes visits to such landmarks as Belfast City Hal, St George’s Church, the Albert Memorial Clock, St. Anne Cathedral, Grand Opera House, Crown Liquor Saloon, Ulster Hall and many more!
Belfast Political Tour
Hosted by a former political prisoner from the Republican community, we travel through a main arterial route in west Belfast, visiting many sites that are relevant to the most recent phase of British/Irish conflict. As the tour is delivered by primary sources, it is very much a living history. At the end of the tour we invite you to engage in a complimentary glass of Guinness at a nearby pub.
Belfast City Centre
Belfast Pub Tour
No visit to Belfast would be complete without a trip around it’s famous and historic pubs. The hospitality of Belfast city and its people is legendary and there’s no better way to enjoy the ‘craic’ and the banter with the locals than over a few drinks. The pub tour features six pubs and we will stop in a couple for a drink.
If you have already registered from the conference but are interested in signing up for the tours, please contact the conference secretariat at support@ondiversity.com . If you have not yet registered for the conference but plan to, you will be able to add any tours during the initial registration process.
In the first narrative of my experience in slavery, written nearly forty years ago, and in various writings since, I have given the public what I considered very good reasons for withholding the manner of my escape. In substance these reasons were, first, that such publication at any time during the existence of slavery might be used by the master against the slave, and prevent the future escape of any who might adopt the same means that I did. The second reason was, if possible, still more binding to silence: the publication of details would certainly have put in peril the persons and property of those who assisted. Murder itself was not more sternly and certainly punished in the State of Maryland than that of aiding and abetting the escape of a slave. Many colored men, for no other crime than that of giving aid to a fugitive slave, have, like Charles T. Torrey, perished in prison. The abolition of slavery in my native State and throughout the country, and the lapse of time, render the caution hitherto observed no longer necessary. But even since the abolition of slavery, I have sometimes thought it well enough to baffle curiosity by saying that while slavery existed there were good reasons for not telling the manner of my escape, and since slavery had ceased to exist, there was no reason for telling it. I shall now, however, cease to avail myself of this formula, and, as far as I can, endeavor to satisfy this very natural curiosity. I should, perhaps, have yielded to that feeling sooner, had there been anything very heroic or thrilling in the incidents connected with my escape, for I am sorry to say I have nothing of that sort to tell; and yet the courage that could risk betrayal and the bravery which was ready to encounter death, if need be, in pursuit of freedom, were essential features in the undertaking. My success was due to address rather than courage, to good luck rather than bravery. My means of escape were provided for me by the very men who were making laws to hold and bind me more securely in slavery.
Continued discrimination against Roma in Europe not only violates human dignity, but is a major social problem crippling the development of eastern European countries with large Roma populations. Spain, which has been more successful in dealing with its Roma problem than other countries, can take the lead this month as it assumes the European Union presidency.
Up to 12 million Roma live in Europe today, primarily in the east. Despite the region’s overall economic growth over the past two decades, life for many Roma is worse now than ever. During the communist era, Roma received jobs and housing. But the heavy industries in which many were employed have now closed, and unemployment is widespread. Many Roma live in deplorable conditions unworthy of modern Europe.
These economic hardships are deepened by social tension. The majority population is very hostile towards Roma, and discrimination against them occurs at every level. For example, Roma children are often automatically put into classes for the mentally disabled, simply because they are Roma. Despite court rulings ordering reform, Roma are regularly denied equal access to housing, education, and healthcare, creating a vicious cycle of poverty and marginalisation. Reality and stereotype reinforce each other in a reflexive fashion.
The author of a new book talks about the brain’s hidden impulses, and why you’re more biased than you think:
Of the many viral-video meltdowns pop culture has endured, few are as viscerally disturbing, as painful to watch, as Michael Richards’ racist rant during a 2006 stand-up appearance. As you’ll no doubt remember, the man better known as Kramer lashed out at a heckler in his audience with a shocking string of slurs, including the brutally memorable line, “Fifty years ago, we’d have you upside down with a fork up your ass.” The breakdown so outraged the general public that even today, if you Google “Michael Richards,” it auto-completes to “Michael Richards racist.”
Shankar Vedantam, a science writer with the Washington Post, uses the Michael Richards incident in his new book, “The Hidden Brain,” to illustrate the way he believes our unconscious can betray us — and reveal biases we wouldn’t even acknowledge to ourselves. Vedantam uses a wide array of vivid true stories to make his point: The tragic tale of a woman who is brutally beaten in front of dozens of onlookers illustrates how a crowd’s inaction can trick our brain into ignoring pleas for help; two transsexuals who’ve experienced both sides of the gender divide help illuminate how unconscious sexism can change lives.
THE late Paul Samuelson once quipped that “women are just men with less money”. As a father of six, he might have added something about women’s role in the reproduction of the species. But his aphorism is about as good a one-sentence summary of classical feminism as you can get.
The first generations of successful women insisted on being judged by the same standards as men. They had nothing but contempt for the notion of special treatment for “the sisters”, and instead insisted on getting ahead by dint of working harder and thinking smarter. Margaret Thatcher made no secret of her contempt for the wimpish men around her. (There is a joke about her going out to dinner with her cabinet. “Steak or fish?” asks the waiter. “Steak, of course,” she replies. “And for the vegetables?” “They’ll have steak as well.”) During America’s most recent presidential election Hillary Clinton taunted Barack Obama with an advertisement that implied that he, unlike she, was not up to the challenge of answering the red phone at 3am.
While unfortunate that Google.CN may be shutting down, my ethnographic work in China revealed five things that aren’t being told in the current story:
Many Chinese internet users don’t find Google to be very useful. Therefore, a Google withdrawal would not have any immediate impact on the daily Chinese internet user because most people search with Baidu, the reigning search engine in China.
Many Chinese internet users prefer Baidu over Google because using Baidu makes them feel more “Chinese.” Baidu does an excellent job at tapping into nationalistic fervor to promote itself as being the most superior search engine for Chinese users.
Chinese internet users don’t know how to get to the Google site. While they may “know” of Google, it’s a whole other matter when it comes to typing or saying Google’s name.
Google is primarily used by highly educated netizens. And even these users prefer Google.COM over Google.CN.
Google is not successful at reaching the mobile internet market.
Feminist critical theorist Nancy Fraser outlines in interview her concept of “parity of participation”, or the representation of women in institutional structures. The concept, she argues, bridged the traditional leftwing theoretical dichotomy between distribution and recognition and in turn raises the question: who determines who is to be represented? Here Fraser emphasizes the centrality of the politics of interpretation in any dialogue about justice, such as that between western feminism and Islam.
Marina Liakova: An important theme in your writing is the concept of justice. You argue that the main problem of justice is recognition and protection of identities from cultural domination. Could you give a brief definition of justice – does it represent only a lack of domination? And taking this further, is the struggle of modern women for recognition successful and what other accents could you pinpoint?
Communities secratary John Denham leaves Downing Street after the weekly cabinet meeting in London. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
From Alan Travis in The Guardian for 14 January 2010.
Leading equality campaigners and trade unionists said tonight there was still “some way to go” in tackling racial inequality after a speech by John Denham, the communities secretary, in which he insisted it was time to move on from the one-dimensional debate that assumes all minority ethnic people are disadvantaged.
In a landmark speech, Denham said substantial progress had been made on race equality since the Macpherson report 10 years ago and it was time for a more sophisticated approach that recognised that disadvantage was also tied up with class and poverty.
He also strenuously denied that a new duty on the public sector to tackle class inequalities would lead to work on combating racism dropping off the agenda.
Denham said it was important to recognise the importance of class and socio-economic status on people’s lives. The growing black and Asian middle class meant that many more people from minority ethnic backgrounds had a degree, a good job and their own home, while poor white working-class families faced serial disadvantages.
Finnish Roma activist Miranda Volasrata and Romanian writer Luminita Cioaba, who fought her Roma family to attend school, at the inauguration of the Roma Cultural Route at the Roma Kamenci settlement near Lendava, Slovenia, in November 2009. (Brigid Grauman/GlobalPost)
From Brigid Grauman in the Global Post.
LENDAVA, Slovenia — The word “gypsy” is often used pejoratively. But the Council of Europe is trying to change that with a new tourism route focusing on Roma culture and history.
“People see gypsies by a squalid dump at the side of the road,” said Jake Bowers, a militant British gypsy and journalist, “but they don’t really know us. I’d like a situation where we are recognized as a transnational European nation with representation at the United Nations.”
Bowers was speaking at the inauguration of the Roma Cultural Route last month, sponsored by the Strasbourg-based Council, which is not related to the European Union and works on European integration through culture and human rights. The route will link dispersed gypsy, or Roma, communities across Europe to strengthen existing networks and encourage Roma and non-Roma people to meet. Nine countries are already taking part with museums, shows and documentation centers. The inauguration took place in Slovenia at the Roma Kamenci settlement near the spa town Lendeva.
The main thrust of this book is to focus on the consequences of involuntary migration of East Bengal (EB) Hindus in West Bengal (WB), Kolkata (Calcutta) city in particular. It attempts to analyse the resettlement struggles of the EB Hindu refugee-migrants , their family relations, marriage practices and problems of social interaction with the WB local Hindus over the years. In the course of their resettlement efforts, the EB Hindus urged to retain regional culture particularly in the context of matrimonial practices and family patterns, religious festivals and rituals and social norms and values. The analysis will be based on historical background of partition-migration as well as intensive fieldwork with the EB Hindu migrants and selected WB local Hindus for a long period of time.
Minarets are threatening because they rub salt in the wounds of those who feel the loss of their own faith.
Switzerland has four mosques with minarets and a population of 350,000 nominal Muslims, mostly Europeans from Bosnia and Kosovo, of whom about 13% regularly go to prayer. Not a huge problem, one might have thought. Yet 57.5% of Swiss voters opted in a referendum for a constitutional ban on minarets, allegedly because of worries about “fundamentalism” and the “creeping Islamisation” of Switzerland.
Are the Swiss more bigoted than other Europeans? Probably not. Referendums are a measure of popular gut feelings, rather than considered opinion, and popular gut feelings are rarely liberal. Referendums on this issue in other European countries might well produce startlingly similar results.
To attribute the Swiss vote to ban minarets – an idea that was promoted by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, but by none of the other political parties – to “Islamophobia” is perhaps to miss the point. To be sure, a long history of mutual Christian-Muslim hostility, and recent cases of radical Islamist violence, have made many people fearful of Islam in a way that they are not of Hinduism, say, or Buddhism. And the minaret, piercing the sky like a missile, is easily caricatured as a fearsome image.
A hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Dickens opened “A Tale of Two Cities” with the now-famous phrase: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. …”
Those words resonated with me recently while contemplating the impact of the Obama presidency on blacks in America. So far, it’s been mixed. Blacks are living a tale of two Americas — one of the ascension of the first black president with the cultural capital that accrues; the other of a collapsing quality of life and amplified racial tensions, while supporting a president who is loath to even acknowledge their pain, let alone commiserate in it.
Last year, blacks dared to dream anew, envisioning a future in which Obama’s election would be the catalyst for an era of prosperity and more racial harmony. Now that the election’s afterglow has nearly faded, the hysteria of hope is being ground against the hard stone of reality. Things have not gotten better. In many ways, they’ve gotten worse.
From Daphne Eviatar, in The Washington Independent
Last year, an Arizona housing developer known for building affordable homes for Hispanics filed a complaint against the City of Yuma, which denied his application to build homes for low to moderate income families in a predominately white high-income neighborhood. The developer sued for discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, charging that the decision was racially motivated. But the federal court dismissed the case before the developer could even gather evidence, ruling that the discrimination the developer alleged was not “plausible.”
In the past, merely stating the allegations would have been enough to allow the developer to at least begin gathering information to try to prove his case. But two recent Supreme Court decisions have made bringing discrimination cases far more difficult by demanding not only that the claim clearly meet the requirements of the law, but also that a judge find it “plausible” before allowing the plaintiff to begin collecting evidence. The consequence is that many people who in the past might have won their cases on the merits now won’t even get past the entrance gate.
That’s either a sea change in the way the courts handle lawsuits and particularly civil rights claims, as several witnesses and senators argued on Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the subject, or it’s merely a clarification of the longstanding procedural requirements, as some Republicans at the hearing argued.
My temporary home of the last five years, Switzerland, has just voted for one of the most bigoted and undemocratic constitutional reforms in recent memory: the banning of Islamic minarets on Mosques. The vote appears to be quite stunning, with 58% of voters backing the ban. This was after the most recent polls showed the measure being rejected by 53%, a story in itself.
This represents the most direct attack on the European Muslim minority yet. The French “headscarf ban” was at least religion neutral — something I would still argue against (as an Atheist), but I appreciate the attempt at even-handedness. On the other hand, this constitutional amendment targets a small, largely immigrant population (many of whom have no vote), single-handedly banning them from behavior that would be perfectly acceptable were they of any other faith. Outrageous.
At a literary festival in New York City some years ago, I was introduced to a French writer who, almost immediately after we shook hands, asked me where I was from. When the answer was “Morocco,” he put down his drink and stared at me with anthropological curiosity. We spoke about literature, of course, and discovered a common love for the work of the South African writer J.M. Coetzee, but before long the conversation had turned to Moroccan writers, then to Moroccan writers in France, and then, as I expected it eventually would, to Moroccan immigrants in France–at which point the French writer declared, “If they were all like you, there wouldn’t be a problem.”
His tone suggested he was paying me some sort of compliment, though I found it odd that he would want the 1 million Moroccans in his country to be carbon copies of someone he had barely met and whose views on immigration–had he asked about them–he might not have found quite to his liking. It was only later, when I had returned to my hotel room, that it dawned on me that the profile of the unproblematic Moroccan immigrant he might have had in mind was based solely on conspicuous things. Some of these, like skin color, were purely accidental; others, like sartorial choices or dietary practices, were in my opinion inessential, but from his vantage point perhaps they suggested a smaller degree of “Muslimness.”
INTERVIEW. Janet Muller speaks to Nationalia. She is the Chief Executive of Pobal, a partnership that coordinates and supports the groups in favour of Irish language in Ireland. Muller explains the current state of the Celtic language, especially in the media. Two important Irish language papers closed down during 2008. Mairtin O’Muilleoir, former publisher of one of them, then said: ‘To lose one newspaper in Lá Nua is a tragedy but to lose two with Foinse closing is just plain carelessness.’
Nationalia: Two Irish language newspapers -Lá Nua and Foinse- closed down during the last year. Is it a sign of declining public usage of Irish or just another consequence of the current economic downturn which is especially affecting the print media?
Janet Muller: It is a sign that it is difficult to maintain such an intensive project as a newspaper, particularly in the case of Lá Nua, which was a daily paper and had never been properly supported by the state throughout its entire existence. It is extremely ironic that the paper, which had nonetheless survived for twenty years was closed down after the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement and through the decision of the all-Ireland body for the Irish language to end its funding. The other paper, which was a weekly has now started again in a different form and is being distributed as a weekly supplement with an English language paper. It has been very shocking to the community to lose two newspapers in six months and while some positive developments are happening in the media, these are being mainly community-driven rather than brought about through careful collaboration and co-ordination between the community, the funders and the states.
Nationalia: How was this loss perceived by the Irish society? Do you think there is support for further public spending on the language? Are there significant differences between both sides of the border regarding this issue?
Janet Muller: This is a mixed picture. There is wide support for Irish throughout Ireland, even amongst those who do not necessarily want to use the language themselves or have their children educated through it. However, there is an ethnic and colonial history in Ireland and in the North, the British government has neglected and politicised the Irish language (most recently in 2007 when it failed to fulfil its commitment on the Irish Language Act and used this as a bargaining ploy with the unionist parties) and some political parties who have stoked hostility towards the Irish language to make themselves appear ‘stronger’ to their electorate. The circumstances of the language North and South are very different. In the South the language has constitutional protection as well as the Official Languages Act 2003. The community sector is longer established and has a different relationship with the state than the sector in the North has. Although Irish is one language it exists in vastly different situations north and south and this must be recognised.
Raegen T. Miller reviews the book The Mathematics of Sex: How Biology and Society Conspire to Limit Talented Women and Girls by Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams in Science for 20 November 2009:
Two groups of people should care about the underrepresentationof women in math-intensive fields: academics and everyone else.In The Mathematics of Sex: How Biology and Society Conspireto Limit Talented Women and Girls, Stephen J. Ceci and WendyM. Williams provide a valuable resource for both audiences.For academics, their book may help diffuse political tensioninimical to the goals of the academy. Currently, the issue ofunderrepresentation is a political lightning rod, and scholarsare virtually guaranteed to attract abundant criticism for posingand testing any hypothesis explaining gender disparities amongscientists in different fields. Such criticism is not alwaysconfined to the scientific merits of its recipient’s work, andjunior scholars, in particular, may jeopardize their careersby pursuing research agendas speaking to the relative scarcityof women in mathematically oriented fields. An intellectualclimate more conducive to self-censorship than the pursuit ofknowledge seems unlikely to help explain the issue of underrepresentation,much less address it. In other words, the academy has painteditself into a corner, and it needs help getting out. In thissense, The Mathematics of Sex is a lifeline.
Picture a typical MBA lecture theatre twenty years ago. In it the majority of students scribbling away furiously will have conformed to the standard template of the time: male, middle class and Western. Walk into a class today, however, and you’ll get a completely different impression. For a start you will now see plenty more women—the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, for example, boasts that 40% of its new intake is female. You will also see a wide range of ethnic groups and nationals of practically every country.
It might be tempting, therefore, to think that the old barriers have been broken down and equal opportunity achieved. But, increasingly, this apparent diversity is becoming a mask for an insidious new type of conformity. Behind the differences in sex and sexuality, the varying skin tones and mother tongues, there are common attitudes, expectations and ambitions which risk creating a set of clones among the business leaders of the future. A future in which the methods and motivations of hotshots in Bangalore, Beijing and Boston are impossible to tell apart.
Many of the corporations which led us into the current economic mess were also the most enthusiastic hirers of MBAs. Diversity, it seems, has not helped to address fundamental weaknesses in business leadership. So what can be done to create more effective stewards of the commercial world? According to Valerie Gauthier, associate dean at HEC Paris, the key lies in the process by which MBA programmes recruit their students. At the moment candidates are selected on a fairly narrow set of criteria such as prior academic and career performance, analytical and problem solving abilities and numeracy. This is then coupled to a school’s picture of what a diverse class should look like, with the result that passport, ethnic origin and sex can all become influencing factors. But schools rarely dig down to find out what really makes an applicant tick, to create a class which also contains diversity of attitude and approach—arguably the only diversity that, in a business context, really matters.
Abstract: Around the world, inequalities exist around boundaries of race, social class, gender, disability, religious beliefs and sexual orientation, often resulting from past and current discriminatory practices. Governments have taken certain measures, including enacting policies such as positive action, to remedy such discrimination. This paper provides a comparative analysis of perceptions of the impact of positive action in seven EU and three non-EU countries. The study adopted participatory methods including consensus workshops, interviews and policy analysis to obtain data from designers of positive action. Findings are discussed, conclusions drawn and wide-ranging recommendations are made at the EC, individual countries and organisational levels.
If you have read the paper you may wish to add a review.
Participatory Action Research in Cultural Heritage Management for Indigenous Cultural Heritage: The Gabbie Kylie Foundation, Esperance, Western Australia by David Rhys Guilfoyle, Dr. Andrew M Guilfoyle and Doc Reynolds (to be published in an upcoming issue)
One of the reasons I’ve been blogging so much about obesity, class, and race, is that these are the questions I live with. To set down the road of food consciousness, to endeavor to understand what you’re putting in the only body you’ll ever have, is to phase-shift into a parallel world. You become acquainted with ritual of unwrapping aluminum foil on long plane rides. You cut elaborate deals with your partner over child-care and cleaning. You go hurtling through the internet in search of a decent pizza stone. It angers your son, because his simple request for Pop-Tarts turns into a pop-quiz referencing the ingredients on the box.
But more than that, it’s the world I live in. The buses in Harlem heave under the weight of wrecked bodies. New York will not super-size itself, so you’ll see whole rows in which one person is taking up two seats and aisles in which people strain to squeeze past each other. And then there are the middle-age amputees in wheelchairs who’ve lost a leg or two way before their time. When I lived in Brooklyn, the most depressing aspect of my day was the commute back home. The deeper the five train wended into Brooklyn, the blacker it became, and the blacker it became, the fatter it got.
A new research article by Robert W. Livingston and Nicholas A. Pearce, scheduled for publication in the journal Psychological Science, reports that facial characteristics of Black chief executive officers of major corporations affect their standing and status. The article is entitled “The Teddy-Bear Effect: Does Having a Baby Face Benefit Black Chief Executive Officers?”
Prior research suggests that having a baby face is negatively correlated with success among White males in high positions of leadership. However, we explored the positive role of such “babyfaceness” in the success of high-ranking Black executives. Two studies revealed that Black chief executive officers (CEOs) were significantly more baby-faced than White CEOs. Black CEOs were also judged as being warmer than White CEOs, even though ordinary Blacks were rated categorically as being less warm than ordinary Whites. In addition, baby-faced Black CEOs tended to lead more prestigious corporations and earned higher salaries than mature-faced Black CEOs; these patterns did not emerge for White CEOs. Taken together, these findings suggest that babyfaceness is a disarming mechanism that facilitates the success of Black leaders by attenuating stereotypical perceptions that Blacks are threatening. Theoretical and practical implications for research on race, gender, and leadership are discussed.
In the US, one of the great uses of racism was (and is) to induce poor white people to feel a crucial and entirely specious fellowship with rich white people; one of the great uses of anti-racism is to make poor black people feel a crucial and equally specious fellowship with rich black people. Furthermore, in the form of the celebration of ‘identity’ and ‘ethnic diversity’, it seeks to create a bond between poor black people and rich white ones. So the African-American woman who cleans my office is supposed to feel not so bad about the fact that I make almost ten times as much money as she does because she can be confident that I’m not racist or sexist and that I respect her culture. And she’s also supposed to feel pride because the dean of our college, who makes much more than ten times what she does, is African-American, like her. And since the chancellor of our university, who makes more than 15 times what she does, is not only African-American but a woman too (the fruits of both anti-racism and anti-sexism!), she can feel doubly good about her. But, and I acknowledge that this is the thinnest of anecdotal evidence, I somehow doubt she does.
Andrew Jakubowicz is Professor of Sociology at the University of Technology Sydney, Head of the Social and Political Change Academic Group, and Co-director of the Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre. Jakubowicz holds a PhD from UNSW and an honours degree in Government from Sydney University . Since the early 1970s, Jakubowicz’s work has focused on race relations, theories of cultural and ethnic diversity, disability and media. He was foundation director of the Centre for Multicultural Studies at the University of Wollongong and foundation chair of the Disability Studies and Research Institute. Jakubowicz has an international profile, having taught at universities in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Jock Collins is Professor of Economics at the University Technology, Sydney (UTS), Australia, where he has been teaching since 1977. His research interests centre on an interdisciplinary study of immigration and cultural diversity in the economy and society. His recent research has been on Australian immigration, ethnic crime, immigrant entrepreneurship, immigrant youth, ethnic precincts and tourism, multiculturalism, the Cronulla Beach Riots and the social use of ethnic heritage and the built environment. He is the author or co-author of nine books, the most recent of which is Bin Laden in the Suburbs: criminalizing the Arab other (with Scott Poynting, Greg Noble and Paul Tabar). More…
School settings are not always experienced as safe or welcoming places if you identify as a Queer Young Person. Making available the stories of Queer Young People, and asking people to read these aloud, is a very strategic way to generate change.
This workbook aims to make a contribution to the expansion of this cultures acceptance and acknowledgment of sexual and gender diversity because the wellbeing of Queer Young People, of all young people, is always compromised in settings that are not fully affirming of sexual and gender diversity.
This workbook is designed to be used as a professional development resource by teachers, youth workers and others who work with young people.
The passion for minority rights that she showed from Princeton onward is scarcely reflected in a review of her judicial decisions. So which way would she lean on the Supreme Court? More…
A U.S. National Science Foundation program dedicated to increasing the number of science and engineering Ph.D.s earned by members of underrepresented minority groups is now bearing fruit, according to a news note in the 24 April 2009 issue of Science magazine.
At 66 of the 79 U.S. universities participating in the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program, the annual number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral degrees awarded to minority students increased by 33.9% from 2001 to 2008. The gains were even more remarkable among the natural sciences and engineering fields, where Ph.D.’s for minorities increased by 50%.
This beautifully written book represents a journey. In response to a significant challenge from Sudanese community leaders, Peter Westoby embarked on a vibrant intellectual quest. In the process he has carved out new ways of understanding experiences of distress and healing. The Sociality of Refugee Healing will be an invaluable companion for practitioners, policy makers and anyone who cares about communities who have endured hardship. David Denborough
Dulwich Centre, Adelaide, Author of ‘Collective narrative practice: responding to individuals, groups and communities who have experienced trauma’
This book proposes a socially-oriented model of healing, which augurs a fundamental shift in thinking about refugee settlement: instead of focusing on the past experiences of refugees it is the present world and context of settlement that should be the primary focus for healing work. This book, steeped in the author’s experience and extensive research, boldly and convincingly proposes a paradigmatic shift in the theory and practice of working with refugees. As such, the book provides an indispensible contribution to existing debates about refugee settlement and charts new ground for future inquiry. Zlatko Skrbis
Professor of Sociology, The University of Queensland Continue reading ‘The Sociality of Refugee Healing’
The key objective of this book is to explore identity and wellbeing among young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The chapters collectively explore some of the most critical issues in research into second-generation migrants, namely identity formation, social connectedness and the role of social policy and intervention in dealing with these complex issues.
The book also focuses on the problematised nature of certain migrant groups, such as Muslim youth in the West. The book consists of thirteen chapters organised around three broad thematic sections, namely: migrant youth identity and social connectedness, focusing on cultural adaptation and wellbeing among migrant youth; global and educational perspectives on the social experiences of migrant youth, focusing in particular on comparative insights from Australia, France and the US; and the interaction of migrant youth with new media and its implications for social connectedness.
Accommodation for the 2009 Diversity Conference in Riga, Latvia may now be booked. Please see the Conference Accommodation webpage for more information.
Explore Sigulda ‘Switzerland of Latvia’ by joining our Pre Conference Sigulda Tour.
Also announcing our post-conference tours to see Old Riga, the Art Nouveau district and visit the seaside town of Jurmala and tour the 19th and 20th century wooden houses.
For more information please see the Conference website.
Sybille De La Rosa is a PhD-student at the Free University Berlin and research assistant at the research project “Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood” where she works in a theory project about political power relations and arguments. Her doctoral work focuses on a concept of intercultural understanding based on the concepts of appropriation and alienation. She wrote her magister thesis on Jürgen Habermas’ theory of communication and Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition. More…
David S. Silverman
David S. Silverman, Director of the Communication Program, Maryville University, St. Louis, USA
David S. Silverman followed a six-year career as a technical writer in Denver, Colorado, working for various software and telecommunication companies–including a journey to Antarctica–to work on a doctorate in communication (University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004). Dr. Silverman joined the faculty at Xavier University in New Orleans the fall of 2004 until Hurricane Katrina forced his family to evacuate. More…
Olga Silverman
Olga Silverman, Valley City State University, Valley City, North Dakota, USA
Olga Silverman was born and raised in Riga, Latvia. She graduated from the University of Latvia in 1995 with a Master’s degree in Economics and Information Technology. After a career with that included the Riga Electric Machine Building Factory, the Latvian Ship Registry and a private telecommunication concern, Olga immigrated to the United States. More…
June Bam-Hutchison , Community Development and Diversity Strategist, London, UK
Aigars Ceplītis-Katinsk, Head of the Department of Audio and Visual Arts, Riga International School of Economics and Business Administration, Riga, Latvia
Andrejs Chirjevskis, Associate Professor and Business Consultant of RISEBA, Riga, Latvia
Jack Levin, Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Northeastern University, Boston, USA
Positive intergroup contact has been a guiding framework for research on reducing intergroup tension and for interventions aimed at that goal. We propose that beyond improving attitudes toward the out-group, positive contact affects disadvantaged-group members’ perceptions of intergroup inequality in ways that can undermine their support for social change toward equality. In Study 1, participants were assigned to either high- or low-power experimental groups and then brought together to discuss either commonalities between the groups or intergroup differences. Commonality-focused contact, relative to difference-focused contact, produced heightened expectations for fair (i.e., egalitarian) out-group behavior among members of disadvantaged groups. These expectations, however, proved unrealistic when compared against the actions of members of the advantaged groups. Participants in Study 2 were Israeli Arabs (a disadvantaged minority) who reported the amount of positive contact they experienced with Jews. More positive intergroup contact was associated with increased perceptions of Jews as fair, which in turn predicted decreased support for social change. Implications for social change are considered.
The ACTU President, Sharan Burrow in her foreword described the work as a “unique contribution to Australian history - lens on union and labour history offers a rich understanding of how multiculturalism developed within a working class environment, through our workplaces, ethnic and migrant associations, our inner city schools and, indeed, the influence on public policy”.
Dr Michael Tsounis, the doyen of Greek-Australian historians, in his foreword writes: “This study adds a new chapter in understanding the development of Australia as a multi-ethnic and multicultural society… and the role played by Greek-Australians”. The book has several chapters on the history and role of Ethnic Community Councils, Ethnic Affairs Commissions, Ethnic Affairs Ministries and Departments.
We are now in final production for The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, Volume 8, Number 6. This issue will be published shortly and will be available in the online bookstore.
On that supercharged day in 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala., she rode her way into history books, credited with helping to ignite the civil rights movement.
In the first narrative of my experience in slavery, written nearly forty years ago, and in various writings since, I have given the public what I considered very good reasons for withholding the manner of my escape. In substance these reasons were, first, that such publication at any time during the existence of slavery might be used by the master against the slave, and prevent the future escape of any who might adopt the same means that I did. The second reason was, if possible, still more binding to silence: the publication of details would certainly have put in peril the persons and property of those who assisted. Murder itself was not more sternly and certainly punished in the State of Maryland than that of aiding and abetting the escape of a slave. Many colored men, for no other crime than that of giving aid to a fugitive slave, have, like Charles T. Torrey, perished in prison. The abolition of slavery in my native State and throughout the country, and the lapse of time, render the caution hitherto observed no longer necessary. But even since the abolition of slavery, I have sometimes thought it well enough to baffle curiosity by saying that while slavery existed there were good reasons for not telling the manner of my escape, and since slavery had ceased to exist, there was no reason for telling it. I shall now, however, cease to avail myself of this formula, and, as far as I can, endeavor to satisfy this very natural curiosity. I should, perhaps, have yielded to that feeling sooner, had there been anything very heroic or thrilling in the incidents connected with my escape, for I am sorry to say I have nothing of that sort to tell; and yet the courage that could risk betrayal and the bravery which was ready to encounter death, if need be, in pursuit of freedom, were essential features in the undertaking. My success was due to address rather than courage, to good luck rather than bravery. My means of escape were provided for me by the very men who were making laws to hold and bind me more securely in slavery.
The author of a new book talks about the brain’s hidden impulses, and why you’re more biased than you think:
THE late Paul Samuelson once quipped that “women are just men with less money”. As a father of six, he might have added something about women’s role in the reproduction of the species. But his aphorism is about as good a one-sentence summary of classical feminism as you can get.
The latest issue of 
From Tricia Wang’s blog 
