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.

To read more…

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

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.

For more information, please click here.

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.

To read more…

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.

To read more…

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.

To read more…

The latest issue of The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations includes:

• TLC³ -Teaching and Learning Connections, City and Country: Creating Partnerships between City and Remote Rural Educational Settings by Coral Cara.
• Russians from China: Migrations and Identity by Mara Moustafine.
• The Fatal Errors of Cross-Cultural Communication in United States Troops in Iraq by Robin “Ann” O’Connor.
• Jewish Communities in Tunisia during WWII: Impacts of Intergenerational Trauma on Coexistence by Julian Silverman.

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.

To read more…

• The Relationship between Schools’ Feeding Programmes and Learning Achievement: A Study of Boarding Secondary Schools in Nigeria by Roseline Emeh Uyanga.
• The Ethnography of a Turkish Wedding: Symbolic Interaction, Ritualistic Ceremonies and Secularism by Michael W. Smith.
• Participatory Action Research in Cultural Heritage Management for Indigenous Cultural Heritage: The Gabbie Kylie Foundation, Esperance, Western Australia by David R. Guilfoyle, Andrew M Guilfoyle and Doc Reynolds.
• Open Societies? Connections between Women’s Activism, Globalization and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe by Katalin Fábián.
• Different Horizons: Food Miles and First Nations in the Minnesota North Country by Mark Lawrence.

From Tricia Wang’s blog cultural bytes:

Google announced on its company blog that Chinese hackers had attacked its users and as a result Google.CN may leave China due to the security breaches.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Google is primarily used by highly educated netizens. And even these users prefer Google.COM over Google.CN.
5. Google is not successful at reaching the mobile internet market.

For the complete post… ]]> http://ondiversity.com/2010/01/23/suggestions-for-making-googles-services-more-relevant-for-non-elite-chinese-users-involves-some-ethnography/feed/ http://ondiversity.com/2010/01/20/diversity-journal-volume-9-complete/ http://ondiversity.com/2010/01/20/diversity-journal-volume-9-complete/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:55:53 +0000 kathryn http://ondiversity.com/?p=2320

The final issue of Volume 9 of The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations has been published.

Volume 9, Number 6 includes:

]]> http://ondiversity.com/2010/01/20/diversity-journal-volume-9-complete/feed/