Reflections on race in contemporary Ireland

Any reflection on the category "race" in the contemporary world is inevitably framed by the cumulative layers of meanings and practices attached to bodies and cultures over the previous centuries. If the idea of race resembles anything, it is a palimpsest,1with past interpretations leaking through to make the ink of the present run. Accordingly, I present some historical notes not as a distinct prelude to the "real" story, positing a rupture of past and present, but as the beginning of the story proper.

Coral reef habitat maps derived from a high-spatial-resolution multi-spectral satellite image using object based image analysis

Coral reef maps at various spatial scales and extents are needed for mapping, monitoring, modelling, and management of these environments. High spatial resolution satellite imagery, pixel <10 m, integrated with field survey data and processed with various mapping approaches, can provide these maps. These approaches have been accurately applied to single reefs (10-100 km**2), covering one high spatial resolution scene from which a single thematic layer (e.g. benthic community) is mapped. This article demonstrates how a hierarchical mapping approach can be applied to coral reefs from individual reef to reef-system scales (10-1000 km**2) using object-based image classification of high spatial resolution images guided by ecological and geomorphological principles. The approach is demonstrated for three individual reefs (10-35 km**2) in Australia, Fiji, and Palau; and for three complex reef systems (300-600 km**2) one in the Solomon Islands and two in Fiji. Archived high spatial resolution images were pre-processed and mosaics were created for the reef systems. Georeferenced benthic photo transect surveys were used to acquire cover information. Field and image data were integrated using an object-based image analysis approach that resulted in a hierarchically structured classification. Objects were assigned class labels based on the dominant benthic cover type, or location-relevant ecological and geomorphological principles, or a combination thereof. This generated a hierarchical sequence of reef maps with an increasing complexity in benthic thematic information that included: 'reef', 'reef type', 'geomorphic zone', and 'benthic community'. The overall accuracy of the 'geomorphic zone' classification for each of the six study sites was 76-82% using 6-10 mapping categories. For 'benthic community' classification, the overall accuracy was 52-75% with individual reefs having 14-17 categories and reef systems 20-30 categories. We show that an object-based classification of high spatial resolution imagery, guided by field data and ecological and geomorphological principles, can produce consistent, accurate benthic maps at four hierarchical spatial scales for coral reefs of various sizes and complexities.

Understanding Suicidal Behavior Among Latin Adolescent Girls Living in the United States

Suicide in adolescents between the age of 10 and 24 years old is the second cause of death in the United States. This rate differentiates by ethnic and racial groups within the same country; Latino/Hispanic adolescent girls have the highest rate of suicide behavior. Considering that Latino/Hispanic is the fastest growing minority group in the nation, with an expected population of 30% by 2060, this issue should be a public health priority. This paper answers the following question: what are the conditions operating among Latin adolescent girls living in the United States that cause significantly higher suicidal behavior rates in the U.S. and compared with their peers in Latin American countries? And, how adequate are treatments such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and prevention programs in tackling the specific risk factors affecting this population? The paper is divided into five chapters; the first four are based on a comprehensive literature review of statistics of suicide, risk and protective factors, treatment, and prevention programs. The last chapter offers an analysis of the sociological phenomenon of suicidal behavior in this population and three brief narratives of attempters and non-attempters. Studies show that subjective distress, familism and immigration issues are the key risk factors of suicidal behavior in Latina adolescent girls. Understanding the risk factors is key in order to design promotion and prevention programs that are culturally relevant and that can have a positive impact in the reduction of this alarming phenomenon.

(Table 1) Radiocarbon dating of a lake sediment core, southern West Greenland

The dominant processes determining biological structure in lakes at millennial timescales are complex. In this study, we used a multi-proxy approach to determine the relative importance of in-lake versus indirect processes on the Holocene development of an oligotrophic lake in SW Greenland (66.99°N, 50.97°W). A 14C and 210Pb-dated sediment core covering approximately 8500 years BP was analyzed for organic-inorganic carbon content, pigments, diatoms, chironomids, cladocerans, and stable isotopes (d13C, d18O). Relationships among the different proxies and a number of independent controlling variables (Holocene temperature, an isotope-inferred cooling period, and immigration of Betula nana into the catchment) were explored using redundancy analysis (RDA) independent of time. The main ecological trajectories in the lake biota were captured by ordination first axis sample scores (18-32% variance explained). The importance of the arrival of Betula (ca. 6500 years BP) into the catchment was indicated by a series of partial-constrained ordinations, uniquely explaining 12-17% of the variance in chironomids and up to 9% in pigments. Climate influences on lake biota were strongest during a short-lived cooling period (identified by altered stable isotopes) early in the development of the lake when all proxies changed rapidly, although only chironomids had a unique component (8% in a partial-RDA) explained by the cooling event. Holocene climate explained less variance than either catchment changes or biotic relationships. The sediment record at this site indicates the importance of catchment factors for lake development, the complexity of community trends even in relatively simple systems (invertebrates are the top predators in the lake) and the challenges of deriving palaeoclimate inferences from sediment records in low-Arctic freshwater lakes.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY EXPERIENCES OF PERSIAN WOMEN RECENTLY IMMIGRATED TO CANADA

New immigrants to Canada are generally in similar or better physical and mental health than people born in Canada, however, many studies suggest that their health tends to decline quickly after immigration. Lower physical activity levels among new immigrants might be contributing to this phenomenon. There is a paucity of information regarding the physical activity behaviour of the Canadian immigrant population in general and of West Asian women, such as Iranians (Persians), in particular. Given that this group is characterised by an increasing population growth and lower rates of physical activity, it is critical to understand how best to address physical activity promotion in this population. Purpose: To understand the physical activity experiences of Persian women recently immigrated to Toronto, Canada in order to develop recommendations for the design and implementation of tailored physical activity programs. Methods: A qualitative interpretive description approach was chosen to collect and describe ideas, experiences, and perceptions of physical activity within 10 new immigrant women. Using an inductive approach, two fundamental techniques of immersion and crystallization were used throughout the analysis. Thematic analysis was conducted by performing a sequential process of open and axial coding. Emerged themes were further conceptualized through a socio-ecological lens. Results: The facilitators and barriers to physical activity among the women were situated within five overarching categories, 1) Perceptions about physical activity, 2) New physical environment and social structure, 3) Cultural heritage values, 4) Settlement and immigration factors, and 5) Physical activity program features. Discussion: Findings revealed that Persian new immigrant women’s engagement in physical activity after immigration is influenced by factors across the individual, sociocultural, environmental, institutional, and policy levels. Newcomer women’s physical activity was influenced by their transition from their society of origin to the host society and the challenges and successes experienced throughout the settlement and acculturation process. The most noticeable barrier to physical activity in Canada for the women emerged as the lack of communication of physical activity information to newcomers. A set of recommendations is provided for developing efficient physical activity programs for Persian immigrant women, which may also be relevant for other immigrant groups in Canada.

Migrant women’s employment in paid reproductive work through the crisis: the case of Italy (2007-2012)

Paid reproductive work, especially in the case of cleaning and home-care for elderly people, is an important sector for foreign women in Italy. For this reason, since the beginning of the current economic crisis, scholars have wondered about the impact of the recession on migrant domestic workers. They have looked particularly at possible competition with Italian women entering the sector for lack of better alternatives. Our paper takes this discussion a step further by assessing the overall changes affecting migrant women in the Italian labour market, 2007-2012. We will look at how their position has been transformed, by taking both an ethnic perspective, in relation to Italian women, and a gender perspective, in relation to migrant men. By way of a conclusion, the argument will be made that there is a substantial lack of competition between Italian and foreign women in the care and domestic sector due to differences in their earnings, hours of work and activities.

The gendered effects of family migration law: contextual interpretation as a possible judicial remedy

At all normative levels, family migration law can disproportionally and negatively affect immigrant women’s rights in this field, producing gendered effects. In some cases, such effects are related to the normative and judicial imposition of unviable family-related models (e.g., the ʻgood mother ̕ the one-breadwinner family, or a rigid distinction between productive and reproductive work). In other cases, they are due to family migration law’s overlooking of the specific needs and difficulties of immigrant women, within their families and in the broader context of their host countries’ social and normative framework.To effectively expose and correct this gender bias, in this article I propose an alternative view of immigrant women’s right to family life, as a cluster of rights and entitlements rather than as a mono-dimensional right. As a theoretical approach, this construction is better equipped to capture the complex experiences of immigrant women in the European legal space, and to shed light on the gendered effects generated not by individual norms but by the interaction of norms that are traditionally assigned to separated legal domains (e.g., immigration law and criminal law). As a judicial strategy, this understanding is capable of prompting a consideration by domestic and supranational courts of immigrant women not as isolated individuals, but as ‘individuals in context’. I shall define this type of approach as ‘contextual interpretation’, understood as the consideration of immigrant women in the broader contexts of their families, their host societies and the normative frameworks applicable to them. Performed in a gendersensitive manner, a contextual judicial interpretation has the potential to neutralize the gendered effects of certain family migration norms. To illustrate these points, I will discuss selected judicial examples offered by the European Court on Human Rights, as well as from domestic jurisdictions of countries with a particularly high incidence of immigrant women (Italy and Spain).

El concepto de ciudadanía en la obra de Dominique Schnapper: entre el tipo ideal sociológico y el ideal de sociedad democrática

Este artículo analiza la evolución del concepto de ciudadanía en la obra de Dominique Schnapper como uno de los ejemplos más destacados en la sociología contemporánea de una aproximación completa a la cuestión. A través de un recorrido exhaustivo por su obra, el objetivo es profundizar en la comprensión de la tensión entre la dinámica democrática y la idea de ciudadanía en cuanto que tipo ideal del vínculo social y como principio regulador de las sociedades democráticas. La autora propone en sus primeros trabajos una noción de ciudadanía vinculada al proceso político de construcción de la nación que no distingue entre la definición de un tipo ideal sociológico y la construcción de un ideal de sociedad. Esta confusión se corrige al introducir posteriormente en el análisis la incidencia de la democracia sobre las experiencias individuales de la ciudadanía, aportando una perspectiva de análisis de gran utilidad tanto para la comprensión de la dinámica contemporánea de las sociedades democráticas como para la necesaria defensa de la ciudadanía como vínculo social fundamental y como principio fundador de la legitimidad política.

"Unha espía no Reino de Galicia" de Manuel Rivas: O humor e a construción da identidade nacional galega

Este estudo analiza como Manuel Rivas aproveita a ambigüidade do concepto de estereotipo para crear una identidade cultural galega. En Unha espía no Reino de Galicia (2004), Rivas propón que a imaxe paródica do galego e o conxunto de trazos estereotipados que se lle asignan non son un elemento alleo a cultura galega, senón que é un trazo integral da dialéctica da súa identidade nacional. Desta maneira, ó feito diferencial galego, ademais da lingua, a unidade territorial, o celtismo, ou a emigración, habería que engadir a capacidade do galego de parodiar o seu propio discurso nacional.

Through Class Darkly: Class in the British TV Noir

Class has always been at the heart of the television crime drama. Whether it is the post-war paternalism of Dixon of Dock Green (1955 – 1976), the harsh social realism of The Sweeney (1975-1978), or the almost mythical evocations of Britain in Heartbeat (1992 – 2010) and Midsomer Murders (1997- present), class and crime have always been seen as being inextricably linked. Since the 1990s, the British crime drama has been influenced by successive waves of cultural imports from, firstly, the US and then from Scandinavia. There is now a recognisable ‘genre’ for what we might think of as British TV Noir. Beginning with shows such as Cracker (1993 – 2006), Prime Suspect (1991 – 2006) and Messiah (2001) and continuing with dramas like Red Riding (2008), Southcliffe (2013) and Hinterland (2013 – present), the British TV Noir employs narratives and stylistic tropes that might usually be associated with the cinema of the 1940s. Although drawing influence from high profile shows such as Twin Peaks (1990 – 1991), Millennium (1996) and (latterly) The Wire (2002 – 2008), CSI (2000 – present) and The Killing (2007) these British Noir shows also articulate the nation’s shifting class system. As Susan Sydney-Smith has ably demonstrated, the crime drama is “historically contingent” (Sydney-Smith, 2002, p. 5) and shaped by the surrounding socio-political, as well aesthetic, context. To this end, this chapter traces the depiction of class in three key crime series – Prime Suspect, Red Riding and Southcliffe - and explores how social class, and more importantly, its changing face provides a constant background to the narratives and characterisations. These three texts were each produced at pivotal moments in Britain’s relationship to class – Prime Suspect was shown 6 months after Margaret Thatcher vacated office; Red Riding was produced in the midst of the global recession in 2008 and Southcliffe was made in the shadows of stringing welfare and immigration reforms. These texts span three successive political administrations and over two decades of social and political change. Understanding the relationship between criminal activity and class in these dramas however is far more complicated than simply reading the historical context through the text. Commensurate with its cinematic incarnation, TV Noir is both reflective and productive, employing visual and narrative tropes to manipulate, as well reflect, its audience’s moral and social positioning. The picture that emerges from an examination of class and the British TV Noir is one of suspicion and discontent. As Andrew Spicer suggests (with reference to British cinema) the Noir sensibility both depicts and critiques a society that it sees as being “class-ridden, racist and misogynist” (Spicer, 2002, p.202). This is certainly the case with the texts that are being examined here, as social positions and taxonomies are constantly being redefined and renegotiated.

Dancing the Archive: Rhythms of Change in Post-Volcano Identities on Montserrat, West Indies

In this dissertation, I demonstrate how improvisations within the structures of performance during Montserrat’s annual festivals produce “rhythms of change” that contribute to the formation of cultural identities. Montserrat is a small island of 39.5 square miles in the Caribbean’s Leeward Islands, and a volcanic disaster in the 1990s led to the loss of villages, homes, and material possessions. The crisis resulted in mass displacement and emigration, and today’s remaining population of 5,000 is now in a stage of post-volcano redevelopment. The reliability of written archives for establishing cultural knowledge is tenuous, and the community is faced with re-energizing cherished cultural traditions. This ethnographic research traces my embodied search for Montserrat’s history through an archive that is itself intangible and performative. Festivals produce some of the island’s most visible and culturally political events, and music and dance performances prompt on- and off-stage discussions about the island’s multifaceted heritage. The festival cycle provides the structure for ongoing renegotiations of what it means to be “Montserratian.” I focus especially on the island’s often-discussed and debated “triangular” heritage of Irishness, Africanness, and Montserratianness as it is performed during the festivals. Through my meanderings along the winding hilly roads of Montserrat, I explored reconfigurations of cultural memory through the island’s masquerade dance tradition and other festival celebrations. In this work, I introduce a “Cast of Characters,” each of whose scholarly, artistic, and public service work on Montserrat contributes to the shape and transformation of the island’s post-volcano cultural identities today. This dissertation is about the kinesthetic transmission of shared (and sometimes unshared) cultural knowledge, the substance of which echoes in the rhythms of Montserrat’s music and dance practices today.

Manoel Pinto

Como consequência das invasões francesas a Portugal, dá-se a partida da corte portuguesa para o Brasil e o consequente desenvolvimento daquela colónia. Esse crescimento tornou-a num destino de eleição para a emigração portuguesa e levou a que, após o regresso do rei a Portugal, o Brasil se tornasse num país independente. O recémcriado império brasileiro manteve-se atrativo para milhares de portugueses, muito dos quais regressavam posteriormente à terra natal com uma favorável situação económica. Nessas circunstâncias, estava Manoel Pinto quando retornou a Portugal e constituiu família em Castelo de Paiva. Porém o imprevisto fez dele um foragido levando-o de novo a terras brasileiras, onde um novo acontecimento deu um rumo improvável à situação e ao desfecho que lhe seguiu.

Influence of Soil Biogeochemical Properties on the Invasiveness of Old World Climbing Fern (Lygodium microphyllum)

The state of Florida has one of the most severe exotic species invasion problems in the United States, but little is known about their influence on soil biogeochemistry. My dissertation research includes a cross-continental field study in Australia, Florida, and greenhouse and growth chamber experiments, focused on the soil-plant interactions of one of the most problematic weeds introduced in south Florida, Lygodium microphyllum (Old World climbing fern). Analysis of field samples from the ferns introduced and their native range indicate that L microphyllum is highly dependent on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for phosphorus uptake and biomass accumulation. Relationship with AMF is stronger in relatively dry conditions, which are commonly found in some Florida sites, compared to more common wet sites where the fern is found in its native Australia. In the field, L. microphyllum is found to thrive in a wide range of soil pH, texture, and nutrient conditions, with strongly acidic soils in Australia and slightly acidic soils in Florida. Soils with pH 5.5 - 6.5 provide the most optimal growth conditions for L. microphyllum, and the growth declines significantly at soil pH 8.0, indicating that further reduction could happen in more alkaline soils. Comparison of invaded and uninvaded soil characteristics demonstrates that L. microphyllum can change the belowground soil environment, with more conspicuous impact on nutrient-poor sandy soils, to its own benefit by enhancing the soil nutrient status. Additionally, the nitrogen concentration in the leaves, which has a significant influence in the relative growth rate and photosynthesis, was significantly higher in Florida plants compared to Australian plants. Given that L. microphyllum allocates up to 40% of the total biomass to rhizomes, which aid in rapid regeneration after burning, cutting or chemical spray, hence management techniques targeting the rhizomes look promising. Over all, my results reveal for the first time that soil pH, texture, and AMF are major factors facilitating the invasive success of L. mcirophyllum. Finally, herbicide treatments targeting rhizomes will most likely become the widely used technique to control invasiveness of L. microphyllum in the future. However, a complete understanding of the soil ecosystem is necessary before adding any chemicals to the soil to achieve a successful long-term invasive species management strategy.

Los migrantes de la laguna: un estudio etnográfico sobre la construcción y configuración de los flujos migratorios de la comunidad Kichwa en Sesquilé

Esta tesis de grado se intereza por observar y análizar las red migratoria de los Kichwas de Sesquilé, especificamente en los procesos que permitieron la construcción y consolidación de las redes migratorias, las cuales se encienden o se apagan, a partir de las configuraciones políticas, religiosas, culturales y económicas que la comunidad ha experimentado.