IRELAND AND LATIN AMERICA: A CULTURAL HISTORY

According to Declan Kiberd, “postcolonial writing does not begin only when the occupier withdraws: rather it is initiated at that very moment when a native writer formulates a text committed to cultural resistance.” The Irish in Latin America – a continent emerging from indigenous cultures, colonisation, and migrations – may be regarded as colonised in Ireland and as colonisers in their new home. They are a counterexample to the standard pattern of identities in the major English-speaking destinations of the Irish Diaspora. Using literary sources, the press, correspondence, music, sports, and other cultural representations, in this thesis I search the attitudes and shared values signifying identities among the immigrants and their families. Their fragmentary and wide-ranging cultures provide a rich context to study the protean process of adaptation to, or rejection of, the new countries. Evolving from oppressed to oppressors, the Irish in Latin America swiftly became ingleses. Subsequently, in order to join the local middle classes they became vaqueros, llaneros, huasos, and gauchos so they could show signs of their effective integration to the native culture, as seen by the Latin American elites. Eventually, some Irish groups separated from the English mainstream culture and shaped their own community negotiating among Irishness, Englishness, and local identities in Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Cuba, and other places in the region. These identities were not only unmoored in the emigrants’ minds but also manoeuvred by the political needs of community and religious leaders. After reviewing the major steps and patterns of Irish migration to Latin America, the thesis analyses texts from selected works, offers a version of how the settlers became Latin Americans or not, and elucidates the processes by which a new Irish-Latin American hybrid was created.

Revised NEO personality inventory normative data for catalan police officer selection: preliminary study

El Servei d'Avaluació, Seguiment i Selecció de l'ISPC han elaborat un estudi sobre el perfil de personalitat dels aspirants al Curs de Formació bàsica per policies, que es va presentar a l'International Society for the Study of Individual Differences Meeting celebrat al CosmoCaixa de Barcelona i que organitzen conjuntament l’Associació Iberoamericana per a la recerca de les diferències individuals i la Universitat de Barcelona. L’estudi, titulat Revised NEO Personality Inventory Normative Data for Catalan police officer selection: A preliminary study, té com a objectiu comparar els perfils de personalitat d’una mostra d’aspirants de l’ISPC amb els resultats d’una mostra d’aspirants a policia dels EUA, publicada en una revista científica de prestigi el mes de febrer passat. Els resultats mostren que els aspirants catalans destaquen per obtenir millors puntuacions en les dimensions de responsabilitat i amabilitat, cosa que indicaria que aquest tret es valora especialment durant el procés de selecció de la policia de Catalunya; en altres característiques de la personalitat les dues mostres obtenen resultats similars. Els trets característics del perfil del policia català seria el de persones estables emocionalment, poc impulsives, amb capacitat per gestionar l’estrés, orientades a les persones, agradables, sociables, responsables, disciplinades i cauteloses. Enllaç a: International Society for the Study of Individual Differences Meeting :http://www.issid.org/conferences/ISSID2013/ISSIDconference2013.html

"A dream of liberty" : Constance Markievicz's vision of Ireland, 1908-1927

Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere

Acknowledgment and health in police officers

The way colleagues and supervisors acknowledge specific contribution and efforts of individuals is crucial for occupational mental health and well being. It contributes to improve the self image of employees and it gives a sense to the activities performed. We carried out a study about occupational health in police officers with a special emphasis on acknowledgment and reward. A questionnaire was sent to 1000 police officers working for a cantonal administration in Switzerland. In total, 695 participants answered the questionnaire. We used the French version of the Langner's questionnaire on psychiatric symptoms to identify cases characterized by potential mental health problems. Multiple choice items (6 modalities ranging from "not at all" to "tremendously") to measure acknowledgment were used. Answers were later dichotomized (low annoyance- high annoyance). Questions we used are: "Do you feel annoyed due to a lack of support and attention from your supervisors?" "Do you feel annoyed because the authorities (politics, judges, etc.) have a low consideration of your occupation?" "Do you feel annoyed due to a low appreciation by the public?" and "Do you feel annoyed due to a lack of acknowledgment by the hierarchy?". The score for psychiatric symptoms was high for 86 police officers for whom health might be at risk. Acknowledgment aspects associated with a high score for psychiatric symptoms are : high annoyance due to a lack of support and attention from supervisors (odds ratio [OR] 3.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.0 to 5.1), high annoyance because authorities seems to have a low consideration for police officers (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.7 to 4.3), high annoyance due to a low appreciation by the public (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.9), and high annoyance due to a lack of acknowledgment by the hierarchy (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.9 to 4.8). Preserving mental health in occupations characterized by high emotional demand is challenging. The results from our study suggest that appropriate acknowledgment might contribute to the prevention of mental health problems. Further research should address a potential causal relation of acknowledgment on mental health.

2009-2011 Agreement Between State of Iowa and State Police Officers Council, July 1, 2009

This Agreement made and entered into this 1st day of July 2009 at Des Moines, Iowa, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 20 of the Iowa Code, by and between the State of Iowa (hereinafter referred to as the Employer) and the State Police Officers Council, and its appropriate affiliated sub-organizations (hereinafter referred to as the Council), as representatives of employees employed by the State of Iowa.

L'Institut de police scientifique de l'Université de Lausanne a 100 ans (1909-2009)

L'Institut de police scientifique de l'Université de Lausanne s'est installé dans les milieux académiques il y a 100 ans. L'Ecole des sciences criminelles résulte de son histoire riche et peuplée de personnages atypiques. Elle intègre aujourd'hui des disciplines qui relèvent au moins de la criminologie, du droit pénal et de la science forensique dans une démarche interdisciplinaire. Ce numéro spécial inscrit une partie substantielle des recherches doctorales actuelles dans les évolutions successives présentées par le directeur de l'Ecole, le professeur Pierre Margot. Un projet de thèse concerne justement l'histoire de la police scientifique et utilise l'Institut comme point de repère.

Investigation of Des Moines Police Department, use of force in the Arrest of Larry Milton, 1992

Investigative report produced by Iowa Citizens' Aide/Ombudsman