Hassan Vatanparast, Mustafa Koc, Marwa Farag, Joseph Garcea, Rachel Engler-Stringer, Tamer Qarmout, Carol Henry, Louise Racine, Judy White, Romaina Iqbal, Mahasti Khakpour, Sindhuja Dasarathi and Sonia D'Angelo
This study aims to provide a qualitative in-depth account of the status and experience of food insecurity for Syrian refugee households in Toronto and Saskatoon, Canada. The study…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide a qualitative in-depth account of the status and experience of food insecurity for Syrian refugee households in Toronto and Saskatoon, Canada. The study considers the range of geographic, socio-economic, cultural and gendered components shaping and determining the barriers and management of food insecurity.
Design/methodology/approach
The study included 54 semi-structured interviews with refugee families in Toronto and Saskatoon who resettled in Canada after November 2015. In addition, 15 semi-structured in-person or telephone interviews were conducted with settlement and support agencies to measure their capacity to respond to issues of food insecurity for Syrian refugees.
Findings
Syrian refugees reported experiencing food insecurity as part of the broader resettlement journey, including in the transitional phase of refuge and in each settlement context in Canada. Income status in Canada was reported as a key barrier to food security. Low-income barriers to food security were experienced and shaped by factors including food affordability, physical access and availability and the extent of familial or other support networks including sponsorship relationships. Participants also reported how managing food insecurity contributed to the intensification of gender expectations.
Originality/value
The analysis reveals food insecurity as both an income and non-income based concern for refugees during the process of resettlement. The study also highlights the importance of considering variations between primary barriers to food security identified by Syrian families and key informants as critical to the development of strategies designed to mitigate the impacts of resettlement on food security.
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Web statistics have been a bone of contention for some considerable time. Part of the reason for this is that the analysis of the statistics now serves a quite different range of…
Abstract
Web statistics have been a bone of contention for some considerable time. Part of the reason for this is that the analysis of the statistics now serves a quite different range of functions from those originally envisaged.
Small Claims Court Television Shows offer spectators an opportunity to re-envision their relationship to legal and civic judgment. Through presenting racial and regional judges…
Abstract
Small Claims Court Television Shows offer spectators an opportunity to re-envision their relationship to legal and civic judgment. Through presenting racial and regional judges, these shows re-imagine legal judgment as a necessary and inclusive component of everyday citizenship. Reflecting Reality TV, Tabloid TV Talk Shows, and the History of African-American representation on television, shows like Judge Mathis and Judge Judy demonstrate the contradictions inherent in racial representations on television. By showing the ways in which television performance reflects the performative aspect of legal discourse already operating upon us, the judges use stupidity as a way to pedagogically energize a lower class, disenfranchised viewership into newly rehearsing their roles as active citizens.
Mary Knight-McKenna, Judy Esposito and Lindsay Michelle Clement
The purpose of this paper is to chronicle the efforts of a new White teacher in her first two years of teaching in an elementary school with a largely Hispanic population as she…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to chronicle the efforts of a new White teacher in her first two years of teaching in an elementary school with a largely Hispanic population as she forged connections with her students’ families while drawing on continued, constructivist mentoring from her university professor. The case points to the need for new teacher mentoring programs to include some emphasis on family-teacher relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The new teacher kept a weekly journal of her interactions with families over a two-year period. Notes were taken during and after mentoring sessions. Data analysis was conducted using the case analysis format designed by Miles et al. (2014).
Findings
The goal of fostering constructive family-teacher relationships was not fully realized for this teacher in her first year. Through reflections, readings, and discussions in mentoring sessions, she gradually learned to respect the wisdom and expertise of families.
Research limitations/implications
As with all case studies, the results are not generalizable in a traditional sense (Hodkinson and Hodkinson, 2001); however, a larger issue can be addressed in a case (Stake, 1995). In this case, the larger issue is that White teachers working in high-poverty schools are likely to encounter differences between their cultural backgrounds and those of their students’ families. New teachers must determine how to respond in this situation, and mentoring offers support in helping them to act.
Practical implications
Action steps and guidelines developed by the teacher are included, along with a list of selected articles to spur discussions in constructivist mentoring sessions.
Originality/value
Coordinators of new teacher induction programs are encouraged to include a component in their curriculum for best practices in developing relationships with families.
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Despite the recent increase of segregated neighborhoods and schools (Schmitt, 2001), many children find themselves playing with others from different racial and/or ethnic…
Abstract
Despite the recent increase of segregated neighborhoods and schools (Schmitt, 2001), many children find themselves playing with others from different racial and/or ethnic background (Nieto, 2000). Within social science literature, there are a number of studies that explore social interactions and youngsters’ friendship groups (Adler & Adler, 1998; Corsaro, 1985; Eder, 1995; Rizzo, 1989). While instructive, too few analyze what occurs among and to students of color (for exceptions, see Fordham, 1993; Goodwin, 1990, 1998; Grant, 1984). As a consequence, intragender distinctions remain misunderstood and White girls’ group dynamics often eclipse or trivialize the cultural happenings of their racial opposites – African-American girls.
Until Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the Twenty‐First Century (Johnston & Packer, 1987), diversity in organizations was largely ignored. Cultural diversity did not appear in…
Abstract
Until Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the Twenty‐First Century (Johnston & Packer, 1987), diversity in organizations was largely ignored. Cultural diversity did not appear in the management literature until the civil rights movement of the 1960s brought about an increased awareness of African‐Americans in the workforce. However, the U.S. has been culturally diverse for several hundreds of years. What took us so long to take advantage of this diversity in the workforce? This is a basic question of this manuscript. Therefore, this paper examines workforce diversity dating back to the colonization of the Americas. I will address the origins of cultural diversity and discuss the political, economical, and cultural contexts that impacted the lack of research regarding diversity’s influence on organizations. Finally, I will examine how scholars have viewed cultural diversity and discuss the current status of diversity research.
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Jennifer M. Blaney, Jina Kang, Annie M. Wofford and David F. Feldon
This study aims to examine how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics doctoral students interact with postdocs within the research laboratory, identifying the nature…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics doctoral students interact with postdocs within the research laboratory, identifying the nature and potential impacts of student–postdoc mentoring relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 53 doctoral students in the biological sciences, this study uses a sequential mixed-methods design. More specifically, a phenomenological approach enabled the authors to identify how doctoral students make meaning of their interactions with postdocs and other research staff. Descriptive statistics are used to examine how emergent themes might differ as a product of gender and race/ethnicity and the extent to which emergent themes may relate to key doctoral student socialization outcomes.
Findings
This study reveals six emergent themes, which primarily focus on how doctoral students receive instrumental and psychosocial support from postdocs in their labs. The most frequent emergent theme captures the unique ways in which postdocs provide ongoing, hands-on support and troubleshooting at the lab bench. When examining how this theme plays a role in socialization outcomes, the results suggest that doctoral students who described this type of support from postdocs had more positive mental health outcomes than those who did not describe this type of hands-on support.
Originality/value
Literature on graduate student mentorship has focused primarily on the impact of advisors, despite recent empirical evidence of a “cascading mentorship” model, in which senior students and staff also play a key mentoring role. This study provides new insights into the unique mentoring role of postdocs, focusing on the nature and potential impacts of student–postdoc interactions.
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Kate P. Nurser, Imogen Rushworth, Tom Shakespeare and Deirdre Williams
Creating more positive individual narratives around illness and identity is at the heart of the mental health care recovery movement. Some recovery services explicitly use…
Abstract
Purpose
Creating more positive individual narratives around illness and identity is at the heart of the mental health care recovery movement. Some recovery services explicitly use personal storytelling as an intervention. The purpose of this paper is to look at individual experiences of a personal storytelling intervention, a recovery college Telling My Story (TMS) course.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight participants who had attended the TMS course offered at a UK recovery college were interviewed. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Findings
Five key themes, namely a highly emotional experience, feeling safe to disclose, renewed sense of self, two-way process and a novel opportunity, were emerged.
Originality/value
The findings suggest that storytelling can be a highly meaningful experience and an important part of the individual’s recovery journey. They also begin to identify elements of the storytelling process which might aid recovery, and point to pragmatic setting conditions for storytelling interventions to be helpful. More time could be dedicated to individuals telling their story within UK mental health services, and the authors can use this insight into the experience of personal storytelling to guide any future developments.