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The Current - Volume 34 Issue 10, Nova Southeastern University

The Current

No abstract provided.

The Peace Is Uneasy And Needs To Be Won Everyday: Economic Assistance And Peacebuilding Among Marginalized Groups In Northern Ireland And The Border Area, Mehmet Yavuz, Sean Byrne

Peace and Conflict Studies

While Northern Ireland is still recovering from the violent legacy of the 30-year Troubles during a global COVID-19 pandemic, people still experience violence daily. Economic and political inequalities heighten intergroup tensions and insecurity contributing to the promotion of destructive stories. Brexit has escalated the culture wars between the Protestant Unionist Loyalist and Catholic Nationalist Republican communities as Loyalist youth and paramilitary groups protest on Belfast’s streets. Through 120 semi-structured interviews, we explore the experiences and understandings of Civil Society Organization (CSO) peacebuilding and reconciliation workers that liaison with ex-combatants and youth in Derry and the Border area of Northern Ireland. …

The Experience Of Faculty Strikers: Factors That Could Impact Higher Education Strikes, Giovanna Follo, Diane Huelskamp

The Qualitative Report

Higher education is being challenged as is the unionization of faculty. This combination could create a climate where faculty may need to strike. The purpose of this research is to describe the lived experiences of striking faculty to bring a greater understanding of what faculty may incur. This research utilized a phenomenological approach with a combination of composite narratives and in vivo coding to describe the lived experiences of striking. With the number of layoffs, strikes and threats of striking, this research is timely in understanding what striking entails and how it can best be navigated for the benefit of …

Methodological Guidelines For Focus Groups With Children From Developing Regions, María J. Peñaherrera-Vélez, Angélica Ochoa Avilés Phd, Nancy Arpi, Elisabeth Rodas, Gabriela Zúñiga, Elena Jerves

The Qualitative Report

Qualitative research with children has gained recognition in recent years. Nevertheless, special considerations should be analyzed before conducting focus groups with children from developing countries where methodological guidelines are scarce. This article provides methodological guidelines for conducting focus groups with children from developing countries based on an extensive literature review and our experience in urban and rural areas in Ecuador. Peculiarities of urban and rural contexts are highlighted, and child-friendly strategies are proposed. We conclude that focus groups can be conducted successfully with urban and rural children from low-and-middle-income countries if their specific circumstances, such as language and cultural diversity, …

Civil Society Leaders’ Experiences Of Peacebuilding In Londonderry/Derry City, Northern Ireland: Transforming Cultural And Psychological Barriers, Leonardo Luna, Sean Byrne

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article reviews the empirical data the second author collected from 120 semi-structured interviews with the leaders of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and funding agency development officers conducted during the summer of 2010 in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties. The research explores 44 Derry City respondents' experiences and perceptions regarding external economic aid in the Northern Ireland peace process. To this end, this article explores the role of economic aid from the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) and the European Union (EU) Peace and Reconciliation or Peace 3 Fund in engaging with civil society in transforming psychological and cultural …

Responding To Violence From Abroad: The Mexican Diaspora Mobilising From Brussels And Paris Through Art-Based Strategies, Larisa Lara-Guerrero

Peace and Conflict Studies

Over 150,000 people were intentionally killed in Mexico since 2006, after the Mexican government decided to openly combat organized crime. Against the backdrop of the security crisis, members of Mexican society have developed national and transnational strategies to contribute to the respond to the rampant violence in their homeland.

By introducing a transdisciplinary approach and peacebuilding theories, this paper argues that Mexican migrants living in Brussels and Paris have been able to orchestrate transnational art-based strategies to contribute to the violence alleviation in their country of origin. In particular, this empirical paper argues that Mexican migrants living in these two …

Out Of The Shadows: A Young Woman's Journey From Hiding To Celebrating Her Identity, Helen C. Collins Ms, Patricia A. Harrison Dr, Marek Palasinski Dr, Marcella (Pseudonym)

The Qualitative Report

In April 2019 the UK government reported that little progress had been made to remedy social outcomes inequality between Roma and the wider population, recommending further recognition of Roma, for example in census data, to enable identification of Roma, their needs, and how to meet those needs. In this article we present an account of one Roma woman’s journey from hiding her identity to celebrating it. We expose five critical incidents that challenge and mould her sense of identity and career aspiration, with insights into her hopes and dreams as she reflects upon the barriers she faces and attempts to …

The Cycle Of Insecurity: Reassessing The Security Dilemma As A Conflict Analysis Tool, David Mitchell

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article critically reassesses one of the classic ideas in International Relations, the security dilemma. It argues that the key insight of security dilemma theory has been obscured – by reductionist debates on single causes of conflict, inconclusive applications, and definitional disputes – and that the security dilemma’s enduring utility is as a model of the relational dynamic inherent in all conflict, the cycle of insecurity. Through a reappraisal of the literature, the article elucidates three essential dimensions of the cycle: an environment of structural uncertainty; interdependent collective identities; and an escalating and self-perpetuating dynamic. The power and validity of …

Capturing The Flag: The Struggle For National Identity In Nonviolent Revolutions, Landon E. Hancock, Anuj Gurung

Peace and Conflict Studies

One goal of nonviolent resistance movements is to legitimize themselves in opposition to governments by undermining the latter’s leadership. We argue nonviolent groups that can ‘own’ the national identity are more likely to succeed, as they can assert the legitimacy of their vision for the state, and persuade other sectors of society to support their cause. Our argument is supported by the Arab Spring uprisings, where those resistance movements that were able to identify and claim ownership over a homogeneous national identity were more successful in pressing their claims. We view national identity as a component of symbolic power in …

The British Colonization Of Australia: An Exposé Of The Models, Impacts And Pertinent Questions, Peter Genger

Peace and Conflict Studies

By adopting the purview of Peace and Conflict Studies and the expository approach of historical archaeology of colonialism, this paper succeeds in enumerating the models the British used to establish and perpetuate colonial violence on the Indigenous Australians, and the traumatizing impacts the violence is exerting on them. The sole essence of the paper is not only to re-establish that the British colonization of Australia was deliberate, just as the heinous models they used. Most essentially, the paper identifies the following institutions: Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS), the UN and challenges them to move from their current inert condemnation of …

On Being A Teacher-Ethnographer: Nestling The Ethical And Logistical Dilemmas Among The Joys Of Insiderness, Miriam Hamilton

The Qualitative Report

This paper relates to an ethnographic study of a group of eighteen-year-old girls, in their final school year, in a secondary school in Ireland. The ethnography explored social class and gender discourses that presented in the girls’ various relationships in the school and in broader peer culture. This paper outlines the methodological phenomena I experienced as the ethnographic researcher and a teacher in the school. In this paper, I explore my insider positionality as a teacher-ethnographer from perspectives such as: access, ethics, power and relationships, within the specific context of this girls’ Catholic school in Ireland. The paper makes a …

Formative Assessment And Its Influence On Classroom Community In Biocalculus, Rebecca A. Dibbs, Daniel Rios, Brian Christopher

The Qualitative Report

Most of the attrition from STEM majors occurs between the first two semesters of calculus, and prospective life science majors are one of the groups with the highest attrition rate. One of the largest factors for students that persist in STEM major beyond the first semester of calculus was a sense of community and a perceived connection with their instructor. Since building a sense of community is one of the stated purposes of formative assessment, we investigated how instructor and student perceptions of the purpose of formative assessment contributed to the formation of classroom community in a calculus for life …

From Combat Zones To The Classroom: Transitional Adjustment In Oef/Oif Student Veterans, Lorrie Kato, Jeremy D. Jinkerson, Sarah C. Holland, Henry V. Soper

The Qualitative Report

With 600,000 veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom enrolled in higher education with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, recognizing and responding to their predictable adjustment issues is imperative. Existing qualitative research has identified some transitional issues encountered by small groups of veterans. Because of qualitative research’s limited generalizability, however, themes may be viewed as more generalizable when corroborated by student veterans in different regions. In order to provide an in-depth description of the themes related to the post-deployment adjustment process, the first author conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 student veterans from a Southwestern community college who were returning to …

Peace Building In Bosnia And Herzegovina: Effects Of Ingroup Identification, Outgroup Trust And Intergroup Forgiveness On Intergroup Contact, Melinda A. Leonard, Branka Damjanovic, Goran Simic, Gul Aldikacti Marshall

Peace and Conflict Studies

The current study examines the effects of ingroup identification, outgroup trust, and intergroup forgiveness on intergroup contact quantity in the diverse cities of Sarajevo and Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A total of 455 individuals ranging in age from 14 to 102 self-reported as either Muslim, Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, or Other completed a questionnaire. Analyses revealed that ingroup identification was significantly and negatively correlated with intergroup contact quantity; however, ingroup identification was not significantly correlated with outgroup trust or intergroup forgiveness. The comparison between groups revealed significant group differences across all predictor and criterion variables. To confirm whether age …

Look Up In The Sky: Latent Content Analysis Of The Real Life Superhero Community, Daniel White, Marianna Szabo, Niko Tiliopoulos, Paul Rhodes, Michael Spurrier, Scott Griffiths

The Qualitative Report

The Real Life Superhero (RLSH) subculture is a growing global community of individuals who adopt the superhero motif and are motivated by prosocial goals. Although the community has been the focus of documentaries, news articles and numerous internet forums, little academic research has been conducted on the composition of this subculture. Through the use of an online survey, socio-demographic information about this community was collected. This data was compiled and analysed via qualitative means to develop not only an overarching review of the composition of the subculture but also how members perceived themselves and other members. Membership and identity within …

Conceptions Of Mental Illness: Cultural Perspectives And Treatment Implications, Lena Hall

Quadrivium: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Youth In Post Accord Transformation In Northern Ireland, Christine Smith Ellison

Peace and Conflict Studies

Despite increased international interest in the contribution of education to peacebuilding, there has been a neglect of the role that non-formal youth programming can play in this process. This article examines three such youth programmes in post-accord Northern Ireland through the theoretical lens of their contribution to social, economic and political transformations. Given the sustained context of segregation and limitations of the formal education sector as a mechanism for transformation, the paper argues that the non-formal sector has played an important role in ensuring inclusion of multiple youth perspectives in a divided society. It also raises a number of critical …

Students’ Perceived Utility Of Precision Taught Calculus, Rebecca- Anne Dibbs, David Glassmeyer, Wafa Yacoub

The Qualitative Report

The last decade of calculus research has showed students learn best when lecture is supplemented with thoughtful use of technology and group work; however, educators are given little direction of how they are to balance the already full first semester calculus class. Precision teaching is an instructional model that employs formative assessment to provide information on what topics are understood by students as well as indicate troublesome concepts. With this information, the instructor can adjust class time accordingly by incorporating supplemental activities most beneficial to students. The purpose of this interview study was to explore the perceived utility of precision …

Learning Abroad Or Just Going Abroad? International Education In Opposite Sides Of The Border, Gerardo Blanco Ramirez

The Qualitative Report

International education, particularly through study abroad experiences, has the potential of preparing students for a globally interconnected world. While challenging, it is necessary to translate aspirations of global citizenship into educational programs and assessing their effectiveness. A necessary step in such process consists in taking a close and critical look at the challenges and possibilities for the development of global citizenship through education abroad. In this paper, I follow a decolonizing autoethnographic approach to explore obstacles for the development of global citizenship through education abroad. If education abroad is to promote global citizenship and character development, I propose a more …

(Un)Stable Space(S): An Ethnography Of A (Sometimes) Gay Bar, Andrea M. Davis

The Qualitative Report

Using ethnography, I studied the ways in which space was created at a nightclub with a once a week Drag Night. The history of the space (each night building on the night before for years and years) created stability for the nightclub that remained regardless of the individuals within it. Drag Night, however, did not reap the benefits of that stability. Despite site - specific (read theme - night specific) normative performances in the space, the social space was altered through individual performances as well as rules associated with the club.

Volume 20, Number 1 (Spring 2013), Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Grassroots Peacebuilding In Northern Ireland And The Border Counties: Elements Of An Effective Model, Olga Skarlato, Sean Byrne, Kawser Ahmed, Julie Marie Hyde, Peter Karari

Peace and Conflict Studies

Following the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement many community-based organizations became involved in localized peace-building activities in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties. Drawing financial support from the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and the International Fund for Ireland, these organizations adopted various strategic mechanisms to implement their projects –synchronizing bottom-up development initiatives with top-level government policies. Their effectiveness has already been felt in Northern Ireland as reduced political violence and improved socioeconomic conditions. However, the long-term sustainability of this work is questionable, affected as it is by continued intercommunity segregation, low macro-level political support, and global economic instability. This …

Economic Aid And Conflict Transformation In Northern Ireland And The Border Area: Respondents’ Perceptions Of Awareness, Fairness, Trust Building, And Sustainability, Peter Karari, Sean Byrne, Olga Skarlato, Kawser Ahmed

Peace and Conflict Studies

Intractable ethnopolitical conflicts emanate from the social, political, cultural, and economic marginalization of some community groups. To address these conflicts, the affected groups are often provided with life changing opportunities to enhance justice, equality, dignity and freedom. In the past, Northern Ireland has been a turbulent sea of violent conflict between Unionists and Nationalists. To address the underlying root causes of the conflict, economic aid through the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) and the European Union (EU) Peace II Fund is aimed at facilitating sustainable peacebuilding, reconciliation and community development. In this study, 95 community group leaders, civil servants, and …

Volume 18, Number 1 (Spring 2011), Peace And Conflict Studies

Peace and Conflict Studies

No abstract provided.

Culture And Procedural Justice In Transitioning Societies, Landon E. Hancock, Tamra Pearson D’Estrée

Peace and Conflict Studies

In any transitional justice mechanism there are tradeoffs between the search for retributive justice and the practical limitations on what can be accomplished. To date, this tension has been discussed in reference to internationally established norms of justice, which the authors argue are limited in the extent to which they can explain why certain mechanisms—such as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission or Rwanda’s gacaca courts—have been considered successful. We argue that mechanisms that have a high overlap between local culture and elements of procedural justice are perceived as more fair and just, even to those who may not …

Peacebuilding In Northern Ireland: The Past, Present And Future, Stephen Ryan

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article explores the reasons for the slow progress being made in the Northern Ireland peace process. It examines complications that exist in dealing with the past, present, and future of the conflict between the two main communities whilst also arguing that it is hard to separate these time frames in practice. In terms of the present, some well known difficulties with the consociational approach are identified. Recent studies have also demonstrated a failure to address sectarianism at the grass-roots level and there has been a resurgence in activity by spoilers and rejectionists. When thinking about the future the two …

The Role Of The European Union As A Peace Builder: Northern Ireland As A Case Study, Paul Arthur

Peace and Conflict Studies

The United Kingdom and Ireland joined the European Economic Community in 1973 at a time when bitter communal conflict engulfed Northern Ireland. It appeared to be a deviant case in a modernising Europe anxious to unleash the shackles of the first half of the twentieth century. In fact the unusual conjunction of conflict within a disputed region of the British/Irish archipelago and joint membership of the European Community offered an opportunity to move beyond the excessive intimacy of an ancient quarrel through different temporal and spatial lenses. This article addresses the issue of dealing with minority grievances in an inter- …

The Ifi And Eu Peace Ii Fund: Respondents’ Perceptions Of Funded Project Success In Promoting Peacebuilding And Community Development In Northern Ireland, Sean Byrne, Chuck Thiessen, Eyob Fissuh, Cynthia Irvin

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article examines the views of ninety-eight study participants on community development and peacebuilding supported by the European Union (EU) Peace II Fund and the International Fund for Ireland (IFI). We elaborate the perceptions of community group leaders, funding agency civil servants and development officers regarding the role of both funds in Northern Ireland. Their experiences of the EU Peace II Fund and the IFI are discussed in the wider context of peacebuilding and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties. Furthermore, this article explores the importance of community development and cross-community contact through joint economic and social development …

A Review Of Lorraine Daston And Peter Galison’S Objectivity, Tom Strong

The Qualitative Report

Lorraine Daston’s and Peter Galison’s Objectivity (2007) traces historical and cultural developments as the word "objective" acquired different meanings and associated scientific practices. Similarly, Daston and Galison consider the changing relationship of the word "objective" as it relates to the subjectivity of the researcher. Objectivity will interest any reader interested in how the conceptions and practices of science change historically and culturally.

A Healing Echo: Methodological Reflections Of A Working-Class Researcher On Class, Allison L. Hurst

The Qualitative Report

College students from the working cl ass have interesting stories to tell about the meaning and operation of mobility through education. The author, herself a “working-class academic,” explores some of the issues and dilemmas of uncovering and presenting these stories. Specifically, the author addresses: (1) the effects of interviewing those similar to one’s self; (2) the possibility of losing voice when interviewing too many participants; (3) the responsibility of the researcher to take seriously the importance of renaming interview participants to ensure both anonymity and integrity; (4) the question of audience; and (5) the issue of reliability.