Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Discouragement Amongst Ageing Workers In Malta Within An Eu Context, Brown, Michael Briguglio

Societies Without Borders

This paper investigates perceptions of unemployed ageing workers in Malta, in relation to disadvantages in the labour market and to discouragement with regard to chances of finding stable employment. The principal results are that educational level and number of breadwinners in one's household significantly affect perceptions; and that there are cases manifesting the 'discouraged worker effect', even though they are still registering to find employment. This challenges traditional views arguing that this effect is present only among individuals who already gave up the job search completely. This paper concludes that the struggle for productive employment requires mass representation of trade …

Decent Society Index: A Research Note, Judith, Jenniffer Santos, Chelsea Sessoms

Societies Without Borders

People everywhere are discovering that their own views about a decent society are widely shared around the world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights already made this clear in 1948 by referring to “a common understanding” of rights and freedoms and a “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” A challenge for social scientists is to develop dimensions for an index that measures variation in the extent to which societies are decent. Such an index would be useful in research for comparative and analytical purposes, and it could …

Book Review Of A Brief History Of Neoliberalism, Keskin

Societies Without Borders

The article reviews the book "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," by David Harvey.

Book Review Of Transnational Civil Society: An Introduction And Contested Citizenship: Immigration And Cultural Diversity In Europe, Ghoshal

Societies Without Borders

The article reviews two books about civil society and citizenship, including "Transnational Civil Society: An Introduction," edited by Srilatha Batliwala and L. David Brown and "Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe," by Ruud Koopmans, Paul Statham, Marco Giungi and Florence Passy.

Note From The Editors, Blau, Farshad Araghi

Societies Without Borders

The article offers information on the journal "Societies Without Borders: Human Rights and the Social Sciences" and the categories that editors will consider in accepting manuscripts for the journal.

Under A Global Mask: Family Narratives And Local Memory In A Global Social Movement In Japan, Nomiya

Societies Without Borders

The present paper examines motivational aspects of the global peace movement, using as a case the World Peace Now movement in Japan. This campaign, which has extensive international networks and synchronized actions with global “waves of protest”, is part of a global anti-war protest movement. Using data collected from interviews and a protest survey to gauge participation motives and attributed meanings to the participation, the paper argues that the campaign, despite its global outlook, is localized and historically idiosyncratic. Indifferent to the global, participants' motives are drawn from personal experiences and family narratives, and localized collective memory of the past. …

Immigrants' Rights In The Public Sphere: Hannah Arendt's Concepts Reconsidered, San Martín

Societies Without Borders

Based on Arendt's concepts of public and private spheres, immigration issues can be approached from an emphasis on how the most fundamental of all human rights, which is being denied to immigrants, is the most basic constituent of the human condition: the ability to interact in the public realm through action and speech. The granting of this right would enable immigrants to become unique human beings, with the capacity for transformation. As they are presently deprived of these and other rights, they are confined to the most primitive sphere, that is, the one of pure survival. Therefore, a differentiation must …

Arguments For And Against Social Rights, Garrido Gómez

Societies Without Borders

I investigate the semantic and practical complexity of social rights, together with the obligations which correspond to the public authorities in terms of putting them into practice. I also discuss the role of meaningful economic equality in the discourse of social rights, explaining the points at which the two concepts interact, and the ways that formal equality can be improved. Finally, I reach the conclusion that there are two distinct meanings of the concept of discrimination, one which is equivalent to any violation of the general principal of equality, and another stricter one, which is the infringement of equality when …

Windows On The Ninth World Social Forum In Belém, Velitchkova, Jackie Smith, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick

Societies Without Borders

This essay provides three windows on the Ninth World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil. We show the multiple ways in which the World Social Forum's plurality and reflexivity challenge traditional dichotomies to build the foundation for a new politics. We argue that the social forum process has developed mechanisms for remaining an open space while simultaneously creating opportunities for unified collective action. We show that the Forum produces complex analyses and comes up with strategies that correspond to these analyses. We provide some evidence for how the social forum process is trying to overcome organizational challenges related to resource distribution …

Global Movement Coalitions: The Global South And The World Trade Organization In Cancun, Esparza

Societies Without Borders

A group of developing countries within the World Trade Organization, called the G22, formed in 2003 to bring attention to important economic concerns of the Global South. This coalition building at the global level is instructive to the literature on social movement coalition building and strategies in a transnational context. This article examines coalition building among nation-states within the context of the WTO. Drawing upon existing trading blocs, the G22 are able to leverage attention away from the WTO consensus. The declining significance of the global institution is a result of the breaking of this consensus.

In Your Hands - The Realization Of A Dream, Koenig

Societies Without Borders

The author talks about Human Rights Cities, an initiative wherein communities learn about human rights as a way of life. The author discusses the achievements of the People's Movement for Human Rights Learning (PDHRE) as an international service organization. She states that Human Rights Cities enables all citizens to participate as equals in the decision-making processes which affect their lives. She cites the impact of the Human Rights Cities on the lives of the Toba indigenous community in Rosario, Argentina.

World Social Forum 2009: Time To Bring The Wsf To The Usa, Ponniah

Societies Without Borders

I had the opportunity to both attend the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States and to participate in the World Social Forum hosted in Belém, Brazil. The Inaugural was attended by 1.8 million citizens, which included a notably large percentage of African-Americans, from all over the country. The World Social Forum had over 133,000 participants from around the world with a substantial number of Pan-Amazonic social movements. In both cases I witnessed a mobilized, dynamic civil sphere aspiring to a new, better society. The key to achieving another world is to bring these spheres together.

Review Of Bringing Human Rights Home, Neubeck

Societies Without Borders

The article reviews the three volumes of the book "Bringing Human Rights Home," edited by Cynthia Soohoo, Catherine Albisa and Martha F. Davis, including "A History of Human Rights in the United States," volume 1, by Elizabeth Borgwardt, "From Civil Rights to Human Rights," volume 2, by Dorothy Thomas, and "Portraits of the Movement," volume 3, by Greg Asbed.

Review Of Globalization And America: Race, Human Rights And Inequality & When Welfare Disappears: The Case For Economic Human Rights, Ramsaran

Societies Without Borders

The article reviews two books on human rights, including "Globalization and America: Race, Human Rights and Inequality," edited by Angela J. Hattery, David G. Embrick and Earl Smith, "When Welfare Disappears; The Case for Economic Human Rights," by Kenneth J. Neubeck.

W.E.B. Du Bois, Race, And Human Rights, Elias

Societies Without Borders

Du Bois' sociological thought reveals an overlooked tension in the pursuit of human rights, a tension between universal human rights for all people, in general, and a race-specific human rights agenda for blacks, in particular. Du Bois recognizes both universal human rights for all individuals, groups, nations, and international bodies (regardless of race, gender, class, and other human divisions) and case-specific human rights for particular individuals, groups, nations, and international bodies (with regard to race, gender, class, and other human divisions). I aim to demonstrate why Du Bois' acknowledgment of universal and case-specific human rights, and dynamics of their interrelationship, …

Invoking Human Rights And Transnational Activism In Racial Justice Struggles At Home: Us Antiracist Activists And The Un Committee To Eliminate Racial Discrimination, Falcón

Societies Without Borders

In February 2008, over 120 members of US civil society representing a range of domestic non-governmental organizations attended a United Nations hearing regarding the US government's compliance with the International Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In this article, I analyze a distinct form of transnational activism that requires US racial justice activists to identify human rights standards and principles upon which to build their assertions of racial injustice, necessitating a fluency in the language of human rights and the ability to negotiate and lobby with members of a UN committee.

Jihad, Race And Western Media, Post-September 11, Tagg

Societies Without Borders

The article examines jihad within what is loosely referred to as “the Western imagination.” Through the analysis of both popular stereotypes and the broader historical context of religious antagonism and (neo)colonialism, the paper discusses both contemporary political rhetoric and a pair of liberal post September-11 political cartoons. While European and North American political leaders have often stereotyped Muslims in order to justify various “axis of evil” bandwagons and further political and economic interests throughout the Islamic Crescent, I argue here that the liberal media's critiques also often rely on fallacious embodied stereotypes. The pervasiveness of such representations has important implications …

Si Me Permiten Hablar: Limitations Of The Human Rights Tradition To Address Racial Inequality, Bonilla-Silva, Sarah Mayorga

Societies Without Borders

In this paper we address some of the major limitations of the human rights tradition (HRT) in addressing issues of racial inequality. We contend that the universalist and individual-based framework of HRT fails to appreciate the significance of society's racial structure. More importantly, HRT ignores how race fractured the world system creating differently valued human bodies. In addition to addressing some of the shortcomings of HRT, we present challenges for those in the tradition and advance several alternatives for academics who want to work towards the elimination of race-based inequality in the world.

Human Rights Across National Borders, Dores

Societies Without Borders

In Pakistan are visible thousands of children living alone in the streets, used by different kind of people for underground proposes. Then one finds them older entering Greece borders, bringing with them the underground exploitative activities as well as the solidarity support of local population living where migrant pass. Looking to the youngsters migrant flow from Afghanistan to Europe, is it possible to understand it when sociologist look at it as a problem of national stock and flow? Or does sociology need to adopt without borders methodologies?

Contestatory Performative Acts In Transnational Political Meetings, Lane

Societies Without Borders

Young people are often more eager to use creative and artistic potential when acting politically. The article focuses on moments where contestatory performative acts take place in three different transnational political meetings. With these three examples it is shown how these moments of disruption and disorder - when something unexpected captures the core of the political gathering - are crucial elements for deep democracy. In such moments where the political speeches and the practices of the meeting do not match, young political actors are in a crucial role to initiate contestatory performative, and often carnivalesque, acts to execute the issue. …

What Will States Really Do For Us? The Human Rights Enterprise And Pressure From Below, Armaline, Davita Glasberg

Societies Without Borders

International human rights standards and treaties have been plagued with disputes over the relevance and power of international law with regard to state sovereignty. These disputes commonly result in states' failure to realize the rights and standards outlined by such human rights instruments. What if states cannot or will not provide fundamental dignities to their people? Moreover, how does global restructuring affect states' ability to implement human rights? We explore these questions through what we call the “human rights enterprise,” which includes conflicts between rulers and the ruled over the realization of human rights practice. As such, human rights are …

Book Review Of The Origins Of African-American Interests In International Law & Eyes Off The Prize: The United Nations And The African American Struggle For Human Rights, 1944-1955, Embrick

Societies Without Borders

The article reviews the books "The Origin of African-American Interests in International Law," by Henry J. Richardson III and "Eyes Off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944-1955," by Carol Anderson.

La Clasificación De Los Hablantes De Herencia De Español En Los Eeuu: Generación, Simplificación Modal Y Mantenimiento Del Español, Maria Martinez-Mira

Modern Languages & Literatures Articles

A study of the” Enciclopedia del español en el mundo: Anuario 2006-7 " carried out by the Cervantes Institute (http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/anuario/anuario_06-07/lengua.htm) presents a comprehensive picture for the future and development of the Spanish language in the world and in the United States in particular. According to the data provided by Cervantes, approximately 14 million people study Spanish in the world, of which 6 million study Spanish in the United States. It is precisely in this country that the study and presence of the Spanish language has a special significance.

NOTE: This abstract is a translation from the original Spanish

Care Local Partnerships Healthy Communities: Promising Practices (Draft), Environmental Protection Agency

Mickey Leland Center Information Portal

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program is a competitive grant program that offers communities an innovative way to address the risks from multiple sources of pollution in their environment. The CARE program awarded its first series of grants in 2005; to date there are 68 CARE communities.

La Historia De Nuestras Vidas (The Story Of Our Lives) [Poster]

Postville Project Documents

A promotional poster in Spanish and English about a presentation of "La Historia de Nuestras Vida" ("The Story of Our Lives"), a play about personal accounts of U.S. immigration and the 2008 Postville Immigration raid, held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on May 1, 2009.

Uni To Host Postville Conference / Teach-In [News Release]

Postville Project Documents

A news release about a conference held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on April 30 and May 1, 2009, about the 2008 Postville Immigration Raid.

"Hometown Of Hope": Red Ribbon Campaign For Postville

Postville Project Documents

A promotional card urging the wearing of ribbons in observance of the 2008 Postville immigration raid and the people affected by it.

Story Of Our Lives Image 2

Postville Project Documents

A color photograph of the seven authors of the play La Historia de neustras vidas : the story of our lives.

Story Of Our Lives Image 3

Postville Project Documents

A color photograph of the seven men who wrote the play La Historia de nuestras vidas : the story of our lives, along with a woman who organized the presentation in Madison, Wisconsin on December 19, 2009.

A Commentary About The Dramatization La Historia De Nuestras Vidas (Translated Into English), Juventino Lopez Pichia

Postville Project Documents

An English translation of commentary by Juventino Lopez Pichia on the creation of the play La Historia de nuestras vidas : the story of our lives. He is one of the men that wrote and performed the play.