Syrian refugee men as objects of humanitarian care

Critical feminist scholars of conflict and displacement have demonstrated that “womenandchildren” (Enloe 1993) have become an uncontroversial object of humanitarian concern in these contexts (Carpenter 2003; Hyndman and Giles 2011). Yet very little scholarly work has attempted to understand the position of refugee men as a demographic within humanitarianism. Through an analysis of the Syria refugee response in Jordan, this article investigates how humanitarian workers relate to refugee men and think about refugee masculinities. It argues that refugee men have an uncertain position as objects of humanitarian care. Seeing refugee men as objects of humanitarian care would disrupt prevailing humanitarian understandings of refugeehood as a feminized subject position and of gender work as work that “helps women” (Cornwall 2007; Johnson 2011). It would furthermore challenge prevailing binary visions of refugee men as agential, political actors, and refugee women as in need of “empowerment” through the implementation of technocratic programming. In the context of the Syria refugee response, these gendered and racialized understandings of refugee men and masculinities are mediated by particular conceptions of “Arabness.” This research is based on ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews with humanitarian workers and Syrian refugees, which was undertaken in Jordan in 2015–2016.     

Basic Challenges to Prisoner Reentry

Crime, incarceration and prisoner reintegration are pressing issues facing the United States today. The U.S. prison population has increased from 330,000 in 1980 to over 2.2 million prisoners today. As the prison population grows at record rates so, in turn, does the reentry of prisoners into society. Currently, around 700,000 prisoners are released each year from custody and reenter society – nearly 2,000 inmates per day. The transition from prison to the outside world is often difficult for post-release prisoners, their families, their communities and the larger society. Many formally incarcerated individuals do not have the skills or support to succeed outside prison walls. Unfortunately, when post-release prisoners are not successfully reintegrated, they are returned to prison and begin the cycle of incarceration.
Practitioners and academics agree that the main components for successful reentry include proper housing, viable employment, and family and community support. However, while there is consensus regarding what post-release prisoners need for successful reentry there is debate as to which programs and policies work best. This paper examines the basic challenges to reentry and provides a brief summary of the problems with reentry program evaluation.     

The humanitarian road to Nagorno-Karabakh: media,morality and infrastructural promise in the Armenian diaspora

The Armenia Fund Telethon is an annual media event broadcast from Los Angeles that calls on all Armenians to give donations for humanitarian aid and infrastructure projects in Armenia and the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork during the 2013 and 2014 editions dedicated to the new Vardenis–Martakert highway connecting the two territories, this article examines the transnational ritual sphere through which de facto state formation in Nagorno-Karabakh is transformed from a political issue into a humanitarian question for diaspora households worldwide. While the new road facilitates mobility, its participatory materialisation appeals to distant addressees with the promise of helping Karabakh Armenians stay put and strengthening Armenian claims on de jure Azerbaijani territories. Challenging scholarly accounts of the Armenian diaspora as past-centred, subjective and symbolic, the Telethon’s humanitarian governance constructs Nagorno-Karabakh as materially diasporic and subjectivities in Los Angeles as objectively tied to the present-day conflict in the South Caucasus.     

Is the Burgess concentric zonal theory of spatial differentiation still applicable to urban Canada?

L'auteur examine les données par centre de recensement provenant des recensements de 1961,1971 et 1981 dans le but d'étudier, dans les quatorze agglomérations les plus importantes au Canada, la persistance de la répartition de la population en zones concentriques selon la situation socio-économique et la taille de la famille prédite par la théorie de Burgess. II conclut que même si le caractère des zones n'est plus tout à fait le même que dans le Canada d'antan, le phénomène de la stratification progressive a non seulement persisté, mais s'est peut-être même accentué en ce qui a trait à la situation socio-économique et à la taille des families. Cette persistance s'explique, d'une part, par les valeurs sociales, qui continuent à attacher beaucoup d'importance à la possession d'une maison unifamiliale et, d'autre part, par l'aménagement et le maintien d'un réseau routier qui permet aux gens de travailler dans les grandes villes canadiennes tout en vivant en banlieue ou à la campagne.
Using census tract data from the censuses of 1961,1971 and 1981, this paper examines the durability of concentric zonal patterns in socio-economic status and family size predicted by Burgess' theory in the 14 largest metropolitan areas of Canada. Although the character of the zones may have changed over time in modern day Canada, it was found that the gradient pattern itself not only persists but may have intensified as far as socio-economic status and family size are concerned. This persistence is attributed to the strong societal norm of owning a single family detached dwelling and the development and maintenance of roadways which still make it worthwhile to commute to work in Canadian cities.     

Psychological growth in humanitarian aid personnel: reintegrating with family and community following exposure to war and genocide

There is a paucity of research into the subjective experiences of humanitarian aid personnel exposed to modern global conflicts and disasters in the course of their work. In particular, little is known about how they make sense of any dual threat: (1) witnessing catastrophic and traumatic events perpetrated on those they seek to serve and (2) experiencing personal threat to self. This phenomenological study explores the idiographic interpretation of aid personnel working in complex humanitarian settings including exposure to genocide, and the impact of such exposure on reintegration processes postmission. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). One theme: Complex humanitarian distress and growth overarched five subordinate themes. Four of the subordinate themes highlighted long term psychological distress including shame, moral doubt, betrayal, and narcissistic coping. The fifth theme, Reparation with ‘self’, describes a redefining of self-worth and altruistic identity over time despite earlier perceived moral failure and sense of rejection from organization and important others. Reparation with self, as a positive outcome from traumatic distress and lack of validating support from important others, is discussed in light of current posttraumatic growth literature. Implications for therapists and recruiting organizations are also discussed.     

Love thy neighbour: Social identity and public support for humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid can be contentious. Should finite national resources be sacrificed to serve the needy abroad? Social identity theorists argue that identification with a superordinate group, in this case the larger world community, should increase individual support for policies such as international humanitarian assistance. However, individuals can simultaneously associate with multiple identities. How does the combination of world and national identities affect support for humanitarian assistance? Using cross‐national survey data, we find evidence that support for international humanitarian aid is highest among those with a strong world identity and weak national identity relative to other identity combinations, though even those with a strong world identity and strong national identity can be supportive of aid.     

Ergonomics principles to design clothing work for electrical workers in Colombia

The recent development of the Colombian legislation, have been identified the need to develop protective clothing to work according to specifications from the work done and in compliance with international standards. These involve the development and design of new strategies and measures for work clothing design. In this study we analyzes the activities of the workers in the electrical sector, the method analyzes the risks activity data in various activities, that activities include power generation plants, local facilities, industrial facilities and maintenance of urban and rural networks. The analyses method is focused on ergonomic approach, risk analysis is done, we evaluate the role of security expert and we use a design algorithm developed for this purpose. The result of this study is the identification of constraints and variables that contribute to the development of a model of analysis that leads to the development the work protective clothes.     

Intellectual disabilities,violent conflict and humanitarian assistance: advocacy of the forgotten

This article examines the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities in violent conflict who have been neglected in practice and academia. Such invisibility, combined with the disabling impact of society, their low priority, and the nature of their impairments, results in a disproportionately negative impact of conflict on people with intellectual disabilities. Drawing on a wide range of sources, including humanitarian workers, this article examines their experiences and analyses how much consideration has been given to people with intellectual disabilities in humanitarian assistance policy and practice in light of their increased need and vulnerability. Lack of awareness and recognition of their diverse experiences can result in their needs failing to be adequately met, which compounds their disproportionately negative experience of conflict. It is important to finally start paying attention in order to ensure their inclusion in humanitarian responses.