Month: June 2024

Abstract

This article combines ethnographic and anthropological research with archaeology to explore the significance of archaeological sites as historical elements and their continuous reinterpretation in Haiti. By examining the connection of people with traces of colonial plantations, caves, and Indigenous rock art, this study contextualizes archaeology and heritage within the current social context. The research reveals archaeological sites are characterized by contemporary traces of uses by individuals today. These traces are associated with stories tied to renegotiations of meaning to places, and their contestation, construction of belonging, and memories are among the elements that make sense of heritage-making. The study emphasizes the importance of place meaning and heritage, offering valuable perspectives for future archaeological investigations and contributing to broader discourses on material history in the Caribbean.

Abstract

Many nineteenth-century Chinese migrants to Pacific Rim countries died far from their home villages. Diverse approaches were adopted to mark graves, possibly anticipating the subsequent, culturally important, repatriation of their bones. This paper evaluates the morphology of grave markers from eight northeast Australian sites and considers reasons for the variations. Physical appraisal of each site was undertaken and, where they exist, cemetery records and allied documentation examined. In an unusual departure from the norm the inscriptions on most identified grave markers rarely indicate date of death. The seemingly meticulous attention to grave identification in some areas contrasts with others where markers are absent. This study indicates divergent approaches to identification and recording of individual graves over time and place. Rather than indicating full-fledged ethnogenesis, wherein Australian Chinese developed new cultural practices, these behaviors suggest that ca.1870–1930 was a transitional period, during which extant cultural processes were adapted to meet immediate needs.

Abstract

This study assessed the effectiveness of Washington State’s kinship navigator to (1) increase service utilization, (2) promote caregiver satisfaction and (3) increase caregiver wellbeing. Using propensity-score matching, kinship caregivers who received enhanced case management kinship navigator services were matched to a comparison group of kinship caregivers who received services as usual (information and referral only) in their communities. The matched sample showed strong baseline equivalence on caregiver age, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Caregivers who received enhanced case management services experienced greater rates of well-being and greater service utilization in key service and benefit areas (i.e., support groups and child-only TANF). There was no effect observed related to caregiver satisfaction.

Abstract

In recent years, university research in Cambodia has seen new developments and potential transformations although many challenges remain. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews with 22 Cambodian academics, this study shows that the development of university research in Cambodia is constrained by various challenges and barriers to research, preventing Cambodia from promoting higher education internationalization and transforming itself into a knowledge-based society. The study highlights key challenges that limit possibilities for further positive developments of higher education research and suggests the need for policy reforms to make a difference to the university research landscape in Cambodia. The study also points to the broader issues of North-South knowledge divide and calls for national and institutional initiatives to support Cambodian academics and empower them to enhance their research engagement. Finally, the study discusses implications for future research.

Abstract

Higher education is facing increasing calls to engage in a process of intellectual decolonisation. This process necessitates that we take time to consider both the content of our curriculum and the pedagogic practices used to facilitate its understanding. Drawing on discussions of both intellectual decolonisation and its underpinning principles of epistemic justice, I consider the implications of these ideas for the threshold concept framework. These implications are likely to relate to both the identification of potential future threshold concepts and the experience of engaging with them. As threshold scholars, we may need to reconsider our ideas about who the experts are within a discipline or practice in our efforts to identify candidate threshold concepts and consider alternative sources of evidence in support of this. In addition, we need to reflect on how the learning experiences that arise as a result of encounters with thresholds that have emerged as a result of the privileging of knowledge and ways of knowing from the ‘global north’ might serve as a source of epistemic trouble to learners from the ‘global south’. Such learning experiences are likely to be highly emotive and represent a significant source of troublesome learning.