Reaching Out to Tribal Communities: Lessons Learned and Approaches to Consider

When transportation safety decision-making is desired, the involvement and engagement with a community is essential. A streamlined delivery of a project or program is more likely to occur when active dialogue and an exchange of ideas occurs in advance and occurs frequently. This is particularly important in tribal communities, who value sustained relationships and represent the focus population of this study. The research team, on six separate occasions, met with local and regional tribal leaders to explore and discuss transportation safety needs within and outside tribal communities, as well as discern the recommended approaches to foster ongoing dialogue about these needs. In all cases these discussions closely correlated with existing research studies or activities; transportation safety and equity is not seen as separate from other tribal foci and community needs. Specific recommendations to consider, in no particular order, included the following: invest respectfully enough time for people to talk; tribes think long-term and consider the impact of any decision from a long-term viewpoint so an iterative process and re-sharing of ideas is critical; the power of decision is in the hands of the tribe and its members; do not lump tribes together as each tribe is sovereign and unique and every community should be expected to think differently; all tribes are unique as is the environmental and social context; to disseminate information widely and iteratively, do so when there is a large group or event; be sure to understand the Tribal governance, decision making, and organizational structure; know who is the tribal Chairman or Chairwoman; and develop an emic and etic understanding of the community

My Father is a Woman, Oh No!: The Failure of the Courts to Uphold Individual Substantive Due Process Rights For Transgender Parents Under the Guise of the Best Interests of the Child

Under the guise of the best interest of the child, courts have denied biological and legal parents both custody and visitation rights over their children because these parents were either in the process of changing, or had completed a change, in their sexual and/or gender identity. One court has even terminated the parent-child relationship because of a parent\u27s transgender status. This article proposes that a parent\u27s transgender status does not render that parent per se unfit for custody and/or visitation. Rather, a parent\u27s gender change should be used as merely one factor within the nexus test used by the court for creating a custody and visitation arrangement that is in the best interest of the child. Part II introduces an overview of the legal issues facing transgender individuals and specifically identifies the problems encountered in child custody cases. Several trans gender case examples are also discussed in the overview. Part III examines the historical development of the best interest of the child standard, as well as the de-evolution of gender preference in child custody cases. Part IV critiques the Anglo-American cultural bias in favor of binary genderism and distinguishes the terms sex, gender, and sexual orientation. Although medical and scientific data prove that sexual identity, gender identity, and sexual orientation are separate but related categories, the law remains behind in its recognition of this data, Part IV demonstrates the historical acceptance of gender multiplicity in other cultures, such as India, the Dominican Republic, and the Native American Indian culture, and discusses several interna-tional cases involving transgender rights. Part V analyzes judicial decisions denying custody to trans-gender parents and proposes that a parent\u27s trans gender status should not operate as a per se bar to an award of child custody. Part V also analyzes judicial decisions that have used the nexus test to award custody to gay, lesbian, and transgender parents. Part VI discusses the evolving social acceptance of trans gender parents and presents data relating to the emotional well-being of their children. This article concludes that courts should not deny a transgender parent custody of his or her children absent evidence of that parent\u27s unfitness

POL 166 The American Political System

We will study the American political system using several different approaches. First, we will look at the founding of the United States and the principles and the documents that continue to be central to debates in American politics today. Then, we will analyze how these founding principles and documents were used by opposing parties and individuals to define and distribute power in the US. These struggles include the continuing conflicts to expand and guarantee individual freedoms and to address discrimination. Looking back through American history will help us frame contemporary discussions of American political life, from voting to elections. Finally, we will look at the institutions of American government, learning how the structures and rules of the American political system shape the ongoing competition for political power and influence

Is Environmental Justice Good for White Folks?

This paper examines spatial variations in exposure to toxic air pollution from industrial facilities in urban areas of the United States, using geographic microdata from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators project. We find that average exposure in an urban area is positively correlated with the extent of racial and ethnic disparity in the distribution of the exposure burden. This correlation could arise from causal linkages in either or both directions: the ability to displace pollution onto minorities may lower the effective cost of pollution for industrial firms; and higher average pollution burdens may induce whites to invest more political capital in efforts to influence firms’ siting decisions. Furthermore, we find that in urban areas with higher minority pollution-exposure discrepancies, average exposures tend to be higher for all population subgroups, including whites. In other words, improvements in environmental justice in the United States could benefit not only minorities but also whites.environmental justice; air pollution; industrial toxics; Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators.

The Slip and Fall of the California Legislature in the Classification of Personal Injury Damages At Divorce and Death

Part I of this Article provides an overview of California\u27s no-fault divorce reform, its haphazard development of community property laws, and the problems with the current statute classifying personal injury damages as community property during marriage and assigning those damages to the injured spouse at divorce, unless the interests of justice require an alternate disposition. Part II discusses the treatment and classification of personal injury damages in the eight other community property states and also offers a brief historical explanation of each state\u27s community property origins. Part III concludes that the California legislature should amend the statute to classify personal injury damages according to a replacement analysis for division at both divorce and death

A Brief History of Anglo-Western Suicide: From Legal Wrong to Civil Right

This article will examine the history of suicide from antiquity, where certain types of self-killing were socially acceptable, to its evolution as a criminal wrong and its modern reincarnation as a moral and legal right. In the early Common Era, suicide was not a criminal wrong, but with the spread of Christianity, suicide became illegal. In the present day, a growing minority of states have legalized some forms of suicide or self-killing. In 2018, six states and the District of Columbia had legalized some form of physician-assisted suicide: California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Twenty-three states are considering some type of death with dignity legislation in their 2018 session. The rise of an individual\u27s right to die has been concurrent with the rise and recognition of individual civil rights in the twentieth century, and more specifically an individual\u27s right of privacy without state intervention. Part One explores the Anglo- Western historical treatment of suicide including its religious, legal, and social implications. Part Two focuses on the early American treatment of suicide. Part Three addresses the eugenic underpinnings of the early euthanasia movement and its legal transformation post-World War II as an individual right. Part Four concludes that the legalization of suicide is inevitable within a society which values individual autonomy and self-determination

California Putative Spouses: the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Law

This Article traces the historical roots of the putative spouse doctrine, its codification in California, its application in California, and recommends that California adopt a pure putative spouse system and simply include putative spouses as legal spouses for all purposes as it has done for registered domestic partners. To allow some but not all of the incidents of marriage to putative spouses is confusing, sometimes inequitable, and contrary to the expectations of the innocent spouse. California has a history of piecemeal legislation in family law without consideration of varying consequences and without regard to the historical purpose and policy of the rule

California Putative Spouses: the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Law

This Article traces the historical roots of the putative spouse doctrine, its codification in California, its application in California, and recommends that California adopt a pure putative spouse system and simply include putative spouses as legal spouses for all purposes as it has done for registered domestic partners. To allow some but not all of the incidents of marriage to putative spouses is confusing, sometimes inequitable, and contrary to the expectations of the innocent spouse. California has a history of piecemeal legislation in family law without consideration of varying consequences and without regard to the historical purpose and policy of the rule

Increasing ecological validity in studies of facial attractiveness : effects of motion and expression on attractiveness judgements

While our understanding of what makes a face attractive has been greatly furthered in recent decades, the stimuli used in much of the foregoing research (static images with neutral expressions) bear little resemblance to the faces with which we nonnally interact. In our social interactions, we frequently evaluate faces that move and are expressive, and thus, it is important to evaluate whether motion and expression influence ratings of attractiveness; this was the central aim of the experiments in this dissertation. Using static and dynamic stimuli with neutral or positive expression, the effects of motion and expression were also tested in combination with other factors known to be relevant to attractiveness judgements: personality attributions, sex-typicality and cultural influence. In general, the results from this set of experiments show that judgements of moving, expressive stimuli do differ, sometimes radically, from judgements made of more traditional types of stimuli. Motion and positive expression were both found to increase ratings of attractiveness reliably in most experiments, as well as across cultures, and in some instances, showed strong sex-specific effects. Intriguing sex differences were also found in personality trait ratings of the stimuli, particularly for male faces; while criteria for female faces remained relatively constant across all conditions, trait ratings associated with attractiveness for male faces were dependent on particular combinations of motion and expression. Finally, in line with previous research, cross-cultural experiments showed general agreement between Japanese and Caucasian raters, but also suggested slight, culture-specific differences in preferences for expression and motion. IV This set of experiments has integrated the factors of motion, expression, sextypicality, personality and cultural influence together in order to bring a greater degree of ecological validity into attractiveness studies. These findings offer major implications for researchers studying attractiveness, particularly that of males, and suggest that motion and expression are important dimensions that should be considered in future research while simultaneously placing a caution on the interpretation of findings made with static stimuli. Suggestions are also made for further research in light of the present finding

Engendering self-sufficiency after welfare reform in San Antonio, TX

This dissertation is an ethnography of U.S. women negotiating the shifting terrain of reforms to federal welfare policies. Chapter one reviews literature relevant to the dissertation themes. I discuss the work of anthropologists relevant to understanding U.S. welfare reform and gender, public policy and kinship, as well as the concepts of neoliberalism and neoconservativism which frame my analysis of the ethnographic material. In chapter two, I introduce a context for understanding everyday life in San Antonio for low-income women. After providing a brief historical context for understanding the public housing and urban poverty in San Antonio, I parse out events and themes related to public housing that punctuate and constrain the lives women, including the disparities among different City neighborhoods and significance of public housing in women's lives. Chapter three critiques flexibility as a strategy to meet the requirements of welfare reform and attain economic self-sufficiency. I describe gendered and classed perspectives on the marriage promotion component of welfare reform and contextualize these programs with women's lives and relationship choices. In chapter four, I look at marriage and marriage promotion as a component of welfare reform. I review complications and obstacles that women associated with marriage, such as blended families, domestic violence, and barriers to continued public assistance. These factors all affect women's considerations about marriage as a timely and appropriate choice or a way to improve their social and economic situation. Chapter five explores child care dilemmas encountered by women receiving and leaving welfare for employment. While subsidized child care is an option for some women, the employment opportunities available to them require a high degree of individual flexibility are frequently inconsistent with the surprisingly inflexible available formal and informal child care arrangements. Without subsidies, women are often unable to secure and maintain low-wage jobs that are available to them. I understand this predicament in the broader context of the gendered aspects of neoliberalism and welfare reform.Anthropolog