[Review of] Rene Philombe. Tales from Cameroon

Tales from Cameroon is Richard Bjornson\u27s translation of two collections of allegories, anecdotes, and short stories by the Cameroonian writer Rene Philombe. Originally composed in French over a twenty year period between the late 1950s and the late 1970s, these fifteen works reveal the human greed, jealousy, and blindness to its own destructive behavior which Philombe believes divides Cameroonians among themselves

[Review of] Ken Goodwin. Understanding African Poetry: A Study of Ten Poets

Understanding African Poetry is a valuable asset to anyone interested in African anglophone poetry. Goodwin offers textual analysis, evaluation, and supplementary contextual information on each of the ten poets he chose to discuss. Much of the analysis shows a keen insight and the contextual commentary is quite informative. However, Goodwin\u27s evaluation reflects his bias towards British and white American concepts of what constitutes good poetry

A Response to Our Own Dogs

In contemporary American Indian songs and stories the Iroquois, Shawnee, and Lakota all voice a rueful hindsight over the hereditary Great Mistake, or the friendship and kindness which their naive, trusting ancestors extended to the pilgrims on the Mayflower

[Review of] Langston Hughes. The Big Sea: An Autobiography

In the last ten years a number of critical studies on the Harlem Renaissance have been published, and these in turn have sparked a revival of interest in the cultural, political, and social activities that took place during the ten-year period in Afroamerican history between 1919 and 1929. There is a renewed interest in the life and writings of Renaissance figures such as Arna Bontemps, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, Nella Larson, Claude McKay, and Langston Hughes. Hence many of their autobiographies, first published in the 1930s and 1940s, are being reissued in response to the demand for more information on the era when the Negro was in vogue. This latest edition of Hughes\u27s first autobiography The Big Sea is part of this larger revival and follows very closely behind the reprint of his contemporary Zora Neale Hurston\u27s Dust Tracks on a Road (University of Illinois Press, 1986)

Depictions of Elderly Blacks in American Literature

Portraits of elderly Afroamerican men and women abound in American literature and vary from stories which present a mythic primordial character who symbolizes emotional stability, experiential wisdom and a community\u27s cultural and historical heritage, to works in slice-of-life realistic style which dramatize the social and psychological conditions of aged blacks. Included in this second category are works which show the confrontation between old and new social standards. Coupled with this range of portraits is a variety of attitudes toward elderly blacks

Assigning Intentions when Actions are Unobservable: the Impact of Trembling in the Trust Game

This paper reports laboratory experiments investigating behavior when players may make inferences about the intentions behind others' prior actions based on higher- or lower-accuracy information about those actions. We investigate a trust game with first mover trembling, a game in which nature determines whether the first mover's decision is implemented or reversed. The results indicate that second movers give first movers the benefit of the doubt. However, first movers do not anticipate this response. Ultimately, it appears that subjects are thinking on at least three levels when making decisions: they are concerned with their own material well being, the trustworthiness of their counterpart, and how their own actions will be perceived.

When are Women More Generous than Men?

Previous research on gender differences in behavior has led to seemingly contradictory findings about generosity. From data generated by 290 subject pairs, we find that women are more sensitive than men to the costs of generous actions when deciding whether or not to be generous. The factors that affect the level of generosity observed in our experiments are reciprocal motivation, the level of money payoffs, and the level of social distance in the experimental protocol. The relatively greater sensitivity of women to the costs of generous behavior can explain most of the apparent inconsistencies in previously-reported findings.

2011 Workforce Needs Survey

The Greater Northwest Arkansas Regional Economic Development Strategy identified four priority areas where the region needs to collaborate around specific goals to enhance the overall community. Regional success in Northwest Arkansas will therefore depend on the success of specific goals being achieved in the areas of Infrastructure, Regional Economic Development, Community Vitality and Educational Excellence. The online survey was distributed to employers through the Northwest Arkansas Community College Workforce Advisory Group, local Chambers of Commerce, Human Resources Professional Groups and other avenues. The survey received 119 respondents. The following report will describe the major findings of the survey

Projecting the Economic Impact of the Fayetteville Shale Play for 2008-2012

In 2006, the Center for Business and Economic Research released an economic impact study of the newly developing natural gas industry related to the Fayetteville Shale. The Fayetteville Shale is an unconventional gas reservoir located on the Arkansas side of the Arkoma Basin, ranging in thickness from 50 to 325 feet and ranging in depth from 1,500 to 6,500 feet. That study concluded that from 2005 to 2008, economic output of over $5.5 billion and 9,683 jobs would be generated as a result of investments in the Fayetteville Shale. Those estimates were based on the best information available when the study was conducted; however, many of the companies involved in the Fayetteville Shale subsequently significantly accelerated their investment plans as the potential of the play was proved. Therefore, this report provides updated estimates, which better reflect the current investment plans of the companies involved, of the economic impact of the Fayetteville Shale natural gas industry on the state of Arkansas

[Review of] Philip Butcher, ed. The Minority Presence in American Literature: 1600-1900, Vols. I and II

The Minority Presence in American Literature: 1600-1900, volumes I and II, is the first publication of the Morgan State University Series in Afroamerican Studies. The series is intended to provide a basis for examining the cultural, religious and social experiences of Afroamericans. Each title in the series is intended to serve as a guide, outline, or syllabus for college courses in Afroamerican studies, American ethnic studies, history and culture, American literature, and American studies. In keeping with these aims, Philip Butcher has compiled two anthologies of major and minor American writings that can be used as readers and course guides. The selections explore the experiences of Native Americans, Afroamericans, European and Chinese immigrants in the New World between the seventeenth and early twentieth centuries