Mission of a Meddler: Mixed Matters of Class, Gender, and Race in Mary Church Terrell\u27s Model of Elite Black Female Activism

In The Mission of Meddlers, published in 1905 in The Voice of the Negro, Mary Church Terrell called to action a cadre of change agents who dared to ask prejudiced, cast-ridden bigots by what right they humiliate and harass their fellowmen simply on account of a difference in color, class or races. As the privileged daughter of Robert Reed Church, Sr., hailed as the Souths first black millionaire, Terrell upon completion of college could easily have complied with her fathers wishes to have her reside at his Memphis mansion and enjoy the genteel lifestyle of a Southern belle. She chose instead to use her mettle as an elite black woman to combat gender bias and race discrimination. The goal of this dissertation is to illustrate how Terrell, meddler on a mission, did not merely react to gender and racial inequality but consistently dictated through transformative leadership the very direction of the national dialogue for the enacting, enabling, and enforcing of federal protective legislation. Terrells autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World, is supplemented with newspaper articles, excerpts from her diary, reflections from selected contemporaries, Congressional records, and court cases to analyze how her ancestry, affluence, and academic training gave dimensionality, or multifaceted layers, to her class stature. These sources also show how Terrell crafted female concentricity, or common circles with diverse female groups, by building self-help networks with elite black clubwomen; providing community service to poor black women; and forging political alliances with white suffragists. Stuart Hall, the late black British cultural theorist, wrote in a 1978 study that race is the modality in which class is lived. This dissertation argues that transforming the modality of race was the greatest roadblock that Terrell faced in implementing her mission as a meddler; indeed, race was the window through which both class and gender were viewed. Terrells class standing did not exempt her from racial bias, and even elite black women by virtue of their race were not considered ladies. Terrell fought racial inequality through her intrepid service as a liaison with Frederick Douglass in their 1993 White House visit that drew national attention to lynching; as lobbyist on behalf of the Brownsville soldiers dismissed without due process in 1906; and as launchpad for the chartering of the NAACP in 1909. Terrells picketing of Washington, D.C. segregated public accommodations in the 1950s as an octogenarian with the lost laws as her basis was the capstone of her long and fruitful career as a meddler. Terrell remained resolute that the thorny issue of race often overshadowed her class standing and proved darker in tone than gender bias. Though she was a colored woman in a white world determined to limit her to a separate sphere and within racial boundaries, this dissertation will show that Terrell through her writings, speeches, and direct action campaigns led the vanguard of black activists determined to dictate a different direction

Encounters with the military : toward an ethics of feminist critique?

This conversation developed from a panel titled “Interrogating the Militarized Masculine: Reflections on Research, Ethics and Access” held at the May 2013 International Feminist Journal of Politics conference at the University of Sussex, UK

Tracking the Elephant (Lexodonta Africana) Corridor and the Human-­‐Wildlife Conflict in Esilalei Village, A Continuation Study

Elephants are threatened and their habitat, wildlife corridors and overall space to roam is diminishing due to an increasing human population. As more and more space is being utilized for human development, it has begun to interfere with existing migratory corridors. This is a problem because elephants tend to destroy farmlands on their route, destroying villagers’ livelihoods, and also on occasion, may kill or hurt humans. As a result, there is a human elephant conflict. This study focused on human elephant conflict in Esilalei as well as GPS mapping evidence of elephant migration along the projected corridor between Lake Manyara National Park and Manyara Ranch, and from Tarangire National Park to Manyara Ranch, sometimes passing through Esilalei before traveling to the Losimangori Mountains. In the village of Esilalei, 40 interviews were conducted with Maasai warriors and babas. The findings of these interviews reflected an ongoing human elephant conflict, and the leading conflict that most villagers had with elephants was crop-­‐ raiding. Opportunistic interviews were also conducted during tracking with farmers, pastoralists, rangers and one key informant interview at Manyara Ranch. With the help of an expert, evidence of elephant presence was found and marked using a GPS to attempt to construct a corridor. Findings can conclude that elephants do travel to Manyara Ranch, both from Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Parks. There was an abundance of evidence found leading from Manyara Ranch and Esilalei area to the Losimangori Mountains. Interviews confirmed that elephants travel outside of protected areas or National Parks during the rainy, or wet, season. The goal of our study is to complete mapping the corridor and find the direction of travel within the iv Tarangire-­‐Manyara ecosystem. In the future, we hope our findings will be of assistance to help conserve this migratory route and species, but more importantly, we hope our study can serve as a little piece in the much bigger puzzle that is: human elephant conflict

The Experiences of Parents and Infants Using a Home-Based Art Intervention Aimed at Improving Wellbeing and Connectedness in Their Relationship

During the period of COVID-19 restrictions, we offered vulnerable families with 0 to 3 year old children boxes of art resources and guided creative activities to do together at home. This paper explores families’ experiences of this intervention, highlighting their perceptions of change in wellbeing and attachment. There is a developing case for the social benefits of art, including the impact of arts on mental health and on the wellbeing of children. However, we know that social factors impact upon arts participation, and existing inequalities and mental health difficulties have been exacerbated in the context of the pandemic. This project aimed to adapt to restrictions, to provide a meaningful remote intervention, supporting parent-infant dyads to have positive interactions through art making. We sought to explore the benefits of this intervention for infants and parents with a view to understanding more about the psychological benefits of art participation and about ways to engage families into art making, as well as thinking about how best we can evidence these kinds of arts in health interventions. Preliminary findings showed promising outcomes from the art boxes and this paper brings together the full results, primarily based on interviews with sixteen parents and four referrers alongside collected feedback. We highlight potential mechanisms for change within the intervention and detail the perceived impact of the art boxes in supporting attachment. Parents felt that the art-boxes facilitated changes in their own wellbeing that would make them more available to connection, and recognised changes for babies that reflected their increased capacity to mentalise about their child. Importantly, there were also concrete changes for the dyad that represented improved connection, such as more playful time together and increased shared attention and eye contact. Our observations suggest that the quality of the parent-infant relationship benefited from home-based art intervention, and we speculate about the potential efficacy of this approach beyond the pandemic

Dementia risk factors for Australian baby boomers

Baby boomers are individuals born in the years 1946 to 1965. The objective of this paper was to define the risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and their relevance to Australian baby boomers, with the aim of providing evidence-based guidelines for dementia prevention. A series of PubMed searches (1994–2010) were conducted with relevant key words. Data was included from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in relation to baby boomers in Australia. Article titles and abstracts were assessed by two reviewers for inclusion. Searches through ABS revealed no specific study on baby boomers at a national level; information was only available for Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. A number of genetic and non-genetic risk factors for dementia were identified most of which remain controversial and require further study. We did not identify significant differences in the prevalence and incidence of dementia in those under 65 years in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. There were no correlations of risk factors and dementia between the Australian states. Modification of risk factors has not been proven to reduce the incidence and prevalence of dementia and AD in baby boomers. Nevertheless, on available evidence, we recommend: i) active management of cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension; ii) the encouragement of a healthy lifestyle (eg, weight reduction, exercise) as offering the best pathways to reduce the emerging dementia risk for baby boomers. The implications are that activities promoting a healthy heart might lead to a healthy brain and help to prevent dementia

Art at the Start:A controlled trial and close observation of parent-infant art therapy intervention

This two-part study seeks to evidence art therapy intervention for parent-infant attachment relationships, looking at improvements to wellbeing and relationships. Study one was a controlled trial with 105 participating parent/caregivers and their infants (0–3-years), identified due to concerns about their relationship. They were quasi-randomized to attend a 12-week art therapy group or treatment as usual. Measures focused on parents’ wellbeing and their perceptions of their relationship with their infant. In study 2 we analyzed video footage from the first and penultimate sessions of a sample of 37 dyads, looking for observable changes in the different channels of communication upon which attachments are predicated. The controlled trial showed intervention participants had significantly improved parental wellbeing, significant increases in attachment warmth and significant decreases in intrusion. This contrasted with the control sample who showed a significant decrease in wellbeing, stable warmth, and significant increases in intrusion. The observation study showed that there was a significant increase in the communicative behaviors from the parents to the infant which would support attachments between the first and penultimate sessions. We conclude that these results make a robust case for the inclusion of art therapy within the range of interventions available for at risk early relationships.</p

Turning on the Lights: Transcending Energy Poverty Through The Power of Women Entrepreneurs

Solar lanterns offer affordable, high-quality lighting in developing countries. A number of organizations, including social enterprises, make solar lanterns available to rural households as an alternative to candles or kerosene lamps. One of the most successful of these organizations is Solar Sister. Solar Sister, a social enterprise operating in Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria, is dedicated to eradicating energy poverty through the economic empowerment of women. In addition to economically empowering its women entrepreneurs, the business model of Solar Sister also cultivates sales networks built on trust in last-mile distribution methods. While Solar Sister has previously conducted research regarding its many entrepreneurs, it has lacked information on its end customers. In 2016 a research team from Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship undertook survey research with Solar Sister to examine the effects of solar lantern use on users’ health, education, time allocation, household savings, income generation, and increased agency. The research team conducted a 53-question survey in more than 20 villages across five regions in Tanzania, with research assistants providing English-Swahili translation. The survey’s findings demonstrate that solar lanterns’ effects on end users are far more comprehensive and far-reaching than providing light. With solar lanterns, students have a reliable, bright light to use for their studies and show significant improvement in their education. Families are relieved of the damaging health effects from kerosene and no longer risk burns and home fires from kerosene lamps. Households experience financial benefits by ceasing the use of costly kerosene, growing existing businesses, and starting new businesses. Further, individuals have more time in their day due to increased lighting hours and elimination of travel time to obtain kerosene. Some solar lanterns do more than provide light: They can also charge cell phones. And all these benefits combine to create intrinsic changes in individuals’ sense of agency and power. The data and stories presented here are intended to help illuminate the potential of solar lanterns to improve livelihoods in rural Tanzania and beyond