THE ASSOCIATIVE ACTION OF URBAN AND PERI-URBAN WOMEN FARMERS IN NORTHEAST, BRAZIL: power dynamics and strategic alliances

The purpose of this paper is to identify opportunities and challenges arising from the strategic alliances between small-scale female cultivators in the sector of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and other members of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) movement in Northeast Brazil. Results are drawn from a qualitative analysis based on interviews with 50 women active in UPA groups/ associations in the states of Ceará and Pernambuco, and with 14 SSE local leaders in July-August 2016. While many studies in the field deal with community dynamics and movement-building among landless rural workers and peasant collective struggles for land access and social justice, little attention has yet been devoted to investigate the political role of female UPA associative work within the SSE.  Thus, the proposed study aims to expand the critical analysis of social movements by examining, from an intersectional feminist perspective, the following questions: How do women active in collective UPA initiatives and living in favelas involve and position themselves within the SSE movement? Do they use the space of marginality to fight for their rights and negotiate their claims? Does the associative work help to combat the perpetuation of patriarchal relations and other entrenched hierarchies of power? Finally, what are the outcomes of those alliances promoting dissident expressions of resistance against postcolonial social exclusion, particularly from Afro-Brazilian and indigenous native women?O objetivo do artigo é identificar oportunidades e desafios decorrentes das alianças estratégicas entre cultivadoras de pequena escala da agricultura urbana e periurbana (AUP) e outros membros da economia social e solidária (ESS) no Nordeste do Brasil. Os resultados são oriundos de uma análise qualitativa baseada em entrevistas com 50 mulheres ativas em grupos e associações da AUP nos estados do Ceará e Pernambuco, além de 14 líderes locais da ESS, em julho-agosto de 2016. Enquanto muitos estudos lidam com as dinâmicas comunitárias e construção de movimentos entre trabalhadores rurais sem terra e lutas coletivas camponesas por acesso à terra e justiça social, pouca atenção tem sido dedicada a investigar o papel político do trabalho associativo feminino da AUP dentro da ESS. Assim, este estudo objetiva expandir a análise crítica dos movimentos sociais a partir de uma perspectiva feminista interseccional das seguintes questões: como as mulheres ativas das iniciativas coletivas de AUP e que vivem em favelas se envolvem e se posicionam dentro do movimento de ESS? Será que elas usam o espaço da marginalidade para lutar por seus direitos e negociar suas reivindicações? Será que o trabalho associativo ajuda a combater a perpetuação das relações patriarcais e outras hierarquias arraigadas de poder? Finalmente, quais os resultados dessas alianças para promoção de expressões dissidentes de resistência contra exclusão social pós-colonial, em particular das mulheres afrobrasileiras e indígenas

Human Trafficking: Canadian Government Policy and Practice

A recent study undertaken by the authors (Oxman-Martinez and Martinez 2000) examined the Canadian government’s response to the traffic of human beings. Information from twenty-one government and ngo informants and a thorough review of state agency policies and international conventions revealed that trafficking and refugee movements have many links. The question raised by the Metropolis Project—Is clandestine entry to Canada a crime or a new form of migration?—is important, given that trafficking may be the only option available to legitimate refugees waiting to escape dangerous or oppressive situations. Rather than seeking to ease the migration of refugees or addressing the structural causes of trafficking or its social implications, however, Canada’s response is focused on the prevention of “irregular movements” (through immigration and border control) and prosecution of the few traffickers successfully apprehended. Preliminary evidence suggests that border control will fail to adequately address the exploitation of women, children, and men—often refugees— within our frontiers. The temporarily defunct Bill c- 31 (with its measures to control the borders and restrict immigration) threatens the rights of refugees while doing little to prevent human trafficking, protect its victims, or prosecute those who profit from trafficking.Une étude récente faite par les auteurs (Oxman-Martinez et Martinez 2000) s’est penchée sur la réaction du gouvernement canadien au trafic de personnes. Des informations reçues de 21 informateurs se trouvant au gouvernement et dans des ong, ainsi qu’un réexamen en profondeur des politiques suivies par les agences gouvernementales et des conventions internationales ont révélé qu’il existait des liens multiples entre le flot de réfugiés et le trafic de personnes. La question posée par le Projet Metropolis, c.à-d. « L’entrée clandestine au Canada est-elle un crime ou une nouvelle forme de migration ? » est importante, étant donné que le trafic est possiblement l’une des seules options dont disposent les réfugiés légitimes désirant fuir des situations dangereuses ou abusives. Cependant, au lieu d’essayer d’atténuer le flot de réfugiés ou de s’attaquer aux causes structurelles du trafic ou à ses implications sociales, la réaction du Canada est consacrée à empêcher les « déplacements irréguliers » (contrôle de l’immigration et contrôle aux frontières), et la poursuite en justice des rares trafiquants qu’on arrive à appréhender. Des indications préliminaires suggèrent que le contrôle aux frontières ne parviendra pas à s’attaquer de façon satisfaisante au problème que constitue l’exploitation, à l’intérieur même de nos frontières, de femmes, d’enfants et d’hommes qui sont souvent des réfugiés. Le projet de loi c-31 — temporairement défunt — avec ses mesures pour contrôler nos frontières et limiter l’immigration, menace les droits des réfugiés, sans pour autant faire beaucoup pour empêcher le trafic humain, protéger ses victimes ou traduire en justice ceux qui en profitent

Identifying the differences in survivorship and growth in offspring of large and small females in the pipefish species Syngnathus scovelli

While maternal investment in many fish species is well studied, the effect of maternal investment on offspring quality in the sex-role-reversed pipefish Syngnathus scovelli has not yet been determined. Previous studies in other species of pipefish have looked at egg size and components of an egg’s makeup as indicators of offspring quality and have found conflicting results. In this study, we compared growth and survivorship of offspring from females of different sizes by mating a controlled sized male with a large or small female and measuring growth every ten days. Using the number of eggs transferred by each female to her mate as a predictor of female reproductive success, we found that in a single mating there is no difference in the number of eggs or surviving offspring at birth for the two female size categories. The size at birth of the offspring were not significantly different but showed a trend towards larger females having longer offspring at birth. Growth and survivorship of offspring of large and small females was also compared when offspring are put into resource limited environments by having three levels of feeding for offspring from each brood. The results showed that offspring of both female categories had decreased growth and survivorship in the lowest food treatment and had similar growth and survivorship in the control. However, the experiment showed an unexpected result in the low feeding treatment where the offspring of small females grew more and had a higher survivorship than offspring of large females in the same feeding treatment. We hypothesize that the increased growth in offspring of small females when food is limited is a result of increased female provisioning from the smaller females who are compensating for their lower mating successes compared to larger females. These results may indicate that size of maternal female is not a definite indicator of offspring fitness and there are many interactions and environmental conditions that need to be taken into account in order to predict the future fitness of offspring in Gulf pipefish

Proposal for an Italian Family Mediation Clinic

Section A of this paper discusses the historical evolution of clinical legal programs in the United States, the homeland of clinical legal education. Next, the current framework of Italian legal clinics is discussed, focusing on its American heritage and associated nuances.Section B considers why mediation would be particularly suitable for the creation of an Italian legal clinic, given the recent incentives created by the European legislature to strengthen alternative dispute resolution. The evolution of the Columbia Law School Mediation Clinic is described, from its beginning to the recent creation of an advanced clinic model, and insights from this process are discussed in terms of the Italian legal and family environment.Section C lays out baseline considerations and recommendations for creating a family mediation clinic at LUMSA. Three different approaches to family and community mediation previously adopted in the context of clinical legal education are analysed: facilitative mediation, transformative mediation, and peacemaking circle. A model for the clinic is proposed, with suggestions for sources and materials from which the curriculum might be drawn

Genetic mapping of metabolic biomarkers of cardiometabolic diseases

Cardiometabolic disorders (CMDs) are a major public health problem worldwide. The main goal of this thesis is to characterize the genetic architecture of CMD-related metabolites in a Lebanese cohort. In order to maximise the extraction of meaningful biological information from this dataset, an important part of this thesis focuses on the evaluation and subsequent improvement of the standard methods currently used for molecular epidemiology studies. First, I describe MetaboSignal, a novel network-based approach to explore the genetic regulation of the metabolome. Second, I comprehensively compare the recovery of metabolic information in the different 1H NMR strategies routinely used for metabolic profiling of plasma (standard 1D, spin-echo and JRES). Third, I describe a new method for dimensionality reduction of 1H NMR datasets prior to statistical modelling. Finally, I use all this methodological knowledge to search for molecular biomarkers of CMDs in a Lebanese population. Metabolome-wide association analyses identified a number of metabolites associated with CMDs, as well as several associations involving N-glycan units from acute-phase glycoproteins. Genetic mapping of these metabolites validated previously reported gene-metabolite associations, and revealed two novel loci associated with CMD-related metabolites. Collectively, this work contributes to the ongoing efforts to characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying complex human diseases.Open Acces