The Tenter-Hooks of Temptation : The Debate Over Theatre in Post-Revolutionary America

In Royall Tyler’s 1787 play The Contrast, the innocent and simple Yankee Jonathan unknowingly attends a playhouse, mistaking it for a hocus pocus show. The historian and eighteenth-century theatre manager, William Dunlap, later criticized Tyler’s play because his hero was a clown who misrepresented the new nation that the Revolutionary War created. Tyler’s satirical portrait of his hero, however, is not an attack on the Yankee, but rather a symbol of the ideological conflicts within America. Jonathan repeats the religious charges against theatre, but he also joins in the fun at the playhouse. He is simple and honest, but he does not have a mind of his own. Thus, Tyler both supported and critiqued the arguments against theatre from the 1780s and 90s. The Contrast is not only a play about theatre, but it is about the new American. Jonathan represents the common man, but his ignorance reveals that the common man could be dangerous. The debate over theatre at the end of the eighteenth century exemplified this paradox. Republicanism meant freemen should have the right to choose their own entertainment, yet it also meant freemen had the right to be protected from dangerous elements of society

Issue 07: The Need for Local Reintegration Policy/Programs in Rural Mexico

Since 2007, a growing number of Mexican immigrants in the United States have been returning to Mexico. For the first time since the 1960s, net migration in Mexico is zero, implying that just as many Mexicans are returning to Mexico as are going to the United States. There are a number of factors contributing to this return migration by Mexican nationals. This current situation presents the Mexican government with new priorities and responsibilities. Upon return, many of these unskilled workers face barriers preventing proper reintegration back into Mexican society, including a lack of support networks, potential language and cultural barriers dependent on the length of time they spent in the United States, and a lack of skills needed for available employment. The Mexican government is not prepared to assist and support the number of returning migrants. This lack of reintegration support causes many returning migrants to again leave Mexico and fosters a circular form of migration

Culture Shock: The Exploitation of J-1 Cultural Exchange Workers

They come to experience all America has to offer. They hope to pay their way by working a summer job as they experience a new culture and learn English. They work in our hotels, restaurants, fast-food chains and amusement parks. They work for companies with names synonymous with the United States: McDonald's, Disney, Hilton and more. They're J-1 guest workers. Congress created the program more than 50 years ago "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by means of educational and cultural exchange." Foreign youths pay American job placement agencies designated by the Department of State -- called "sponsors" -- to be placed with U.S. employers in jobs that offer cultural exchange opportunities and, for trainees and interns, professional job training.This report is based on hundreds of interviews with J-1 Summer Work Travel participants and interns and trainees working across the South, primarily in the hospitality industry. These interviews revealed that regardless of the worker's country of origin or whether they participated in the Summer Work Travel Program or the Trainee and Intern Program, the experience is the same. The J-1 program must return to its original mission of cultural exchange. It also must have mechanisms in place to protect young U.S. workers in the job market. Recommendations for reform are offered at the end of this report

The Women Against Rape in War Collective’s protests against ANZAC Day in Sydney, 1983 and 1984

Non-refereed Memoir delivered at “Women Against Rape in War: Gallipoli to Coniston” Conference, UTS 29 August 201

Statutory regulation of the secular curriculum in England and consequences for legal liability

The extent and scope of state regulation of the secular curriculum and of the quality of educational provision in schools in England has grown virtually beyond recognition in the past 15 years. Within that period, England has moved from being one of the least legally regulated systems to one of the most highly regulated in Europe, a transformation which has been by no means without political, educational and legal controversy. ... This article will first address the question as to why the government decided to develop a highly detailed and prescriptive regulatory framework for the curriculum in England, placing this reform in the context of other related educational reforms during the same period. The second part of the article will examine some key elements of the regulatory framework itself and will discuss in particular the manner in which it is formulated and promulgated by the central government. ... The final part of the article will consider the potential for legal challenge by aggrieved parties - parents or children - in respect of the substantive content, quality or delivery of the curriculum in schools. It will consider the limited litigation that has arisen so far in England relating to the substance of educational provision, and whether the establishment of a detailed regulatory framework for the curriculum increases the likelihood of litigation in this context. (DIPF/Orig.

Recent Trends in Employment and Unemployment: Assessing the impact of the economic downturn on part-time farmers

working paperThis paper provides an overview of contemporary trends in national employment and unemployment before providing a synopsis of the regional distribution of unemployment and how it has changed in recent years. Using Quarterly National Household Survey data (QNHS) the analysis then focuses on a sub-group within the QNHS data who report employment in Agriculture, Forestry or Fishing as a secondary occupation. This latter group derive the majority of their income off-farm and fall firmly within the 'part-time' farming category. Exploring changes in employment patterns amongst this group not only highlights the impact of the recession on farm-based families but also reveals some of the ongoing consequences of the restructuring of Ireland’s rural economy. The paper concludes by considering the implications of these findings with regard to demand for state supports to farmers