Mirroring Modernity: on consumerism in cosmopolitan Zanzibar

This essay develops an image of nineteenth century Zanzibari consumer sensibilities by demonstrating how goods from and new engagements with distant locales affected the socio-cultural landscape of Zanzibar. The East African port’s particular cosmopolitanism represents one form of social reconstitution stimulated by global integration. It also represents a material vision of global relations that was discounted by nineteenth century theorizations of Western modernity. By focusing on the rise of a new materiality in Zanzibar, I excavate precolonial visions of global relations and cultural assimilations of global symbols. I argue that East African desires for goods produced all over the globe represented not simply a Westernization, Indicization, or Arabization of Zanzibar, but also a reconfiguration of a standardized set of global materials in an attempt to bring Zanzibari cultural forms into conversation with broader global trends

The Influence of Expert Status and Learning Style Preference on Critical Thinking Abilities of Professional Nurses.

The primary purpose of this study was to compare novice, experienced, and expert professional nurses in terms of their critical thinking ability. The study also sought to identify the influence of selected individual characteristics on the critical thinking ability of professional nurses. Three samples of professional nurses, representing three levels of experience and skill, were selected for use in this study. Subjects included a convenience sample of 38 novice nurses (graduating seniors in a generic baccalaureate nursing program), 42 randomly selected experienced nurses, and a purposive sample of 48 expert nurses recognized as exemplary by their peers. A three-part instrument was used for data collection. The instrument included the California Critical Thinking Skills Test, 1990 (CCTST), the Kolb Learning Style Inventory 1985 (LSI), and a researcher developed Participant Profile Form. Data were collected on-site and by mailed questionnaire for the novice sample, and by mailed questionnaire for the experienced and expert samples. After three mailings and a telephone contact, the useable response rates of those agreeing to participate in each group were: 84% for the novice group, and 96% each from the experienced and expert groups. Results of the study included: (a) a significant positive relationship for novice nurses in overall critical thinking ability (CCTST Overall Cognitive Skills) and cumulative academic grade point average (r =.37, p one-tail =.01); (b) significant differences between expert and novice nurses on the critical thinking subscale measure for Inductive Reasoning, F (2, 125) = 4.22, p =.02; (c) no significant differences between the expert and experienced nurses on any critical thinking measure. (d) No model was found explaining a significant portion of the variance in critical thinking ability when experience/skill level, learning style, and selected demographic factors were entered as independent variables into a multiple regression analysis. Regarding predominant learning styles, the novice and experienced nurses had a higher representation of the Assimilator style, and the experts had slightly more Accommodators than Assimilators. Chi-square analysis revealed no significant association between the variable of learning style and experience/skill level of the nurses. Recommendations included a longitudinal follow-up study, possibly incorporating qualitative measures, to elucidate the construct of critical thinking in expert performance

EFTA-domstolens rådgivende uttalelser etter ODA-avtalens artikkel 34: En uforpliktende dialog eller frivillig tvang?

Master i rettsvitenskapJUS399MAJU

A House with Two Rooms: Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia Diaspora Project

From 1979 to 2003, more than 1.5 million Liberians were forced from their homes to escape from the violence and destruction of a protracted civil conflict. Hundreds of thousands became refugees and many eventually made their way to countries of resettlement including the United States and the United Kingdom. Most of their stories have never been told. This report on the experience of the Liberian diaspora, entitled A House with Two Rooms, is the culmination of three years of work in the United States, the United Kingdom and Buduburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana. The report has been submitted to the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the body charged by the Liberian government with determining the facts of the human rights violations that occurred during the civil war. The Liberian TRC officially completed its mandate June 30, 2009.https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/dri_press/1006/thumbnail.jp

Mobile Money: Communication, Consumption and Change in the Payments Space

This article explores the emerging field of 'mobile money': mobile phone-enabled systems for value transfer and storage, primarily in the developing world, which are heralded as signal interventions in the effort to broaden financial inclusion and bank the 'unbanked.' Focusing on the stories that circulate in the emergent network of expertise that is calling 'mobile money' into being, it discusses how economic techniques and social narratives about markets - specifically, narratives about the opportunities for profit and financial inclusion in the 'payments space' - format a consumer market for mobile money. Furthermore, it asks whether end-users' repurposing of mobile money - and the use of airtime as currency - heralds a new means of exchange or store of value, potentially remaking money in the process. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Maroon Archaeology Beyond the Americas: A View From Kenya

Archaeological research on Maroons—that is, runaway slaves—has been largely confined to the Americas. This essay advocates a more global approach. It specifically uses two runaway slave communities in 19th-century coastal Kenya to rethink prominent interpretive themes in the field, including “Africanisms,” Maroons’ connections to indigenous groups, and Maroon group cohesion and identity. This article’s analysis demonstrates that the comparisons enabled by a more globalized perspective benefit the field. Instead of eliding historical and cultural context, these comparisons support the development of more localized and historically specific understandings of individual runaway slave communities both in Kenya and throughout the New World