Race, Gender, and the Status-Quo:Asian and African American Relations in a Hollywood Film

Hollywood films play a significant role in constructing and reinforcing inter-ethnic tensions through negative representations of Asian Americans and African Americans. While white males are most often depicted as smart and romantically desirable, thereby reinforcing an ideology of white male dominance, Asian Americans and Blacks are typically diminished to demeaning and secondary status. Thi[this] article explores these racist steretotypes [stereotypes] in director Michael Cimino\u27s 19985[1985] film Year of the Dragon (as well as a number of other Hollywood films), arguing that such race and gender-specific imagery is functional; for while it promotes race/gender stereotypes, it also serves to rationalize white dominance as necessary to sustain the status-quo

[Review of] Stewart E. Tolnay. The Bottom Rung: African American Family Life on Southern Farms

Stewart E. Tolnay has a message to deliver. In his excellent historical treatise on the family life of African American sharecroppers he counters current belief that rural Southern blacks who migrated North brought with them a dysfunctional family structure, a view espoused today by scholars as politically disparate as the liberal Daniel Patrick Moynihan and the conservative Charles Murray. Through the use of interview data gathered from the New Dears Federal Writers Project and with statistical analysis of U. S. Census data, Tolnay\u27s seven chapters and epilogue span the years 1910-1940 from the post-Slavery period and the era of Jim Crow through the Great Depression to the dawn of WWII. His epilogue is essentially a reflection on preceding chapters but with an updated analysis of African American family life in the contemporary urban North. Tolnay\u27s conclusion is that the lifestyles of crime and illegitimacy in the black inner city are largely a function of social and economic determinants and not cultural pathology or moral failings

[Review of] Wahneema Lubiano, ed. The House that Race Built: Black Americans, U.S. Terrain

The House that Race Built is a fascinating account of race and racism upon the terrain of United States\u27 culture in the 1990s. Seventeen scholars, brought together at a Race Matters Conference at Princeton University, produced various essays and were evidently given plenty of leeway by the book\u27s editor, Wahneema Lubiano. Various disciplines of law, history, sociology, fine arts, ethnic studies, literature, divinity, and politics are represented. Contributors addressed issues ranging from homosexuality, affirmative action, O.J. Simpson and religion, to perspectives on work vis-a-vis play, culture, Black Nationalism, whiteness, crime, and the black diaspora. A common denominator, in my view, was the theme from Cornel West\u27s perspective that race matters. The conference took its name from his work

[Review of] Herman Gray, Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for Blackness,

Professor Herman Gray offers a fascinating, highly analytical, and well-researched account of race (and gender) mirrored in the prism of televised images. Focusing mostly on the decade of the 1980s, in an almost razzle-dazzle and didactic fashion he explores the deep sociological and political manifestations of televised racial imagery and its effects on the well-being of American society

Positive aging, positive dying: Intersectional and daily communicational issues surrounding palliative and end of life care services in minority groups in the UK and the US

As our global demographic shifts towards an increasingly aging population, we have an opportunity to transform how we experience and think about getting older and embrace the diversity and contribution that this population can bring to society. The International Handbook of Positive Aging showcases the latest research and theory into aging, examining the various challenges faced by older adults and the ways in which we can bring a much needed positive focus towards dealing with these. The handbook brings together disparate research from medical, academic, economic and social community fields, with contributions from NHS partners, service users, universities across the UK and collaborations with international research leaders in the field of aging. Divided into sections, the first part of the book focuses on introducing the concept of positive aging before going on to cover the body over the life course, well-being and care delivery. All contributors recognise the fact that we are living longer is providing us with a tremendous opportunity to enjoy and flourish in healthy and fulfilling later lives, and this focus on the importance of patient empowerment is integral to the book. This is a valuable reference source for those working in developmental psychology, clinical psychology, mental health, health sciences, medicine, neuropsychological rehabilitation, sociology, anthropology, social policy and social work. It will help encourage researchers, professionals and policy makers to make the most of opportunities and innovations to promote a person’s sense of independence, dignity, well-being, good health and society participation as they get older

Barriers and Facilitators to Colorectal Cancer Screening in Vietnamese Americans: A Qualitative Analysis

Vietnamese Americans are the fourth largest Asian ethnic group in the USA. Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks as one of the most common cancers in Vietnamese Americans. However, CRC screening rates remain low among Vietnamese Americans, with 40 % of women and 60 % of men reporting never having a sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy, or fecal occult blood test (FOBT). We partnered with a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Seattle, WA, to conduct focus groups as part of a process evaluation. Using interpreters, we recruited and conducted three focus groups comprised of six women screened for CRC, six women not screened for CRC, and seven men screened for CRC, which made up a total of 19 FQHC patients of Vietnamese descent between 50 and 79 years old. Three team members analyzed transcripts using open coding and axial coding. Major themes were categorized into barriers and facilitators to CRC screening. Barriers include lack of health problems, having comorbidities, challenges with medical terminology, and concerns with the colonoscopy. Participants singled out the risk of perforation as a fear they have toward colonoscopy procedures. Facilitators include knowledge about CRC and CRC screening, access to sources of information and social networks, and physician recommendation. Our focus groups elicited information that adds to the literature and has not been previously captured through published surveys. Findings from this study can be used to develop more culturally appropriate CRC screening interventions and improve upon existing CRC screening programs for the Vietnamese American population