“Filling out the Forms was a Nightmare”: project evaluation and the reflective practitioner in community theatre in contemporary Northern Ireland

Since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, large sums have been invested in community theatre projects in Northern Ireland, in the interests of conflict transformation and peace building. While this injection of funds has resulted in an unprecedented level of applied theatre activity, opportunities to maximise learning from this activity are being missed. It is generally assumed that project evaluation is undertaken at least partly to assess the degree of success of projects against important social objectives, with a view to learning what works, what does not, and what might work in the future. However, three ethnographic case studies of organisations delivering applied theatre projects in Northern Ireland indicate that current processes used to evaluate such projects are both flawed and inadequate for this purpose. Practitioners report that the administrative work involved in applying for and justifying funding is onerous, burdensome, and occurs at the expense of artistic activity. This is a very real concern when the time and effort devoted to ‘filling out the forms’ does not ultimately result in useful evaluative information. There are strong disincentives for organisations to report honestly on their experiences of difficulties, or undesirable impacts of projects, and this problem is not transcended by the use of external evaluators. Current evaluation processes provide little opportunity to capture unexpected benefits of projects, and small but significant successes which occur in the context of over-ambitious objectives. Little or no attempt is made to assess long-term impacts of projects on communities. Finally, official evaluation mechanisms fail to capture the reflective practice and dialogic analysis of practitioners, which would richly inform future projects. The authors argue that there is a need for clearer lines of communication, and more opportunities for mutual learning, among stakeholders involved in community development. In particular, greater involvement of the higher education sector in partnership with government and non-government agencies could yield significant benefits in terms of optimizing learning from applied theatre project evaluations

Feministyczne Obce, wspomnienia z marginesów. Doświadczenie karaibskiej „feministki” w zachodnim feminizmie

Badaczki feministyczne z krajów rozwijających się przez długi czas pisały o napięciu między feminizmami Zachodnimi a feminizmami krajów rozwijających się. Zachodnie feministki często przedstawiają kobiety z krajów rozwijających jako poddaną opresji monolityczną grupę z „trzeciego świata”. W niniejszym artykule zakładam, że władza zakorzeniona w tego rodzaju przedstawieniach niejawnie kategoryzuje kobiety ze świata rozwijającego się jako „inne” i tym samym umożliwia zachodnim feminizmom określanie, czyja wiedza jest odpowiednia w kontekście rozwijania feministycznej epistemologii. Podkreślam również, że dla rozwoju nauki feministycznej konieczne jest uznanie, że feministki z każdego zakątka świata posiadają wiedzę i doświadczenie, które powinny być postrzegane jako wartościowy wkład w feminizm. W swoim artykule stawiam pytanie o to, czy może dojść do zmiany w sposobach wytwarzania wiedzy feministycznej, zmiany umożliwiającej przekroczenie obecnych ograniczeń i wprowadzenie solidarności w praktyki feministyczn.Badaczki feministyczne z krajów rozwijających się przez długi czaspisały o napięciu między feminizmami Zachodnimi a feminizmami krajówrozwijających się. Zachodnie feministki często przedstawiają kobiety z krajówrozwijających jako poddaną opresji monolityczną grupę z „trzeciego świata”.W niniejszym artykule zakładam, że władza zakorzeniona w tego rodzaju przedstawieniach niejawnie kategoryzuje kobiety ze świata rozwijającego się jako „inne” i tym samym umożliwia zachodnim feminizmom określanie, czyja wiedza jest odpowiednia w kontekście rozwijania feministycznej epistemologii. Podkreślam również, że dla rozwoju nauki feministycznej konieczne jest uznanie, że feministki z każdego zakątka świata posiadają wiedzę i doświadczenie, które powinny być postrzegane jako wartościowy wkład w feminizm. W swoim artykule stawiam pytanie o to, czy może dojść do zmiany w sposobach wytwarzania wiedzy feministycznej, zmiany umożliwiającej przekroczenie obecnych ograniczeń i wprowadzenie solidarności w praktyki feministyczne

Presumed Nonhuman: Black Women Intellectuals and the Struggle for Humanity in the Academy

In this article I engage with the work of Sylvia Wynter, Christina Sharpe, and Kevin Quashie, weaving in my own personal narrative of being presumed nonhuman to detail the everyday struggles Black women academics face. Herein I also illustrate how these struggles become sites of resistance, building, and hope

“Filling out the forms was a nightmare”: project evaluation and the reflective practitioner in community theatre in Contemporary Northern Ireland

Theme issue on music and arts in conflict transformationSince the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, large sums have been invested in community theatre projects in Northern Ireland, in the interests of conflict transformation and peace building. While this injection of funds has resulted in an unprecedented level of applied theatre activity, opportunities to maximise learning from this activity are being missed. It is generally assumed that project evaluation is undertaken at least partly to assess the degree of success of projects against important social objectives, with a view to learning what works, what does not, and what might work in the future. However, three ethnographic case studies of organisations delivering applied theatre projects in Northern Ireland indicate that current processes used to evaluate such projects are both flawed and inadequate for this purpose. Practitioners report that the administrative work involved in applying for and justifying funding is onerous, burdensome, and occurs at the expense of artistic activity. This is a very real concern when the time and effort devoted to ‘filling out the forms’ does not ultimately result in useful evaluative information. There are strong disincentives for organisations to report honestly on their experiences of difficulties, or undesirable impacts of projects, and this problem is not transcended by the use of external evaluators. Current evaluation processes provide little opportunity to capture unexpected benefits of projects, and small but significant successes which occur in the context of over-ambitious objectives. Little or no attempt is made to assess long-term impacts of projects on communities. Finally, official evaluation mechanisms fail to capture the reflective practice and dialogic analysis of practitioners, which would richly inform future projects. The authors argue that there is a need for clearer lines of communication, and more opportunities for mutual learning, among stakeholders involved in community development. In particular, greater involvement of the higher education sector in partnership with government and non-government agencies could yield significant benefits in terms of optimizing learning from applied theatre project evaluations

Reassessing Caribbean Migration: Love, Power and (Re) Building in the Diaspora

Traditional research has framed Caribbean migration as a socio-economic issue including discourses on limited resources, brain drain, remittances, and diaspora/transnational connection to, or longing for home. This narrative usually presents migration as having a destabilizing effect on Caribbean families, households and communities, more specifically the impacts on the relationships of working class women who migrate leaving behind children, spouses and other dependents because of a lack of opportunities in Caribbean. This paper proposes an alternative view of migration as a source/manifestation of women’s power, where women, as active agents within the migration process, in fact contribute to re building relationships, families and kinship and social networks. This paper is largely theoretical and puts forward a model which the authors plan to use to carry out future research on the lived experiences of Caribbean women, as well as a framework of analysis for other researchers. The authors thus carry out an examination of the migration literature which speaks to the lives of Caribbean female migrants, both in the region as well as those who now make up the Caribbean diaspora. We offer a critique of the existing literature on Caribbean migration and propose a reassessment of migration using a methodological framework entitled Intimate Cultural Love Power, developed by one of the authors, to examine love, power and migration

Research Review: A guide to computing and implementing polygenic scores in developmental research

The increasing availability of genotype data in longitudinal population- and family-based samples provides opportunities for using polygenic scores (PGS) to study developmental questions in child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry. Here, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of how PGS can be generated and implemented in developmental psycho(patho)logy, with a focus on longitudinal designs. As such, the paper is organized into three parts: First, we provide a formal definition of polygenic scores and related concepts, focusing on assumptions and limitations. Second, we give a general overview of the methods used to compute polygenic scores, ranging from the classic approach to more advanced methods. We include recommendations and reference resources available to researchers aiming to conduct PGS analyses. Finally, we focus on the practical applications of PGS in the analysis of longitudinal data. We describe how PGS have been used to research developmental outcomes, and how they can be applied to longitudinal data to address developmental questions

Discovery of a Distinctive Spotted Color Pattern in the Cuskeel Neobythites unicolor (Teleostei, Ophidiidae) Based on Underwater-Vehicle Dives, with New Records from the Southern and Eastern Caribbean

In situ images and/or collection of seven specimens by underwater-vehicle dives at 269–609 m depth off Curaçao, Dominica, and Puerto Rico (S, E, and NE Caribbean) revealed new records and a previously unknown, distinctive color pattern for the cuskeel Neobythites unicolor (Ophidiidae). Species identification was based on detailed comparisons with earlier studied type and non-type material using morphometric, meristic, and otolith-form characters. A revised color description is provided based on images of live specimens in situ in their habitat, shortly after capture, and after preservation. Live and fresh specimens of Neobythites unicolor show a large number of distinctive, dark, rounded or irregularly shaped spots distributed dorsally on head, dorsal portion of body, and on the dorsal fin. This color pattern fades when fish are frozen, and it is completely lost during preservation over several years. The available images of fresh color patterns indicate an increase in spot size with fish size. In addition, some of the quantitatively examined morphometric and otolith characters of museum specimens show positive allometry. No geographic variation in color patterns could be detected. Although the Curaçao population is separated from all other known populations of N. unicolor by at least 650 km, the only population difference found was a slightly lower pectoral-fin ray count for the four specimens collected off Curaçao. An updated distribution map is provided correcting for an erroneous record in the inner Gulf of Mexico from which N. unicolor appears to be completely absent. While the spotted color pattern described here is unique among the 54 species of Neobythites, a similar pattern occurs in two other genera of the subfamily Neobythitinae, Sirembo and Spottobrotula. Further requirements to more fully understand the color diversity and related biology, ecology, and evolution in the species-rich genus Neobythites are emphasized.publishedVersio

Expectancy Theory: A Two-Process Model Of Alcohol Use And Abuse

In recent years, cognitive-behavioral approaches to drinking behaviour have postulated the importance of alcohol expectancy and drinking refusal self-efficacy in the development and maintenance of problem drinking. However, despite a growing number of publications, the structure and role of these constructs have not been clearly explicated in theoretical terms to date. This article proposes a two-process theory of alcohol use and abuse. It is suggested that the acquisition and maintenance phases of drinking behavior are governed by different principles and involve different decision-making processes. The acquisition phase is thought to be a time of instrumental learning, in which decision making involves controlled processing by means of a kind of 'mental algebra'. The maintenance phase is described as subject to the principles of classical conditioning, with automatic processing playing a major role in the making of decisions. Integral to both phases, though differing in structure and function from the first, is the concept of alcohol expectancies. Another cognitive construct, drinking refusal self-efficacy, is also hypothesized to play a role in decisions to drink or not to drink. It is suggested that the development of drinking behavior is best explained in terms of associative models of learning and memory. Implications for prevention and treatment of problem drinking are discussed

The Crossroads of Interprofessionalism: Four Avenues of Collaboration at the Wegmans School of Pharmacy

Objective: The utilization of interprofessional education and collaborative practice delivers optimal health services and improves patient outcomes. Training future healthcare providers in an integrated environment promotes a “collaborative practice-ready” workforce. The aim of this study was to identify ongoing specific interprofessional collaborative projects and promote their awareness among faculty at the St. John Fisher College Wegmans School of Pharmacy. Methods: Faculty members were surveyed to identify the ongoing interprofessional collaborative initiatives among pharmacy faculty. Results: A total of four collaborative practices were identified among faculty: ambulatory care, assisted-living, didactic, and assessment. The ambulatory care setting at an osteoporosis clinic provides patient-centered care with a clinical component. Each patient with a new diagnosis or change in medication therapy receives education/counseling from a pharmacist, a registered nurse for medication administration and a physician for a physical exam. In the assisted-living setting, pharmacy and nursing students are paired to conduct a high-level health assessment in their respective disciplines. Didactic interprofessional efforts are being conducted to create a flexible and comprehensive pain education curriculum. Physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, chiropractors, and oriental medicine practitioners will develop the curriculum. The pain module will be adaptable for interprofessional education activities. Finally, recognizing the similarities in accreditation standards for communication and professionalism, the School of Pharmacy and the NY Chiropractic School are sharing strategies and rubrics for assessing these outcomes. Implications: The survey revealed a broader range of interprofessional collaborations than was originally suspected. The school will continue to foster and support interprofessional education and collaborative practice