African-American Mental Health Community: Information Needs, Barriers, and Gaps

This paper articulates the importance of African Americans regarding mental health: how they obtain information, lack of available resources, internal and external pressures of receiving help, and the gathering of their information from non-traditional sources in comparison to traditional. Historically, the community has faced stereotypical pressures, which they actively fight against to be viewed as equal. After segregation being abolished and many sources and organizations offering support for many different races, there is still an imbalance in what is offered and available for African Americans. A mix of current and dated studies and texts will be highlighted to discover findings, notate critical gaps of information, and create a discussion. Information has been gathered using databases such as National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), PsychNet, Science Direct, as well as organizations focusing on mental health like National Alliance of Mental Illnesses and Mental Health America (MHA). Through this search, smaller organizations named the Association for Black Psychologists, HBCU Center for Excellence in Behavior Health, and BlackGirlsSmile were found. The organization, BlackGrilsSmile, was created in response to the lack of available resources for African Americans and females in terms of mental health. Larger organizations like the National Alliance of Mental Illnesses have created a symposium in 2004 focusing on African Americans and mental illnesses and recovery, to close the gap. The resulting findings indicate that while there have been advances made towards creating more resources and support in mental health awareness for the African American community, it is imperative to form an understanding of what African Americans face with limited resources due to racism, discrimination, poverty, the social climate, and even the community itself

The demographic forces shaping New Zealand’s future. What population ageing [really] means

This paper outlines the key demographic forces shaping New Zealand’s future. It ranges broadly across birth rates, life expectancy and migration to show how this converging demography will result in a regionally-disparate future. It identifies a migration-driven bite in New Zealand’s age structure across the young adult ages that is pronounced in non-urban areas, and argues that while rural regions have long lost young adults and sun-belt regions gained older, what differs is that this phenomenon is now occurring alongside population ageing, rendering such age structures no longer conducive to growth. The converging trends will not only make responding to baby boomer retirement more difficult but will increase competition for workers and push up labour and consumption costs. With the exception of larger urban areas and some retirement zones, it shows that sub national growth in much of New Zealand has already ended and that this scenario will continue to unfold until zero growth or population decline embraces all but the major urban areas. This is despite a national growth rate which is currently near equal the annual global growth rate. The paper posits that it is time to re-evaluate the question ‘when does population growth ‘end’?

The Road Goes Ever On and On: A Path Through the Wilderness on R.S. 2477 Litigation in Alaska

Seeking to encourage people to settle the public domain, the federal government established the R.S. 2477 right of way, a grant to construct highways over land in the public domain. There are now thousands of miles of highway across the Western United States constructed pursuant to the authority in R.S. 2477, but most of these rights of way were never documented by any formal process. Alaska has made it a priority to document existing R.S. 2477 rights of way in an effort to manage and develop public lands. Identifying existing R.S. 2477 rights of way is essential for economic development, but the State’s aggressive litigation strategy threatens the rights of private property owners, the integrity of land allotments under the Alaska Native Claims Act, and federal conservation efforts in Alaska. After examining the history of R.S. 2477, Alaska’s litigation strategy, and how these rights of way conflict with interests of Native Corporations and federal wilderness and conservation efforts, this Note offers possibilities for resolving the conflict over R.S. 2477 rights of way in Alaska

Contextual religious education and the interpretive approach

This article responds to Andrew Wright's critique of my views on the representation of religions. Using various literary devices - associating my work closely with that of others whose views are in some ways different from my own, referring very selectively to published texts and exaggerating, and sometimes misrepresenting, what I actually say - Wright presents my work as dualistic, nominalist and as not genuinely hermeneutical. Wright contrasts what he sees as my extreme idea of religions as 'constructions' with his own view of them as 'social facts'. My reply illustrates and responds to Wright's account of my work, clarifies my own position and raises questions about Wright's views, especially in relation to those of Gavin Flood, whom he cites with favour. My conclusion includes the suggestion that, although our epistemological positions are different in some ways, they spawn pedagogies utilising some common principles and values

Foreword

This important book recognises that issues of religion and education in Europe need to be addressed in an interdisciplinary way. Not only do research methods from the social sciences and humanities need to be applied, but insights from a range of disciplines are also necessary for a broad understanding of the issues, especially those resulting from the pluralisation of societies in consequence of migration, globalisation and issues concerned with human rights. The inclusion of law as an academic field is vital, and the conference on which this book is based was a landmark in bringing together legal specialists with others from education, the social sciences and the humanities

Beliefs and Blameworthiness

In this paper, I analyze epistemic blameworthiness. After presenting Michael Bergmann’s definition of epistemic blameworthiness, I argue that his definition is problematic because it does not have a control condition. I conclude by offering an improved definition of epistemic blameworthiness and defending this definition against potential counterexamples

Teacher Education Futures: Developing learning and teaching in ITE across the UK

A selection of papers from the Teacher Education Futures conference 2006