Gendered Racism and the Moderating Influence of Racial Identity: Implications for African American Women?s Well-Being

Intersectionality theory has been put forth to explain how gender and race dually impact and act upon African American women (e.g., Settles, 2006; Thomas et al., 2008). Although there is a growing body of literature on the negative effect that perceived racism has on Black/African Americans well-being and that sexism has on women’s well-being, there is a paucity of research on the intersection of racism and sexism (i.e., gendered racism) and its influence on African American women’s well-being (e.g., Perry, Pullen, & Oser, 2012; Thomas et al., 2008). To address this gap in the literature, the current study examined gendered racism’s impact on African American women’s well-being (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms, life satisfaction, and the quality of their social relationships). Additionally, the protective (moderating) influence of racial identity, in particular racial centrality, racial public regard, and racial private regard, on the gendered racism and well-being relationship was examined. Self-identified African American, adult women (N = 249) were recruited from a southeastern metropolitan university. Lastly, the gendered racism measure used in the study, the Revised Schedule of Sexist Events (Thomas et al., 2008), appears to be a valid and reliable measure of African American women’s gendered racism experiences. Regression analyses found that more frequent experiences with gendered racism was associated with more depressive and anxiety symptoms. More frequent experiences of gendered racism were also associated with less optimal social relationships and poorer life satisfaction. Furthermore, racial identity dimensions did not moderate the impact of gendered racism on African American women’s well-being. Future studies should consider identities or worldviews that are theoretically aligned with the tenets of intersectionality theory as protective factors against the effect of gendered racism on African American women’s well-being

Mourning The Marathon: Black Men Rappers, Homicide Survivorship Bereavement, and the Rap Tribute of Nipsey Hussle

Eritrean-American rapper Ermias “Nipsey Hussle” Asghedom’s murder represented a cultural cataclysmic event that startled the hip-hop community and triggered previous memories of Black men’s homicidal deaths in rap and Black American urban communities. Nipsey Hussle’s death inspired touching rap tribute songs by Black men rappers, who sought to commemorate his cultural legacy and express their bereavement pains as homicide survivors. Rap tribute songs occupy a significant history, as rappers historically employed them to honor hip-hop’s fallen soldiers, communicate their homicide survivorship bereavement processes, and speak about social perils in the Black community. Framed by critical race (CRT) and gender role conflict theoretical frameworks, this study investigated twenty-six rap tribute songs, which were authored by twenty-eight Black men rap artists in commemoration of Nipsey Hussle’s life and legacy and considered the following research question: RQ1: How did Black men rappers’ use the examined Nipsey Hussle rap tribute songs to communicate their bereavement experiences as homicide survivors? The findings yielded complex, yet contradictory themes related to existing scholarship on Black American men’s homicide survivorship bereavement strategies, rap’s homicide-related lyrics, and the sociocultural functions of rap tribute songs as rhetorical expressions of Black men’s homosociality and laments of deceased Black men friends and rappers. The examined rap tribute songs advanced three dominant themes in relation to the Black men rappers’ articulations of their homicide survivorship bereavement of Nipsey Hussle, which were 1) “Black men’s grief, homosociality, and complex vulnerability narratives,” 2) “fear and paranoia declarations,” 3) and “resolution of internal conflict and grief with vengeance.” This investigation was significant to hip-hop studies for it illustrated how twenty-eight Black men rap artists leveraged the rhetorical power of rap tribute songs to articulate their complex homicide survivor bereavement processes, advance vital counternarratives concerning Black men’s mental health experiences with repeated exposure to homicide deaths and violence in rap and urban communities, and offer rich criticisms of gun violence, internalized racism, poverty, and systemic oppression

For the Dead Homie: Black Male Rappers, Homicide Survivorship Bereavement, and the Rap Tribute of Nipsey Hussle

Ermias “Nipsey Hussle” Asghedom’s murder represented a cultural cataclysmic event that startled the Hip Hop community and triggered previous memories of Black men’s homicidal deaths in the world. Nipsey Hussle’s death inspired touching rap tribute songs by Black male rappers, who sought to commemorate his cultural legacy and express their bereavement as homicide survivors. Rap tribute songs occupy a significant history, as rappers historically employed them to honor Hip Hop’s fallen soldiers, communicate their homicide survivorship bereavement processes, and speak about social perils in the Black community. Framed by critical race (CRT) and gender role conflict theoretical frameworks, this study investigated twenty-six rap tribute songs, which were authored by twenty-eight Black male rap artists in commemoration of Nipsey Hussle’s life and legacy. We sought to understand how the examined Black male rappers use their music to grieve and communicate their bereavement experiences as homicide survivors. The findings yielded complex, yet contradictory themes related to existing scholarship on Black men’s homicide survivorship bereavement strategies, rap’s homicide-related lyrics, and the sociocultural functions of rap tribute songs as rhetorical expressions of Black men’s homosociality and as laments of deceased friends and rappers. The examined rap tribute songs advanced three dominant themes in relation to the Black male rappers’ articulations of their homicide survivorship bereavement of Nipsey Hussle, which were 1) Black men’s grief, homosociality, and complex vulnerability narratives, 2) fear and paranoia declarations, and 3) and resolution of internal conflict and grief with vengeance. This investigation was significant to Hip Hop studies, for it illustrated how twenty-eight Black male rap artists leveraged the rhetorical power of rap tribute songs to articulate their complex homicide survivor bereavement processes, advance vital counternarratives concerning Black men’s mental health experiences with repeated exposure to homicide deaths and violence in rap and urban communities, and offer rich criticisms of gun violence, internalized racism, poverty, and systemic oppression

Prospective Associations between Religiousness/Spirituality and Depression and Mediating Effects of Forgiveness in a Nationally Representative Sample of United States Adults

The present investigation examines the prospective associations of religiousness/spirituality with depression and the extent to which various dimensions of forgiveness act as mediating mechanisms of these associations. Data are from a nationally representative sample of United States adults who were first interviewed in 1998 and reinterviewed six months later. Measures of religiousness/spirituality, forgiveness, and various sociodemographics were collected. Depression was assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview administered by trained interviewers. Results showed that religiousness/spirituality, forgiveness of oneself and others, and feeling forgiven by God were associated, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, with depressive status. After controlling for initial depressive status, only forgiveness of oneself and others remained statistically significant predictors of depression. Path analyses revealed that religiousness/spirituality conveyed protective effects, prospectively, on depression by way of an indirect path through forgiveness of others but not forgiveness of oneself. Hence, forgiveness of others acts as a mechanism of the salutary effect of religiousness/spirituality, but forgiveness of oneself is an independent predictor. Conclusions regarding the continued development of this type of research and for the treatment of clients with depression are offered

The role of niobium carbides in the localised corrosion initiation of 20Cr-25Ni-Nb advanced gas-cooled reactor fuel cladding

The role of niobium carbide (NbC) inclusions in directing the initiation of localised corrosion in sensitised 20Cr-25Ni-Nb stainless steel is investigated using a range of in-situ scanning techniques, allowing visualisation of corrosion behaviour over multiple length scales. Volta potential mapping shows NbC inclusions are up to 30 mV noble to the matrix, while chromium-depleted grain boundaries are up to 65 mV less noble. Corrosion initiation, shown by scanning vibrating electrode technique to comprise highly localised anode sites, is observed at grain boundaries, adjacent to the location of NbC inclusion clusters which remain unaffected by anodic dissolution of the surrounding matrix

E-mentoring in Online Course Projects: Description of an E-Mentoring Scheme

This article describes the structure and process of an e-mentoring scheme designed as an applied learning component within a final curriculum course in an online Master’s degree at a Midwestern U.S. University. The e-mentoring-based course culminated the online degree program and was meant to encapsulate learning through subject matter skill application. Both the course and the e-mentoring took place in an electronic environment. In this final course, each student engaged in an individual project drawing upon skills and knowledge learned online and applied in a real world context. Student projects were individually designed, planned and executed outside of the electronic setting, within host organizations. E-mentors were paired with students to guide the progress of individual projects. The ementoring scheme utilized component parts found within the literature, and incorporated newly created component parts. Based on end-of-course indicators, student achievement, e-mentor retention, and course expansion were outcomes of the e-mentoring scheme. The e-mentoring scheme described in the current paper may serve to complement the development of best practices in online leaning or to serve as a benchmark for future e-mentoring designs in online learning environments and in other electronic educational settings

Elevated estuary water temperature drives fish gut dysbiosis and increased loads of pathogenic vibrionaceae

Marine water temperatures are increasing globally, with eastern Australian estuaries warming faster than predicted. There is growing evidence that this rapid warming of coastal waters is increasing the abundance and virulence of pathogenic members of the Vibrionaceae, posing a significant health risk to both humans and aquatic organisms. Fish disease, notably outbreaks of emerging pathogens in response to environmental perturbations such as heatwaves, have been recognised in aquaculture settings. Considerably less is known about how rising sea surface temperatures will impact the microbiology of wild fish populations, particularly those within estuarine systems that are more vulnerable to warming. We used a combination of Vibrio-specific quantitative PCR and amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA and hsp60 genes to examine seawater and fish (Pelates sexlineatus) gut microbial communities across a quasi-natural experimental system, where thermal pollution from coal-fired power stations creates a temperature gradient of up to 6 °C, compatible with future predicted temperature increases. At the warmest site, fish hindgut microbial communities were in a state of dysbiosis characterised by shifts in beta diversity and a proliferation (71.5% relative abundance) of the potential fish pathogen Photobacterium damselae subsp. damselae. Comparable patterns were not identified in the surrounding seawater, indicating opportunistic proliferation within estuarine fish guts under thermal stress. A subsequent evaluation of predicted future warming-related risk due to pathogenic Vibrionaceae in temperate estuarine fish demonstrated that warming is likely to drive opportunistic pathogen increases in the upper latitudinal range of this estuarine fish, potentially impacting adaptations to future warming. These findings represent a breakthrough in our understanding of the dynamics of emerging pathogens in populations of wild aquatic organisms within environments likely to experience rapid warming under future climate change