Matter Of Public Concern Research Articles

Governing Economic Futures through the War on Inflation

This paper explores how efforts to understand, present, and act upon the futures of inflation participate in the governance of contemporary economic life. The point of departure is the claim that inflation is both an economic and an affective fact, subsisting as a potentially disruptive event within contemporary liberal democracies whose chief concern is to secure the conditions for the value-activating process of economic growth. Understanding efforts to secure these conditions requires attention to the anticipatory processes through which the futures of inflation are generatively disclosed in the present as matters of public concern. In attending to these processes, this paper focuses on how the problem of inflation, and efforts to fight it, are linked closely with the logics and rhetoric of warfare. First, it outlines how interest in these processes emerged, at least in part, through attempts during the Second World War to render the futures of inflation actionable via public information campaigns. Second, it highlights the role of presidential speeches and addresses in ‘the war on inflation’ in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. Third, and finally, the paper considers the importance of the promissory logics of inflation targeting in contemporary liberal democracies, in which inflation figures as a disruptive and generalised threat lurking in economic activity. In each case, efforts to fight inflation are based upon the premise that techniques of disclosure are a necessary element of generating the very futures they seek to make public. To govern inflation is therefore as much about governing orientations towards futures as it is about acting upon a well-defined epistemic object. In concluding, the paper speculates upon the wider implications of this claim for understanding how economic life is governed.

Distribution of indoor air pollutants in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has been a matter of public concern in Brazil. However, few studies have been performed in the whole country. This work presents an IAQ survey conducted in different kinds of indoor environments in Rio de Janeiro City. Air samples were analyzed to determine individual and total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), aldehydes, total particulate matter (TPM) and fungi. TVOC concentrations ranged from 101 to 12823 µg m-3 with an average of 1594 µg m-3, exceeding the suggested limit from ANVISA7 (500 µg m-3). Indoor/outdoor ratios for most of the parameters were higher than unit, indicating indoor sources of pollution. On the other hand, low levels of airborne fungi were detected (14-314 cfu m-3) being below than the ANVISA standard7 (750 cfu m-3). Overall, the environments did not present good air quality for the occupants due to chemical pollutants.

Impacts of multidisciplinary actions on environmental lead exposure in Uruguay

Environmental lead contamination in Uruguay became a matter of public concern in 2001, when cases of children with blood lead levels (BLL) higher than 20 μg/dl appeared in some low-income neighborhoods of Montevideo, being 10 μg/dl the intervention reference BLL. The aim of this paper is to show the results of multidisciplinary actions taken by decisions makers in social, environmental and healthcare aspects, to minimize lead exposure risks. We evaluated changes in blood lead levels of different children and non-exposed adult populations before and after the actions were taken, from 2001 on. For children populations and non-exposed adults, we found a significant decrease of almost 50% in BLL compared with studies done before the actions were taken. The main action to consider was the phasing out process of leaded gasoline in our country among other. We conclude that the integration of inter and multidisciplinary actions promoted was of high impact on the population, bringing about a public sensitization and growing awareness of the lead environmental risks.

Stephan W. Schill (ed.). International Investment Law and Comparative Public Law

1 International Investment Law as Public Law? The science of international law can no longer be content with the analogous application of private law categories. It must search the entire body of the �general principles of law recognized by civilized nations� for proper analogies. With the growing importance of international legal relations between public authorities and private legal subjects, public law will be an increasingly fertile source of international law. 1Wolfgang Friedmann�s famous assessment of the role of public law as a source of (general) public international law in 1963 holds even truer vis-a-vis international investment law in 2011. The kind of disputes investment arbitration tribunals have to deal with and the substantive issues they have to decide are widely perceived as matters of public concern, and thus by far transgress the rather isolated bilateral relationship that is the typical characteristic of a private dispute. 2 Whether a state may adopt a general regulatory scheme banning toxic waste 3 or whether it may, in order to prevent an economic collapse, amend laws formerly guaranteeing a fixed exchange rate and unlimited convertibility into a foreign currency 4 genuinely touches upon its sovereignty and indirectly affects a myriad of stakeholders. Gus van Harten deserves credit for pointing the international investment community to the public nature of investment disputes. 5 The recently published volume, International Investment Law and Comparative Public Law edited by Stephan W. Schill, seeks to profit from such view by assessing various issues of international investment law through the public law lens. As this large collection of essays premises, 6 international investment law may be considered a form of public law because it involves the adjudicatory control of the exercise of public authority, providing non-state entities with direct rights of action against the host state. Moreover, this public law system operates on the global level by �

Editor's Note

Editor's Note Sarah Banet-Weiser, Editor As Robin Kelley notes in his response to the ASA Presidential Address by Ruth Wilson Gilmore on November 19, 2011, in San Antonio, Texas, the packed house was energized and electrified by Gilmore's remarks. She covered a wide range of themes in her address, from the current state of the neoliberal state to a poignant and important autobiography to a rousing call for the members of the American Studies Association to organize, organize, organize. The address was given in the midst of a labor protest of hotel workers in the city of San Antonio (as well as elsewhere) and Gilmore creatively and imaginatively engaged the audience to participate, reminding us in many varied ways that academics are also, and crucially, workers. Gilmore's address in this issue of American Quarterly could not be better timed, with worldwide eruptions against the state and global capitalism. Gilmore's call to American studies scholars to remind ourselves that we are workers, that the work we do must continuously involve organizing, and that we must think more expansively about worker solidarity is creatively relayed as an essay in the following pages, and is further engaged by two responses to the address from Robin D. G. Kelley and Sara Clarke Kaplan. Indeed, in response to recent events, the American Studies Association has issued the following official statement, "Intellectual Freedom in a Time of (Economic) Crisis": The American Studies Association condemns all efforts to criminalize freedoms of speech and association. We condemn attempts to intimidate and silence scholars whose work engages them in matters of public concern and policy. The United States pays its scholars in public and private tax-exempt institutions to consider, among other things, the problems and challenges societies face, to draw lessons from the past, to compare across polities, and to make informed recommendations that will spark open debate. At the end of the day all not-for-profit education is underwritten by, and therefore must be consistently made available to, the people. Recent events around the country mock provisions in the modern world's most durable constitution, and displace the difficult work of thoughtfulness and remedy to surveillance and punishment. We view the attacks as part of the orchestrated assault on all public sector workers. While the character of the attacks on our colleagues is not surprising, given the US's decades-long embrace of criminalization as an all-purpose response to social, economic, and other problems, it is long since time to say: Enough. We are workers, and we are the public. [End Page vii] In this issue, we also have three articles that represent the theoretical and methodological range of American studies scholars. The first, by Sean Metzger, is an exploration of the theater of Naomi Iizuka, and offers a unique and important reconsideration of theater and Asian American critique through a complex, Deleuzian theoretical framework. Next, Kevin Lewis O'Neill gives us a compelling analysis of the intersectional relationships between the state and the entertainment industry with his examination of a Guatemalan reality television show cosponsored by the United States Agency for International Development. The show, which features former gang members who are enlisted to create a sustainable business within Guatemala's formal economy, is a fascinating and revealing glimpse into the deep interrelations among the state, political economy, religion, and entertainment. Finally, in this issue Jane Simonsen writes about the varied uses by indigenous people in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries of images of themselves. Much attention has been paid to the ways in which white communities used, appropriated, and retooled images of indigenous people during this time; Simonsen reminds us that images are taken up in a variety of ways, by different communities, to generate meaning about history, identity, and power. We also feature six book reviews in this issue, as well as an event review of Dave LaChappelle's "Rape of Africa" exhibit. The labor of these contributors engages carefully considered and varied conceptions of power—state-centered, diffuse, and subaltern, to name a few—and the ongoing struggles against the cementing of a disaster-driven, globalized capitalist economy. [End Page viii] Copyright © 2011 The American...

Gene patents: an update for pathologists

The patenting of genetic materials has become a matter of public concern and controversy in recent years, stemming particularly from the patent claims and practices of one company in relation to BRCA1 and BRAC2, the most common mutations for breast cancer. These concerns relate to the potential: (a) increased cost of testing—and the access and equity issues that flow from this; (b) restriction of testing to labs directly associated with the patent-holder; and (c) restrictions on further research and development. As a consequence, on 17 December 2002, the Australian Government asked the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to conduct an inquiry into the relevant laws, international obligations and practices relating to ‘Gene Patenting and Human Health’. After extensive professional and community consultation, the ALRC’s 700 page report, Genes and Ingenuity (ALRC 99, 2004) was completed in June 2004, and tabled in Parliament in August 2004. The ALRC made 50 recommendations for reform, including amendments to the Patents Act (Cth) to upgrade the burden of proving ‘usefulness’ (utility)—and thus to sharpen the distinction between mere ‘discoveries’ and patentable ‘inventions’—and to provide an express ‘experimental use’ exemption for researchers. The ALRC also recommended a significant upgrading of the skills and resources available to the Patent Office and patent examiners, and called for a far more active and strategic approach by federal and state Governments and Health Departments, in monitoring and challenging patents where appropriate, seeking to preserve the benefits of publicly-funded research, and using their existing legal powers more effectively (e.g., ‘Crown use’ rights and compulsory licences). The ALRC’s findings and recommendations in Genes and Ingenuity have been validated and adopted (expressly or coincidentally) by virtually all of the major international reports that have followed in the last five years, including the OECD’s 2006 Guidelines for the Licensing of Genetic Inventions, and the US Government’s Gene Patenting Task Force in 2009. Remarkably—and despite the topicality, media coverage and continuing public disquiet—the Australian Government has still not responded to the Genes and Ingenuity report. Besides the international reports mentioned above, several other significant developments have occurred in the years following ALRC 99, including the Senate Community Affairs Committee report on’the granting of patent monopolies in Australia over human and microbial genes and non-coding sequences, proteins and their derivatives’ in 2010; a major test of gene patents in the American courts; and a shift in the traditional approach by the US Government under President Obama from its support for the primacy of intellectual property rights towards a more access and equity-based policy.

A35 光弾性法による仰臥位時における枕と頸椎部の力学的関係の実験的検討(計測・予測技術)

Sleep is necessary for human health and acttivities. Recently, the sleep problems have become matters of public concern. There is a report that 20 percent of Japanese people have sleep problems. Therefore, the topic of sleep problems have been taken up by the media and increased the number of topics about bedding and bedroom. In particular, pillow have received much attention of many people. The clinical reports showed that pillow is one of the factor for sleep problems. And this report says that sleep problems are related to the height of the pillow. However, there is little for engineering approach about sleep problems and pillow. In this study, stress distribution analysis was done for clarifying mechanical relation of the pillow and cervical vertebrae on spine position. The experiment used 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional photoelastic method. Specimen model was prepared by reference to clinical report. The experimental results shows that concentration notably appeared near the first and sixth cervical vertebrae.

Selectable marker-free transgenic orange plants recovered under non-selective conditions and through PCR analysis of all regenerants

Selectable marker (SM) genes have been considered necessary to achieve acceptable rates in the generation of transgenic plants. Genes encoding antibiotic or herbicide resistance are widely used for this purpose. In most cases, once transgenic plants have been regenerated, permanence of SM genes in the plant genome is no longer necessary, and it becomes a matter of public concern. Moreover, the removal of SM genes from transgenic plants could facilitate gene stacking through successive transformations, particularly when the availability of these markers is rather limited for most crop plants. In the genus Citrus, with highly heterozygotic species of long generation cycles, methods implying the segregation and removal of marker transgenes in the progeny are not feasible. Here, we have evaluated the direct production of SM-free citrus plants under non-selective conditions, using a “clean” binary vector carrying only the transgene of interest, and through the recovery of transformants by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of all regenerated shoots. The response of two different citrus genotypes, Carrizo citrange (intergeneric hybrid of C. sinensis L. Osb. X Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf.) and Pineapple sweet orange (C. sinensis L. Osb.), was evaluated. Our results indicate that, in this system, the competence between transgenic and non-transgenic cells is the main factor determining final transgenic regeneration frequencies. For Carrizo citrange, no transgenic plant could be recovered. For Pineapple sweet orange, marker-free transformation efficiency was 1.7%, paving the way for the viable production of orange transformants carrying only the transgene(s) of interest.

Front and Back Covers, Volume 26, Number 2. April 2010

Front cover caption, volume 26 issue 2A positive, albeit anthropomorphized, view of badgers appears in this illustration for the original edition of the children's classic Wind in the willows. Badgers are shortly to be culled in north Pembrokeshire as part of a Welsh Assembly Government campaign against bovine TB. Pat Caplan's article in this issue discusses the arguments around the cull and the reasons behind the varying positions held by local people on this issue.Back cover captionWitchcraft and Child SacrificeAbove: a poster (supported by NGOs including Save the Children Uganda) against ‘child sacrifice’ in Uganda, a current topic of concern both to Ugandans and to anthropologists who have criticized media representations of this issue.Below: a Save the Children poster publicizing the main principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed by 191 countries. These rights include, among others, the rights to: be protected from being hurt or badly treated in any way; not be kidnapped or sold; be protected from being taken advantage of or exploited in any way; not be punished in a cruel or hurtful way.The article by Pat Caplan in this issue discusses a number of recent BBC broadcasts focused on allegations of witchcraft and child sacrifice, and asks what anthropologists have to offer in terms of understanding such topics. Caplan notes that they can not only contribute their knowledge of the occult in many societies, but also contextualize this realm in terms of historical processes and more material concerns.In addition, anthropologists can suggest links between apparently disparate issues and thereby go beyond surface manifestations.While anthropologists have no monopoly on truth claims, they can sometimes offer alternative explanations and show that things are not always the way they first seem. In order to play an effective role as public intellectuals in this regard, anthropologists need to be willing to grapple pro‐actively with such matters of public concern, not least by engaging constructively with the media.

‘Child sacrifice’ in Uganda? The BBC, ‘witch doctors’ and anthropologists (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This article discusses both several recent BBC broadcasts on allegations of ‘child sacrifice’ in Uganda and criticisms of the programmes by a number of British anthropologists. It pursues the idea that both the broadcasts and the criticisms raise two sets of crucial questions: the first is in regard to the interpretation of alleged ritual killings in contemporary Africa and the effects of their representation on lay audiences, both non‐African and African; the second concerns media representations of Africa and public anthropology. Anthropologists (and indeed scholars from other disciplines such as history) have a lot of expertise to offer in terms of understanding the occult in many societies, including contextualising this realm in terms of historical processes and material concerns and suggesting links between apparently disparate issues. In this way, they can they can sometimes go beyond surface manifestations, offer alternative explanations and show that things are not always the way they first seem. However, in order to play an effective public role in this regard, anthropologists need to be willing to grapple pro‐actively with such matters of public concern, not least by engaging constructively with the media.

The influence of fathers’ socioeconomic status and paternity leave on breastfeeding duration: A population-based cohort study

The propensity to breastfeed is a matter of public concern because of the favourable effects for infants. However, very few studies have described the influence of paternal variables upon duration of breastfeeding. The aim of this study was to describe the effects of fathers' socioeconomic status and their use of paternity leave on breastfeeding duration for infants up to 1 year of age. A prospective population-based cohort study was undertaken. Data on breastfeeding, registered in databases in two Swedish counties for 1993-2001, were matched with data on socioeconomic status and paternity leave obtained from Statistics Sweden. Fathers of 51,671 infants were identified and included. Infants whose fathers had a lower level of education, were receiving unemployment benefit and/or had a lower equivalent disposable household income were significantly less likely to be breastfed at 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months of age. Infants whose fathers did not take paternity leave during the infant's first year were significantly less likely to be breastfed at 2 (p < 0.001), 4 (p < 0.001), and 6 months (p < 0.001). This paper shows that an enabling of an increased involvement from fathers during the infants' first year of life, such as by paid paternity leave, may have beneficial effects on breastfeeding up to 6 months of age. A more systematic approach to supporting fathers' involvement may be particularly valuable to those infants whose fathers have a lower socioeconomic status.

The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present (review)

Reviewed by: The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present John Griffiths Pedley Jenifer Neils , ed. The Parthenon: From Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Pp. xvi + 430. CDN $96.95. ISBN 9780521820936. So many books about the Parthenon have appeared in recent years that it is reasonable to ask whether the appearance of yet another is helpful. Iconic the building may be—and the editor of these essays, Jenifer Neils, whose knowledge of the building and its ornament is second to none, makes a good case for the use of that loaded term—but do we really need at this point in the history of Parthenon Studies another series of essays on the structure? The answer is predictable: yes, and no. No, if little or nothing is added to what is already published, and yes, if new evidence is brought to bear, or new theories, or new methods of enquiry and analytical techniques. Moreover, at a moment when the restoration work of Manolis Korres and his team has yielded so much new information, and the new museum at the foot of the Acropolis is now open, it can fairly be argued that another account of the building is timely. The contributors are all seasoned authorities. The contents of the book are as follows: Jenifer Neils, Introduction: A Classical Icon Jeffrey M. Hurwit, Space & Theme: The Setting of the Parthenon Lisa Kallet, Wealth Power & Prestige: Athens at Home & Abroad Barbara A. Barletta, The Architecture & Architects of the Classical Parthenon Lothar Haselberger, Bending the Truth: Curvature & Other Refinements of the Parthenon Katherine A. Schwab, Celebrations of Victory: The Metopes of the Parthenon Jenifer Neils, "With Noblest Images on All Sides": The Ionic Frieze of the [End Page 293] Parthenon Olga Palagia, Fire from Heaven: Pediments & Akroteria of the Parthenon Kenneth Lapatin, The Statue of Athena & Other Treasures in the Parthenon Robert Ousterbout, "Bestride the Very Peak of Heaven": The Parthenon after Antiquity Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, "Well Recorded Worth": Photographs of the Parthenon Richard A. Etlin, The Parthenon in the Modern Era The lead essay by Jeffrey Hurwit focuses on the whereabouts and visibility of the Parthenon on the acropolis. Passing through the Propylaia into a small court, the later fifth century visitor's attention was first drawn to Pheidias' huge bronze statue of Athena: only a small part of the Parthenon was visible. As he or she continued up the slope past other victory monuments, dedications, and the sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia, the view of the building continued to be partially blocked by walls and roofs. It could only be seen in its entirety when the terrace of the Chalkotheke was reached. Thus, in situating the Parthenon, Hurwit reminds the reader of the gradual unfolding of the visual impact and the angled view. He does a lot more. He investigates previous buildings on the site, examines other architectural problems including that of the Opisthodomos, and pays attention to the ideological context. He sees the Parthenon as the high point of an architectural program planned to celebrate the past, and the victory and power of Athena. Lisa Kallet addresses another kind of setting, Athens' political and cultural setting vis-a-vis other poleis. The development of the Athenian empire from the confederacy of Delos is at the heart of the discussion. Events are traced from the battle of Marathon to the completion of the Parthenon, with special attention paid to relations between Athena and Sparta, and the timing of the shift of the treasury from Delos to Athens; interesting emphasis is placed on the Athenian use of inscriptions on stone to record temple inventories, tribute monies, casualty lists, and other matters of public concern. Strong on the wealth of the polis, sources of goods imported to Athens (there is a neat quote from Hermippos), building programs and accounts, this overview is noteworthy for its reminder that all the Acropolis building costs were approved by the demos, the popular assembly. All this extravagant expenditure was authorized by the democracy. There are two specifically architectural studies. Lothar Haselberger takes on the question of refinements: curvature, angle contraction, inclination of columns and other members, and entasis. He is quick to establish that such...

The deviance of women: a critique and an enquiry

The deviance of women: a critique and an enquiry

Colloids as a sink for certain pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment

The occurrence and fate of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment is recognized as one of the emerging issues in environmental chemistry and as a matter of public concern. Existing data tend to focus on the concentrations of pharmaceuticals in the aqueous phase, with limited studies on their concentrations in particulate phase such as sediments. Furthermore, current water quality monitoring does not differentiate between soluble and colloidal phases in water samples, hindering our understanding of the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of pharmaceuticals in aquatic organisms. In this study, an investigation was conducted into the concentrations and phase association (soluble, colloidal, suspended particulate matter or SPM) of selected pharmaceuticals (propranolol, sulfamethoxazole, meberverine, thioridazine, carbamazepine, tamoxifen, indomethacine, diclofenac, and meclofenamic acid) in river water, effluents from sewage treatment works (STW), and groundwater in the UK. The occurrence and phase association of selected pharmaceuticals propranolol, sulfamethoxazole, meberverine, thioridazine, carbamazepine, tamoxifen, indomethacine, diclofenac, and meclofenamic acid in contrasting aquatic environments (river, sewage effluent, and groundwater) were studied. Colloids were isolated by cross-flow ultrafiltration (CFUF). Water samples were extracted by solid-phase extraction (SPE), while SPM was extracted by microwave. All sample extracts were analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in the multiple reaction monitoring. Five compounds propranolol, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, indomethacine, and diclofenac were detected in all samples, with carbamazepine showing the highest concentrations in all phases. The highest concentrations of these compounds were detected in STW effluents, confirming STW as a key source of these compounds in the aquatic environments. The calculation of partition coefficients of pharmaceuticals between SPM and filtrate (observed partition coefficients, Kobsp, Kobsoc), between SPM and soluble phase (intrinsic partition coefficients, Kintp, Kintoc), and between colloids and soluble phase (Kcoc) showed that intrinsic partition coefficients (Kintp, Kintoc) are between 25% and 96%, and between 18% and 82% higher than relevant observed partition coefficients values, and are much less variable. Secondly, Kcoc values are 3-4 orders of magnitude greater than Kintoc values, indicating that aquatic colloids are substantially more powerful sorbents for accumulating pharmaceuticals than sediments. Furthermore, mass balance calculations of pharmaceutical concentrations demonstrate that between 23% and 70% of propranolol, 17-62% of sulfamethoxazole, 7-58% of carbamazepine, 19-84% of indomethacine, and 9-74% of diclofenac are present in the colloidal phase. The results provide direct evidence that sorption to colloids provides an important sink for the pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. Such strong pharmaceutical/colloid interactions may provide a long-term storage of pharmaceuticals, hence, increasing their persistence while reducing their bioavailability in the environment. Pharmaceutical compounds have been detected not only in the aqueous phase but also in suspended particles; it is important, therefore, to have a holistic approach in future environmental fate investigation of pharmaceuticals. For example, more research is needed to assess the storage and long-term record of pharmaceutical residues in aquatic sediments by which benthic organisms will be most affected. Aquatic colloids have been shown to account for the accumulation of major fractions of total pharmaceutical concentrations in the aquatic environment, demonstrating unequivocally the importance of aquatic colloids as a sink for such residues in the aquatic systems. As aquatic colloids are abundant, ubiquitous, and highly powerful sorbents, they are expected to influence the bioavailability and bioaccumulation of such chemicals by aquatic organisms. It is therefore critical for colloids to be incorporated into water quality models for prediction and risk assessment purposes.

Hang your shingle and carry on: estate agents – the unlicensed UK profession

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address the fact that whilst most providers of professional services in the UK are regulated by means of pre‐entry qualifications or required standards, those setting themselves up as estate agents face no such impediment. This is particularly surprising in that these practitioners are centrally involved in what is often the largest and most stressful of consumer transactions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper traces the many and various attempts at establishing a regulatory framework, the many and various ways in which they failed, and current proposals for change.FindingsIt is asserted that more and better protection is owed to these vulnerable consumers. Whilst the majority of practitioners are members of one professional body or another, there remains a significant minority who are not, and that the time has come for universal regulation.Originality/valueThe paper is important in that it seeks to take a long view of a matter of public concern that has not been taken since the late 1960s.

Constitutional Cases Involving Teachers

law of public employment has come long way since 1892. That's when Oliver Wendell Holmes made his infamous statement, The petitioner may have constitutional right to talk politics, but he has no constitutional right to be policeman. (1) Back then, public employment was seen as privilege, not right. Today, it's clear that public employee does not shed his constitutional rights at the workplace door. While public employees have more rights than they did in the 19th century, their legal protections have been decreasing in the past two decades. Public employees' constitutional rights reached peak during the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, the Supreme Court has been diluting their rights. Some of the most significant court decisions shaping the employment environment for public school teachers have come in the areas of freedom of expression, procedural due process, and search and seizure. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION landmark case in terms of setting constitutional standards for teacher employment came in 1968 in Pickering v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that a teacher's exercise of his right to speak on issues of public importance may not furnish the basis for his dismissal from public employment. (2) In Pickering, the Court ruled that public employer had to show compelling state before firing teacher for speaking about matters of public concern. In such case, the court must balance the rights of the employee against the public employer's right to run an efficient workplace. Pickering represents the closest that the free speech rights of teachers approached those of the general public. In 1983, the Supreme Court clarified public employees' free speech rights in Connick v. Myers. (3) Court ruled that when public employee speaks out on matter of private or personal interest and not as citizen on matters of public concern, the speech is not protected by the First When employee expression cannot be fairly considered as relating to any matter of political, social, or other concern to the community, government officials should enjoy wide latitude in managing their offices, without intrusive oversight by the judiciary in the name of the First Amendment. In the school setting, courts assess whether teacher's speech is made mostly in the teacher's role as citizen or as an employee of the school. (4) But even teacher whose speech is matter of public concern can be disciplined if such speech disrupts the school environment. In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in Garcetti that when public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, they are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline. (5) Some scholars have argued that this new employer-friendly rule constitutes sharp break from the traditional Pickering test and discourages public employees from speaking out. Subsequent cases involving teachers illustrate how the Garcetti ruling is weakening the First Amendment rights of teachers both inside and outside the classroom. In Michigan case, the court upheld the termination of teacher who wore t-shirt complaining of lack of contract. Citing Garcetti, the court simply ruled that the t-shirt caused disharmony in the workplace. (6) Similarly, the Seventh Circuit ruled in 2007 that an Indiana teacher who was dismissed for sharing her views against the war in Iraq in class discussing current events was unprotected by the First (7) In 2008, school psychologist sued her school district, alleging that the district retaliated against her after she spoke about noncompliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). A federal district court ruled that she was speaking as an employee rather than as citizen. Citing Garcetti, the court concluded, Plaintiff has not alleged that she was speaking as citizen when she voiced her concerns about alleged IDEA violations. …

The social organization of representations of history: The textual accomplishment of coming to terms with the past

This paper is concerned with the social organization of collective memory and representations of history in the context of how post-communist democracies reckon with former regimes. It specifically centres on the textual accomplishment of coming to terms with the past in the 'Tismăneanu Report' condemning Communism in Romania. The focus is on how the Report displays and shapes the ideological contours of coming to terms with the past around a particular 'social representation' of history. Several constitutive features of the Report that facilitate bringing off a particular 'representation of history' are identified: (a) the construction of a practical framework for the inquiry as a matter of public concern and attention; (b) the production of 'Communism' as an empirical category with uniquely bound features; and (c) the structuring of time by bringing together a political agenda and national identity. The present argument tries to place representations of history (and coming to terms with the past) as something in need of constitution rather than simply relied on. It is suggested that a conception of coming to terms with the past as a textual accomplishment may lead to a fuller appreciation of the structure, function and salience of representations of history as integral part of moral/political/legal courses of action.

Children in Public or ‘Public Children’: An Alternative to Constructing One's Own Life

This article starts from the thoughts of Hannah Arendt, and more especially from her idea that the essence of education is the renewal of the world. That idea forms the backdrop to a consideration of the current interest in education as the construction of one’s own life. I argue that the will to construct one’s own life is not a natural, biological given, but a product of a ‘biopolitical machine’. In the first part of the article I challenge the contemporary discourse of self-empowerment and expose the way that the will to construct one’s own life, in its current manifestation, is an effect and an instrument of a (strategic) configuration that includes the construction of one’s own life as a matter of public concern . Ironically, the foregrounding of ‘public concern’ in this way undermines a more meaningful realisation of the public realm. I see this, however, not primarily as a problem, but as an invitation to think again. In the second part I argue that what the ‘biopolitical machine’ has shown is precisely that thinking of childhood in terms of a becoming and a ‘not yet’ does not capture the essence of human being. Instead it should be conceived as a singular, historical experience emerging within a particular historical context. What this reveals is an opening onto a possibility of acting and thinking differently. I conclude with an alternative idea of education, one that is inspired by Arendt. However, this is not intended as a utopian turn, but rather as a means of exposing a dimension of education that has remained silenced or even largely excluded: a dimension that is an invitation to think and to put our thoughts at stake, which is something altogether different from utopia.

Fear, complacency and the spectacle of risk: the making of HIV as a public concern in Australia

This article explores how HIV is constituted as a matter of public concern in Australia, where - unlike much of the rest of the world - there is a continuing low incidence of heterosexual transmission. In this context, it is timely to explore how the media contributes to the ongoing mobilization of public interest in HIV, and how heterosexual audiences are brought into focus as the imagined ;publics' of mainstream debates on HIV. This article identifies three approaches to generating public concern in HIV news stories published in The Sydney Morning Herald between 2000 and 2005 as well as in academic media analysis and HIV education and advocacy. Reflections on fear revisit the early years of the epidemic, distinguishing a generation of Australian audiences shaped by the Grim Reaper campaign. Encounters with complacency focus on an apparently widespread lack of concern about HIV in the present. And projections in risk forecast a multiplication of HIV risk environments, despite confusion about who should be personally concerned about those risks. Together they construct Australian publics as passive, vulnerable, unaware and potentially uncaring, yet do little to engage the mainstream as more than spectators of public concern about HIV.

Higher Education and European Citizenship as a Matter of Public Concern

With the growth of the European Union – both in terms of its size and in terms of its influence and importance – questions have emerged about the relationship between the European Union and the inhabitants of its member states. These questions are increasingly being framed in relation to the idea of citizenship. The issue here is not only whether such a thing as European citizenship can exist. The issue is also what we should understand by European citizenship and, in relation to this, how European citizenship can be promoted and advanced. These questions are first of all considered to be important in relation to the democratic legitimacy of the European Union on the assumption that the legitimacy of democratic governance crucially depends on the extent to which it is supported and ‘owned’ by its citizens. But they are also considered to be important in relation to wider questions about social cohesion and integration and the emergence of something like a sense of a European identity. Whereas many opportunities for civic participation and identification are located at national and sub-national levels, there is at least one area where over the past decade something with a more European identity has been emerging. This is the field of higher education.[1] While compulsory education and, to a slightly lesser extent, vocational education have largely remained tied to national priorities, agendas and policies, the field of higher education is rapidly evolving into a sector which transcends national borders and agendas. Although the economic imperative is central in the policies that drive these developments, particularly in relation to the ambition of the European Community to become ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion’ (Lisbon European Council, 2000), policy makers are clearly aware of the wider potential of universities in relation to questions of social cohesion and European citizenship (see, for example, European Commission, 2003, 2006). This is also what has been emphasised by the European universities themselves, who have stressed that their role encompasses more than just the creation of the next generation of workers for the knowledge economy, but includes a responsibility for cultural, social and civic development at national and European level (see, for example, European University Association, 2003). There are indeed good reasons for focusing on the higher education sector in relation to questions about European citizenship. One reason goes back to the Humboldtian tradition, which has always given the university a special role in the development of the democratic nation-state, a line of thinking which is now extended to the European level. This line of thought traditionally stresses the unique role of ‘academic’ education, that is, the edifying potential of research-based education in institutions for higher education. A second reason for a focus on higher education has