Militarized Zones Research Articles

Troubled Engagement in Ethnicized Conflict

Feminist cross-community initiatives, which emerged in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine in the 1980s, are frequently lauded in the gender and conflict literature as evidence of the ways in which women can work across ethnonational boundaries. In particular, the theory of ‘transversal dialogue’, developed by Nira Yuval-Davis and adopted by other feminist scholars and activists, suggests that participants have developed a mode of dialogue that enables them to acknowledge differences while developing common goals. In ethicized conflict, transversal politics is understood as an alternative to the essentializing of ‘identity politics’ as well as their undemocratic character. The empirical research, however, suggests that identity politics remains relevant for participants, particularly when cross-community dialogue is limited by external political realities and internal community divisions. In my view, understanding the ways in which identity politics contributes to the development of feminist goals related to women's inclusion in peace processes and post-conflict peace-building is not at odds with transversal politics; rather, women use both modes of politics to build feminist networks and tackle women's marginalization in hyper-masculinized and militarized zones of ethnicized conflict.

Changes in mouse cognition and hippocampal gene expression observed in a mild physical- and blast-traumatic brain injury

Warfare has long been associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in militarized zones. Common forms of TBI can be caused by a physical insult to the head–brain or by the effects of a high velocity blast shock wave generated by the detonation of an explosive device. While both forms of trauma are distinctly different regarding the mechanism of trauma induction, there are striking similarities in the cognitive and emotional status of survivors. Presently, proven effective therapeutics for the treatment of either form of TBI are unavailable. To be able to develop efficacious therapies, studies involving animal models of physical- and blast-TBI are required to identify possible novel or existing medicines that may be of value in the management of clinical events. We examined indices of cognition and anxiety-like behavior and the hippocampal gene transcriptome of mice subjected to both forms of TBI. We identified common behavioral deficits and gene expression regulations, in addition to unique injury-specific forms of gene regulation. Molecular pathways presented a pattern similar to that seen in gene expression. Interestingly, pathways connected to Alzheimer's disease displayed a markedly different form of regulation depending on the type of TBI. While these data highlight similarities in behavioral outcomes after trauma, the divergence in hippocampal transcriptome observed between models suggests that, at the molecular level, the TBIs are quite different. These models may provide tools to help define therapeutic approaches for the treatment of physical- and blast-TBIs. Based upon observations of increasing numbers of personnel displaying TBI related emotional and behavioral changes in militarized zones, the development of efficacious therapies will become a national if not a global priority.

Bridges and bottlenecks: Andrei Sher’s role in the development of international collaboration in Beringian science

Andrei Sher played a leading role in the development of international cooperation and exchange of ideas in Beringian science. The Cold War created great tensions between the USSR and the NATO countries, as the Bering Strait region became one of the front lines of potential military conflict. However, through the persistent efforts of such people as Andrei Sher in Russia and David Hopkins in the USA, scientists were able to overcome political obstacles to attend international Beringian conferences, visit each other’s militarized zones to do fieldwork, and collaborate on joint projects.

Assault Rifles, Separated Families, and Murder in Their Eyes: Unasked Questions after Hurricane Katrina

This essay critiques the trauma literature that includes African Americans who endured Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. It is concerned with possible dissonance between scholars' and subjects' agendas. Drawing on narratives from the the Saddest Days Oral History Project that Penner directed in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, she explores divergences between the most urgent traumatic concerns of her study's narrators and the dominant questions of Katrina mental health literature. Her focus is the survivors' perceptions of rescuers' intentions, a primary consideration in the assessment of potentially traumatizing events. The mental-health specialists, with minor exceptions, correctly predicted an overall surge in traumatic and depressive symptoms for Hurricane Katrina survivors. They were less effective in identifying causation, specifying type, and appreciating major differences between social groups and communities. For almost all of the African American narrators trapped in the city after the storm, the trauma of Katrina was experienced as the product of human beings, mainly armed law enforcement personnel and soldiers, brandishing assault rifles, acting disdainfully, and separating families. The event was made cataclysmic not by the winds or the floodwaters but by their descent into a militarized zone in which narrators seemed singled out for persecution because of their race/ethnicity (and gender). The traumatizing events that were omitted from the structured interview protocols, in particular the impact of the militarized response, have had the deepest impact on survivors' identity and ability to trust others.

The Praeger handbook of urban education

Introduction The Power of Hope in the Trenches Context of UE No Child Left Behind and Urban Education: The Purpose and Funding of Public Education, by Thomas Brignall III The Militarized Zone, by Ronnie Casella The Significance of Urban Street Vendors, by Marina Karides Why Should Urban Educators Care about Community Organizing to Reform Schools? by Hollyce C. Giles Race/Ethnicity & UE A Cociological Critique of 'Meaningful Differences:' A Functional Approach to the Parenting Style of Low-Income African American Families, by Linda B. Benbow The Business Community, African-American Leaders and School Governance: A Case of Competing Interests in School Reform, by Lisa Gonsalves Black Women Activists, Leaders and Educators: Transforming Urban Educational Practice, by Gaetane Jean-Marie, Channelle James, and Shirley Bynum Dilemmas Confronting Urban Principals in the Post-Civil Rights Era, by Tondra L. Loder Bring In Da Noise, Bring in DuBois: Infusing an African-American Educational Idealogy into the Urban Education Discourse, by Kecia Hayes Race, Class and Gender in Urban Education: Exploring the Critical Research on Urban Pedagogy and School Reform, by Marvin Lynn, A. Dee and et al. Whiteness in Teacher Education, by Patricia Burdell, Ph.D. Should the Holocaust be Taught in Urban Schools? by Dr. Tibbi Duboys Rethinking the White Man's Burden: Identity and Pedagogy for an Inner City Student Teacher, by John Pascarella and Marie Gironda African American Teachers: The Dying Group, by Dr. Deidre Ann Tyler Social Justice Participatory Democratic Education: Is the Utopia Possible? Porto Alegre's Citizen School Project, Possible? by Luis Armando Gandin and Gustavo E. Fischman Teaching/Pedagogy Identity as Dialectic: Re/Making Self in Urban Schooling, by Wolff-Michael Roth The Professional Development of Teachers of Science in Urban Schools: Issues and Challenges, by Mary M. Atwater and Malcolm B. Butler Contemplative Urban Education, by David Forbes, Ph.D. Conflict Resolution Strategies for Inner-City Youth, by Meridith Gould and Anthony Tadduni One Day at a Time: Substitute Teaching in Urban Schools, by Frances Helyar Developing Scholar-Practitioner Leaders in the Urban Education in Crisis, by Raymond A. Horn, Jr. Voice, Access, and Democratic Participation: Towards a Transformational Paradigm of Parent Involvement in Urban Education, by Edward M. Olivos and Alberto M. Ochoa Rewriting the Curriculum for Urban Teacher Preparation, by Cynthia Onore Rethinking Learning and Motivation in Urban Schools, by Robert Rueda and Myron H. Dembo The Testing Movement and Urban Education, by Rupam Saran Forming a Circle: Creating a Learning Community for Urban Commuting Adult Students in an Interdisciplinary Studies Program, by Roslyn Abt Schindler Tolerance with Children: A Critique of Zero Tolerance in School Discipline, by Jill Rogers Literacy in Urban Education: Problems and Promises, by Anne Dichele and Mordechai Gordan Complicating our Identities as Urban Teachers: A Co/Autoethnography, by Dr. Monica Taylor and Dr. Lesley Coia Democratic Urban Education: Imagining Possibilities, by Patrick M. Jenlink and Karen Embry Jenlink How to Explore, Critique, and Sustain NYC-based Arts/Education After-School Funding and How to Utilize Youth Participant Researchers as Investigators, by Jen Weiss The Need for Free Play in Natural Settings, by William Crain Any Given Saturday, by David Reed Purple Leaves and Charlie-Horses: The Dichotomous Definition of Urban Education, by Tricia Kress Exploring Urban Landscapes: A Postmodern Approach to Learning, by Priya Parmar, Ph.D. and Shorna Broussard, Ph.D. Power & UE Global Capitalism and Urban Education, by David Baronov Towards an Anti-Colonial Education, by Mostafa MouhieEddine and Rebecca Sanchez Education in a Globalized Society: Over Five Centuries, the Colonial Struggle Continues, by Joseph Carroll-Miranda Universities, Regional Policy and the Knowledge Economy, by Michael A. Peters and Tim May The Individual vs. the Collective in a Time of Globalization: Educational Implications, by Judith J. Slater School Finance in Urban America, by Lynne A. Weikart, Ph.D. Language & UE Evaluating Programs for English Language Learners: Possibilities for Biliteracy in Urban SchoolDistricts in California, by Karen Cadiero-Kaplan and Alberto Ochoa Bilingual-Bicultural Literacy Pedagogies and the Politics of Project Head Start, by Ronald L. Mize, et al. Cultural Studies & UE Hollywood's Depicti

Haiti, Guantánamo, and the "One Indispensable Nation": U.S. Imperialism, "Apparent States," and Postcolonial Problematics of Sovereignty

Haiti, Guantánamo, and the"One Indispensable Nation" U.S. Imperialism, "Apparent States," and Postcolonial Problematics of Sovereignty Jana Evans Braziel In the 2003 presidential address to the American Studies Association, entitled "Violent Belongings and the Question of Empire Today," Amy Kaplan describes Guantánamo as an "imperial location, close to home, in the ambiguous border between the domestic and the foreign" (12). Kaplan argues that Guantánamo is a liminal, militarized zone, where "contemporary empire building in the Middle East meets the history of imperialism in the Americas" (12). Even its "location," Kaplan reasons, is difficult to define: "Where is Guantánamo? In America, yes; in the United States, yes and no; in Cuba, well, sort of" (12). For Kaplan, Guantánamo's liminality makes it the site par excellence for imperialist abuses.1 In effect, Kaplan codes Guantánamo as exceptional: in fact, though, Guantánamo is far from exceptional. The U.S. naval base remains rooted, historically, militarily, and juridically, I contend, within the domain of U.S. policy, connected to legal and extralegal forms of violence (and militarized prison systems) as both deployed within the domestic borders of the U.S. (against citizens and immigrants) and imposed on foreign occupied terrains like the Philippines, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama, Grenada, Chile, to name only the most obvious sites within this hemisphere, and elsewhere (against foreign nationals—whether citizens, refugees, or "enemy combatants") from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. Elaborating this argument in a recent article actually entitled "Where Is Guantánamo?" Kaplan confidently asserts that Guantánamo "represents the start of the 'road to Abu Ghraib,' one island in a global penal archipelago, where the United States indefinitely detains, [End Page 127] secretly transports, and tortures uncounted prisoners from all over the world" (831).2 While Kaplan traces the immediate genealogical and historical development of this "global penal archipelago" to the post-9/11 legislation of the USA PATRIOT Act that allows for executive circumvention of the Geneva Conventions,3 we must remain mindful of the ways this transnational militaristic development is decades older, perhaps even a century older, manifesting the twenty-first-century culmination of a nineteenth-century trajectory toward what Neil Smith has called the U.S. aspirations for a "global Monroe Doctrine" that first crystallized in the Spanish-American War in 1898, although its roots were already present in 1823.4 Extraterritorial detention sites (like Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Baghram, and other scattered global sites) merely extend, I would add, the deeply rooted conditions and continuities of the U.S. penal system: nothing novel here or there. To argue this point, I suggest an intellectual and political détour,5 first through Môle-St. Nicolas and then through Guantánamo, or through Haiti and Cuba, by transport of the U.S. Navy.6 By doing so, I hope to contest the "exemplary" nature (as site par excellence) of Guantánamo by foregrounding the international relations between the United States and Haiti as triangulated through Cuba during two interlocking historical moments: first, in the late nineteenth century as the U.S. military sought a naval base in the Caribbean Sea, initially in Môle-St. Nicolas and then in Guantánamo; and second, in the late twentieth century as Haitian "boat people" were intercepted at sea, detained at Guantánamo, and finally deported back to Haiti. These historical precursors mitigate interpretations of Guantánamo (or Abu Ghraib, for that matter) as exceptional or exemplary. In this paper, I assay writing an anti-imperial counternarrative of the Americas by focusing on the geopolitical, historical, and transatlantic points of exchange (often violent and imperial) between Haiti, the "poorest country in the Western hemisphere,"7 and the United States, a military empire that acts (and has always acted) unilaterally and whose nation-state structures are transnationally dispersed.8 It does so by navigating through but one of the...