Stories Of Violence Research Articles

The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America by Robert H. Churchill

Reviewed by: The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America by Robert H. Churchill W. Thomas Mainwaring The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America. By Robert H. Churchill. (New York and other cities: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. xiv, 256. Paper, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-108-73346-5; cloth, $99.99, ISBN 978-1-108-48912-6.) Robert H. Churchill’s The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America analyzes the connection between the Underground Railroad and the violence that fugitives encountered in various regions of the North. “The story of fugitives from enslavement and of the assistance that they received from the antislavery activists who would come to style themselves the Underground Railroad,” Churchill asserts, “is a story of violence” (p. 3). To understand the Underground Railroad, Churchill argues, one must understand the “culture of violence” that prevailed in four regions ranging from the border South to New England and much of the northern United States (p. 4). The cultural norms that sanctioned the use of violence in the border South were quite clear: whippings, beatings, and even harsher punishments were justified in the name of maintaining the slave system and white supremacy. The second region Churchill identifies is the tier of northern counties just above the Mason-Dixon Line and the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. These borderland communities seldom contested the operations of slave catchers and the violence that they employed to capture freedom seekers. The reception of slave catchers was distinctly different in the third region, what Churchill calls the “Contested Region”—the northern two-thirds of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey (p. 7). Here, community sentiments [End Page 121] insisted that slave catchers follow legal procedures and avoid violent methods of capturing fugitives. Slave catchers who violated these norms encountered resistance from these communities that opposed the flagrant use of violence. Finally, the fourth region, which Churchill designates as the “Free Soil Region,” encompassing New England, much of New York, Michigan, the environs of Chicago, and Wisconsin, rejected the culture of southern violence and offered open assistance to freedom seekers (p. 10). Churchill offers a sophisticated analysis of how these cultures of violence changed as the Underground Railroad evolved between the 1830s and 1860s, particularly in response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The collision of regional cultures happened most dramatically in instances of fugitive renditions and rescues. Churchill has developed an extensive database that attempts to record every rendition and rescue during these decades. In this effort he has gone beyond the work of Stanley W. Campbell, whose book The Slave Catchers: Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850–1860 (Chapel Hill, 1970) has been the standard work in the field for fifty years. Churchill argues convincingly that Campbell’s interpretation that the North was either supportive or indifferent to the Fugitive Slave Act is misleading. Churchill’s evidence shows that there was much more resistance to the act than Campbell found. Only in the border region of the free states do Campbell’s findings hold true. But elsewhere after 1850, northern communities increasingly rallied to the cause of the fugitive and violently opposed renditions. Churchill contends that the Fugitive Slave Act was ultimately a failure in that it could not be enforced throughout much of the North (the number of rescues almost tripled after 1857). The reason for this failure was the change in attitudes in the Contested Region, which had once tolerated fugitive renditions as long as they were carried out according to legal procedures. By 1860, however, communities in this region had become alarmed by the proslavery violence that accompanied slave catchers. They had been exposed to “the brutality and arrogance of the violence of mastery” (p. 230). They came to change their cultural values to align with their Free Soil neighbors to the North in assisting freedom seekers and resisting slave catchers. Churchill’s fine study will be of interest to students of the Underground Railroad and more generally of the sectional crisis. He offers a wealth of examples and case studies to buttress his analysis of changing cultural attitudes about violence...

The Violence of the Underground Railroad

The Violence of the Underground Railroad Kellie Carter Jackson (bio) Robert H. Churchill, The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. vii + 256 pp. Figures, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, and index. $24.99. For many years, the story of the Underground Railroad has been wrapped in a romantic nostalgia of sorts. School children are told about the efforts of Harriet Tubman or other popular narratives of narrow escape such as those included in Frederick Douglass's Narrative (1845) or Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). These stories are recounted with moments of heroism and risk, but they never hinge on the absolute violence employed to retrieve fugitives. Robert Churchill's The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America is a welcome addition to abolitionist historiography. His thesis is simple, but potent: The Underground Railroad is a story of violence. Slave catchers trekked into northern and free Black communities to retrieve "stolen property." Their violent confrontations with Black and white residents enraged all those around them. In abolitionist history, violence could serve as the protagonist or, as Churchill argues, "violence is a current that runs through every fugitive account and every Underground activist reminiscence" (p. 3). Churchill contends that slave catchers who pursued fugitives into the North brought with them "a Southern culture of violence that sanctioned white brutality as a means of enforcing racial hierarchy and Black subordination and upholding masculine honor," but their presence compelled an array of responses in the four distinct regions he examines (p. 5). Divided into three parts, The Underground Railroad and the Geography of Violence in Antebellum America begins with the origins of the Underground Railroad and ends with the start of the Civil War, examining cultures of violence in the slave-holding South, the Borderland, the Contested Region, and the Free Soil Region. In six chapters, Churchill traces the attempts to aid fugitive slaves beginning just before the Underground Railroad was established. He next examines fugitive rescues and responses in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, and New England. He explores Northerners open defiance and resistance to slave catchers and determination to defend Black enclaves [End Page 246] and communities. Churchill's concluding chapters address the evolution of the Underground Railroad as a result of the revamped Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. He offers examples of how resistance to slave catchers became so persistent that returning Black people to the plantation South became nearly impossible in certain regions that included abolitionist strongholds. I was impressed by Churchill's lengthy appendix, which covers nearly seventy years of fugitive slave rescues from 1794–1861, where the majority of the outcomes resulted in freedom. I have no doubt certain scholars and students will find both the book and its appendix useful and instructive. However, overall, I found Churchill's work fell short of his promising and sophisticated goals. He wants readers to understand the Underground Railroad in the context of "a geography of violence, a shifting landscape in which clashing norms of violence shaped the activities of slave catchers and the fugitives and abolitionists who defied them" (p. 3). I needed the author to flesh out his interesting and provocative ideas more. At times, his connections felt fragmented and unclear. For example, Churchill mentions notable fugitive cases such as Margaret Garner, The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, the Jerry Rescue or the taking of Anthony Burns in Boston. These are well known and consequential fugitive slave cases, but they are not granted sufficient context for the gravity or impact they have in the movement. He moves from incident to incident and altercations to confrontations, but he does not dwell long enough on any episode to give readers the depth of what resistance, violence, and rescue truly meant and what they accomplished for the movement and the eventual demise of slavery. In his text, Black people are acting and moving, but seldom given voice or the volume their contributions deserve. I anticipated his work would expand upon the brilliance of the late historian Stephanie Camp. Her work on a "geography of containment" in Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and...

‘My story is like a magic wand’: a qualitative study of personal storytelling and activism to stop violence against women in Turkey

ABSTRACT Background: Telling personal stories of violence has been central to recent advocacy efforts to prevent violence against women around the world. In this paper, we explore the use of personal storytelling as a form of activism to prevent femicide in Turkey. This study is part of a broader storytelling initiative called SHAER (Storytelling for Health: Acknowledgement, Expression and Recovery) to alleviate the psychological and emotional suffering of women who have experienced gender-based violence in high-prevalence settings. Objectives: We conceptually explore personal stories of violence as a form of both distributed agency and activism. This conceptual framework is used to answer the following research question in the Turkish context: How do women use their personal stories of interpersonal violence for their own benefit (support) and that of others (activism)? Methods: Our study is based on 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with women who have experienced violence and were purposefully recruited by the ‘We Will End Femicide’ Platform in Istanbul. Interviews were conducted between March and August 2019. We used inductive and deductive thematic analysis to identify instances of personal storytelling at three levels: intrapersonal, relational and collective. Results: Our results show how the use of personal storytelling can provide a means of healing from experiences of violence. However, this process is not linear and is often influenced by the surrounding context including: the listener of the story, their reaction, and what social networks the woman has to support her. In supportive social contexts, personal storytelling can be an effective support for activism against violence: personal stories can provide opportunities for individuals to shape broader discourses about violence against women and the right of women to share their stories. Conclusions: Telling one’s personal story of violence can both support women’s agency and contribute to the collective struggle against violence against women more broadly.

Editors' Preface

Editors' Preface Lisa Sun-Hee Park and Diane C. Fujino The articles in this issue provide a glimpse of the difficult questions and expansive, insightful possibilities that drive the discipline of Asian American studies. While each paper identifies a distinct research agenda and methodological approach, they all make clear the urgency of their fundamental contributions. The unsaid and unspeakable are exposed in careful and meticulous ways, with the understanding that such acts of engagement are crucial steps toward justice. The first three papers begin in Korea—a tiny peninsula, forever entangled with one empire after another, and the far too common horrors of sexual violence as an instrument of colonization. Yuri Doolan's piece begins by uncovering the origins of a "vexed intrapersonal relation" associated with adopted children from Korea. Doolan begins by noting that studies of Korean adoption often reference camptowns—neighborhoods near US military bases where off-duty troops find recreational activities, including sexual services, provided by local residents—in passing, as mere background context to a larger point. Doolan convincingly argues that this is a crucial, missed opportunity in understanding not only international adoption but also the sexual and racial formation of Korean and Korean American women in the United States. The author traces the discursive and ideological framing of adopted girls from Korea as rescued and rehabilitated prostitutes, as needing to be saved from "a perverse heredity and carnal savagery." The presumed origins of adopted children as sons or daughters of prostitutes became central to the maintenance of international adoptions from South Korea. Doolan illustrates how this [End Page v] persistent hypersexualization of Korean orphans and Korean American women functions to promote US exceptionalism as a humanitarian nation. Then, Laura Barberán Reinares shifts our approach to issues of sexual violence, empire, and Korea through the literary works of three Korean American authors: Therese Park, Nora Okja Keller, and Chang-rae Lee. Reinares focuses on the ethics and aesthetics of representing sexual violence through language by analyzing the narration of systematic rapes endured by "comfort women" in World War II. In this article, Barberán Reinares outlines the complex task of writers in depicting sexual violence, or verbally representing the "unrepresentable." Barberán Reinares highlights the conundrum for these writers as they grapple with the discursive limits of a human rights approach to faithfully relay stories of violence as evidence for justice, knowing that the narration (fictional or otherwise) of detailed accounts may in fact reobjectify victims by merely serving others' voyeuristic curiosity. In her careful analysis, Barberán Reinares shows how these three authors avoid potentially exploitative imagery without necessarily sacrificing the political for the aesthetic. In their fictionalized representations, each author, in their own manner, creatively focuses on the inner, abject aspect of violence through a variety of narrative tools. In this way, fictional representations can convey the gravity of the violence while also developing characters not solely defined by their abuse. In Na-Young Lee's paper, we see that human rights discourse comes with further complications. The struggle to bring accountability for the violence inflicted by the Japanese military sexual slavery system illustrates how even the most egregious acts of state violence do not necessarily warrant collective repudiation or international action. Justice does not just happen. In the case of "comfort women," a coordinated effort by many individuals was required. These activists had to not only shift our understanding of human rights beyond issues that center men and thereby obscure sexual or intimate violence as worthy of global attention, but also question normative Western notions of "universal" human rights, which diminish issues raised by global south nations as "local" concerns. Lee provides a detailed "backstage" account of how "comfort women" activism by Korean women was central in making this shift. Lee argues that an international movement in solidarity with "comfort women" rewrote the norms of global women's rights in the 1990s. Incorporating methods of oral history interviews, participant observations, and textual analysis of activist archives, Lee carefully maps how this international effort transcended the boundaries of nation, race, and gender. The next article, by Lei Zhang, details a human rights activism of a different sort. Following the Tiananmen Square crackdown of...

Stories of violence and dementia in mainstream news media: Applying a citizenship perspective.

In this article, we analyze how mainstream news media frames violence in relation to dementia and the consequences of different frames for people living with dementia and their carers. Conceptually, the goal is to bring literature on citizenship and aggression into dialog with each other. Empirically, a total of 141 regional and national English-language mainstream Canadian news media articles (2008-2019) with a focus on dementia, violence, and aggression were analyzed. Analytically, we examine how different actors are portrayed as victims or perpetrators; how their histories (identities, belonging, and exclusion) are told; how dementia is used to explain events; and what types of expert knowledge and authorities are introduced to make sense of stories of violence in relationships of care. Our analysis points to the implications of media narratives for people with dementia as well as carers and researchers seeking to address stigma and call for change.

A Boy’s Journey: Public Sociology for in and Out of the Classroom

This essay is a response to Stein (2019; 2020) and his use of lived experience to tell the story of violence and the Holocaust. I discuss these works’ contributions to public sociology and teaching.

Violence, role reversals, and turning points: work identity at stake at a therapeutic residential institution for adolescents

ABSTRACT This article focuses on how one staff member at a therapeutic residential institution negotiates his work identity, exploring how he narrates a violent incident, the formation of work identity, and how the adolescent figures within these processes. Mishler argues that when speaking, we perform identity. As social actors, we select and organise language, telling stories that fit the audience, our intentions, and the occasion. The article is framed both theoretically and methodologically through the assumption that narrative is a fundamental human way of giving meaning to our experiences. Identities are understood as being produced and performed within personal narratives. Thus, in an interview situation, narratives provide an interactive space for personal subjectivities to be expressed and enacted. Drawing on Mishler, we find three essential ‘turning points’ that shape Alex’s work identity: (1) the violent incident, (2) the adolescent’s return to the ward, and (3) Alex’s subsequent change of wards. We interpret Alex’s narrative as a ‘narrative of resistance’ that may have practical day-to-day implications for the field of institutional care and help expand the staff’s clinical toolbox. Further, Alex’s narrative is a vital example of stories of violence, which can be incorporated into policy documents on violence management.

The Seriality of Stephen King’s Overlook Hotel – a Transmedial Maze

Abstract This paper investigates three different medial instances of the Overlook Hotel, a space originally hailing from Stephen King’s The Shining. Based on close readings of King’s novel, Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation and a level in the action RPG Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines by Troika Games, the following text argues that the Overlook is a serial figure founded on the concept of malignant space in possession of a potent, and often overwhelming, story of violence that despite attempts at its repression cannot be silenced, as in the tradition of the Gothic ghost story. This basic formula is then traced through different media – the novel, film, and video game – where it is seen as gradually shifting its focus from the fictional characters to the recipient, which represents the intersection between the particular affordances of the respective media and the figure of a spatially-bound aggressive storyteller.

Storytelling: representaciones mediáticas de las memorias en Colombia

Abstract Collective memories are multiple discursive practices, in which social representations about a common past are used to build and maintain cohesion and identity of groups socio-historically located at a socio-culturally determined moment and to project future in frameworks of rights and dignity. It is understood that the memories articulated to the Colombian armed conflict are diverse: different stories of violence, oppression and resistance of peoples, communities and groups are identified and made explicit. Thirty media narratives distributed in the ElTiempo.com Special “Thirty encounters with peace” (2017) comprise the universe of research. The sample is made up of seven narratives that propose the sense of testimony. The selected format is storytelling, which is built in the special edition of the newspaper as a communication proposal for the reconstruction of the social fabric, within the year after the signing of the Peace Agreement between the National Government and the FARC-EP (post-agreement). The research is nucleated on situations of rights violations linked to the conflict, and the proposals derived from these narratives, as regards the overcoming of the exercises of violence to which they refer. The analysis is assumed from the principles of Multimodal and Multimedia Critical Discourse Studies (MMCDS). The forms of representation in the discourses, their multimodal articulations and the multimedia implications in the production of meanings are articulated; the final aim is to derive sociopolitical consequences of the discursive proposal, constructed and socialized in the narratives of the special edition of the newspaper.

Who has to tell their trauma story and how hard will it be? Influence of cultural stigma and narrative redemption on the storying of sexual violence.

Although survivors of sexual violence have shared their stories with the public on social media and mass media platforms in growing numbers, less is known about how general audiences perceive such trauma stories. These perceptions can have profound consequences for survivor mental health. In the present experimental, vignette-based studies, we anticipated that cultural stigma surrounding sexual violence and cultural preference for positive (redemptive) endings to adversity in the United States (U.S.) would shape perceptions. Four samples of U.S. adults (N = 1872) rated first-person narratives of 6 more stigmatizing (i.e., sexual violence) or less stigmatizing (e.g., natural disaster) traumatic events. Confirming pre-registered hypotheses, sexual violence trauma (versus other types of trauma) stories were perceived as more difficult to tell, and their storytellers less likeable, even when they had redemptive endings. Disconfirming other pre-registered hypotheses, redemptive (versus negative) story endings did not boost the perceived likelihood or obligation to share a sexual violence trauma story. Rather, redemptive (versus negative) story endings only boosted the perceived likelihood, obligation, and ease of telling other, less stigmatizing types of trauma stories. Findings suggest that sexual violence survivors do not benefit, to the same degree as other survivors, from telling their stories with the culturally valued narrative template of redemption. Clinical and societal implications of the less receptive climate for sexual violence stories are discussed.

Sığınmaevinde Kalan Kadınların Ve Sığınmaevi Çalışanlarının Bakış Açısından Sığınmaevindeki İlişkiler

Sığınmaevi kadınların şiddet ortamından uzaklaşması, sosyal destek alması, güçlenmesi, varsa beraberindeki çocukları ile bağımsız yaşama geçiş sürecini kolaylaştırıcı bir hizmettir. Kadınlar hem sığınmaevinde kalan diğer kadınlarla hem de güvenlik görevlisinden meslek elemanına kadar çeşitli pozisyonlarda bulunan sığınmaevi çalışanları ile iletişim kurmak zorundadır. Kadınların diğer kadınlarla ve sığınmaevi çalışanları ile kurdukları ilişki ve girdiği etkileşim kadın dayanışmasına dönüşerek kadınları güçlendirebildiği, sığınmaevi sonrasında da devam ettiği gibi bu ilişki kadınları olumsuz yönde de etkileyebilmektedir. Bu çalışma, sığınmaevinde kalan kadınların diğer kadınlarla ve sığınmaevi çalışanları ile olan ilişkilerini nasıl deneyimlediklerini, nasıl algıladıklarını, bu ilişkilerin kadınları güçlendirici bir etkisinin olup olmadığını hem kadınlar hem de sığınmaevi çalışanlarının gözünden anlamaya çalışmaktadır. Çalışmada fenomenolojik araştırma deseni kullanılmıştır. Sığınmaevinde kalan kırk üç kadın ve sığınmaevinde çalışan elli sığınmaevi çalışanı ile derinlemesine görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Veriler kadınların bir kısmının deneyim paylaşımı üzerinden diğer kadınlarla ilişkilendikleri, deneyim paylaşımının kadınların şiddet hikâyeleri bakımından yalnız olmadıklarını hissettirdiğini ve bunun üzerinden de birbirlerine yol gösterdiklerini ortaya koymuştur. Çalışanlara göre kadınlar arası ilişkiler sabun köpüğü gibi geçici ve olabildiğince kaygan bir zemin üzerinden ve genellikle çatışmadan uyuma doğru değil de kısa süre içerisinde kurulan uyumdan çatışmaya doğru ilerlemektedir.

Translating the Violent Content of Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tales: An Eye-Tracker Experiment

O rastreamento ocular tem sido introduzido como uma ferramenta para analisar os processos cognitivos dos tradutores. Pesquisas recentes com rastremento ocular concentram-se em examinar processos de tradução. No nosso conhecimento, no entanto, tal ferramenta ainda não foi usada para detectar comportamentos de movimento ocular relacionados ao Transtorno de Estresse Pós-Traumático (TEPT) dos tradutores, já que tais estudos estão apenas emergindo. Este artigo apresenta um estudo experimental que investiga os processos cognitivos envolvidos na tradução de três versões condensadas de contos de fadas dos irmãos Grimm. Os textos selecionados apresentam conteúdos violentos pelos quais esses contos são renomados, desde adaptações mais modernas que removem o conteúdo violento a histórias com violência explícita. Os textos foram traduzidos do espanhol (L2) para o inglês (L1). Os índices de fixação e duração da fixação foram calculados para cada participante em dez Áreas de Interesse (AOI), representando desafios na tradução de vários aspectos de conteúdo gramatical e violento apresentados nesses contos.

"I don´t have it, I didn´t have it": experiences of families involved in violence against children and adolescents.

to characterize and analyze the experiences of families involved in domestic violence against children and adolescents, based on the Paradigm of Complexity. qualitative research, in which data of 15 families was collected through documentary research, open interviews and field diary. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis. two categories "I don't have it" and "I didn't have it" emerged, revealing the historicity that marks the violence experienced in the present. They include social vulnerability, maternal burden, associated with urban violence to which families are exposed. At the same time, stories of violence by the intimate partner, as well as intergenerational violence and drug abuse have impacted the current moment. Final Considerations: nursing can contribute to attribute new meaning to violent stories woven by families, as well as to the interdisciplinary construction of perspectives and interventions that consider the multiple violence and adversities to which such a population is exposed.

Turning a back on violence: Storying anti-violence with young men in schools.

What are some of the effects of inviting young men troubled by violence to take up non-violent identity claims? This article describes narrative therapy practices in reauthoring stories of violence with one of two young men in a New Zealand secondary schooli. The core outcome of this article is displayed through seven therapeutic "movements" within counselling conversations with Carl, one of the participants. The approaches demonstrated offer possibilities for the development of anti-violence practices within schools that deconstruct notions of masculinity. A scaffolded therapeutic conversation towards alternative understandings of masculinity is presented that produces more hopeful and respectful ways of being as men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Odi et amo: Discursive strategies and ambiguity in the narratives of violence

Ambiguity plays a central role in how narratives about violence are told, but research has rarely taken into account the ambiguity used by criminals with complex motives. Drawing on narrative criminology, this contribution explores how ambiguity is deployed in the stories of violence publicly told in a television interview by Mario Mariolini, a paraphiliac Italian killer sentenced for homicide. The analysis of the narratives, in tandem with the discursive strategies therein, demonstrates that ambiguity is strategically used for different purposes. As a result, we identify three central narratives, each displaying different ways of making instrumental use of ambiguity. In contrast to the analysis of the ambiguity produced by ordinary criminals, this contribution shows how particular and severe criminal cases are better suited for the study of narratives about violence because of the more complex interplay between the ideological and communicative dimensions.

Political Blackness in Multiracial Britain

Political Blackness in Multiracial Britain

Can Borders Speak to Each Other? The India–Bangladesh and Spain–Morocco Borders in Dialogue

ABSTRACT By juxtaposing local narratives of border experiences in two volatile regions, the Spain–Morocco border in Melilla and the India–Bangladesh border in Assam, this paper argues for the value of understanding borders as infrastructures. The paper conceptualizes border infrastructures in their broad material and discursive forms by foregrounding local narratives garnered out of a dialogue between the two sites. Through this conversation, the paper explores how state designed infrastructures are lived, experienced, patrolled, naturalized and subverted across scales and locations, becoming part of a global story of violence. The paper argues that, by letting borders ‘speak to each other’ as an analytical and methodological intervention, scholars can potentially bridge gaps between bordering practices worldwide and people’s everyday strategies locally. Such dialogues can also enhance our understanding of the convergent histories of proliferating border infrastructures and movements around and across them.

‘There is violence across, in all arenas’: listening to stories of violence amongst sexual minority refugees in Uganda

‘There is violence across, in all arenas’: listening to stories of violence amongst sexual minority refugees in Uganda

Á mis við málörvun. „Villimaðurinn frá Aveyron“ og fleiri dæmisögur um uppvöxt barna án máls

This article discusses the “Critical period” in language acquisition – based on the theory that children are born with the natural ability to learn language; an ability that gradually fades or disappears. According to this theory, children who are not privy to normal language stimulation during childhood miss their chance to acquire a language “perfectly”.Critical periods do not only exist in language, e.g. children and other young animals need to receive visual stimulation for their vision to develop. The beginning of this article considers difference in opportunities for research, and thereby the state of knowledge concerning the critical period in vision, compared to language acquisition. The difference is based mainly on two factors: on the one hand, animals have been studied to elucidate the critical period in vision – an option that linguists do not have – and, on the other, it is quite common for children to lack visual stimulation, i.e. due to cataracts. It is less common for children to grow up without language stimulation, although stories exist of children that, for one reason or another, were deprived of human interaction during childhood. The author uses this opportunity to provide an account of two such stories, in a more detailed fashion than would be necessary to define the critical period in language acquisition. These are also stories of violence and questionable work methods for the sake of science. This is followed by a discussion of deaf children as, in the past – as well as the present day – it was common for them not to receive appropriate language stimulation from the beginning, i.e. via the use of sign language. The examples are so many that late language acquisition by deaf children can shed light on the critical period in language acquisition.Many have discussed the critical period in language acquisition but emphasis is often placed on that which has remained unlearned. This article asks rather what can be learned and whether language structure can be established despite a late start for the language acquisition process.

When Peaceful People Fight: Beyond Neutralization and Subcultural Theory

AbstractFights are widespread in society, but for most people it happens once or twice and is not part of a consistent pattern or lifestyle. Using a narrative criminological framework, we study the stories of violence among people who otherwise seldom engage in violent behaviour. The young Norwegians we interviewed, emphasized that their fights emerged as a response to insults, was fuelled by drinking and could be exciting. Participants had negative evaluations of their fights, took the blame for them, talked down their importance and self-critically used humour to ridicule their involvement. Our study demonstrates the shortcomings of subcultural and neutralization theories when it comes to understanding violent behaviour among those who rarely engage in it.