bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Information, Misinformation, and Political Talk Radio
Authors: Hofstetter C. Richard , Barker David , Smith James T. , Zari Gina M. , Ingrassia Thomas A.
Published: January 2007

This article provides an empirical test of the theory that individuals gather political knowledge by inferential reasoning -constructing political ”reality” from the messages to which they are exposed by making inferences about what they do not know based on extrapolations from what they see or hear. This ”filling-in” may often result in misinformation, or the belief in incorrect information (as distinguished from a simple lack of information, or ignorance). Widespread misinformation among the electorate changes our conception of democracy as a ”marketplace of ideas,” and may have much more serious consequences than does a broad lack of information or sophistication on the part of the electorate. Data from a 1997 random-digit-dial survey of 810 adults residing in San Diego was used to test the hypothesis that listening to political talk radio leads to higher levels of both information (regarding non-ideologically charged facts) and misinformation (regarding ideologically charged facts). Analysis revealed that active listening (not only listening but also calling and/or taking action because of talk radio) corresponded to higher levels of in- formation, regardless of the ideological nature of the talk radio programs to which the listeners were exposed. However, greater frequency of exposure to conservative talk radio independently corresponded to greater misinformation, while greater exposure to moderate programming was associated with being less misinformed, controlling for partisanship, ide ology, and a number of other predictors.
The Allocation of Party Controlled Campaign Resources in the House of Representatives, 1989-1996
Authors: Damore David F. , Hansford Thomas G.
Published: January 2007

Despite the well-documented decline of political parties in the electorate, the evidence shows that parties remain highly salient and visible within government, particularly in Congress, and the formal party organizations continue to play an active role in campaigns. Building on this evidence, we attempt to offer further insight into the goals and activities of contemporary American political parties by investigating the allocation of partycontrolled resources in congressional elections. In particular, we examine the resource allocation strategies employed by the Democratic and Republican partie's congressional (the DCCC and the NRCC) and national (DNC and RNC) campaign committees to assess if these resources are used to enhance party support within Congress or are motivated strictly by electoral concerns. Via tobit analysis, we test our specification using data for challengers and incumbents of both parties from 1989-96. Our results suggest that these resources, particularly for the Republican party, are prompted by campaign-specific factors and are not used to facilitate party support within Congress.
Registration, Turnout, and State Party Systems
Authors: Brown Robert D. , Jackson Robert A. , Wright Gerald C.
Published: January 2007

This study reexamines the influence of party elite liberalism on voter participation across the American states. Incorporating Hill and Leighley's measure of liberal party control, we offer a framework that places party elites as an important component in the state electoral setting. However, this effort departs from previous work by suggesting that studies of voter mobilization should pay greater attention to participation as a multi-stage process, where citizens must first register. Our results con form to expectations driven by this conceptualization. States with more liberal Democratic elites and more Democratic legislatures witness higher levels of registration, controlling for other factors. We find that the influ ence of liberal party control on state turnout is indirect, operating through registration. Our results are consistent with a view of party elite ideology as a long-term, rather than campaign-specific, component of state electoral politics. More generally, the analyses provide new insight into influences on aggregate registration and turnout and into the electoral participation across the United States of different income classes.
Health Reform in the States:A Model Of State Small Group Health Insurance Market Reforms
Authors: Stream Christopher
Published: January 2007

For the fourth time since World War II, national policymakers, in 1992, engaged in a major debate over reforming and regulating the U.S. health care system. One of the most debated issues involved the problem of the uninsured. While Congress and the President garnered national attention debating the issue, several states were already dealing with the issue of health insurance and their own uninsurance problems. Today, in the absence of activity at the federal level, the states have become the de facto leaders in health care reform. Since 1990, forty-six states have adopted small group insurance market reforms. Such reforms are designed to improve the availability of insurance coverage for employees of small firms, who make up the largest segment of the uninsured in the states. This article examines the factors that account for the sudden pop ularity of small group insurance market reforms, and the factors or char acteristics of the states that explain the extent of policies adopted. To examine these questions, a pooled cross-sectional time series model is employed. The results indicate the factors contributing to the adoption of small group health insurance market reforms are a state's regulatory envi ronment, a state's regulatory philosophy, state fiscal health, problem severity, and the activities of neighboring states. Implications of the find ings are also discussed.
The Insignificance of Null Hypothesis Significance Testing
Authors: Gill Jeff
Published: January 2007

The current method of hypothesis testing in the social sciences is under intense criticism, yet most political scientists are unaware of the important issues being raised. Criticisms focus on the construction and interpretation of a procedure that has dominated the reporting of empirical results for over fifty years. There is evidence that null hypothesis significance testing as practiced in political science is deeply flawed and widely misunderstood. This is important since most empirical work argues the value of findings through the use of the null hypothesis significance test. In this article I review the history of the null hypothesis significance testing paradigm in the social sciences and discuss major problems, some of which are logical inconsistencies while others are more interpretive in nature. I suggest alter native techniques to convey effectively the importance of data-analytic findings. These recommendations are illustrated with examples using empirical political science publications.
The Politics of Executive Orders: Legislative Constraints on Presidential Power
Authors: Deering Christopher J. , Maltzman Forrest
Published: January 2007

Conventional wisdom suggests that Presidents use executive orders, sometimes characterized as presidential legislation, when legislation is too difficult to pass (in the face of an opposition Congress, for example) or when executive departments or agencies tend to embrace their congressional patrons, rather than the White House. According to this model, executive orders are strategic instruments used by a President to circumvent the constitutionally prescribed policymaking process. Recently studies have found little systematic evidence that executive orders are used to circumvent a hostile Congress. We argue that strategic Presidents do use executive orders to circumvent a hostile Congress, but not if they are likely to be overtumed by Congress. In other words, the use of executive orders reflects both their ability to achieve and to maintain preferred changes to the policy status quo. We test this portrait of presidential decision-making by examining determinants of the annual variation in the number of executive orders issued during the post-World War II period.
A Demnocratic Oakeshott?
Authors: Gerencser Steven Anthony
Published: January 2007

This study explores features of Michael Oakeshott's political thought that have attracted interest from an unexpected source, those who are advocates of radical democratic theory and practice. I examine aspects of this interest in Oakeshott's concepts of civil and enterprise association, and his preference of the former over the latter. I suggest that the primary difference between these concepts is based in the relationship between power and freedom in the modern state. When conceived as the state, enterprise association cannot maintain the freedom it offers, whereas civil association can. I argue, however, that Oakeshott, who is skeptical of the notion that a common good could serve as the basis of state as enterprise association, is himself not skeptical about the consensus required for the acknowledgment of the authority of civil association. Nonetheless, even in his removal of issues of authority from politics, Oakeshott ironically highlights a site for engagement for the democratic citizen.
Clinical relevance of Neutral Endopeptidase (NEP/CD10) in melanoma
Authors: Velazquez Elsa F , Yancovitz Molly , Pavlick Anna , Berman Russell , Shapiro Richard , Bogunovic Dusan , O'Neill David , Yu Yi-Lo , Spira Joanna , Christos Paul J , Zhou Xi Kathy , Mazumdar Madhu , Nanus David M , Liebes Leonard , Bhardwaj Nina , Polsky David , Osman Iman
Published: January 2007

Background

Overexpression of Neutral Endopeptidase (NEP) has been reported in metastatic carcinomas, implicating NEP in tumor progression and suggesting a role for NEP inhibitors in its treatment. We investigated the role of NEP expression in the clinical progression of cutaneous melanoma.

Methods

We screened 7 melanoma cell lines for NEP protein expression. NEP-specific siRNA was transfected into the lines to examine the role of gene transcription in NEP expression. Immunohistochemistry was done for 93 specimens and correlated with clinicopathologic parameters. Thirty-seven metastatic melanoma specimens were examined for NEP transcript expression using Affymetrix GeneChips. In a subset of 25 specimens for which both transcript and protein expression was available, expression ratios were used to identify genes that co-express with NEP in GeneChip analysis.

Results

NEP was overexpressed in 4/7 human melanoma cell lines, and siRNA knock-down of NEP transcripts led to downregulation of its protein expression. NEP protein overexpression was significantly more common in metastatic versus primary tumors (P = 0.002). Twelve of 37 (32%) metastatic tumors had increased NEP transcript expression, and an association was observed between NEP transcript upregulation and protein overexpression (P < 0.0001). Thirty-eight genes were found to significantly co-express with NEP (p < 0.005). Thirty-three genes positively correlated with NEP, including genes involved in the MAP kinase pathway, antigen processing and presentation, apoptosis, and WNT signaling pathway, and 5 genes negatively correlated with NEP, including genes of focal adhesion and the notch signaling pathways.

Conclusion

NEP overexpression, which seems to be largely driven by increased transcription, is rare in primary melanoma and occurs late in melanoma progression. Functional studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms of NEP regulation in melanoma.
Does Cortisol Acting Via the Type II Glucocorticoid Receptor Mediate Suppression of Pulsatile Luteinizing Hormone Secretion in Response to Psychosocial Stress?
Authors: Breen Kellie M. , Oakley Amy E. , Pytiak Andrew V. , Tilbrook Alan J. , Wagenmaker Elizabeth R. , Karsch Fred J.
Published: January 2007

This study assessed the importance of cortisol in mediating inhibition of pulsatile LH secretion in sheep exposed to a psychosocial stress. First, we developed an acute psychosocial stress model that involves sequential layering of novel stressors over 3–4 h. This layered-stress paradigm robustly activated the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and unambiguously inhibited pulsatile LH secretion. We next used this paradigm to test the hypothesis that cortisol, acting via the type II glucocorticoid receptor (GR), mediates stress-induced suppression of pulsatile LH secretion. Our approach was to determine whether an antagonist of the type II GR (RU486) reverses inhibition of LH pulsatility in response to the layered stress. We used two animal models to assess different aspects of LH pulse regulation. With the first model (ovariectomized ewe), LH pulse characteristics could vary as a function of both altered GnRH pulses and pituitary responsiveness to GnRH. In this case, antagonism of the type II GR did not prevent stress-induced inhibition of pulsatile LH secretion. With the second model (pituitary-clamped ovariectomized ewe), pulsatile GnRH input to the pituitary was fixed to enable assessment of stress effects specifically at the pituitary level. In this case, the layered stress inhibited pituitary responsiveness to GnRH and antagonism of the type II GR reversed the effect. Collectively, these findings indicate acute psychosocial stress inhibits pulsatile LH secretion, at least in part, by reducing pituitary responsiveness to GnRH. Cortisol, acting via the type II GR, is an obligatory mediator of this effect. However, under conditions in which GnRH input to the pituitary is not clamped, antagonism of the type II GR does not prevent stress-induced inhibition of LH pulsatility, implicating an additional pathway of suppression that is independent of cortisol acting via this receptor.
Involvement of α1-acid glycoprotein in inter-individual variation of disposition kinetics of ropivacaine following epidural infusion in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting
Authors: Yokogawa Koichi , Shimomura Shoko , Ishizaki Junko , Shimada Tsutomu , Fukuwa Chie , Kawada Masayuki , Tsubokawa Tsunehisa , Yamamoto Ken , Miyamoto Ken-ichi
Published: January 2007

The influence of drug interaction and protein variants on the binding disposition of ropivacaine to α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) was examined. The subjects were five patients who received epidural infusion of ropivacaine for 24–54 h in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting followed by drug combination therapy, and 10 healthy volunteers.

The post-operation plasma albumin concentration showed little overall change, while the AGP concentration in the five patients decreased for 6 h, then increased gradually to about 3-times the initial value by 54 h. The unbound fraction in plasma (fu) of ropivacaine gradually decreased as the AGP concentration increased, but there was large inter-individual variation among the five patients. In contrast, there was a good correlation between the fu value and AGP concentration when ropivacaine was added to blood samples from the 10 healthy volunteers. Among the volunteers, eight showed F1S variants and two showed F1 variant without S variant of AGP. The fu value of ropivacaine did not differ between these two groups. However, when ropivacaine was added in combination with dipyridamole, the fu values of ropivacaine in blood from volunteers with F1S variants were greater than those in blood from volunteers without S variant. In the case of co-administration of disopyramide or lidocaine, there was no such difference. Among the patients, one showed F1S variants and four showed F1 variant without S variant. The results indicate that variability in the side-effects of therapy with ropivacaine alone is caused by the change of the unbound concentration upon changes in the AGP concentration. However, in combination therapy, it is also important to consider the AGP variant-dependence of the inhibitory effect of concomitantly administered drugs.
Adolescents' perceptions of national identification and socialization: A grounded analysis
Authors: Muldoon Orla T. , McLaughlin Katrina , Trew Karen
Published: January 2007

This paper examines the perceived influence of parents and family and the construction of national and religious identification amongst adolescents theoretically sampled from along the border between the Irish Republic and the Northern Ireland. Two hundred and sixty‐one young people wrote essays on the meaning of their national identity and the influence of parents, families and the border on national and religious identities. Lengthy and detailed responses were subjected to a grounded analysis. Results revealed the complexity of young people's identification processes and their opinions and experiences of religious and national socialization. The majority of respondents attached a great deal of significance to their national identity. Identity was represented across a range of meanings including sport, government policy, culture, folklore and characteristics thought typical of a given nationality. Diversity was valued though national and religious categories were defined exclusively. Parents and family were viewed as important sources of socialization and the intergenerational transmission of identity was viewed as natural and inevitable. There was a widespread belief that national and religious identity overlapped and though many asserted that religion could promote tolerance and inclusion there was an implicit acceptance that it could also fuel intergroup hostilities.
In Search of Factors in Deaf and Hearing Children's Reading Comprehension
Authors: Wauters Loes , Bon W. H. J. van, (Wim H. J.) , Tellings Agnes , Leeuwe Jan F. J. van
Published: January 2007

The present study examined whether specific item characteristics, such as mode of acquisition (MoA) of word meanings, make reading comprehension tests particularly difficult for deaf children. Reading comprehension data on nearly 13,000 hearing 7-to-12-year-olds and 253 deaf 7-to-20-year-olds were analyzed, divided across test levels from second to sixth grade (not necessarily corresponding to chronological age). Factor analyses across item scores suggested that, of the determinants studied, MoA—referring to the type of information (perceptual, linguistic, or both) used in word meaning acquisition—was the only factor that contributed significantly to deaf and hearing children's reading comprehension. For hearing children, MoA influenced item scores at the third- and fourth-grade levels. For the deaf children, MoA influenced item scores through the sixth-grade level.
Relations between France and China: Towards a Paris-Beijing Axis?
Authors: Cabestan Jean-Pierre
Published: January 2007

The French Government believes that China, as an independent player in international relations, can contribute to balancing the US' "hyperpower" and help raise France's influence in global affairs. Instead of a Paris-Beijing axis, the relationship is more that of an entente cordiale based on common economic, strategic and cultural interests.
Decentralisation and the Development of Vocational Education in China
Authors: Lai Manhong , Lo Leslie Nai-Kwai
Published: January 2007

Over the past twenty years, the Chinese Government has sought to delegate more authority over basic education to local governments. However, in practice, local governments and schools are still directed by the central government. Local governments are delegated partial authority as encouragement to implement the national policies efficiently.
Changes in China's Exchange Rate Policy and Future Policy Options
Authors: Yi Jingtao
Published: January 2007

In responding to US pressure for changes in China's exchange rate regime, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has repeatedly said that the reform of the RMB exchange rate was a matter of China's sovereignty and that any external pressure or politicisation of an economic matter would not be conducive to a solution of the issue.
Changes in Family Involvement Following a Relative's Move to a Long-Term Care Facility
Authors: Gladstone James W. , Dupuis Sherry L. , Wexler Evelyn
Published: January 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in family involvement following a relative's move to a long-term care facility as well as factors associated with these changes. Qualitative data, using in-depth, active interviews were gathered from 35 family members at two points in time following a relative's move to a facility. Findings showed some changes in contact that were related to personal, social, institutional, and health conditions. Occasionally, new types of care were provided; more often care was rebalanced or expressed in alternative ways. The majority of participants did not view themselves as caregivers, a perception that remained stable over time. Consistent with continuity theory, families, in most cases, tended to seek ways to maintain consistency in their roles as family members and carers, particularly in the first year or so after placement. Nonetheless, facility staff should be aware of the factors that might influence changes over time in family caregiving roles and offer support to families dealing with these issues.
L. Radlin and G. Radlin. A Caregivers' Guide to Dementia: What If It's Not Alzheimer's?Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2003.
Authors: O'Connor Deborah
Published: January 2007

Dans cet ouvrage, Radlin et Radlin apportent une contribution importante à la littérature sur les soins familiaux. Centré sur les soins aux personnes atteintes de démence frontotemporale, ce livre met à la disposition des familles et des professionnels de la santé d'importantes informations biomédicales ainsi que de nouvelles perspectives professionnelles susceptibles de les aider à mieux comprendre les personnes qui souffrent de cette maladie, et ainsi mieux s'occuper d'elles. Chacun des chapitres aborde des questions centrées sur une explication de cette condition et fournit des conseils pratiques pour faire face aux problèmes quotidiens que les proches des malades doivent affronter. Dans une perspective canadienne, cependant, cet ouvrage s'avère un peu limité par son contexte de référence exclusivement américain. De plus, il risque par inadvertance d'accabler les familles en soulignant leur manque de qualifications formelles, sans leur communiquer une juste appréciation de la contribution inestimable que constituent leurs connaissances particulières. Il est par ailleurs décevant de voir que l'ouvrage ne souligne guère l'importance du fait que les proches des malades doivent aussi avoir soin d'eux-mêmes, et non seulement de la personne atteinte de démence frontotemporale.
Probing the Future of Mandatory Retirement in Canada
Authors: Ibbott Peter , Kerr Don , Beaujot Roderic
Published: January 2007

The future of mandatory retirement is at least partly driven by changing demographics. In Canada, these demographics include slowing population growth, rapid aging, declining rates of labour force participation, and slowing labour force growth. After reviewing the demographic trends and considering alternate scenarios in labour force participation, we consider the determinants of early departures from the labour force and suggest scenarios that might reverse these trends. With a decline in labour force entrants, delays in early life transitions, and possible reductions in retirement benefits, a trend to retire later would bring mandatory retirement into question.
Intention in Ethics
Authors: Shaw Joseph
Published: January 2007

The use of intention in ethics has been the subject of intense debate for many years, but no consensus has emerged over whether intention is morally relevant, or even how it should be understood. In this paper I wish to make a thorough, though by no means exhaustive, examination of the concept and the concepts around it, some to be seen as near-synonyms, and some as contrasting ideas. My interest is in the ethical use of the concept, though my own analysis of it will be indebted to discussions in the philosophy of action. The most famous ethical use, which will not, however, be my direct focus here, is the ‘principle of double effect,’ which states that an agent may cause or allow something bad as long as, first, no evil is intended as an end or a means; and, second, that the foreseen bad is not out of proportion with the anticipated good. It is important to note the principle's testimony to the plausibility of prohibitions expressed in terms of intentions (indicated by the first condition), and, alongside these, a general prohibition on doing inordinate harms even without intention (indicated by the second condition).
Autonomy and Addiction
Authors: Levy Neil
Published: January 2007

Whatever its implications for the other features of human agency at its best — for moral responsibility, reasons-responsiveness, self-realization, flourishing, and so on—addiction is universally recognized as impairing autonomy. But philosophers have frequently misunderstood the nature of addiction, and therefore have not adequately explained the manner in which it impairs autonomy. Once we recognize that addiction is not incompatible with choice or volition, it becomes clear that none of the Standard accounts of autonomy can satisfactorily explain the way in which it undermines fully autonomous agency. In order to understand to what extent and in what ways the addicted are autonomy-impaired, we need to understand autonomy as consisting, essentially, in the exercise of the capacity forextended agency.It is because addiction undermines extended agency, so that addicts are not able to integrate their lives and pursue a Single conception of the good, that it impairs autonomy.
The Influences of Course Effort and Outside Activities on Grades in a College Course
Authors: Svanum Soren , Bigatti Silvia M
Published: January 2007

The influences of course effort and outside (family, job, social) activities on grades earned in a college course were examined for 230 urban college students. Multiple measurements of hours of work, social and family activities, and course effort were collected over a semester. Path modeling revealed that cumulative GPA and course effort had significant and independent predictive paths with grades. Outside activities did not directly influence course grade. Job activities, however, negatively influenced course grade indirectly through reduced course effort and mediated the influence GPA exerted on course grade. Thus, work demands lessened course effort and lessened GPA-indexed potential for course success. Cumulative GPA positively influenced effort, and effort mediated part of the relation between cumulative GPA and grades.
College Drinking: Content Analysis of 30 Years of Research
Authors: Broughton Elizabeth Ann , Molasso William R
Published: January 2007

Researchers applied a content analysis method to evaluate the 119 articles about college drinking that appeared in Journal of College Student Development and NASPA Journal during the past 30 years. The data revealed that a greater proportion of articles on college drinking appeared in the last decade (5.82%) than in the first decade (1.60%). Two thirds of the studies did not use a theoretical framework to guide the research. Of the 94 quantitative studies, only 10% were experimental, 60% used convenience samples, and 61% used locally developed survey instruments for a single institution. Seven recommendations about college drinking are identified for student affairs practitioners and scholars.
Reclamation Nations: The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Role in Water Management and Nation Building in the Mekong Valley, 1945-1975
Authors: Biggs David
Published: January 2007

The Bureau of Reclamation's engineers played a substantial role in the history of American modernization efforts in Southeast Asia by planning and building dams that have had long-term social and environmental consequences for water management in the region. Bureau staff not only coordinated dam designs, but also trained hundreds of local engineers and actively contributed to the growth of public and private sector institutions in the region. They facilitated the refocusing of American development strategies in Asia from Depression era programs in India and China to the relatively uncharted, violently contested terrain of the Mekong Valley. These activities have had lasting, often problematic effects not only on the water environment but also on contemporary development initiatives in the region.
Male nonworkers: Who are they and who supports them?
Authors: Stewart Jay
Published: January 2007

Although male nonworkers have become a larger fraction of the population since the late 1960s, very little is known about who they are or who supports them. Using data from the March Current Population Survey and the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this article fills that void. The picture that emerges is that there is a small cadre of marginal workers who often do not work for periods of a year or more. The vast majority of nonworking men (men who do not work at all during the year) receive unearned income from at least one source, and the amount of unearned income they receive varies significantly by their reason for not working. Family members provide an important alternative source of support for nonworking men who have little or no unearned income of their own.
Deliberate control in a natural fertility population: Southern Sweden, 1766–1864
Authors: Bengtsson Tommy , Dribe Martin
Published: January 2007

In this article, we analyze fertility control in a rural population characterized by natural fertility, using survival analysis on a longitudinal data set at the individual level combined with food prices. Landless and semilandless families responded strongly to short-term economic stress stemming from changes in prices. The fertility response, both to moderate and large changes in food prices, was the strongest within six months after prices changed in the fall, which means that the response was deliberate. People foresaw bad times and planned their fertility accordingly. The result highlights the importance of deliberate control of the timing of childbirth before the fertility transition, not in order to achieve a certain family size but, as in this case, to reduce the negative impacts of short-term economic stress.
How does leaving home affect marital timing? An event-history analysis of migration and marriage in Nang Rong, Thailand
Authors: Jampaklay Aree
Published: January 2007

This study examines the effects of migration on marital timing in Thailand between 1984 and 2000 using prospective and retrospective survey data from Nang Rong. In contrast to previous results in the literature, event-history analysis of the longitudinal data reveals a positive, not a negative, effect of lagged migration experience on the likelihood of marriage. The findings also indicate gender differences. Migration’s positive impact is independent of other life events for women but is completely “explained” by employment for men.
Sex mortality differences in The United States: The role of cohort smoking patterns
Authors: Preston Samuel H. , Wang Haidong
Published: January 2007

This article demonstrates that over the period 1948–2003, sex differences in mortality in the age range 50–84 widened and then narrowed on a cohort basis rather than on a period basis. The cohort with the maximum excess of male mortality was born shortly after the turn of the century. Three separate data sources suggest that the turnaround in sex mortality differences is consistent with sex differences in cigarette smoking by cohort. An age-period-cohort model reveals a highly significant effect of smoking histories on men’s and women’s mortality. Combined with recent changes in smoking patterns, the model suggests that sex differences in mortality will narrow dramatically in coming decades.
Rhetoric of Martyrs: Listening to Saints Perpetua and Felicitas
Authors: Ronsse Erin
Published: January 2007

The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas has often been read as a factual account of early Christian martyrs. Without denying its historicity, I nonetheless reconsider this important narrative in light of its own emphases on rhetorical sophistication and contemporary Christian education. Reviewing the literary work as a whole, rather than preferring "authentic" sections attributed to Perpetua, I find an inherent sense of logic guided by oratorical notions. Sequential, progressive, beautifully argued, the Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas is not only about rhetorical contests but is itself a subtle and intriguing rhetorical work that rewards attentive reading.
Teaching History in Twentieth Century Nigeria: The Challenges of Change
Authors: Adesina Olutayo C.
Published: January 2007

The twilight of the twentieth century saw major developments in the world, which profoundly redefined people's perceptions of and interest in history, both as a mode of enquiry and as an academic discipline. The significance of such changes would appear to have found resonance in the Third World. The most important of these changes included “the revolution in IT, which transformed and democratized scholarship, and the further expansion in higher education; the shift from sociology to anthropology as the most fruitful subject from which historians were now borrowing; the influence of Michel Foucault, postmodernism and the ‘linguistic turn;’ the rise of women's history, gender history, and the reconfiguration of ‘imperial’ history; and a broader shift away from the search for causation to the search for meaning.’ Some of these were to pose serious challenges either to the ways in which history was perceived by civil society or practiced by professionals. It also affected the very possibility of doing history at all. But the details, complexity, and magnitude of the changes varied from country to country in different ways.

In 1993 the “Mission Statement” of the newly-introducedIfe Journal of Historygave an indication of the travails of the discipline of history in contemporary Nigeria: More than at any other time, the discipline of history today in Nigeria, is under severe stress. Perplexed by economic crises of immense proportions and dominated by the craze for money and by the politics of the moment, we have become distorted in our orientation and deluded of any deep consciousness of history. We live as if all that matters is today. In private and in public, our citizens are routinely treated to dreary lectures on the irrelevance and insignificance of a systematic knowledge of our past…We seemed determined to go on record as the first nation to make a meaningful progress without reference to the accumulated values, experiences and culture of yesteryears. … The discipline of history is routinely dismissed as dispensable. History which used to be an attractive subject has dropped to the bottom of the ladder of priorities for intending undergraduates. Historians receive little or no regard in a society that is in a haste to modernise and that places emphasis solely on science and the acquisition of material wealth.…
The Spell of Oral History: A Case Study from Northern Igboland
Authors: Afigbo A.E.
Published: January 2007

My case study is taken from the northern Igbo of Nigeria and focuses on the village-group of Ihuwe, which name is today rendered as Ihube— thanks to its Anglicization during the period of colonial rule. This not-withstanding, the people still call themselves “Ihuwe,” the form I use in this paper. The Northern Igbo area, especially the area around Awka, Orlu, and Okigwe, is commonly regarded as the heartland of Igbo culture and civilization. Ihuwe, in that portion of old Okigwe Division known today as Okigwe Local Government Area (LGA), lies in a region of southern Nigeria that has been identified as having witnessed human activity from very early times, at least from the period of Acheulean culture. It also lies on the geographically and historically prominent Nsukka-Udi-Okigwe cuesta, which archeology tells us entered the Iron Age quite early in African history, no later than about the eighth century BCE. We are thus dealing with one of the areas of ancient human occupation, as well as an area known for its dense demographic profile. It is these features–early human settlement and occupation with its attendant consequence of severely attenuated oral history, dense demographic profile, and being the cradle land of Igbo culture—that help to define the Northern Igbo and mark them out from the Western, Eastern, Southern, and North-Eastern Igbo, believed to be relatively more recent descendants from them.

Perhaps another feature that calls for mention here is their political culture. Although, like their other Igbo kinsmen, they could boast of having evolved only micro-, and therefore weak, states (what social anthropologists of the colonial period refused to refer to as states), they had their own special model of these micro-states.
Missionary Expertise, Social Science, and the uses of Ethnographic Knowledge in Colonial Gabon
Authors: Cinnamon John M.
Published: January 2007

Missionary ethnographers provided expert knowledge during the formative years of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century anthropology, but are generally relegated to the footnotes of academic anthropology. Colonial missionaries were, nevertheless, crucial producers of cultural practices, knowledge, and texts in the particular locations where they worked. Missionary linguists, for example, contributed to the standardization of regional variations through the production of writing systems and the teaching of reading in mission schools. Missionaries also interacted with literate Africans in mission stations to produce cultural descriptions that then filtered back into local practices or auto-ethnographic representations, to be discovered anew by later anthropologists. At the same time, of course, as many missionaries themselves recognized, there was inherent tension between the scientific study of African cultural practices and the evangelizing project that sought to induce radical cultural change.

To examine the often contentious relationship between missionary expertise, social science, and ethnographic knowledge in colonial Gabon, I look comparatively at the fieldwork experiences and writings of the American Presbyterian, Robert Hamill Nassau (1835-1921), and the French Spiritan, Henri Trilles (1866-1949). Nassau worked in present-day Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Cameroon from 1861 to 1906, while Trilles spent three extended stays in Gabon between 1893 and 1907. Both men claimed expert ethnographic understanding based on long-term, firsthand daily contact with Africans, fluency in African languages, and empa-thetic understanding of Africans, while at the same time expressing standard missionary shock and awe at African customs, fetishism, and cannibalism. Both learned African languages, traveled in the interior of present-day Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, clashed with fellow missionaries, and wrote prolifically, especially after their definitive departures from Africa. Although each man's personality, experiences, and approaches to ethnography were unique, together they nonetheless exemplify the broader uses and challenges of missionary ethnography.
Producing a Received View of Gold Coast Elite Society? C.F. Hutchison'sPen Pictures of Modern Africans and African Celebrities
Authors: Doortmont Michel R.
Published: January 2007

In the early 1920s British West Africa saw a flurry of colonial activity, in which the formation of the colonial state—originally started in this region in the 1870s—was brought to a higher plane. The introduction of Indirect Rule in the newly-amalgamated Nigeria by governor Frederick Lugard called for a rethinking of colonial political and administrative structures. Where before, the relatively small administrative units were dominated by Europeans and western-educated Africans, now the position and role of “traditional” leaders was enhanced on all levels of colonial government. Control over the economy came more and more into the hands of European businesses and business conglomerates, at the expense of African firms. As a result, relations between African elites, who had vested economic and political interests in the colonial states, and the growing European colonial establishment hardened.

In the case of the Gold Coast, the African urban coastal elite of merchants, educators, missionaries, and others faced an overwhelming onslaught of change and modernization in all parts of society. In many cases these changes undermined the elites' social status, as well as their political and economic position. One of the weapons in the battle between British colonial authorities and African urban elite society was the written word. Within this context, expert knowledge about African achievements, molded in the form of biographies, was the two-edged sword of African cultural nationalists of diverse plumage.
Anthropological Historical Research in Africa: How Do We Ask?
Authors: Drønen Tomas Sundnes
Published: January 2007

The appeal of history to us all is in the last analysis poetic. But the poetry of history does not consist of imagination roaming at-large, but of imagination pursuing the fact and fastening upon it. That which compels the historian to “scorn delights and live laborious days” is the ardour of his own curiosity to know what really happened long ago in that land of mystery which we call the past.

This paper is about qualitative research methods, and thus more about hard labor than about poetry and imagination. But to those scholars to whom the above citation gives meaning there is a clear connection between hard labour, imagination and poetry. As scholars, we are looking for facts, and looking for facts can be hard work. As scholars, we also know that facts must be ascribed with meaning in order to become sources, a process of interpretation which demands both imagination and poetry.

I will present some of the challenges we face when doing anthropological historical research in Africa, and I will argue that the tools of qualitative methods will have to be sharpened and modified with this particular goal in mind. The main aim will be to discuss how we can acquire information in an African setting by analyzing the role of the interview as a communicative event. Other important topics to be treated are African oral tradition, the culture and tradition (the metacommunicative competence) of the respondents, and their use of metaphors to convey meaning.
Global Explanations Versus Local Interpretations: The Historiography of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 in Africa
Authors: Heaton Matthew , Falola Toyin
Published: January 2007

In 1918 an influenza pandemic of unprecedented virulence spread across the planet, infiltrating nearly all areas of human habitation. In less than a year the pandemic had run its course, ultimately responsible for some-where between 30,000,000 and 50,000,000 deaths worldwide. Truly, this was one of the greatest catastrophes in human history. However, despite the fact that the influenza pandemic has few historical rivals in terms of sheer loss of human life, it has not entered the meta-narrative of world history, nor indeed national histories, to the same extent that major wars or natural disasters have. To date, most of the historical work on the influenza pandemic has sought to prove that it does not deserve this relegation to the dustbin of history. Despite this common goal, however, historians have taken different approaches to illustrate the importance of the influenza pandemic of 1918 in Africa.

The purpose of this essay is to categorize the historiography of the influenza pandemic through a discussion of the different approaches taken to the study of the pandemic in Africa. Two distinct categories emerge from this analysis. The first category focuses primarily on the spread and demographic impact of the pandemic in Africa, as well as the official response of colonial governments to the pandemic. Studies in this category seem to be more concerned with emphasizing the commonalities of experience across space. These pieces also tend to compartmentalize the pandemic temporally, focusing only on the period during which the pandemic raged, and not the historical context leading up to the pandemic in a given area, or the lingering impact that the pandemic had on specific societies after its departure. The second category takes the analysis a step further and attempts to determine the relative importance of the influenza pandemic by situating it within the social or local history of a given place. Some articles focus on an entire African colony, while others focus on smaller local regions, but all pieces in this category attempt to understand the influenza not just in terms of similar patterns, numbers, and policies, but in terms of the historical context into which the pandemic occurred and the effect that the pandemic might—or might not—have had on political, economic, or religious trends in a specific area. In order to accomplish this, these studies tend to work within a broad temporal framework in a specific region, and do not engage in comparisons across space to the extent that studies in the first category do.
Linguistic Evidence for the Introduction of Ironworking into Bantu-Speaking Africa
Authors: Vansina Jan
Published: January 2007

Did Africans once independently invent the smelting of metals or did they obtain this technology from Europe or the Middle East? This continues to be an unresolved and hotly disputed issue, mainly because the dates for the earliest appearance of smelting in Africa south of the Sahara remain inconclusive. All the earliest sites in Western and West-Central Africa from Walalde in Senegal to the Tigidit cliffs and Termit in Niger, the firki plains south of lake Chad, Taruga, and perhaps Nsukka in Nigeria, Ghwa Kiva (Nigeria), and Doulo (Cameroon) in the Mandara mountains, Gbabiri (Ndio district) in the Central African Republic, and a few sites in Rwanda, Burundi, and Buhaya cannot be dated more closely than between 840 and 420 BCE. Greater precision is impossible because the C14 curve runs flat during these four centuries, hence all these sites yield the same date. (Alpern, Killick, Me Eachern, Holl, Jézégou/Clist, Kanimba Misago). If the earliest “real” dates fell before 800 BCE, they would support independent invention, while later dates strengthen the case for borrowing. Still, this information does tell us that ironworking was adopted in the northern parts of West and West -Central Africa and in the region of the Great Lakes within the span of a mere four centuries.

The emergence of ironworking must have left linguistic traces in the relevant terminology irrespective of whether it spread by borrowing or by independent invention—hence historical linguistics can contribute to this debate. That approach is best tested by an examination of the relevant vocabulary in Bantu languages because the historical study of those languages is further advanced than that of any other language family in Africa (Nurse/Phillipson). Moreover Bantu-speakers occupy a large portion of the continent.
Multiple Perspectives on Being Uninsured and Barriers to Health Coverage in a Rural Western State
Authors: Burman Mary E , Mawhorter Sydney , Vanden Heede Fred
Published: January 2007

The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of being uninsured and barriers to obtaining health care coverage for people in a rural state. Focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted with uninsured people, small business owners, health care providers, and key informants (such as state health officials, business leaders, and safety net providers). Uninsured people recognize the difficulties they face trying to obtain insurance and health care because of cost and ineligibility for public programs. Health care providers are frustrated in their care of the uninsured because of inability to obtain needed resources. Small business owners struggle with decisions about whether to provide health insurance or not, and find cost the greatest barrier. The impact of uninsurance on individuals, families, health care providers, and small business owners in a rural state is great, both economically and emotionally. Comprehensive approaches must be taken to increase access to health insurance and health care.