title: Setting the priorities for LGBT+ research and intervention effort in Malaysia through community voices: A brief report

authors: Tan, Kyle K. H.

subjects: LGBT

abstract: Internationally, there is a growing acceptance of gender and sexuality diversity and acknowledgment of LGBT + identities as health determinants. However, caution is warranted when applying research and intervention priorities from Global North countries to regions where LGBT + identities remain criminalized. In 2024, Malaysia maintains legal stances persecuting LGBT + individuals and shows no intent to address this human rights issue. This study offers an overview of pivotal issues identified by LGBT + communities in Malaysia that urgently require attention and resolution. Data were employed from a large-scale community-based survey: the KAMI Survey that recruited LGBT + participants in Malaysia in late 2023 and descriptive analyses were conducted on the responses of 637 participants (mean age = 27.75). Results revealed key issues deemed ‘very important’ to address by participants comprised HIV/AIDS, training for healthcare providers, police mistreatment, and discrimination, with more than 80% reporting each of these. When prompted to select a single issue for urgent resolution, three-fifths (61.0%) prioritized ‘criminalizing laws affecting LGBT + individuals’. Echoing prolonged advocacy by local LGBT + community organizations, the author emphasizes the need for collective allyship across stakeholders to develop evidence-based practices and policies to address the concerns articulated in this paper.

text: Setting the priorities for LGBT+ research and intervention effort in Malaysia through community voices: A brief report Internationally, there is a growing acceptance of gender and sexuality diversity and acknowledgment of LGBT + identities as health determinants. However, caution is warranted when applying research and intervention priorities from Global North countries to regions where LGBT + identities remain criminalized. In 2024, Malaysia maintains legal stances persecuting LGBT + individuals and shows no intent to address this human rights issue. This study offers an overview of pivotal issues identified by LGBT + communities in Malaysia that urgently require attention and resolution. Data were employed from a large-scale community-based survey: the KAMI Survey that recruited LGBT + participants in Malaysia in late 2023 and descriptive analyses were conducted on the responses of 637 participants (mean age = 27.75). Results revealed key issues deemed ‘very important’ to address by participants comprised HIV/AIDS, training for healthcare providers, police mistreatment, and discrimination, with more than 80% reporting each of these. When prompted to select a single issue for urgent resolution, three-fifths (61.0%) prioritized ‘criminalizing laws affecting LGBT + individuals’. Echoing prolonged advocacy by local LGBT + community organizations, the author emphasizes the need for collective allyship across stakeholders to develop evidence-based practices and policies to address the concerns articulated in this paper.

year: 2024-08-09

title: Coping with Vulnerability: State Resilience to Armed Conflict in Guinea

authors: Bah, Mamadou Diouma

subjects: Guinea

abstract: The aim of this study is to explain why peace has prevailed in Guinea despite the presence of unfavourable conditions. Guinea exhibits many of the major risk factors commonly associated with the onset of civil war and/or armed conflicts, including deep ethnic divisions; a politicised military; an abundance of natural resources alongside extreme poverty; and being located in a conflict ridden neighbourhood. Yet, the country did not descend into civil war and/or armed conflicts. During the 1990s, the outbreak of civil wars in Guinea’s neighbouring countries was added to the availability of a large amount of abundant natural resources, and the extreme poverty among its population which was deeply divided along ethno-regional affiliations. From the standpoint of existing models of civil war onset and/or armed conflict, this makes for a dangerous combination against sustaining a country's peace and stability. Likewise, the threat to Guinea’s stability was exacerbated in the 2010s by the reintroduction of multiparty politics which produced a system whereby political parties were mainly based on ethnic and/or regional affiliations. 
The literature on theories of recent civil wars identifies the presence of one or more of the above variables as significant triggers of civil war onset and or/armed conflicts, particularly in West African nations since the early 1990s. In Guinea, however, the constant presence of these violence risk variables has failed to ignite a broader violent conflict or to destabilize the central power structure of the state, therefore sparing the nation from the types of armed conflicts often associated with similar contexts in many West African nations. This raises the question as to why armed conflict has not been a feature in Guinea since independence despite the presence of unfavourable conditions for peace. 
Using qualitative data, the study identifies mitigating factors against the onset of armed conflict in such contexts and explains why Guinea has been spared from armed conflict and/or civil war despite these unfavourable conditions. The thesis  reveals that the presence of these conflict risk variables have failed to be associated with the onset of large-scale violence in Guinea largely due to measures taken by the Guinean state and its international partners. This outcome contrasts with much literature on the incidence of armed conflicts in such contexts. The research results are presented in four papers for publication in refereed international journals. The papers refer to different academic debates, yet there are connecting links between them: they all point to an aspect associated with state resilience to armed conflicts, thereby connecting the Guinean case to a set of African states which managed to maintain peace despite the odds. As such, the study contributes to the research on what make peace resilient in an African state as opposed to the ‘failed state’ literature.

text: Coping with Vulnerability: State Resilience to Armed Conflict in Guinea The aim of this study is to explain why peace has prevailed in Guinea despite the presence of unfavourable conditions. Guinea exhibits many of the major risk factors commonly associated with the onset of civil war and/or armed conflicts, including deep ethnic divisions; a politicised military; an abundance of natural resources alongside extreme poverty; and being located in a conflict ridden neighbourhood. Yet, the country did not descend into civil war and/or armed conflicts. During the 1990s, the outbreak of civil wars in Guinea’s neighbouring countries was added to the availability of a large amount of abundant natural resources, and the extreme poverty among its population which was deeply divided along ethno-regional affiliations. From the standpoint of existing models of civil war onset and/or armed conflict, this makes for a dangerous combination against sustaining a country's peace and stability. Likewise, the threat to Guinea’s stability was exacerbated in the 2010s by the reintroduction of multiparty politics which produced a system whereby political parties were mainly based on ethnic and/or regional affiliations. 
The literature on theories of recent civil wars identifies the presence of one or more of the above variables as significant triggers of civil war onset and or/armed conflicts, particularly in West African nations since the early 1990s. In Guinea, however, the constant presence of these violence risk variables has failed to ignite a broader violent conflict or to destabilize the central power structure of the state, therefore sparing the nation from the types of armed conflicts often associated with similar contexts in many West African nations. This raises the question as to why armed conflict has not been a feature in Guinea since independence despite the presence of unfavourable conditions for peace. 
Using qualitative data, the study identifies mitigating factors against the onset of armed conflict in such contexts and explains why Guinea has been spared from armed conflict and/or civil war despite these unfavourable conditions. The thesis  reveals that the presence of these conflict risk variables have failed to be associated with the onset of large-scale violence in Guinea largely due to measures taken by the Guinean state and its international partners. This outcome contrasts with much literature on the incidence of armed conflicts in such contexts. The research results are presented in four papers for publication in refereed international journals. The papers refer to different academic debates, yet there are connecting links between them: they all point to an aspect associated with state resilience to armed conflicts, thereby connecting the Guinean case to a set of African states which managed to maintain peace despite the odds. As such, the study contributes to the research on what make peace resilient in an African state as opposed to the ‘failed state’ literature.

year: 2014

title: An exploration of the ethical implications of the digitisation and dissemination of Mātauranga Māori  (with special reference to the Pei te Hurinui Jones Collection)

authors: Anderson, Michela

subjects: digitisation

abstract: At the core of this thesis is the ethical implications involved in the digitising of Mātauranga Māori. It investigated how Kaupapa Māori theory can inform this process and how issues relating to access were considered.  It is intended that this information should provide whānau, hapū, iwi and institutions with a solid foundation for the development of their own digital collections. The research reported here tracks the processes and procedures undertaken by a Research Team on a Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga research funded project that is being conducted to research and develop ethical processes for the digitisation of the manuscripts, works and collected taonga of one of Māoridom’s prominent scholars, the late Dr. Pei te Hurinui Jones. 

The thesis begins with an outline of the scope of the research and the approaches and methods used (Chapter 1).  This is followed by selected literature reviews on museums, libraries and archives and the influence of writing in the Aotearoa /New Zealand context (see Chapter 2), digitisation, digital libraries and Mātauranga Māori (see Chapter 3), and ethics, ethics in practice and Kaupapa Māori theory (see Chapter 4).  Chapter 5 describes the Pei te Hurinui Jones’ collections, the processes that were undertaken during the initial negotiation stages, the development of tikanga in the archiving, cataloguing, physical layout and conservation of the collection and the drafting and development of the Deed of Gift under the principle of takoha. Chapter 6 discusses the research ethics approval process, the methodology applied, and the development and analysis of the thematic categories that emerged from the focus group discussion. A conceptual model of the digitisation process is then presented. Chapter 7 provides an overview of the research and a summary of the findings, together with an indication of its limitations, research contribution, and suggestions for future research.

text: An exploration of the ethical implications of the digitisation and dissemination of Mātauranga Māori  (with special reference to the Pei te Hurinui Jones Collection) At the core of this thesis is the ethical implications involved in the digitising of Mātauranga Māori. It investigated how Kaupapa Māori theory can inform this process and how issues relating to access were considered.  It is intended that this information should provide whānau, hapū, iwi and institutions with a solid foundation for the development of their own digital collections. The research reported here tracks the processes and procedures undertaken by a Research Team on a Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga research funded project that is being conducted to research and develop ethical processes for the digitisation of the manuscripts, works and collected taonga of one of Māoridom’s prominent scholars, the late Dr. Pei te Hurinui Jones. 

The thesis begins with an outline of the scope of the research and the approaches and methods used (Chapter 1).  This is followed by selected literature reviews on museums, libraries and archives and the influence of writing in the Aotearoa /New Zealand context (see Chapter 2), digitisation, digital libraries and Mātauranga Māori (see Chapter 3), and ethics, ethics in practice and Kaupapa Māori theory (see Chapter 4).  Chapter 5 describes the Pei te Hurinui Jones’ collections, the processes that were undertaken during the initial negotiation stages, the development of tikanga in the archiving, cataloguing, physical layout and conservation of the collection and the drafting and development of the Deed of Gift under the principle of takoha. Chapter 6 discusses the research ethics approval process, the methodology applied, and the development and analysis of the thematic categories that emerged from the focus group discussion. A conceptual model of the digitisation process is then presented. Chapter 7 provides an overview of the research and a summary of the findings, together with an indication of its limitations, research contribution, and suggestions for future research.

year: 2012