Search results for: partner violence

Authors: Jessy Abouarab

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For more than half a century, international norms related to refugee security and protection have proliferated, yet their role in alleviating war’s negative impacts on human life remains limited. The impact of refugee-security processes often manifests asymmetrically within populations. Many issues and people get silenced due to narrow security policies that focus either on abstract threat containment and refugee control or refugee protection and humanitarian aid. (In)security practices are gendered and experienced. Examining the case study of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, this study explores the gendered impact of refugee security mechanisms on local realities. A transnational feminist approach will be used to position this research in relation to existing studies in the field of security and the refugee-protection regime, highlighting the social, cultural, legal, and political barriers to gender equality in the areas of violence, rights, and social inclusion. Through Photovoice methodology, the Syrian refugees’ (in)securities in Lebanon were given visibility by enabling local volunteers to record and reflect their realities through pictures, at the same time voice the participants’ anxieties and recommendations to reach normative policy change. This Participatory Action Research approach helped participants observe the structural barriers and lack of culturally inclusive refugee services that hinder security, increase discrimination, stigma, and poverty. The findings have implications for a shift of the refugee protection mechanisms to a community-based approach in ways that extend beyond narrow security policies that hinder women empowerment and raise vulnerabilities such as gendered exploitation, abuse, and neglect.

Keywords: gender, (in)security, Lebanon, refugee, Syrian refugees, women

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Authors: Joel Zapata

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Chicana/o Activism in the Southern Plains Through Time and Space, a digital history project available at PlainsMovement.com, helps reveal an understudied portion of the Chicana/o Civil Rights Movement: the way it unfolded on the Southern Plains. The project centers around an approachable interactive map and timeline along with a curated collection of materials. Therefore, the project provides a digital museum experience that has not emerged within the region’s museums. That is, this digital history project takes scholarly research to the wider public, making it is also a publicly facing history project. In this way, the project adds to both scholarly and socially significant conversations, showing that the region was home to a burgeoning wing of the Chicana/o Movement and that instances of police brutality largely spurred this wing of the social justice movement. Moreover, the curated collection of materials demonstrates that police brutality united the plains’ Mexican population across political ideology, a largely overlooked aspect within the study of Mexican American civil rights movements. Such a finding can be of use today since contemporary Latina/o social justice organizations generally ignore policing issues even amid a rise in national awareness regarding police abuse. In making history accessible to Mexican origin and Latina/o communities, these same communities may in-turn use the knowledge gained from historical research towards the betterment of their social positions—the foundational goal of Chicana/o history and the related field of Chicana/o Studies. Ultimately, this digital history project is intended to draw visitors to further explore the Chicana/o Civil Rights Movement within and beyond the plains.

Keywords: Chicana/o Movement, digital history, police brutality, newspapers, protests, student activism

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Authors: Nkatow Mafany Christian

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No other period in human history has offered such great opportunities for grievances not only to last long but also to be manifested across international boundaries. This state of affairs is likely a common feature of the advent of social media. The Anglophone Question in Cameroon has been a problem of poor constitutional arrangements that can be traced to 1961 when the former French Cameroon reunified with former British Southern Cameroons following a plebiscite in which the latter overwhelmingly voted to reunify with the former. Though Southern/Anglophone Cameroons complained of perceived marginalization and an attempt by the majority French section to assimilate them, the manifestation was subtle and took place only through protests, petitions, strikes movements and demonstrations. However, with the advent of social media, a new cream of leaders emerged in the diaspora, including the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, to champion the manifestations leading to violence and conflicts that have bedeviled the region since 2017. The feeling of political subjugation, economic exploitation, social suppression and cultural assimilation among Anglophone Cameroonians united them under diaspora leaders against the government of Cameroon, calling for the creation of a separate state for Anglophones. This paper draws from this lead-up to analyze the current Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon in the light of the Grievance Theory and Transnationalism. The paper makes an appeal to field experience, interviews, official sources, documentation, and the internet to succor its central thesis. From the fertility of its sources, the paper submits that social media is a potent source of conflicts and makes nonsense of the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity by its capacity to promote the transnational manifestation of grievances.

Keywords: grievance, transnationalism, anglophone crisis, Cameroon, crisis and social media

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Authors: Ray Bryant

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3Strands Global Foundation (3SGF), a non-profit with a mission to mobilize communities to combat human trafficking through prevention education and reintegration programs, launched a groundbreaking study that calls out the usage and benefits of artificial intelligence in the war against human trafficking. Having gathered more than 30,000 stories from counselors and school staff who have gone through its PROTECT Prevention Education program, 3SGF sought to develop a methodology to measure the effectiveness of the training, which helps educators and school staff identify physical signs and behaviors indicating a student is being victimized. The program further illustrates how to recognize and respond to trauma and teaches the steps to take to report human trafficking, as well as how to connect victims with the proper professionals. 3SGF partnered with Levity, a leader in no-code Artificial Intelligence (AI) automation, to create the research study utilizing natural language processing, a branch of artificial intelligence, to measure the effectiveness of their prevention education program. By applying the logic created for the study, the platform analyzed and categorized each story. If the story, directly from the educator, demonstrated one or more of the desired outcomes; Increased Awareness, Increased Knowledge, or Intended Behavior Change, a label was applied. The system then added a confidence level for each identified label. The study results were generated with a 99% confidence level. Preliminary results show that of the 30,000 stories gathered, it became overwhelmingly clear that a significant majority of the participants now have increased awareness of the issue, demonstrated better knowledge of how to help prevent the crime, and expressed an intention to change how they approach what they do daily. In addition, it was observed that approximately 30% of the stories involved comments by educators expressing they wish they’d had this knowledge sooner as they can think of many students they would have been able to help. Objectives Of Research: To solve the problem of needing to analyze and accurately categorize more than 30,000 data points of participant feedback in order to evaluate the success of a human trafficking prevention program by using AI and Natural Language Processing. Methodologies Used: In conjunction with our strategic partner, Levity, we have created our own NLP analysis engine specific to our problem. Contributions To Research: The intersection of AI and human rights and how to utilize technology to combat human trafficking.

Keywords: AI, technology, human trafficking, prevention

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Authors: Emad Mohammed Sani

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Women encounter exclusion and discrimination in varying degrees, particularly those who marry as minors. The detrimental custom of getting married young is still prevalent worldwide and affects millions of people. It has been less common over time, although it is still widespread in underdeveloped nations. Oromia Regional State is the region in Ethiopia with the highest proportion of child brides. This study aimed at evaluating the effects of early marriage on its survivors’ life conditions – specifically, empowerment and household decision-making – in Eastern Hararghe Zone of Oromia Region. This study employed community-based cross-sectional study design. It adopted mixed method approach – survey, in-depth interview and focus group discussion (FGD) – to collect, analyses and interpret data on early marriage and its effects on household decision-making processes. Narratives and analytical descriptions were integrated to substantiate and/or explain observed quantitative results, or generate contextual themes. According to this study, married women who were married at or after the age of eighteen participated more in household decision-making than child brides. Child brides were more likely to be victims of violence and other types of spousal abuse in their marriages. These changes are mostly caused by an individual's age at first marriage. Delaying marriage had a large positive impact on women's empowerment at the household level, and age at first marriage had a considerable negative impact. In order to advance women's welfare and emancipation, we advise more research to concentrate on the relationship between the home and the social-structural forms that appear at the individual and communal levels.

Keywords: child-bride, early marriage, women, ethiopia

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Authors: Okike Benjamin

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Terrorism is the use of violence and threat to intimidate or coerce a person, group, society or even government especially for political purposes. Terrorism may be a way of resisting government by some group who may feel marginalized. It could also be a way of expressing displeasure over the activities of government. On 26th December, 2009, US placed Nigeria as a terrorist nation. Recently, the occurrences of terrorism in Nigeria have increased considerably. In Jos, Plateau state, Nigeria, there was a bomb blast which claimed many lives on the eve of 2010 Christmas. Similarly, there was another bomb blast in Mugadishi (Sani Abacha) Barracks Mammy market on the eve of 2011 New Year. For some time now, it is no longer news that bomb exploded in some Northern part of Nigeria. About 25 years ago, stopping terrorism in America by the Americans relied on old-fashioned tools such as strict physical security at vulnerable places, intelligence gathering by government agents, or individuals, vigilance on the part of all citizens, and a sense of community in which citizens do what could be done to protect each other. Just as technology has virtually been used to better the way many other things are done, so also this powerful new weapon called computer technology can be used to detect and prevent terrorism not only in Nigeria, but all over the world. This paper will x-ray the possible causes and effects of bomb blast, which is an act of terrorism and suggest ways in which Explosive Detection Devices (EDDs) and computer software technology could be deployed to reduce the occurrences of terrorism in Nigeria. This become necessary with the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State from their hostel by members of Boko Haram sect members on 14th April, 2014. Presently, Barrack Obama and other world leaders have sent some of their military personnel to help rescue those innocent schoolgirls whose offence is simply seeking to acquire western education which the sect strongly believe is forbidden.

Keywords: terrorism, bomb blast, computer technology, explosive detection devices, Nigeria

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Authors: Rehema Kabare

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As urban development initiatives continue to emerge and are implemented amid rapid urbanization and climate change effects in the global south, the plight of women is only being noticed. The pandemic exposed the atrocities, violence and unsafety women and girls face daily both in their homes and in public urban spaces. This is a result of poorly implemented and managed urban structures, which women have been left out of during design and implementation for centuries. The UN Habitat’s HerCity toolkit provides a unique opportunity to change course for both governments and civil society actors where women and girls are onboarded onto urban development initiatives, with their designs and ideas being the focal point. This toolkit proves that when women and girls design, they design for everyone. The HerCity HerStreets, Public Space Improvement Initiative, resulted in a design that focused on two aspects: Streets are a shared resource, and Streets are public spaces. These two concepts illustrate that for streets to be experienced effectively as cultural spaces, they need to be user-friendly, safe and inclusive. This report demonstrates how the HerCity HerStreets as a pilot project can be a benchmark for designing urban spaces in African cities. The project focused on five dimensions to improve the air quality of the space, the space allocation to street vending and bodaboda (passenger motorcycle) stops parking and the green coverage. The process displays how digital tools such as Minecraft and Kobo Toolbox can be utilized to improve citizens’ participation in the development of public spaces, with a special focus on including vulnerable groups such as women, girls and youth.

Keywords: urban space, sustainable development, gender and the city, digital tools and urban development

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Authors: Paul Narh Doku

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The relationship between parental HIV/AIDS status or death and child mental health is well known, although the role of child maltreatment as a confounder or mediator in this relationship remains uncertain. This study examined the potential path mechanism through child maltreatment mediating the link between HIV/AIDS family dysfunction trajectories and psychosocial problems. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the Lower Manya Municipal Assembly of Ghana. A questionnaire which consisted of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Social and Health Assessment (SAHA), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) was completed by 291 adolescents. Controlling for relevant sociodemographic confounders, mediation analyses using linear regression were fitted to examine whether the association between family dysfunction and psychosocial problems is mediated by child maltreatment. The results indicate that, among adolescents, child maltreatment fully mediated the association between being orphaned by AIDS and self-esteem, delinquency and risky behaviours, and peer problems. Similarly, child maltreatment fully mediated the association between living with an HIV/AIDS-infected parent and self-esteem, delinquency and risky behaviours, depression/emotional problems, and peer problems. Partial mediation was found for hyperactivity. Child maltreatment mediates the association between the family dysfunction trajectories of parental HIV/AIDS or death and psychosocial problems among adolescents. This implies that efforts to address child maltreatment among families affected by HIV/AIDS may be helpful in the prevention of psychosocial problems among these children, thus enhancing their well-being. The findings, therefore, underscore the need for comprehensive psychosocial interventions that address both the unique negative exposures of HIV/AIDS and maltreatment for children affected by HIV.

Keywords: child maltreatment, child abuse, mental health, psychosocial problems, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, adolescents

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Authors: Zsolt János Viharos, Krisztián Balázs Kis, Imre Paniti, Gábor Belső, Péter Németh, János Farkas

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The paper presents the results and industrial applications in the production setup period estimation based on industrial data inherited from the field of polymer cutting. The literature of polymer cutting is very limited considering the number of publications. The first polymer cutting machine is known since the second half of the 20th century; however, the production of polymer parts with this kind of technology is still a challenging research topic. The products of the applying industrial partner must met high technical requirements, as they are used in medical, measurement instrumentation and painting industry branches. Typically, 20% of these parts are new work, which means every five years almost the entire product portfolio is replaced in their low series manufacturing environment. Consequently, it requires a flexible production system, where the estimation of the frequent setup periods' lengths is one of the key success factors. In the investigation, several (input) parameters have been studied and grouped to create an adequate training information set for an artificial neural network as a base for the estimation of the individual setup periods. In the first group, product information is collected such as the product name and number of items. The second group contains material data like material type and colour. In the third group, surface quality and tolerance information are collected including the finest surface and tightest (or narrowest) tolerance. The fourth group contains the setup data like machine type and work shift. One source of these parameters is the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) but some data were also collected from Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings. The number of the applied tools is one of the key factors on which the industrial partners’ estimations were based previously. The artificial neural network model was trained on several thousands of real industrial data. The mean estimation accuracy of the setup periods' lengths was improved by 30%, and in the same time the deviation of the prognosis was also improved by 50%. Furthermore, an investigation on the mentioned parameter groups considering the manufacturing order was also researched. The paper also highlights the manufacturing introduction experiences and further improvements of the proposed methods, both on the shop floor and on the quotation preparation fields. Every week more than 100 real industrial setup events are given and the related data are collected.

Keywords: artificial neural network, low series manufacturing, polymer cutting, setup period estimation

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Authors: Yuanyuan Zhang, Yujuan Zheng, Giuseppina Barutello, Sumako Kameishi, Kungchun Chiu, Katharina Hennig, Martial Balland, Federica Cavallo, Lars Holmgren

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Angiogenesis describes that new blood vessels migrate from pre-existing ones to form 3D lumenized structure and remodeling. During directional migration toward the gradient of pro-angiogenic factors, the endothelial cells, especially the tip cells need filopodia to sense the environment and exert the pulling force. Of particular interest are the integrin proteins, which play an essential role in focal adhesion in the connection between migrating cells and extracellular matrix (ECM). Understanding how these biomechanical complexes orchestrate intrinsic and extrinsic forces is important for our understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving angiogenesis. We have previously identified Angiomotin (Amot), a member of Amot scaffold protein family, as a promoter for endothelial cell migration in vitro and zebrafish models. Hence, we established inducible endothelial-specific Amot knock-out mice to study normal retinal angiogenesis as well as tumor angiogenesis. We found that the migration ratio of the blood vessel network to the edge was significantly decreased in Amotec- retinas at postnatal day 6 (P6). While almost all the Amot defect tip cells lost migration advantages at P7. In consistence with the dramatic morphology defect of tip cells, there was a non-autonomous defect in astrocytes, as well as the disorganized fibronectin expression pattern correspondingly in migration front. Furthermore, the growth of transplanted LLC tumor was inhibited in Amot knockout mice due to fewer vasculature involved. By using MMTV-PyMT transgenic mouse model, there was a significantly longer period before tumors arised when Amot was specifically knocked out in blood vessels. In vitro evidence showed that Amot binded to beta-actin, Integrin beta 1 (ITGB1), Fibronectin, FAK, Vinculin, major focal adhesion molecules, and ITGB1 and stress fibers were distinctly induced by Amot transfection. Via traction force microscopy, the total energy (force indicater) was found significantly decreased in Amot knockdown cells. Taken together, we propose that Amot is a novel partner of the ITGB1/Fibronectin protein complex at focal adhesion and required for exerting force transition between endothelial cell and extracellular matrix.

Keywords: angiogenesis, angiomotin, endothelial cell migration, focal adhesion, integrin beta 1

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Authors: Sydelle Barreto

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Sexual liberation has been thought of as a movement, an idea, and an antithesis of material oppression. Within feminism it has consistently resisted definition - different feminist schools of thought had entirely different constructions of what liberated feminine sexuality could look like and how we might get there. This paper will critique the current definition of sexual liberation as being limited and carceral in its perspectives of sexual assault and extremely reductive in its imaginings of sexual liberation. The ultimate goal of this assessment is to potentially outline what true sexual liberation might look like in a way that is inclusive but not ignorant of the realities of the patriarchy. The first critique of sexual liberation included in the paper centers around the limits of consent, carceral feminism and sexual subjectivity. The argument will build off the traditionally sex-negative critiques of consent as being limited in scope by explaining how a lack of nuance is even more dangerous to victims of sexual violations. The discussion will also expand an interrogant of consent to an interrogation of wantedness and desire. If we understand that critiquing the conditions of consent is important, we must also critique the way patriarchy and compulsory sexuality have affected desire. Using the aforementioned concept of compulsory sexuality, the paper will argue that while sexual liberation has begun to include queer and transgender individuals, it is still overwhelmingly allonormative. Sex positivity and its opponents both fail to include asexuality. This ultimately leads to a conflation of sexual liberation with genuine material liberation. Just as we cannot divorce our constructions of sexual liberation from the realities of the patriarchy and rape culture, we should consider compulsory sexuality as its own system of social regulation. The conclusion will begin to construct an alternative vision of sexual liberation, leveraging concepts of sexual subjectivity, including a rejection of carceral feminism as a response to sexual violence, and finally, leading to the beginnings of a deconstruction of compulsory sexuality. The paper concludes with a vision of sexual liberation that does not confuse itself with material liberation or mere sexual oppression, but rather a key way stops on the road to constructing our most authentic sexual selves.

Keywords: feminism, sexual assault, sexual liberation, consent

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Authors: Chidiebere Joy Nwankwo, Benjamin S. C. Uzochukwu, Florence T. Sibeudu

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Background: Family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent maternal, infant, and child mortality. It can decrease maternal mortality by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, the number of abortions, and the proportion of births at high risk. It has been seen to improve the health and economic well-being of families and communities and ensures women’s planned childbearing in order to achieve education and career goals which could raise family income thereby reducing poverty. The choice and use of a particular family planning method and their sources vary globally. Rural Communities often face significant challenges in accessing and utilizing family planning services. Aim: This study set out to assess Access and Utilization of Family Planning Services among Women of Reproductive Age in a Rural Community of Enugu state, Nigeria. Rural communities were chosen for this study because past demographic surveys have shown that women in urban areas are more likely to accept and practice family planning compared to those in rural areas. Method: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Research design was employed to achieve the aim and objectives of the study. Data collected from 177 consenting participants using interviewer-administered questionnaires was analysed using Descriptive statistics to summarize the Socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and Access and Utilization of Family Planning Services among the participants including Reasons for using different Family Planning Methods and Barriers encountered in Access and Utilization of these services. A Cross-tabulation between Socio-demographic Characteristics of respondents and the use of Family Planning services was carried out. Result: The findings of this study revealed that majority of the participants (72.9%) have not utilized any family planning service. Out of those (27.1%) that have used any family planning service, majority of them are still currently using a form of family planning service and have access to them in health facilities, patent medicine vendors and others based on multiple responses. Male condoms were the most utilized modern family planning service. Based on multiple responses, inaccessibility, personal beliefs and partner’s objection were the most identified barriers encountered in accessing family planning services. Conclusion: Access and uptake of family planning services in rural communities is lower than the national average. Increasing access to family planning is an urgent priority for rural areas Interventions that will scale up Access and Utilization of family planning services in rural communities should be intensified.

Keywords: access, family planning, rural community, utilization

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Authors: Natia Kvachakidze

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The given research aims to study and analyze the influence of Ernest Hemingway’s writing style on Georgian prose of 1950s and 1960s. It is universally known that Ernest Hemingway’s unique writing style has had an enormous effect on various writers. His work remains highly relevant and influential even today. This is especially true about the works written in English, but literary prose created in other languages is not an exception. Certain stylistic peculiarities characteristic for Hemingway’s writing can be traced in literary works written in various languages. It is particularly interesting for us, Georgians, how all these aspects were reflected in Georgian prose of the second-half of XX century. This particular paper (which is a part of a larger research) focuses on major significant peculiarities of Georgian prose of 1950-1960s that might be connected to Hemingway's writing. In this respect, GuramRcheulishvili’s (1934-1960) works should be particularly distinguished (especially his short fiction), but literary works of other Georgian authors are not at all less important. The research involves the analysis of the prose works of some Georgian writers of the given period in the context of tracing similarities and parallels between them and the characteristic features of Ernest Hemingway’s writing style. The use of everyday language as well as short and simple sentences, a concise and sparse style, repetitions, intense dialogues are some of the essential traits in question. Themes like birth and death, war and violence, family, nature, disillusionment also prove to be vitally important for this research. Complex interconnections between the author, the narrator, and the protagonist (often autobiographical) provide another interesting subject to study. At the same time, this paper aims at studying and revealing how Hemingway’s method was reflected and transformed in Georgian prose. In this respect, it is interesting to trace not only the direct effect of Hemingway’s style but also the role of certain Georgian translations of the works of this American writer.

Keywords: hemingway, prose, georgian writers, writing style

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Authors: Al. Harshan, Hazamah Ali Mahdi

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The Big House literature embodies Irish history. It requires a special dimension of moral and social significance in relation to its owners. The Big House is a metaphor for the decline of the protestant Ascendancy that ruled in a catholic country and oppressed a native people. In the tradition of the Big House fiction, Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent and the Absentee explore the effect of the Anglo-Irish protestant Ascendancy as it governed and misgoverned Ireland. Edgeworth illustrates the tradition of the Big House as a symbol of both a personal and historical theme. This paper provides a reading of Castle Rackrent and The Absentee from a post-colonial perspective. The paper maintains that Edgeworth's novel contain elements of a radical critique of the colonialist enterprise. In our postcolonial reading of Maria Edgeworth's novels, one that goes beyond considering works as those of Sir Walter Scoot, regional evidence has been found of Edgeworth's colonial ideology. The significance of Castle Rackrent lies mainly in the fact that is the first English novel to speak in the voice of the colonized Irish. What is more important is that the irony and the comic aspect of the novel comes from its Irish narrator (Thady Quirk) and its Irish setting Ireland. Edgeworth reveals the geographical 'other' to her English reader, by placing her colonized Irish narrator and his son, Jason Quirk, in a position of inferiority to emphasize the gap between Englishness and Irishness. Furthermore, this satirical aspect is a political one. It works to create and protect the superiority of the domestic English reader over the Irish subject. In other words, the implication of the colonial system of the novel and of its structure of dominance and subordination is overlooked by its comic dimension. The matrimonial plot in the Absentee functions as an imperial plot, constructing Ireland as a complementary but ever unequal partner in the family of Great Britain. This imperial marriage works hegemonically to produce the domestic stability considered so crucial to national and colonial stability. Moreover, in order to achieve her proper imperial plot, Edgeworth reconciliation of England and Ireland is seen in the marriage of the Anglo-Irish (hero/Colambre) with the Irish (heroine/Grace Nugent), and the happy bourgeois family; consequently, it becomes the model for colonizer-colonized relationships. Edgeworth must establish modes of legitimate behavior for women and men. The Absentee explains more purposely how familial reorganization is dependent on the restitution of masculine authority and advantage, particularly for Irish community.

Keywords: Maria Edgeworth, post-colonial, reading, Irish

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Authors: T. Obateru, Samuel Olaniran

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In an era when the new media is affording easy access to packaging and dissemination of information, the social media have become a popular avenue for sharing information for good or ill. It is evident that the traditional role of journalists as ‘news breakers’ is fast being eroded. People now share information on happenings via the social media like Facebook, Twitter and the rest, such that journalists themselves now get leads on happenings from such sources. Beyond the access to information provided by the new media is the erosion of the gatekeeping role of journalists who by their training and calling, are supposed to handle information with responsibility. Thus, sensitive information that journalists would normally filter is randomly shared by social media activists. This was the experience of journalists in Jos, Plateau State in January 2010 when another of the recurring ethnoreligious crisis that engulfed the state resulted in another widespread killing, vandalism, looting, and displacements. Considered as one of the high points of crises in the state, journalists who had the duty of covering the crisis also relied on some of these sources to get their bearing on the violence. This paper examined the role of Facebook in the work of journalists who covered the 2010 crisis. Taking the gatekeeping perspective, it interrogated the extent to which Facebook impacted their professional duty positively or negatively vis-à-vis the peace journalism model. It employed survey to elicit information from 50 journalists who covered the crisis using questionnaire as instrument. The paper revealed that the dissemination of hate information via mobile phones and social media, especially Facebook, aggravated the crisis situation. Journalists became news followers rather than news breakers because a lot of them were put on their toes by information (many of which were inaccurate or false) circulated on Facebook. It recommended that journalists must remain true to their calling by upholding their ‘gatekeeping’ role of disseminating only accurate and responsible information if they would remain the main source of credible information on which their audience rely.

Keywords: crisis, ethnoreligious, Facebook, journalists

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Authors: Stephen M. Magu

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The 9/11 and Christmas bombing attacks in the United States are mostly associated with the inability of intelligence agencies to connect dots based on intelligence that was already available. The 1998, 2002, 2013 and several 2014 terrorist attacks in Kenya, on the other hand, are probably driven by a completely different dynamic: the invisible hand of corruption. The World Bank and Transparency International annually compute the Worldwide Governance Indicators and the Corruption Perception Index respectively. What perhaps is not adequately captured in the corruption metrics is the impact of corruption on terrorism. The World Bank data includes variables such as the control of corruption, (estimates of) government effectiveness, political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, regulatory quality, rule of law and voice and accountability. TI's CPI does not include measures related to terrorism, but it is plausible that there is an expectation of some terrorism impact arising from corruption. This paper, by examining the incidence, frequency and total number of terrorist attacks that have occurred especially since 1990, and further examining the specific cases of Kenya and Nigeria, argues that in addition to having major effects on governance, corruption has an even more frightening impact: that of facilitating and/or violating security mechanisms to the extent that foreign nationals can easily obtain identification that enables them to perpetuate major events, targeting powerful countries' interests in countries with weak corruption-fighting mechanisms. The paper aims to model interactions that demonstrate the cost/benefit analysis and agents' rational calculations as being non-rational calculations, given the ultimate impact. It argues that eradication of corruption is not just a matter of a better business environment, but that it is implicit in national security, and that for anti-corruption crusaders, this is an argument more potent than the economic cost / cost of doing business argument.

Keywords: corruption, global south, identification, passports, terrorism

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Authors: Catharina Lindberg, Cecilia Fagerstrom, Ania Willman

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Patients in high-tech care environments are usually dependent on both formal/informal caregivers and technology, highlighting their vulnerability and challenging their autonomy. Autonomy presumes that a person has education, experience, self-discipline and decision-making capacity. Reference to autonomy in relation to patients in high-tech care environments could, therefore, be considered paradoxical, as in most cases these persons have impaired physical and/or metacognitive capacity. Therefore, to understand the prerequisites for patients to experience autonomy in high-tech care environments and to support them, there is a need to enhance knowledge and understanding of the concept of patient autonomy in this care context. The development of concepts and theories in a practice discipline such as nursing helps to improve both nursing care and nursing education. Theoretical development is important when clarifying a discipline, hence, a theoretical framework could be of use to nurses in high-tech care environments to support and defend the patient’s autonomy. A meta-synthesis was performed with the intention to be interpretative and not aggregative in nature. An amalgamation was made of the results from three previous studies, carried out by members of the same research group, focusing on the phenomenon of patient autonomy from a patient perspective within a caring context. Three basic approaches to theory development: derivation, synthesis, and analysis provided an operational structure that permitted the researchers to move back and forth between these approaches during their work in developing a theoretical framework. The results from the synthesis delineated that patient autonomy in a high-tech care context is: To be in control though trust, co-determination, and transition in everyday life. The theoretical framework contains several components creating the prerequisites for patient autonomy. Assumptions and propositional statements that guide theory development was also outlined, as were guiding principles for use in day-to-day nursing care. Four strategies used by patients to remain or obtain patient autonomy in high-tech care environments were revealed: the strategy of control, the strategy of partnership, the strategy of trust, and the strategy of transition. This study suggests an extended knowledge base founded on theoretical reasoning about patient autonomy, providing an understanding of the strategies used by patients to achieve autonomy in the role of patient, in high-tech care environments. When possessing knowledge about the patient perspective of autonomy, the nurse/carer can avoid adopting a paternalistic or maternalistic approach. Instead, the patient can be considered to be a partner in care, allowing care to be provided that supports him/her in remaining/becoming an autonomous person in the role of patient.

Keywords: autonomy, caring, concept development, high-tech care, theory development

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Authors: Najma Najam, Rukhsana Kausar, Rabia Hussain Kanwal, Saira Batool, Anum Javed

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In Pakistan, elderly population though increasing but it has been neglected by the researchers and policy makers which resulted in compromised quality of life of the ageing population. Two regions, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) were selected for comparison as Lahore and Multan (Punjab) are highly urbanized, large cities whereas Gilgit and Skardu are remote and mountain bounded valleys in GB. This study focuses on psychological and emotional functioning of elderly and a series of measures translated and adapted in Urdu language was used to assess quality of life, psychological and mental well-being, actual and perceived social support, attachment patterns, forgiveness, affects, geriatric depression, and emotional disturbance patterns (depression, anxiety, and stress) in elderly. A gender-equated sample of 201 elderly participants, 93 from GB (60 from Gilgit, 33 from Skardu) and 108 from Punjab (61 from Lahore, 47 from Multan) with over 60 years age was collected from the multiethnic community of Punjab and GB through purposive convenient sampling technique. Findings revealed that elderly from Multan have better psychological and emotional functioning, higher levels of social support, tendency to forgive, better mental wellbeing and quality of life and lower levels of stress, anxiety, depression, negative affect and attachment avoidance and anxiety related to partner as compared to the elderly from Lahore. Furthermore, both elderly male of Gilgit & Skardu have adequate mental well-being including subjective well-being and psychological functioning which showed positive aspects of mental health but elderly female are more attached to their home and neighbourhood which shows their social and environmental mastery. Gilgiti elderly male reported more degree of positive affect such as enthusiasm, active, alertness, excitement and strong whereas among elderly from Skardu shows more negative affect i.e. aversive mood states, irritability, hostility, and general distress. The need of psychosocial therapy and family counseling for the elderly in urban areas has been identified, which can facilitate in reducing or preventing the depressive and stressful tendencies. The findings are expected to have implications for improving quality of life of the elderly, designing interventions, support system and rehabilitation services to help them. However, findings may attract attention of policy makers and researchers as currently this is the most neglected population in Pakistan.

Keywords: psychological, emotional, aging, elderly, quality of life

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Authors: Dane Morace-Court

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This paper offers a reflective and reflexive examination of the lived experience of a group of young, white, working-class males engaging in secondary-education in England at a time when this population is widely recognised as the lowest attaining ethnic group within British schools. The focus of the paper is an exploration of the development of identities and aspirations, alongside contemporary demographic and ideological shifts in the British population, in their intersection with neoliberal education policies and the emerging ideological conflict between identity conservatism and liberalism. The construction and performance of intersecting social-class, gender, ethnic and national identities is considered as well as the process through which socially constructed narratives inform identities, values, and aspirations. Evocative autoethnography is then employed to offer reflections on working-class habitus and, in particular, classed and gendered codes that underpin expectations of manhood in post-industrial culture within an education system which seemingly requires the abandonment of aspects of a working-class background. Findings from the study identify the emergence of a culture of hyper-individualisation amongst white, working-class males in schools and a belief in the meritocratic ideologies of the New Right. In particular, the breakdown of the social contract, including notions of political and civic responsibility, coupled with the symbolic violence perpetrated against working-class culture and solidarity in British schools, have all informed the construction of a working-class masculinity which values the individual entrepreneur over the collective, and depoliticizes students to an extent where a focus on the spectacle and performance of success has replaced individual and collective investment in community.

Keywords: education, identity, masculinity, neoliberalism, working-class, intersectionality, autoethnography

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Authors: Jenyu Peng

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Incestuous abuse can be considered a form of domestic violence that exemplifies gender inequality. It challenges the common image of home as “haven of safety”. In Taiwan, even after years of feminist NGOs’ effort to encourage victims to speak up, the shared cultural representations of family, still praising piety towards the parents, seem to keep the incest trauma in secret. As clinical practitioners have observed, most devastating psychological sequels of incest trauma are often related to silencing. Thus one can expect that in families centered cultures, the difficulties for victims to disclose are greater, and the traumatic consequences more severe. This poses crucial therapeutic issues for clinicians working in those cultures. Since 2009, the author, a trained psychoanalyst and researcher, has been conducting “clinical fieldwork” on incest trauma in Taiwan. Employing ethnographical method, our theoretical references are both psychoanalytical and anthropological. The necessity of interdisciplinary efforts in incest trauma research will be addressed and discussed. The analyses of the present paper will focus on five incestuous families: four Han families, and one aboriginal. Although Taiwanese aboriginal peoples have been pretty much sinicized since decades, it is worth observing the convergent and divergent aspects in these two cultures. Moreover, findings of a previous research conducted in France during 2002-2004 will serve as background for the purpose of comparison. The results will be presented along with three questions: 1) How the perception of family influences the process of disclosure? 2) How the incestuous experience comes into play with victims’ gender identity and sexuality, pivotal for the subjectification? 3) How victims more successful in gendered subjectification modify their dynamics with their traumatizing family? This research finds that most victims tend to defend their own incestuous families, and that victims’ subjectivity and agency are actually entangled in the power structure of incestuous family.

Keywords: incestuous family, subjectification, gender identity, agency

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Authors: Hannele Kuusisto, Paivi Makila, Ursula Hyrkkanen

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Introduction: There have been arguments about the skills university students should have when graduated. Current trends argue that as well as the specific job-related skills the graduated students need problem-solving, interaction and networking skills as well as self-management skills. Skills required in working life are also considered in the Finnish national project called VALTE (short for 'prepared for working life'). The project involves 11 Finnish school organizations. As one result of this project, a five-credit independent online course in study and job engagement as well as in study and job crafting was developed at Turku University of Applied Sciences. The aim of the oral or e-poster presentation is to present the online course developed in the project. The purpose of this abstract is to present the development work of the online course and the feedback received from the pilots. Method: As the University of Turku is the leading partner of the VALTE project, the collaborative education platform ViLLE (https://ville.utu.fi, developed by the University of Turku) was chosen as the online platform for the course. Various exercise types with automatic assessment were used; for example, quizzes, multiple-choice questions, classification exercises, gap filling exercises, model answer questions, self-assessment tasks, case tasks, and collaboration in Padlet. In addition, the free material and free platforms on the Internet were used (Youtube, Padlet, Todaysmeet, and Prezi) as well as the net-based questionnaires about the study engagement and study crafting (made with Webropol). Three teachers with long teaching experience (also with job crafting and online pedagogy) and three students working as trainees in the project developed the content of the course. The online course was piloted twice in 2017 as an elective course for the students at Turku University of Applied Sciences, a higher education institution of about 10 000 students. After both pilots, feedback from the students was gathered and the online course was developed. Results: As the result, the functional five-credit independent online course suitable for students of different educational institutions was developed. The student feedback shows that students themselves think that the developed online course really enhanced their job and study crafting skills. After the course, 91% of the students considered their knowledge in job and study engagement as well as in job and study crafting to be at a good or excellent level. About two-thirds of the students were going to exploit their knowledge significantly in the future. Students appreciated the variability and the game-like feeling of the exercises as well as the opportunity to study online at the time and place they chose themselves. On a five-point scale (1 being poor and 5 being excellent), the students graded the clarity of the ViLLE platform as 4.2, the functionality of the platform as 4.0 and the easiness of operating as 3.9.

Keywords: job crafting, job engagement, online course, study crafting, study engagement

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Authors: Jegede Kehinde Jacob, Ola Akeem Bayonle, Adewale Yemi Yekeen

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The rapid rate of urban growth in most developing countries of the world in recent times is alarming. Mass movement of people from rural areas to the urban centres, the consequence of the uncontrolled rapid urbanisation resulting to many un-conforming environmental challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, land, water and air pollution, poor environmental sanitation, poor and inadequate housing, urban degradation, sprawl and slums, urban violence, crime, robbery and prostitution as well as many other social vices that make the cities unsustainable. The resultant effects of all these are abysmal failure in the management of cities on the part of the governing authorities and other relevant stakeholders as well as unconducive and unwholesome condition of living of the people. This paper attempts to examine holistically the issue of environmental planning management (EPM) process development and management concept with a view for dynamic and interactive approach for various stakeholders as partners in achieving sustainable cities of our dream. The areas of discussion including conceptual and contextual issues, sustainable cities concept, good urban governance including literature review. The paper goes further to examine opportunities and challenges of built environment generally, the nature and context of environmental problems in particular, the role and duties of environmental planning and management (EPM) process in sustainable urban development. The paper further reviewed briefly the various levels of institutionalisation of EPM process with a typical case study of sustainable Ibadan project (SIP). The paper concludes with a list of recommendations to ensure effective and lasting solutions to cities problems through initiation of EPM process achievable in a sustainable manner.

Keywords: built environment, environmental planning, sustainable cities, sustainable development, urbanization

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Authors: Jamila Mohammed Makarfi, Yontem Sonmez

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Developing countries like Nigeria have recently been affected by conflicts characterized by violence, high levels of risk and insecurity, resulting in loss of lives, livelihoods, displacement of communities, degradation of health, educational and social infrastructure as well as economic underdevelopment. The Nigerian government’s response to most of these conflicts has mainly been reactionary in the form of military deployments, as against precautionary to prevent or address the root causes of the conflicts. Several studies have shown that at various points of a conflict, conflict regions can benefit from the resources and expertise available outside the government, mainly from the private sector through mechanisms such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) by businesses. The main aim of this study is to examine the role of businesses in peacebuilding in Northern Nigeria through CSR in the last decade. The expected contributions from this will answer research questions, such as the key business motivations to engage in peacebuilding, as well as the degree of influence exerted from various stakeholder groups on the business decision to engage. The methodology of the study adopts a multiple case study of over 120 businesses of various sizes, ranging from small, medium and large-scale. A mixed method enabled the collection of quantitative and qualitative primary data to augment the secondary data. The results indicated that the most important business motivations to engage in peacebuilding were the negative effects of the conflict on economic stability, as well as stakeholder-driven motives. On the other hand, out of the 12 identified stakeholders, micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) considered the chief executive officer’s interest to be the most important factor, while large companies rated the government and community pressure as the highest. Overall, the foreign stakeholders scored low on the influence chart for all business types.

Keywords: conflict, corporate social responsibility, peacebuilding, stakeholder

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Authors: B. N. Emenyeonu

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Initially identified as sensationalism in the eras of yellow journalism and tabloidization, the inclusion of news which shocks or provokes strong emotional responses among readers, viewers, and browsers has not only remained a persistent feature of journalism but has also seemingly escalated in the current climate of digital and social media. Whether in the relentless revelation of scandals in high places, profiles on people displaced by sporadic wars or natural disasters, gruesome accounts of trucks plowing into pedestrians in a city centre, or the coverage of mourners paying tributes to victims of a mass shooting, mainstream, and digital media are often awash with tragedy, tears, and trauma. While it may aim at inspiring sympathy, outrage, or even remedial reactions, it would appear that the deluge of grief and misery in the news merely generates in the audience a feeling that borders on hearing or seeing too much to care or act. This feeling also appears to be accentuated by the dizzying diffusion of social media news and views, most of whose authenticity is not easily verifiable. Through a survey of 400 regular consumers of news and an in-depth interview of 10 news managers in selected media organizations across the Middle East, this study therefore investigates public attitude to the profusion of bad news in mainstream and digital media. Among other targets, it examines whether the profusion of bad news generates empathy fatigue among the audience and, if so, whether there is any association between biographic variables (profession, age, and gender) and an inclination to empathy fatigue. It also seeks to identify which categories of bad news and media are most likely to drag the audience into indifference. In conclusion, the study discusses the implications of the findings for mass-mediated advocacies such as campaigns against conflicts, corruption, nuclear threats, terrorism, gun violence, sexual crimes, and human trafficking, among other threats to humanity.

Keywords: digital media, empathy fatigue, media campaigns, news selection

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Authors: Chukwukelue Uzodinma Umenyilorah

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The history of the crises in Niger-Delta is readily traceable to the post-colonial oil boom of the early 70s. Prior to this time, it was widely believed that the people of Niger-Delta; especially those in the present day Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa States enjoyed a peaceful coexistence pretty much as the rest of Nigerians. In the early 70s however, crude oil was discovered in commercial quantities in these areas and tranquility has become a far cry over the years ever since then. First, a number of multi-national oil explorers moved into the Niger-Delta for business, and then certain conditions resulted in sundry instances of oil spillage, which caused a lot of environmental damage, destroying nearly all of the people’s sources of livelihood. The result was a multiple chain reaction ranging from incessant agitations from the natives to institutionalized dialogue between the oil business owners, the natives and the government, and then to a proposition of compensation packages for the affected communities. The said compensation, which was meant to bring peace seem to have brought even more crises instead. Corruption and greed crept in, money changed hands, suffering increased and so was the agitation from the people. The whole turn of events gradually snowballed into the formation of various militant groups who are now fingered as responsible for the sundry cases of violence in the Niger-Delta. The oil boom can, therefore, be said to be the immediate cause of the Niger-Delta crises, but there are other remote causes as well; including poverty, neglect and illiteracy to mention but a few. This study is therefore aimed at examining the various reasons behind the seemingly unending crises in the Niger-Delta. It will also take a critical look at the roles played by the various parties in the Niger-Delta crises from the 70s to date; as well as the various human and environmental devastations done in the area with a view to making informed suggestions on how to stop further damage and start fixing that, which is already done. Esiaba Irobi’s Cemetery Road and Hangmen Also Die seem to vividly capture the realities of the Niger-Delta situation, and shall, therefore, be reviewed in this study.

Keywords: corruption, Niger-delta, oil boom, post-colonial

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Authors: Yuliia Skrynnik

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This research focuses on the interaction of verbal, non-verbal, and super-verbal communicative components used by the speaker changing social roles in the marketing discourse. The changing/performing of social roles is implemented through communicative strategies and tactics, the structural, semantic, and linguo-pragmatic means of which are characterized by specific features and differ for the performance of either a role of a supplier or a customer. Communication within the marketing discourse is characterized by symmetrical roles’ relation between communicative opponents. The strategy of a supplier’s social role realization and the strategy of a customer’s role realization influence the discursive personality's linguistic repertoire in the marketing discourse. This study takes into account that one person can be both a supplier and a customer under different circumstances, thus, exploring the one individual who can be both a supplier and a customer. Cooperative and non-cooperative tactics are the instruments for the implementation of these strategies. In the marketing discourse, verbal and non-verbal behaviour of the speaker performing a customer’s social role is highly informative for speakers who perform the role of a supplier. The research methods include discourse, context-situational, pragmalinguistic, pragmasemantic analyses, the method of non-verbal components analysis. The methodology of the study includes 5 steps: 1) defining the configurations of speakers’ social roles on the selected material; 2) establishing the type of the discourse (marketing discourse); 3) describing the specific features of a discursive personality as a subject of the communication in the process of social roles realization; 4) selecting the strategies and tactics which direct the interaction in different roles configurations; 5) characterizing the structural, semantic and pragmatic features of the strategies and tactics realization, including the analysis of interaction between verbal and non-verbal components of communication. In the marketing discourse, non-verbal behaviour is usually spontaneous but not purposeful. Thus, the adequate decoding of a partner’s non-verbal behavior provides more opportunities both for the supplier and the customer. Super-verbal characteristics in the marketing discourse are crucial in defining the opponent's social status and social role at the initial stage of interaction. The research provides the scenario of stereotypical situations of the play of a supplier and a customer. The performed analysis has perspectives for further research connected with the study of discursive variativity of speakers' verbal and non-verbal behaviour considering the intercultural factor influencing the process of performing the social roles in the marketing discourse; and the formation of the methods for the scenario construction of non-stereotypical situations of social roles realization/change in the marketing discourse.

Keywords: discursive personality, marketing discourse, non-verbal component of communication, social role, strategy, super-verbal component of communication, tactic, verbal component of communication

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Authors: Sıla Uzkul

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As a requirement of human rights and children's rights, the basic condition of inclusive education is that it covers all children. However, the reforms made in the context of education in Turkey and around the world include a limited level of inclusiveness. Generally, the inclusiveness mentioned is for individuals who need special education. Educational reforms superficially state that differences are tolerated, but these differences are extremely limited and often do not include sexual orientation. When we look at the education modules of the Ministry of National Education within the scope of inclusive education in Turkey, there are children with special needs, bilingual children, children exposed to violence, children under temporary protection, children affected by migration and terrorism, and children affected by natural disasters. No training modules or inclusion terms regarding sexual orientations could be found. This research aimed to understand the perspectives of research assistants working in the preschool education department regarding sexual orientations within the scope of inclusive education. Six research assistants working in the preschool teaching department at a public university in Ankara (Turkey) participated in this qualitative research study. Participants were determined by typical case sampling, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. The data of this research was obtained through a "survey consisting of open-ended questions". Raw data from the surveys were analyzed and interpreted using the "content analysis technique" (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2005). During the data analysis process, the data from the participants were first numbered, then all the data were read, and content analysis was performed, and possible themes, categories, and codes were extracted. The opinions of the participants in the research regarding sexual orientations in inclusive education are presented under three main headings within the scope of the research questions. These are: (a) their views on inclusive education, (b) their views on sexual orientations (c) their views on sexual orientations in the preschool period.

Keywords: sexual orientation, inclusive education, child rights, preschool education

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Authors: Shiran Bord, Assaf Oshri, Matthew W. Carlson, Sihong Liu

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Background: Alcohol-impaired driving (AID) and binge drinking are major health concerns among college students. Although the link between binge drinking and AID is well established, knowledge regarding binge drinking patterns, the factors influencing binge drinking, and the associations between consumption patterns and alcohol-related risk behaviors is lacking. Aims: To examine heterogeneous trajectories of binge drinking during college and tests factors that might predict class membership as well as class membership outcomes. Methods: Data were obtained from a sample of 1,265 college students (Mage = 18.5, SD = .66) as part of the Longitudinal Study of Violence Against Women (N = 1,265; 59.3% female; 69.2% white). Analyses were completed in three stages. First, a growth curve analysis was conducted to identify trajectories of binge drinking over time. Second, growth curve mixture modeling analyses were pursued to assess unobserved growth trajectories of binge drinking without predictors. Lastly, parental drinking variables were added to the model as predictors of class membership, and AID and being a passenger of a drunk driver were added to the model as outcomes. Results: Three binge drinking trajectories were identified: high-convex, medium concave and low-increasing. Parental drinking was associated with being in high-convex and medium-concave classes. Compared to the low-increasing class, the high convex and medium concave classes reported more AID and being a passenger of a drunk driver more frequently. Conclusions: Parental drinking may affect children’s later engagement in AID. Efforts should focus on parents' education regarding the consequences of parental modeling of alcohol consumption.

Keywords: alcohol impaired driving, alcohol consumption, binge drinking, college students, parental modeling

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Authors: Raya Morag

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This paper proposes a new paradigm for cinema/trauma studies - the trauma of the perpetrator. Canonical trauma research from Freud’s Aetiology of Hysteria to the present has been carried out from the perspective of identification with the victim, as have cinema trauma research and contemporary humanities-based trauma studies, climaxing during the 1990s in widespread interest in the victim vis-à-vis the Holocaust, war, and domestic violence. Breaking over 100 years of repression of the abhorrent and rejected concept of the perpetrator in psychoanalytic-based research proposes an uncanny shift in our conception of psychoanalysis' trajectory from women's 'hysteria' to 'post-traumatic stress disorder'. This new paradigm is driven by the global emergence of new waves of films (2007-2015) representing trauma suffered by perpetrators involved in the new style of war entailing deliberate targeting of non-combatants. Analyzing prominent examples from Israeli post-second Intifada documentaries (e.g., Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir), and post post-Iraq (and Afghanistan) War American documentaries (e.g., Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure), the paper discusses the limitations of victim trauma by the firm boundaries it (rightly) set in order to defend such victims of nineteenth and especially twentieth-century catastrophes; the epistemological processes needed in order to consider perpetrators’ trauma as an inevitable part of psychiatric-psychological and cultural perspectives on trauma, and, thus, the definition of perpetrators' trauma in contrast to victims'. It also analyzes the perpetrator's figure in order to go beyond the limitation of current trauma theory's relation to the Real, thus transgressing the 'unspeakableness' of the trauma itself. The paper seeks an exploration of what perpetrator trauma teaches us not only as a counter-paradigm to victim trauma, but as a reflection on the complex intertwining of the two paradigms in the twenty-first century collective new war unconscious, and on what psychoanalysis might offer us in the first decade of this terrorized-ethnicized century.

Keywords: American war documentaries, Israeli war documentaries, 'new war', perpetrator trauma

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Authors: Edwin Onwuka, Segun Omidiora, Eugenia Abiodun-Eniaiyekan

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The Nigerian military is often the subject of active critical inquiries having played significant roles in Nigeria’s national development. However, the soldier is one of the most vilified characters in Nigeria’s imaginative literature, be it in poetry, drama or prose fiction. In the main, the characterization of soldiers is predictable because of their entrenched stereotype as oppressors, tyrants, bullies, rapists, despots, killers or at best law-breakers subject to no authority outside the military institution. In most novels, the soldier’s personality is associated with force and violence; still, few have defied the norm to portray soldiers that go against the grain of notoriety. Such novels have characterized the Nigerian soldier positively as a civil, thinking and human personality in relating to civil society. To a great extent, two major impetuses that influence literary representation of characters and institutions in African literature are ideology and commitment, and one necessarily impacts on the other in shaping the artistic vision of the writer. Using two war novels therefore as templates, this paper argues that the ideology that drives the Nigerian writer’s socio-cultural commitment to national development shapes their portrayal of the Nigerian soldier in imaginative literature. A major objective of this study, therefore, is to show through close textual analysis that the writers’ ideologies influence their perception and characterization of the Nigerian soldier in Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes, two representative novels of both persuasions described above. New Historicism is the critical framework applied in this study and its conclusion is that the Nigerian writer’s characterization of the soldier is influenced by his ideological perception of the military in the policy against the backdrop of their past socio-political activities.

Keywords: commitment, ideology, national development, new historicism, Nigerian soldier

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