Volume 54, No. 2, Summer 1995
Body Image and Weight Concerns among African American and White Adolescent Females: Differences that Make a Difference
Sheila Parker, Mimi Nichter, Mark Nichter, Nancy Nuckovic, Colette Sims, and Cheryl Ritenbaugh
Key words: ethnic beauty ideals, adolescence, body image, African Americans, Whites, US
The paper examines body image ideals and dieting behaviors among African American and White adolescent females. Data are drawn from focus groups, individual interviews, and surveys. African American females were found to be more flexible than their White counterparts in their concepts of beauty and spoke about "making what you've got work for you." In contrast, many White adolescent females expressed dissatisfaction with their body shape and were found to be rigid in their concepts of beauty. Cultural factors which impact on weight perception, body image, and style are explored. Limitations of survey methodology for understand cultural differences are discussed.
Finance, Romance, Social Support, and Condom Use among Impoverished Inner-City Women
E. J. Sobo
Key words: HIV/AIDS, sexual relationships, social supports, urban, self-esteem, women, US
This article explores the relationship between low levels of condom use and impoverished urban women's experiences and understandings of heterosexual relationships. It questions research that views poor women's conjugal affiliations and unsafe sex practices as instrumentally motivated, and demonstrates that many women see themselves as independent, relatively self-sufficient agents. HIV/AIDS-related risk denial is linked not to financial coercion but to the social and emotional importance of maintaining that one's partner is faithful. Extra-conjugal support's relationship to women's dependence on men for emotional fulfillment, self-esteem, and social status is examined in light of this. Study participants who felt supported by extra-conjugal networks were less likely to engage in denial and unsafe sex; they were also less likely to have partners whom they perceived as jealous.
Generational Change, Folk Medicine, and Medical Self-Care in a Rural Appalachian Community
Anthony P. Cavender and Scott H. Beck
Key words: folk medicine, medical self-care, USA, southwestern Virginia, rural Appalachia
This paper reports on a study of the potential impact of folk medicine on health care delivery in a rural community in southwestern Virginia. The intent of the investigation was to examine some commonly held stereotypical notions within and outside the medical community about rural Appalachians and medical self-care. Interviews were completed with 102 respondents aged 60 and over who were asked what they would do today and what their parents did when when they were growing up to treat 65 symptoms of illness. Responses were grouped into 11 treatment categories, including botanical, non-processed natural substances, foods, home articles, proprietary medicines, other commercial medicines, magico-religious, and formal medical care and then analyzed in terms of generational change. Our findings indicate that dependence on folk medicine has declined considerably from one generation to the next, particularly with regard to the application of traditional home remedies and magico-religious beliefs and practices. Contrary to popular belief about rural Appalachians, a theodicy of suffering as related to the cause of illness was not evident. Faith healing, as manifested in either personal or communal prayer, was advocated by the majority of our respondents, but not to the exclusion of conventional medicine. While folk medical beliefs and practices have not vanished entirely, our findings indicate that the patterns of medical self-care of our respondents are largely congruent with mainstream American culture, and that an essentially positive attitude toward conventional medicine exists in the community.
Independence and Collective Action: Reconsidering Union Activity among Commercial Fishermen in Mississippi
J. Stephen Thomas, G. David Johnson, and Catherine A. Riordan
Key words: fishing, independence, collective action, unionization, US, Mississippi Gulf Coast
Recent articles published in this journal by Pollnac and Poggie (1991) and Durrenberger (1992) have presented contrasting views on commercial fishermen's independence and inclination to act collectively. The respective claims of the two articles are evaluated in the context of recent social scientific theory and research on unionism and the labor movement. Further, historical evidence of collective organizing, including documentary records and contemporary oral testimony by participants, is analyzed for the case of Mississippi Gulf Coast fishermen for the period from 1903 to the present. In contrast to Durrenberger's argument, we show that the successful union activity of the 1930s by the Gulf Coast Shrimpers and Oystermen Association occurred when shrimp fishermen were still economically dependent on processors. Additionally, we contend that the demise of the strong union in Mississippi during the 1950s and 1960s cannot be explained merely by reference to Federal court decisions of that period, but in addition, was caused by the changing characteristics of the industry, including the rise of competitive, independent owner-operators. Finally, we conclude that collective action among independent fishermen can occur, but only under unusual structural conditions, as in the case of the Icelandic industry, or under extreme circumstances, such as that experienced recently with the implementation of U.S. regulations requiring the use of Turtle Excluder Devices by shrimp trawlers.
Cultural Adaptation to Danger and the Safety of Commercial Oceanic Fishermen
Richard B. Pollnac, John J. Poggie, and Charles VanDusen
Key words: safety, fishing, risk assessment, stress, US, New England
This article describes the psycho-cultural adaptation to danger and its effect on safety practices among New England fishers. Denial and trivialization are common mechanisms used in coping with the dangers associated with their occupation. Examining concordance between Coast Guard data and fishers' accounts allows for the evaluation of the fishers' understandings about actual causes of fishing vessel accidents. Additionally, the article uses sociocultural corelations of variance in risk asessment to identify the types of fishers at high risk levels.
Collective Action for Common Property Resource Rejuvenation: The Case of People's Artificial Reefs in Kerala State, India
John Kurien
Key words: fishing, artificial reefs, common property resources, South India
This paper is about the efforts being made by communities of coastal fisherfolk in South India to build artificial reefs as a means of rejuvenating the ecosystem of their coastal waters damaged by indiscriminate trawling. These initiatives provide the basis for questioning the now influential opinions that in the case of resources in the realm of the commons, precious little will be done to save them from ruin, particularly by those individuals who enjoy access to them. It hopes to add to the accumulating evidence that collective action by the laboring masses in the developing world--peasants, fisherfolk and forest dwellers, to mention a few--to revive and rejuvenate their common pool resources calls to question the undiscriminating policy prescriptions which continue to see only "market or state" interventions to solve issues relating to environmental degradation.
How the Poor Fight for Respect and Resources in Village India
Tony Beck
Key words: poverty, organization, gender, India, West Bengal
This paper analyzes strategies used by the poor in three villages of West Bengal, India, as they attempt to improve their quality of life. The strategies are: use of the natural resource base, share-rearing of livestock, and organization and mutual support. These strategies for the most part are carried out by or involve poor women, and have often been invisible to or undervalued by 'outsiders.' Taken together, these strategies add substantially to both household income and a feeling of solidarity among the poor. The paper argues that despite the extensive exploitation of the poor by the rich within the villages, the poor are still able to negotiate, bargain, and struggle with their richer neighbors concerning control over village resource use, and by doing this they attempt to set village 'norms' which are to their benefit. It suggests, providing examples, that the strategies used by the poor for gaining resources and respect could be usefully supported by governments and NGOs working to eliminate poverty. The paper concludes that the way in which the characteristics of the poor are conceptualized will determine to a large extent external policy intervention.
How Many Trees Does it Take to Cook a Pot of Rice? Fuelwood and Tree Consumption in Four Philippine Communities
Ben J. Wallace
Key words: fuelwood, deforestation, development, Philippines
The cutting of trees for fuelwood is one of many human activities contributing to deforestation in developing nations. This paper examines the extent to which fuelwood consumption contributes to deforestation in terms of the amount of fuelwood consumed, local preferences for tree species, and number of trees consumed as fuelwood in four rural Philippines communities. The research findings are placed within the context of a cooperative five year research and development project between the academic community, government, and industry.
When Do Property Rights Matter? Open Access, Informal Social Controls, and Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Thomas K. Rudel
Key words: land clearing, property rights, deforestation, South America, Ecuador, Brazil, Amazon
In recent years a number of analysts have argued that open access explains why people have destroyed so many tropical forests so rapidly. Under conditions of open access loggers and colonists clear forested land rapidly, out of a fear that others will extract valuable resources from these places before they will. This paper questions the magnitude of the 'open access' effect. Ethnographic data from the Ecuadorian Amazon suggest that, in the absence of formally constituted property rights, informal social controls limit access to the forests and indirectly limit rates of tropical deforestation. Comparisons with land clearing in the Brazilian Amazon suggest that informal controls only retard deforestation in relatively stable frontier settings. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of these findings.
Post-Harvest Pest Management in an Egyptian Oasis Village
Anne M. Parrish
Key words: indigenous pest management, post-harvest technologies, integrated pest management, Egypt, Western Desert
Over the past three decades, a new pest management paradigm has been introduced into the oasian farming system of the Egyptian Western Desert. This western, scientifically-based system supplants the traditional practices developed by the farmers over the millennia. This article documents the indigenous post-harvest pest control and storage practices, discusses how current pest control methods were introduced, examines the socioeconomic factors and reasons for adoption of new technologies, and presents the farmers' perceptions integrated with western scientific methods towards the development of an environmentally safe integrated pest management (IPM) program. These observations can have important consequences for the development, implementation, and research of pest management practices in other traditional systems.
Long Distance Commuting in Resource Industries: Implications for Native Peoples in Australia and Canada
Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh
Key words: mining, resource industries, native populations, commuting, labor, Australia, Canada
During the last fifteen years a fundamental change has occurred in the settlement patterns associated with resource projects in remote regions of Australia and Canada. The earlier practice of establishing new mine townships has virtually ceased. Most new projects rely on a "rotational" workforce which is regularly transported between the work site and scheduled pick-up points. These are typically major population centers, where the workers' families continue to reside. This shift to Long Distance Commuting (LDC) has profound implications for native peoples, but as yet these implications are poorly understood. The information which is available indicates that while LDC allows some native people to reconcile their need to earn cash incomes with their desire to maintain elements of a traditional lifestyle, it can also have negative effects both on individuals and on native societies. A number of areas are identified where additional research is needed if native peoples are to be in a position to make informed decisions in relation to LDC.
Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Mortality in Rural Australia
Robert S. Hogg
Key words: Aborigines, mortality, Australia, New South Wales
This article evaluates how Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal mortality patterns differ at a community level. Relying on data from two communities in western New South Wales, the author examines differences in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal mortality regimes over a recent 10-year period. Results from this analysis clearly show that Aborigines have appallingly high rates of death and that this pattern of Aboriginal mortality is an anomaly that does not adhere closely with classical epidemiologic transition theory. Potential reasons for existence of such a unique pattern of mortality are discussed.
