Search

The article discusses various topics related to the field of Southwestern U.S. history. It presents a call for papers for the 117th Annual Meeting of the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to be held in Fort Worth, Texas, from February 28 to March 2, 2013. The author announces that the 2012 annual convention of the North American Society of Oceanic Historians (NASOH) will take place at the Tremont Hotel in Galveston, Texas from April 22 to April 26, 2012. The article also lists individuals who have become members of the TSHA, including Susan Edwards, Carol Sayle, and Levi Goode.

Copyright of Kiva is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Kiva is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aurelio Espinosa (1880-1958) studied folklore in the American Southwest and Spain. Espinosa was one of the first academic folklorists to work with American materials and the first scholar to write about Mexican American culture. This paper is an attempt to re-insert this forgotten figure into the history of folklore studies. At the same time, drawing on new archival sources, this study will show that Espinosa's active support of Franco in Spain contributed to his theory of cultural transmission in the American Southwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Research shows peer health education programs on university campuses can support students in pursuing sustainable health-related behavior changes. However, few programs deliver peer health education through a nondiet, weight-inclusive framework. Research shows that health educators who challenge the status quo of diet culture and weight-focused health interventions may face unique challenges when sharing this perspective with others. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of peer educators who provided critical health education by introducing a nondiet, weight-inclusive approach to health. Design/methodology/approach: Five health coaches from a university health coaching program at a mid-sized southwestern university participated in a semi-structured interview. The data were analyzed through interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: Peer educators faced numerous challenges when introducing nondiet, weight-inclusive approaches such as lacking credibility as a peer to challenge weight-centric messages, feeling conflicted about honoring clients' autonomy when clients are resistant to a weight-inclusive approach and feeling uncomfortable when discussing client vulnerabilities. Peer educators also identified several strategies that helped them navigate these challenges such as being intentional with social media, using motivational interviewing to unpack clients' concerns about weight, and seeking group supervision. Originality/value: Given the reality that health coaches will face challenges sharing weight-inclusive health approaches, educators and supervisors should explicitly incorporate strategies and training methods to help peer health coaches prepare for and cope with such challenges. More research is also needed to examine effective ways to introduce weight-inclusive approaches to college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how Arizona landscape architects have promoted the use of Sonoran native plants in Phoenix, Tucson, and surrounding desert cities and examines their strategies to create ecologically minded communities in challenging surroundings. In promoting native plants, landscape architects have not only created a vernacular landscape for Arizona's cities, but have helped find solutions to rising summer temperatures and excessive use of borrowed water. In their planning and design for native plants, they have integrated native plants into the diverse functions of cities, both societal and ecological, creating multifunctional landscapes. While these endeavors have widely entrenched native plant design as part of major urban initiatives in Arizona's desert cities, they have also revealed radical obstacles for native plant designs. Landscape architects have had to find a place for native plant systems amidst the diverse sets of needs of arid cities, from city-wide infrastructure systems to commercial interests and popular preferences, and in light of an overall energy balance within a desert region. This encounter marks yet another chapter in the history of landscape architects' work with native plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper describes the estimated prevalence of dental caries and periodontal disease in 2,550 children, 5 through 17 years of age, who resided in five southwestern states of the United States and were examined in the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES) of 1982-84 of the National Center tot Health Statistics. Dental caries in the Mexican American children was predominantly a disease of occlusal surfaces of molars: few smooth surfaces of posterior and anterior teeth were affected by caries. This intra-oral distribution of dental caries strongly supports the use of fissure sealants as a preventive procedure. Filled tooth surfaces contributed about 66 per ¢ of the total DMFS (decayed, missing, filled surfaces) scores. The analysis also shows that about 50 per ¢ of the 17 year old Mexican Americans had five or more filled or decayed teeth. Mild gingivitis was prevalent (76.9 per ¢) in the Mexican American children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation of earthen sites poses challenging questions regarding conservation methods and historic preservation. The National Park Service and other site managers have to strike a balance between conserving the sites while presenting them to the public: there is no ideal choice. It is impossible to prevent a ruin from continuing to deteriorate without changing its appearance or its status as a ruin. Therefore, the conservation of historic earthen ruins should perhaps be more appropriately thought of as a process which slows the pace of decay, rather than suspending or preventing it. This paper looks at over one hundred years (from 1889 to the present) of site conservation at a variety of earthen historic and archaeological sites in the American Southwest. In each case, the National Park Service manages and treats the earthen ruins. The main categories of conservation techniques, and the preservation questions that these techniques raise, are examined along with their advantages and disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Effective contraception prevents unintended pregnancy which disproportionately affects women in the criminal justice system. This study examined selected variables associated with contraceptive use by women on probation and parole living on the United States–Mexico border. Design: This quantitative correlational study examined individual and interpersonal variables—age, parity, ethnicity, prior contraception, self‐efficacy, pregnancy attitudes, and reproductive autonomy—that may influence contraception among 52 women under community supervision. Measures: Variable were examined with bivariate, multivariate analyses, and hierarchical logistic regression. Data were collected from a demographic and contraceptive use survey, and validated scales measuring reproductive autonomy and pregnancy attitudes. Results: Contraceptive methods were used by 89% of the women; 65% used effective methods, but this decreased to 35% among those released within the past year. Reproductive autonomy was associated with effective contraceptive use. Prior contraception and contraceptive self‐efficacy were significant, but wide confidence intervals suggested instability. The remaining variables were insignificant. Conclusion: No known studies have examined contraception use among women on probation and parole on the border. More women used some form of contraception than might be predicted. Collaborative efforts between correctional facilities and the community are needed to expand access to contraception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better understand risk management and mutual aid among American ranchers, we interviewed and mailed a survey to ranchers in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, and Cochise County, Arizona, focusing on two questions: (1) When do ranchers expect repayment for the help they provide others? (2) What determines ranchers' degrees of involvement in networks of mutual aid, which they refer to as "neighboring"? When needs arise due to unpredictable events, such as injuries, most ranchers reported not expecting to be paid back for the help they provide. When help is provided for something that follows a known schedule or that can be scheduled, such as branding, most ranchers did expect something in return for the help they provide. This pattern makes sense in light of computational modeling that shows that transfers to those in need without expectations of repayment pool risk more effectively than transfers that create debt. Ranchers reported helping other ranchers more often when they belonged to more religious and civic organizations, when they owned larger ranches, when they relied less on ranch vs. other income, and when they had more relatives in the area. Operators of midsize ranches reported helping other ranchers more frequently than did those on smaller and larger ranches. None of our independent variables predicted how many times ranchers reported receiving help from other ranchers. Although ranch culture in the American West is often characterized by an ethic of individualism and independence, our study suggests that this ethic stands alongside an ethic of mutual aid during times of need., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This follow up study with 23 normal functioning 1st graders examined the long-term effectiveness of Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) on academic achievement. Through the use of a one-way repeated measures analysis of variance, researchers examined the use of CCPT from pre-intervention to mid-intervention (16 sessions) to post-intervention (26 sessions). Results indicated that children who participated in 26 sessions of CCPT demonstrated statistically significant improvement on the Early Achievement Composite as measured on the Young Children's Achievement Test (YCAT), along with increases in the Reading, Mathematics, and Spoken Language subscales. Participants showed statistically consistent improvement in academic scores of the full duration of the study. Overall, the findings imply that CCPT as a long term method can support academic achievement in the school system with normal functioning 1st grade students. The outcome suggests long term CCPT is an intervention for elementary/primary school counselors to use with children who have emotional or academic needs. The findings open the door for school counselors or outside professionals to use play therapy with children in the school system as a way of providing academic support and thereby promoting the field of play therapy in the school system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During April 2010, in response to Arizona Senate Bill (SB) 1070 (a bill that allows law enforcement to initiate deportation processes during routine traffic stops, for example), a national boycott of Arizona was implemented by local and national non-profit organizations, grassroots groups, celebrities, musicians, activists, and other stakeholders. However, one year after its very successful inception, the SB 1070 boycott was suddenly called off by its more mainstream participants. In this article, I analyze the SB 1070 boycott as discussed in newspaper and television coverage, community and activist group websites, and political blogs in an attempt to understand why this boycott lost its momentum. Ultimately, I find that the SB 1070 boycott became a productive site from which the violent regime of neocolonial governance in the US Southwest was reaffirmed and rearticulated--especially the raced, classed, and gendered logics of this regime. I conclude by summarizing some of the "lessons" from the SB 1070 boycott in terms of consolidating insurgent geopolitical power in the US Southwest and beyond. Specifically, due to the various forces that co-opted and neutralized the insurgent potential of the SB 1070 boycott, I argue for abolition as a central grassroots political project or primary organizing goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research which indicates that Hispanic American residents living in the U.S.-Mexico border region have less access to healthcare than their inland counterparts, and it mentions the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey and the Area Health Resources File (AHRF) information database. The U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is addressed, along with the claim that many people in U.S.-Mexico border counties do not have health insurance.

We identified correlates of unsheltered status among Veterans experiencing homelessness and described distinct subgroups within the unsheltered homeless Veteran population using data from a screening instrument for homelessness that is administered to all Veterans accessing outpatient care at a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facility. Correlates of unsheltered homelessness included male gender, white race, older age, lower levels of VHA eligibility, substance use disorders, frequent use of VHA inpatient and infrequent use of VHA outpatient services, and residing in the West. We identified six distinct subgroups of unsheltered Veterans; the tri-morbid frequent users represented the highest need group, but the largest group was comprised of Veterans who made highly infrequent use of VHA healthcare services. Differences between sheltered and unsheltered Veterans and heterogeneity within the unsheltered Veteran population should be considered in targeting housing and other interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic enclaves may be protective for health. This study investigates the effects of neighborhood co-ethnic density on problem drinking among older Mexican American men. Probability sample of 2,086 community-dwelling Mexican Americans aged 75 or older drawn in 2004-2005 residing in communities in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. Problem drinking was found among 15.3 % of men (n = 350). For each percent increase in neighborhood percent Mexican American, men had 2 % lower odds of problem drinking [odds ratio (OR) 0.98; P < 0.05]. U.S. born men had lower odds of problem drinking (OR 0.40; P < 0.05) compared with foreign born men, while English language use was associated with greater odds of problem drinking (OR 2.14; P < 0.05). Older Mexican American men in neighborhoods with low levels of co-ethnic density, the foreign born, and those with English language facility had an increased likelihood of problem drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To identify depressive symptom trajectories and factors associated with trajectory group membership in the very old segment of the rapidly growing and long-living Mexican-American population. Design Latent growth curve modeling was used to identify depressive symptom trajectories and multinomial logistic regression to identify factors associated with trajectory group membership. Setting Data spanning three waves and 7 years (2004-05, 2007-08, 2010-11) drawn from the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly; homes of Mexican-origin elderly adults. Participants Community-dwelling Mexican Americans aged 75 and older living in the southwestern United States (N = 1,487). Measurements The 20-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results Three trajectory groups were identified: low throughout, increasing, and high but decreasing. Activity of daily living disability was the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms, followed by social support. Foreign-born individuals were at greater risk than those who are U.S. born for high but decreasing depressive symptoms than for low depressive symptoms. Conclusion Early detection and treatment of chronic disabling conditions, especially heart disease, cancer, visual impairment, and cognitive impairment, and increasing access to social participation should be the focus of treatment and intervention strategies for depression in very old Mexican Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the moderating effects of parents' linguistic preference, as a proxy for acculturation, on the relationship between parental worry and problem behaviors among 130 Mexican American early adolescents (M = 13; 51 % male) living in public housing neighborhoods in the Southwestern United States. Based on the family stress model we hypothesized that adolescents whose parents reported more general worry would have higher rates of delinquency and substance use and those who reported higher levels of parental supervision would have lower rates of delinquency and substance use. We hypothesized that these relationships would differ by linguistic preference, with Spanish language being equated to less acculturation and more risky. Hierarchal linear models controlling for multiple children in the same family indicated that worry among parents predicted higher rates of delinquency and substance use for adolescents whose parents were more acculturated whereas no relationship was found for less acculturated parents. No support was found for the protective effect of parental supervision and parental worry did not predict levels of supervision. These findings suggest that global worry among parents may impact delinquency and substance use among adolescents in families with parents who prefer Spanish through pathways other than supervision. The protective effect of Spanish language preference, which may indicate lower parental acculturation among Mexican American youth, indicates the need for more research examining possible mediators of the relationship between living in high-risk environments such as public housing and adolescent delinquency and substance use in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was a landmark decision that was the result of decades of efforts by grassroots activists and civil rights organizations to end legalized segregation. A less well-known effort challenged the extralegal segregation of Mexican American students in the Southwest. I combine original research and research synthesis to explore the connections between these legal campaigns. Three key differences between African American and Mexican American segregation had important implications for the legal strategies in the latter: (a) de jure versus extralegal segregation; (b) the legal whiteness of Mexican Americans; and (c) the racialization of language. While both sets of lawsuits drew on social science research to challenge segregation, differences in timing and legal arguments seem to have prevented sustained connections between the two efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Previous studies of the prevalence of immunity to hepatitis A (anti-HAV) in the United States have used urban settings or institutions for the mentally handicapped. In a rural setting among normal children, a serologic investigation of prevalence of anti-HAV was conducted in a boarding school adjacent to the Navajo reservation. The results show rates of anti-HAV that are the highest reported at the ages tested in any subpopulation in the United States, comparable only with those in developing countries. (Am J Public Health 1986; 76:282-283.) INSET: Irradiated What?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Kiva is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents a speech by historian Albert M. Camarillo, delivered at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians held in San Francisco, California on April 13, 2013, in which he discussed the twentieth-century history of how minorities such as African Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans dealt with residential segregation in urban areas of the Southwest.

Copyright of Kiva is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of American Anthropologist is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background Asian Americans are one of the fastest-growing minority groups in the USA, and Chinese constitute the largest group. Evidence suggests that Asian American adolescents experience higher levels of depressive symptoms than their same-gender white counterparts. Quantitative findings suggest associations between parenting factors and Chinese American adolescents' mental health. A qualitative understanding regarding Chinese American adolescents' perceived parenting styles and its relationship with adolescents' psychosocial health is warranted. Aim To gain an in-depth understanding of Chinese American adolescents' perceived parenting styles and how parenting styles might influence adolescents' psychosocial health. Methods In this qualitative study, we recruited 15 Chinese American adolescents aged 12-17 years in a southwest metropolitan area. We conducted two focus group interviews. Participants also filled out a brief questionnaire that included their socio-demographic information, immigration history and level of acculturation. Results Participants reported perceiving that parents had high expectations about academic performance and moral values. They also perceived stricter family rules regarding choices of friends compared with their non- Asian peers. Parents tended to be more protective of girls than of boys. Both Chinese American boys and girls reported poor or ineffective communication with their parents, which contributed to increased conflict between parents and adolescents and emotional distress of the adolescents. Conclusions The findings provide evidence for nurses to develop linguistically and culturally tailored resources (e.g. parent support groups, programs aimed to improving parent-child communication) or connect these families with existing resources to enhance parenting skills and consequently reduce emotional distress of their adolescent children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its establishment in the fall of 1996, the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, has served as a key incubator of first-rate scholarship on Texas and the transnational U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Although its visionary founding director, David J. Weber, died in August 2010 (his final article appears in this issue of western Historical Quarterly), the core mission of the center remains the same. As Weber's successor, I describe the annual operations of the Clements Center while touching on some of my own ideas about the future of this vital academic institute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses exchange between the U.S. and Mexican cattle industries between 1870 and 1947. According to the article, for many of the decades during the period, cattle, hides, and henequen fiber were the sole agricultural products that maintained a significant presence in U.S. markets. The article argues that during the last two decades of the 19th century, cattle raising in the U.S. and Mexico became increasingly intermixed through commerce. It states that this occurred because U.S. and Mexican cattle raisers shared a regional base in the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. The article examines how the cattle trade expanded between the two countries, the impact of political decisions on cattle commerce, and the trade advantages and disadvantages of the U.S. and Mexico.

The link between immigration and crime has garnered considerable attention from researchers. Although the weight of evidence suggests that immigration is not linked to crime, the public consistently views immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, as criminal and thus a threat to social order. However, little attention has been paid to why they are perceived this way. By drawing on the minority threat perspective, this article investigates the effects of objective and perceptual measures of community context on perceived criminal threat from undocumented immigrants. Analyses of data collected from four Southwest states and the U.S. Census show that the perceived size of the undocumented immigrant population, more so than the actual size of the immigrant population and economic conditions, is positively associated with perceptions of undocumented immigrants as a criminal threat. Additional analyses show that objective measures of community context do not affect native respondents' perceptions of the size of the undocumented immigrant population. The study's findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration in the United States is traditionally thought of as a federal-level policy, but in recent years, states have been exceedingly active in this domain. We analyse the context and discourse of immigration-related legislative resolutions from Southern border-states, recipients of the heaviest immigration flows, and find that states do not respond in the same way to immigration challenges, and these differences occur over time and space. Some states seek to federalize the issue and push Congress to take action, while others are slowly incorporating immigrants into domestic politics and have begun to treat them as yet another state constituency. These findings have significant implications both for federal-state relations in the immigration realm, and for immigrants themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After years in Nepali refugee camps, over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees are being resettled around the world by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This study examines the relationship between religious coping and acculturation stress among newly-resettled Hindu Bhutanese refugees in the United States (US), the projected home of most Bhutanese refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the intersection of the development of the petroleum industry and Protestant Evangelicalism in the U.S. southwest in the 20th century. According to the article, several communities in the region, such as Beaumont, Texas, nurtured spiritual enthusiasm and faith at the prospects of oil beginning roughly in 1901. The author examines the perception that the existence of oil, also referred to as black gold, in the region was seen as a special gift from God meant to advance the kingdom of God. The article also discusses the history of religion and oil in the U.S. beginning in the 19th century, including the views of the late U.S. oil magnate John D. Rockefeller.

Background: School district superintendents continue to favor collaborative relationships with their local business communities amid concerns over free-market competition, maintaining public legitimacy, and scarce financial resources. Prior research is inadequate regarding the development, implementation, and institutionalization of school and business collaboration, with respect to current institutional and market pressures, and the unique contributions of superintendents. Purpose: The purpose was to examine the superintendent’s role in the development and institutionalization of school and business partnerships in a district without prior history of collaborative relationships and to assess capacity for sustainability. Setting: A medium- sized (12,850 students) metropolitan-area school district in the U.S. Southwest that also includes one local chamber of commerce was the setting. Participants: Two district superintendents (transition in leadership occurred), a chamber of commerce CEO, and 13 other school district officials and business leaders (i.e., principals, chamber members, partnership coordinator) directly involved in partnerships or providing administrative oversight participated. Research Design: Qualitative case study was the research design. Data Collection and Analysis: Data were obtained using semistructured interviews, observations, and document analysis. A conceptual model for developing business partnerships and neo-institutionalism theory guide this qualitative analysis. Findings: Superintendent agency and district capacity for action (i.e., lack of professional development, departure of key roles, overdependency on myth and ceremony) both enabled and constrained partnership development, implementation, and capacity for institutionalization in the context of current institutional and market pressures. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the complimentary usefulness of the conceptual model and neo-institutionalism theory for studying leadership of school district and business partnerships and building school and community capacity for educational change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines identity negotiations of intercultural Japanese-U.S. American families particularly in terms of a) how dominant ideologies and societal structures relate to the formation and negotiation of intercultural married couples' identities, and b) how they negotiate the relational, family, and cultural identities in their relationship. Both interpretive and critical perspectives are utilized to uncover the complex nature of identity negotiations. Interviews with intercultural families reveal that their identity locations are negotiated from historical contexts and gender and racial ideologies. Ambivalence, contradictions, dialectical tensions, and the intersectionality of their identities are often mentioned in the interviews. Particularly in talking about their childrearing process, the parents negotiate multiple identities and manage dialectical tensions of their children's possible future identities. In general, the results show that intercultural families created a unique and secure space to navigate the social, economic, and political climates in the United States and Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies suggest that Mexican-American youths who feel attached to their ethnic group engage in more prosocial behaviors. However, the psychological mechanisms that account for this association are not clear. Drawing on social identity and self-categorization theories, we examined whether the association between ethnic group attachment and tendencies to engage in six distinct types of prosocial behaviors was mediated by familism and Mainstream American values among Mexican American youths. Ethnic group attachment, familism, Mainstream American values, and prosocial tendencies were assessed among 207 Mexican-American early adolescents using an interview format. Latent variable path models showed that ethnic group attachment was associated with greater tendencies to engage in compliant, emotional, dire, and anonymous helping, and that each of these associations was at least partially mediated by greater familism values. Mainstream American values were related to greater tendencies to engage in public prosocial behavior and less altruistic behavior, but did not mediate the associations between ethnic group attachment and prosocial tendencies. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are addressed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal education is both a right and an obligation bestowed on young people in most all nations of the world. Teachers (adults) and students (youth) form a co-present dyadic contract that must be maintained within the classroom. Substitute teachers fill a role in sustaining the integrity of this teacher-student link, whenever teachers are absent. This article describes one ethnographer's quest to use strategies from performative ethnography to better function as a substitute teacher and, more generally, to adapt techniques from auto-ethnography to find a purpose while doing subbing in public schools of a Borderlands county in the Southwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1995, the Veterans Health Administration reorganized its health services structure to emphasize ambulatory care. Successful health care planning and improving access to ambulatory care services now depends upon a better understanding of health care needs and outpatient services. Because the veteran population is heterogeneous, it is important to understand the health, access issues, and utilization of ambulatory care services in order to develop effective strategies and interventions to ensure access to and utilization of ambulatory care. Drawing on a focus group methodology with 86 Native American veterans, representing 34 tribes, this study is a qualitative examination of the health, access, use of the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care services, barriers to health care, and satisfaction with care experienced by Native American veterans. Results reveal problems in accessing care, receiving appropriate care, and coordinating care within the VA health care system. Policy and program recommendations include increasing outreach and education efforts regarding the availability of benefits and services, improving coordination of services between the Indian Health Service and the VA, and reemphasizing the importance of patient-centered care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several school performance indices were evaluated using achievement data from multiple longitudinally matched middle school student cohorts in a large district in the southwestern United States. Measures designed to index the within-cohort achievement status and growth of students as well as the status and growth-based changes that occur over years between different student cohorts were studied. Within- and between-cohort status and growth-based estimates of school performance were generated by applying simple and relatively complex statistical models to the longitudinal time-series data obtained on students. Results indicated that within-cohort status-based estimates were closely related to student demographics and between-cohort estimates were associated with cohort enrollment size and initial performance level. These results suggest that schools may often be rewarded and penalized on the basis of factors over which school personnel have limited or no control. Implications for the measurement and evaluation of school performance are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern concerns with climate change often overlook the extensive history of both climate change and human adaptation over the millennia. While questions of human--climate system causation are important, especially to the extent that our current behavior is driving environmental change, human societies have experienced multiple climate changes in the past, independent of causation. The histories of cultural adaptation to those changes can help us understand the dynamic interaction between climate and society, expanding the possibilities for "proactive adaptation" that may be available to us today. The underlying principles of cultural adaptation are generally independent of the source of the climate change, and the lessons of the past can suggest social and economic paths that can lead toward sustainability and away from collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both academic and popular works acknowledge the importance of hidden trails and secret hiding spots in the lives of enslaved communities on Southern antebellum plantations. However, such "slave landscapes," often celebrated as sites of black resistance, also contributed to the frequent failure of escape efforts. Slave landscapes are best understood not simply as networks of sites and passages occupied by enslaved blacks, but also as the cognitive order that enslaved people imposed upon the settings they shared with master-enslavers, non-slaveholding whites, and others. While providing them many advantages on and around the plantation, slaves' geographic understandings became a disadvantage once they moved very far away in pursuit of freedom. Nonetheless, the slave landscape still played in an important role in emboldening many to set out for freedom in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study of families in the Southwestern United States. The Southwest is made up of many distinct territories--some are geographical, some are political, some are economic, and some are scenic. In the past, this Southwest existed in a mutually beneficial relationship with its indigenous inhabitants. It tries to find out reciprocal extended family, clan and tribal relationships. Along with ties of kinship and community, generations of Southwestern tribes or pueblo communities have been prehistorically and historically united by shared traditional knowledge, spiritual beliefs, and practices, as well as by the languages in which the knowledge and practices were learned and lived.

The article explores the relationship between society and agriculture in the southwestern region of United States during prehistoric times. It was found out that before the thirteenth century, an integral relationship between regional abandonments and aggregated configurations were already developed. Agriculturists have already been experimenting with denser populations, intensified production and more integrated territorial units in few southwestern areas by A.D. 1000. Moreover, areas with densest regional populations, productive technologies and well-integrated territorial configuration experienced disruption during the fifteenth century.