Between Myth and Madness: The Premigration Dream of Leaving Among Young Somali Refugees

Many young Somali refugees experience long premigration waits and a poorly delimited transition period in a succession of countries before reaching their final destination. During this difficult passage, a myth dealing with departure and exodus is collectively constructed, and it serves as a dynamic, mobilizing dream that orients individual strategies. This substitution of 'dream travel' for real travel during the transition period, especially if it is prolonged, may cause Somali youths to lose contact with reality and eventually to slide into madness. The authors' approach is based on three assumptions: (a) that pastoralism predisposes the Somali to value travel as a way of maturing, (b) that age-based peer groups create special migratory dynamics, and (c) that an ethic of solidarity involves many people in the adventure of a migrant youth. When trapped in an indefinite transition period, young men share khat-chewing sessions during which they relate success stories and dreams of leaving. Many grow frustrated with the delay, and if their departure plans fall through, the 'dream trip' often becomes 'dream madness.' Actual cases illustrate how some young Somali get lost in their dreams. A young Somali's vulnerability is heightened when he extricates himself from the system of reciprocal obligations or when the liminal stage ends with the mourning of the impossible dream. In the universe of madness visited by some young Somali migrants, the boundaries between the real and the imaginary are poorly marked. The paper is based on fieldwork carried out in the Horn of Africa and in Canada, interviews with Somali immigrants and members of the community, and clinical psychiatric data collected in Montreal.     

The Economics of International Cooperation in the Apprehension and Prosecution of Maritime Pirates

Article 100 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea requires parties to “cooperate” against maritime piracy, but how this cooperation is to be achieved is undefined. Enforcement is a public good—creating uncompensated benefits for others, thus suffering from free rider problems. The analysis in this article explains why more pirates captured are released than prosecuted, why the United Nations and the International Maritime Organization are seeking to reduce enforcement costs, why some in the shipping industry want to apply the 1988 Convention Against Terrorism at Sea, and why still others want to move prosecution of pirates from national courts to an international court.     

Piracy and Privateers in the Golden Age: Lessons for Today

Customary international law has governed high seas piracy for many centuries and is now codified in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC). In this article, we discuss the reasons why enforcement against piracy today is less effective than three hundred years ago. We contend that crime, including the crime of piracy, can be modeled as a rational choice that is responsive to expected rewards and punishments. Based on this view, we argue that three hundred years ago, the free rider problem resulting from enforcement on the high seas was less prevalent than it is today because seaborne trade was more concentrated in the vessels of a few countries, making enforcement more like internal than international policing. The persistence of piracy today also stems from a continuing low probability of capture coupled with lenient punishments. In addition to enforcement differences, we contrast the sources of piracy in the two eras—in the earlier period, the end of privateering led many privateers to engage in piracy, whereas today, the main source of pirates in the Western Indian Ocean is the existence of a “failed state,” and off West Africa and South East Asia pirates are common criminals.     

Social status-dependent nest choice of territorial males under reproductive parasitism in a Lake Tanganyika cichlid Telmatochromis vittatus

Field and laboratory studies were conducted to examine how territorial males of a Lake Tanganyika cichlid Telmatochromis vittatus balance the conflicting demands on nest choice between occupying large nests with more females and avoiding reproductive parasitism (nest piracy, which is adopted by the largest males in the population). Pirates less frequently intruded the nests farther from neighbours, perhaps due to the costs associated with travelling between nests. The field experiment showed that territorial male T. vittatus sacrificed the fitness benefits that large nests offer and instead prioritized occupying the nests farther from neighbours on which fewer pirates intruded. The field observations suggested that they adopt different strategies for nest choice according to their relative competitive ability to pirates; the large territorial males, who are size-matched to pirates and can defend their nests against them, compete for larger nests among the more-isolated nests, whereas subordinate territorial males, which are smaller than pirates and thus inferior to them, compete for the more-isolated nests among the less-isolated nests. These findings suggest that the territorial male T. vittatus chooses the more-isolated nests to avoid pirate males at the expense of occupying large nests.     

Refugee MD not wasting skills even though door to medical practice in Canada is closed

Dr. Lula Hussein, a Somali refugee with a medical degree from East Germany, is not licensed to practise in Canada, but she is making her mark in Ottawa''s Somali community by counselling, advising and helping her fellow refugees. One of her particular interests is in ending the practice of female genital mutilation, which still finds favour among some of Canada''s refugees and immigrants.     

Webs of Legitimacy and Discredit: Narrative Capital and Politics of Ritual in a Timor-Leste Community

This article explores the interconnections among origin narratives, migration patterns and ritual authority in a Timor-Leste community. By recognising the dimension of rituals as sources of power, we analyse the different ways social actors negotiate their position in social space by either supporting or contesting the legitimacy of the ritual leaders. We suggest how, in a context with historical levels of high migration and immersed in rapid social change, precedence is not only challenged by modern ideals around individual rights and choices, but by the re-interpretation of mythical narratives and the access to ritual performance. The paper provides a discussion of the notion of narrative capital and shows how subordinated classes resulting from development policies from past state regimes articulate new forms of social mobility in the contemporary context of rural Timor-Leste.     

Beyond the playing field: Experiences of sport,social capital,and integration among Somalis in Australia

This paper explores the role of recreational sport as a means and marker of social integration by analysing the lived experiences of Somali people from refugee backgrounds with sport. Drawing on a three-year multi-sided ethnography, the paper examines the extent to and ways in which participation in sport contributes to Somali Australians' bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. It is shown how social bonds and bridges developed in the sports context assist in the (re)building of community networks that have been eroded by war and displacement. Sport's contribution to social capital should however be neither overstated nor over-generalized. Bridging social capital in sport is relatively weak and few bridges are established between Somalis and the host community. Negative social encounters such as discrimination and aggression can highlight and reinforce group boundaries. Access to and use of linking social capital is also unequally distributed across gender, age, ethnic, and socio-economic lines.     

Randomised Placebo-controlled trials and HIV-infected Pregnant Women in Developing Countries. Ethical Imperialism or Unethical Exploitation

The maternal-fetal HIV transmission trials, conducted in developing countries in the 1990s, undoubtedly generated one of the most intense, high profile controversies in international research ethics. They sparked off a prolonged acrimonious and public debate and deeply divided the scientific community. They also provided an impetus for the revision of the Declaration of Helsinki – the most widely known guideline for international research. In this paper, I provide a brief summary of the context, outline the arguments for and against the controversial use of placebo controls, and focus on particular areas that I believe merit further discussion or clarification. On balance, I argue that the researchers failed in their duties to protect the best interests of their research subjects, and to promote distributive justice. I discuss the difficulties of obtaining valid consent in this research context, and argue that it is unethical to inform women of their HIV status without at least offering them prophylactic treatment for their unborn children. A global view of justice, which endorses international equity, cannot be squared with international research guidelines that allow 'local conditions' to define the scope of duty to the control group. Finally, I suggest that the heated debate reflects a tension, if not an outright war, between two conflicting meta-ethical systems, or incommensurable paradigms, that underpin scientific research involving human subjects.     

International scientific meetings: relation between structure and function.

Increasing pressure is being placed on the scientific community to evaluate research activities. Scientific meetings consume a small but important fraction of the research budget. Audit of a well established series of scientific meetings showed that they met their immediate objectives in that they were international and multidisciplinary and provided a forum in which all participants actively contributed to discussion. The meetings had a positive outcome for the participants, leading in many cases to the subsequent exchange of research material (60% of participants) and to the establishment of collaborative research projects (31%). The impact of the meetings on the scientific community at large was assessed by citation analysis, which showed that the proceedings were cited early, often, and over a substantial period.     

The National Struggle Museums of a divided city

The article compares the two National Struggle Museums situated on either side of Nicosia, the divided capital of Cyprus. Their differences, it is suggested, reflect the differences of Greek and Turkish nationalism while their similarities are an outcome of their sharing the same form of historical representation: the past as a narrative of national struggle. The structural similarities of the two museums are thus utilized in order to highlight the specific ‘syntax’ of narratives of national struggle, as well as to discuss some of their implications for multi‐ethnic states in which the past is primarily conceptualized in this way. It is suggested that the notion of the nation as an ‘imagined community’ should be supplemented by a notion of the nation as the central actor and moral centre of a historical narrative that gives meaning to the past and indicates future orientations.     

How the most widespread African crow,the Pied Crow Corvus albus,depends on man

The frequently reported close association between the Pied Crow and man suggests a possible explanation for the crow's wide distribution throughout sub-Saharan Africa, but the mode and origin of this association have received little attention. In the present study, roadside counts of Pied Crows were made in Madagascar and Cameroon to search for preferred biotopes among natural reserves, artificial pastures, cultivations and towns, while roadside counts in Botswana and Kenya served to compare the Pied Crow and the Somali Crow Corvus edithae, a species probably more similar to common ancestors, in terms of their association with wild and domestic ungulates. The occurrence of the sympatric Cape Crow Corvus capensis, assumed to be a less human-dependent species, was also taken into consideration for the association with ungulates. Pied Crow biotope preference was similar in both Madagascar and Cameroon and the combined data showed a significant preference for artificial pasture over cultivation and artificial pasture over natural reserve, and the preference for artificial pasture over town was near to significance. The combined data of the Pied Crow in Botswana and the Somali Crow in Kenya showed a significant preference for domestic ungulates. However, this preference may have been weaker in Kenya, the Somali Crow being rather similar to the Cape Crow in this respect. The Pied and Somali Crows may have diverged somewhere around Ethiopia and the Pied Crow may have expanded its range by following the environmental changes made by ungulate-raising people, who created new savanna-like biotopes.     

Meeting report: GSC M5 roundtable at the 13th International Society for Microbial Ecology meeting in Seattle, WA, USA August 22-27, 2010

This report summarizes the proceedings of the Metagenomics, Metadata, Metaanalysis, Models and Metainfrastructure (M5) Roundtable at the 13th International Society for Microbial Ecology Meeting in Seattle, WA, USA August 22-27, 2010. The Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) hosted this meeting as a community engagement exercise to describe the GSC to the microbial ecology community during this important international meeting. The roundtable included five talks given by members of the GSC, and was followed by audience participation in the form of a roundtable discussion. This report summarizes this event. Further information on the GSC and its range of activities can be found at http://www.gensc.org.     

Rehabilitation in the Philippines

The international community has perspective and experience that will freshen our approaches to rehabilitation. Martin Grabois, MD^*, editor of this special section, has gathered articles written by experts from other countries. The intention is to stimulate thought, discussion, and action—and to broaden horizons.     

Ten Canoes

This article is a walking interview in an urban area of Sheffield, in which there has been considerable violence between Somali and Afro-Caribbean males in 2009. Photographs were taken at the significant stopping-points. The article elucidates how a short walk can reveal local issues and concerns. There is also a parallel discussion of the usefulness of visual methods and walking interviews which is contained within endnotes, along with further information.     

The ‘successful’ return: Caribbean narratives of migration,family, and gender

Research on female migrant caregivers has tended to focus upon the emotional and social problems they encounter working abroad, given women's traditional role as caregivers for their own families. This article analyses how Caribbean women who have returned after a period abroad as domestic workers inscribe their migration experiences within the gendered narrative of the good relative who migrates to help the family left behind and therefore deserves social recognition in the community of origin. It argues that this narrative allows the women to both affirm and reinterpret local family and gender roles within the context of migration. This analysis points to the close connection between narrative structures, accounts of migration experiences, and self‐presentations and suggests that narratives about family and gender roles not only reflect people's lives, but are also a malleable resource that can be (re)shaped to validate a variety of life‐courses.     

Trends in the perception of ecological problems in the United Nations general debates

To what extent have recent warnings of deepening ecological problems become topics of discussion among international political elites? To address this question a content analysis was undertaken of the speeches comprising the general debates of the 1968, 1972, and 1976 sessions of the UN General Assembly to identify all instances in which ecological issues were mentioned. Despite other indications of an increase in environmental consciousness in the international community, it was found that ecological problems have not been discussed very extensively in the general debates and are far less salient than several other agenda items for which data were also collected. Moreover, the environment peaked as an issue in the 1972 session and declined in prominence in 1976. It was also found that the more developed a country is, the greater the tendency for its delegates to mention environmental problems in their speeches. The lack of prominence of ecological issues is interpreted on the basis of two alternative assumptions: first, that the degree of international awareness of environmental problems is not adequately represented in the general debates and, second, that the findings accurately reflect what is generally a low level of environmental concern in international circles.     

Fifteen years of Servitude et Grandeur to the application of a biophysical technique in medicine: The tale of AFMBioMed

AFMBioMed is the founding name under which international conferences and summer schools are organized around the application of atomic force microscopy in life sciences and nanomedicine. From its inception at the Atomic Energy Commission in Marcoule near 2004 to its creation in 2007 and to its 10th anniversary conference in Krakow, a brief narrative history of its birth and rise will demonstrate how and what such an organization brings to laboratories and the AFM community. With the current planning of the next AFMBioMed conference in Münster in 2019, it will be 15 years of commitment to these events.     

Is there a general theory of community ecology?

Community ecology entered the 1970s with the belief that niche theory would supply a general theory of community structure. The lack of wide-spread empirical support for niche theory led to a focus on models specific to classes of communities such as lakes, intertidal communities, and forests. Today, the needs of conservation biology for metrics of “ecological health” that can be applied across types of communities prompts a renewed interest in the possibility of general theory for community ecology. Disputes about the existence of general patterns in community structure trace at least to the 1920s and continue today almost unchanged in concept, although now expressed through mathematical modeling. Yet, a new framework emerged in the 1980s from findings that community composition and structure depend as much on the processes that bring species to the boundaries of a community as by processes internal to a community, such as species interactions and co-evolution. This perspective, termed “supply-side ecology”, argued that community ecology was to be viewed as an “organic earth science” more than as a biological science. The absence of a general theory of the earth would then imply a corresponding absence of any general theory for the communities on the earth, and imply that the logical structure of theoretical community ecology would consist of an atlas of models special to place and geologic time. Nonetheless, a general theory of community ecology is possible similar in form to the general theory for evolution if the processes that bring species to the boundary of a community are analogized to mutation, and the processes that act on the species that arrive at a community are analogized to selection. All communities then share some version of this common narrative, permitting general theorems to be developed pertaining to all ecological communities. Still, the desirability of a general theory of community ecology is debatable because the existence of a general theory suppresses diversity of thought even as it allows generalizations to be derived. The pros and cons of a general theory need further discussion.     

Ethnicity and class identity: The case of French‐ and English‐speaking Canadians*

This study addresses the racial and religious contexts of identity formation among Lebanese immigrants to the United States of America and Somali immigrants to Canada. Each enters with a different racial status: Lebanese as white; Somalis as black/visible minority. Ethnographic interviews explore the strategies of adaptation and identity development within these groups. Specifically, we compare and contrast the Lebanese and Somali experience through an analysis of ethnic relations in the country of origin, the conditions of immigration, and through accounts of their encounters and identity negotiation with the host society. We demonstrate the strategies each group implements to negotiate both race and religion in identity development. Our findings reveal that each group attempts to make their religious identity evident, however, Somali immigrants must negotiate the effects of ‘othering’ processes with both race and religion, while Lebanese immigrants build a religious identity from privileges afforded to them by virtue of their white racial status.