Plasticity,political economy,and physical growth status of Guatemala Maya children living in the United States

Migration of Maya refugees to the United States since the late 1970s affords the opportunity to study the consequences of life in a new environment on the growth of Maya children. The children of this study live in Indiantown, Florida, and Los Angeles, California. Maya children between 4 and 14 years old (n = 240) were measured for height, weight, fatness, and muscularity. Overall, compared with reference data for the United States, the Maya children are, on average, healthy and well nourished. They are taller and heavier and carry more fat and muscle mass than Maya children living in a village in Guatemala. However, they are shorter, on average, than children of black, Mexican-American, and white ethnicity living in Indiantown. Children of Maya immigrants born in the United States tend to be taller than immigrant children born in Guatemala or Mexico. Families that invest economic and social resources in their children tend to have taller children. More economically successful families have taller children. Migration theory and political economy theory from the social sciences are combined with plasticity theory and life history theory (parental investment) from biology to interpret these data. Am J Phys Anthropol 102:17–32, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The mobilization of the ethnic vote: A thesis with some Scottish and Welsh evidence*

This article provides a historical and comparative analysis of post‐imperial migrations of ethnic unmixing. It examines the post‐Soviet migration of ethnic Russians to Russia in the light of the migrations of other once‐dominant ‘new minorities’ engendered by transitions from multinational empire to incipient nation‐states: Balkan Muslims during and after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Hungarians after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, and Germans after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the German Kaiserreich.     

An Audit of Cervical Cancer Deaths In Nottingham

Death certificates were reviewed and 57 women were identified whose primary cause of death was cervical cancer. Their cervical smear records were reviewed from laboratory files. Only nine had participated in the cervical cancer screening programme before the diagnosis of cervical cancer was made. One woman had an abnormal smear as a result of cervical screening but failed to attend for follow-up.
The problem of false negative smears is also addressed and the value of review of negative smears for the purposes of cytology audit is emphasized.     

Panic Disorder,Somatization, and the New Cross-cultural Psychiatry: The Seven Bodies of a Medical Anthropology of Panic

This article aims to adduce aframework that will allow for thecross-cultural study of panic disorder. Theauthors take sensation as the key unit ofanalysis, aiming to contribute to a medicalanthropology of sensation. The seven analyticperspectives that are suggested in the articleare the following: the full spectrum of panicattack sensations (the sensation body), thebiological generation of panic sensations (thebiological body), sensation as invoking anethnophysiology (the ethnophysiological body),sensation as metaphor (the metaphoric body),sensation as invoking the landscape (thelandscape body), sensation as invokingcatastrophic cognitions (the catastrophiccognitions body), and sensation as invokingmemory (the memory-associational body).     

Borders of violence - boundaries of identity: demarcating the Eritrean nation-state

This article explores the concepts of borders and boundaries in the formation of an Eritrean national identity. The dialectical relationship between the State of Eritrea and its borders towards the Sudan and Ethiopia are addressed in order to analyse how this relationship influences the formation of a 'formal' national identity. The cultural, political, religious and historical configuration of the Eritrean frontiers makes it difficult to demarcate a particular Eritrean identity, distinguishing it from Sudanese ethnic and religious identities or historical-politico and ethnic Ethiopian identities. The Eritrean border conflicts with the Sudan and Ethiopia are used as empirical cases to show how state violence through the mobilization of the multi-ethnic national army is employed in order to manifest a significant other that the 'formal' Eritrean national identity may be contrasted against. The article concludes that the Eritrean boundaries of identity and borders of territory are still in the making, and what they will eventually embrace and contain remains to be seen.     

Deaths in a desert baboon troop

Over a 4-year period, three of 22 infants born in a desert-dwelling chacma baboon troop (Papio ursinus) survived to more than 6 months of age. Tick infestation and infant kidnapping by adult females were the main causes of infant death. The high neonatal mortality resulted in a rapid birth rate through a decrease in duration of interbirth intervals for mature females. There were more adult male deaths in the troop than adult female deaths. Males died from canine inflicted wounds sustained during fights.     

Health,Welfare Reform,and Narratives of Uncertainty Among Cambodian Refugees

Massive disruptions to a way of life, such as thosebrought on by widespread violence, terror, andgenocide, disorder the body as well as the socialorder. When they flee their homelands, refugees bringtheir experiences of violence and terror with them. Drawing on an ethnographic study of 40 Cambodianrefugees between the ages of 50 and 79 who sufferedfrom one or more chronic illnesses, we explore howrefugees who live with chronic illnesses and aredependent on government support were affected by thethreat of welfare reform. When welfare reformthreatened to cut Cambodian refugees' income, it poseda new crisis for those who were chronically in limboand placed further constraints on their lives. Through their narratives, Cambodian refugees enactedtheir bodily distress and resisted the threat ofwelfare reform. The story of threatened welfarereform in the U.S. and its possible consequences forrefugees is a story of quixotic U.S. politics,policies and antidotes for refugeeism gone awry.     

Meteorological conditions and sports deaths at school in Japan, 1993–1998

We evaluated the association between meteorological conditions and sports deaths at elementary, junior high and senior high schools. Data were collected from attached documents such as accident reports and death certificate records in the National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health in Japan. Evaluation of seasonal variation showed a significant concentration of deaths from heat disorders and drowning in July and August. When heart disease was evaluated according to the sports situation, significant seasonal variation with a high number of deaths in September–December was observed in sports events. Concerning circadian variation, deaths from heart disease showed a high peak at 10:00–11:00 a.m. in physical education classes and sports events, and at 2:00–5:00 p.m. in sports club activities. Analysis using a multiple logistic model showed a significantly lower odds ratio from heart disease and a significantly higher odds ratio from heat disorders at a wet bulb globe temperature of 21.0°C than at <21.0°C. According to the sports situation in heart disease, the odds ratio in sports club activities was significantly lower on days with rainfall than on days without rainfall. According to the school categories in heart diseases, the odds ratio in girls in elementary school was significantly higher than that in boys, but the odds ratio in girls in senior high school was significantly lower than that in boys.     

Statistical Study of Protective and Risk Factors Assessed on Adolescents from South Eastern Europe and Italy, Attending High Schools in Apulia (Italy)*

This research is part of a European project in which particular attention was dedicated to “refugee” adolescents (whose migration occurred after traumatic socio-political and economic events in their country of origin). The purpose of this research was to provide a better understanding of the psychological risks and protective factors linked to the socio-cultural integration of refugee adolescents from countries with serious socio-economic difficulties. Another goal of the research was to contribute to the programmes which favour the psychophysical recovery of these adolescents from South-East Europe, with the target of attaining a normal and, as far as possible, healthy integration. The overall results obtained from the investigation form the basis for attempts to provide new models for the future creation of better policies of integration.*A collaborative project (conducted by University of Bari, Johannes Kepler Univesity in Linz, University of Tuzla, University of Prishtina, University of Tirana, Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb), supported by the European Commission 5th Framework specific research and technological development programme “Confirming the International Role of Community Research” – INCO – Copernicus (ICA2-CT-2002-10006).     

Equality and exclusion: ‘Racism’ in a Swedish town

Research on racism is prolific but ethnographic studies of what could be termed racism in everyday local social life are much less common. The article examines local Swedish classifications of difference and belonging in relation to meaning of racism and considers how ideologies of equality relate to forms of exclusion and racist expressions. The aim is to discuss the articulation of distinctions of exclusion and inclusion in everyday contexts through the presence of the refugee Other. The material is based on fieldwork conducted during the first half of the 1990s in a small town in central Sweden. The establishment of a refugee reception center in the town had concrete and symbolic repercussions on the local residents, making people's sense of belonging and processes of exclusion more openly conflictual.     

Adjustment of adolescent refugees in Croatia

The cultural similarity of Bosnian refugees in Croatian Society and their fluency in the Croatian language make it difficult to grasp the reality of complex social relations integral to the community of Bosnians in Croatia. The study focuses on adolescent refugees, a particularly vulnerable population, who face a double challenge in integrating past traumas and defining a new identity within and between the two cultures. School as an educational institution stimulates and directs socialization, while all the processes present in a wider sociocultural context, including the problems of immigrants and the host society, affect in a special way the school life. The analysis attempts to define the nature of relational outcomes resulting from the interaction of refugee and host acculturation orientations in terms of intercultural communication and/or intergroup discrimination, and social distance among pupils attending elementary and secondary schools (aged 12–18). Evaluation of the quality of existing contacts and communication between refugee children and their host peers will be discussed in relation to potential acculturative stress and its consequences on psychological well being.     

What challenges does the humanitarian crisis and large number of refugees from Ukraine pose for Polish oncology?

The war in Ukraine has led to a massive influx of refugees into Poland, posing a major challenge for the health care system. The large number of refugees will undoubtedly lead to a substantial increase in the number of patients requiring treatment for a wide range of conditions, including cancer. In the present article, we describe and discuss the many difficulties faced by cancer treatment centres in Poland due to these circumstances. Key issues include the lack of proper diagnostic testing in this population and differences in oncological practices between Poland and Ukraine. Other problems include difficulties in obtaining patients’ medical records and communication issues caused by the language barrier. In addition, in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the low vaccination rate among Ukrainian refugees is also a significant risk factor. Addressing these challenges will require a comprehensive approach involving the national health care agency and individual cancer centres. This is especially important in oncology due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, which requires the contribution of specialists from many different fields as well as appropriate funding.     

Updating Images of South Sudan

In this essay, I compare and contrast two recent films that update the anthropological record on what has become of Nuer and Dinka people of southern Sudan by documenting their resettlement in the United States as refugees. Lost Boys of Sudan and A Great Wonder: Lost Children of Sudan Resettling in America trace the displacement of Sudanese youth by the civil war and their adaptation to U.S. life. Both films provide an alternative way of viewing these youth that challenges the "uprooted" and "denuded" refugee stereotype. By examining Nuer and Dinka within a refugee migration framework, these films engage broader theoretical questions about the tension between refugees as victims of larger structural events beyond their control and their adaptive strategies in negotiating complex and shifting circumstances.     

The Truth from the Body: Medical Certificates as Ultimate Evidence for Asylum Seekers

Whether through traditional law or modern torture, the body has always been a privileged site on which to demonstrate the evidence of power. But for immigrants, the poor, and, more generally, the dominated—all of whom have to prove their eligibility to certain social rights—it has also become the place that displays the evidence of truth. In France, as immigration control increases, asylum seekers are more and more submitted to the evaluation of their physical sequels and psychic traumas, as if their autobiographical accounts were not sufficient. In this article, we show how nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) deal with the dilemmas posed by this situation, how they develop protocols standardizing their expertise, and how their medical authority progressively substitutes itself for the asylum seekers' word. In this process of objectification, it is the experience of the victims as political subjects that is progressively erased.