Lies,Damned Lies,and Genocide

This article analyzes the claim that “deliberate denial [of genocide] is a form of aggression that ought to be regarded as a contribution to genocidal violence in its own right.” Its objective is to demonstrate that the claim is substantially correct: there are instances of genocide negation that are genocidal acts. The article suggests that one such instance is contained in a letter sent to Professor Robert Jay Lifton by Turkey's ambassador to the United States. The article is divided into three parts. In the first part, it delineates and discusses the unexpected contents of the letter to Lifton. In the second, it primarily deals with three topics: lying, genocide, and Austinian performatives. In the third part, it takes the points made in the second part and applies them to the contents of the letter to Lifton, and demonstrates that the letter is an instance of genocide negation that is genocidal.     

Toward a New Model of the Hindu Pantheon A Report on Twenty-some Years of Feminist Reflection

This article argues that the familiar triadic model of the Hindu pantheon obscures the significance of goddesses in Hinduism by incorrectly locating the major division within the Hindu pantheon along gender lines. Instead, it will be argued that the familiar ‘moksha-dharma’ tension and synthesis be used to organise the deities into a pantheon, with both female and male deities patronising both moksha and dharma.     

Integrating Diabetes Self-Management Interventions for Mexican-Americans into the Catholic Church Setting

Churches provide an innovative and underutilized setting for diabetes self-management programs for Latinos. This study sought to formulate a conceptual framework for designing church-based programs that are tailored to the needs of the Latino community and that utilize church strengths and resources. To inform this model, we conducted six focus groups with mostly Mexican-American Catholic adults with diabetes and their family members (N = 37) and found that participants were interested in church-based diabetes programs that emphasized information sharing, skills building, and social networking. Our model demonstrates that many of these requested components can be integrated into the current structure and function of the church. However, additional mechanisms to facilitate access to medical care may be necessary to support community members’ diabetes care.     

PTSD Symptom Severity and Family Adjustment Among Female Vietnam Veterans

This study examined relations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and several family adjustment variables among a sample of 89 female Vietnam veterans and their male relationship partners. Findings revealed associations between PTSD symptom severity and measures of marital adjustment, family adaptability, family cohesion, parenting satisfaction, and psychological abuse. Results suggest that the presence of PTSD symptomatology may have important implications with regard to the family life of female Vietnam veterans.     

Active Recreation and Well-Being: The Reconstruction of the Self Identity of Women With Spinal Cord Injury

This qualitative study obtained the viewpoints of four women with spinal cord injury about the meaning of active recreation in their lives. Using the constant comparison method, common points of view were revealed within the narratives, leading to the finding that active recreation contributed to a positive self-concept. This facilitated the reconstruction of participants' identities as fit, confident, and social women actively engaged in their communities. Since participation in active recreation was found to be important to the self-identity of women who value physical activity, integrating this role into occupational therapy can facilitate the recovery of a desired self.     

Adults' perception of children's height and reaching capability

This study investigated the influence of some characteristics of the task, the model, and the observer, in the estimation errors of adults while judging children's affordances. One hundred and eighteen adults, divided in 4 height groups, estimated height and vertical reaching capability of 3 girls (3.55-, 4.74- and 7.06-years old), in the presence and in the absence of the model. Constant errors (CE) (estimation-real value), absolute percent errors (APE) (|1 − estimation/real value| × 100), and error tendency (underestimations, right judgments, or overestimations) were calculated. A model and a condition effect were verified on APE. APE for the younger model were greater than for the other models (p < 0.001), and APE in the absence of the model were greater than in her presence (p < 0.05). Generally, adults underestimated height (51.8% of underestimations vs. 32.3% of overestimations) and overestimated reachability (51.3% of overestimations vs. 37.7% of underestimations). The overestimation of reachability was more notorious for the younger model, which might reflect adults' difficulty to consider the specificity of younger children's body proportions. Actually, the overestimation bias may suggest that adults perceive young children as on the basis of adult's geometrical proportions.     

The educational theorists, the teachers, and their history of education

The following contribution expands the current discussion on the status and function of the history of education at the methodological, or epistemological, level by introducing the perspective of a history of educational knowledge. This opens up a theoretical option for educational historiography that avoids the identification of history of education with history of a discipline, or the institutionalized knowledge of education and teaching. As a consequence, some history of education topoi – as the history of a discipline – can be called into question and practiced historically rather than educationally or morally.     

From “blame by praise” to “praise by blame”: Analysis of vocal patterns in ironic communication

From a communication psychology point of view, irony is not only a rhetorical figure or a cunning linguistic device, but also an articulated strategy for a flexible negotiation of meaning, as well as for establishing and maintaining relations with others. Within the “irony family” phenomena our attention is focused on the sarcastic irony generated in a conflict context (“praise by blame”) and on the kind irony produced in a cooperation context (“blame by praise”). The effects of the variability of contextual cues on the vocal variables (Fo, energy, time) of irony were studied. Through the analysis of the vocal features of standard phrases in a conflict or cooperation context, an ironic dominant pattern has been found consisting of caricatured vocal traits, although differences referring to the two ironic expressions came out. From a subject‐by‐subject analysis, four ironic patterns were obtained: (1) in the cooperation context (a) a rather high and changeable pitch and strong energy (“bantering” joy) were observed, as well as (b) a low and monotone pitch and strong energy (emphatic mark of tenderness); (2) in the conflict context (a) a very high and changeable pitch, strong energy, and slow rate of articulation (“accented banter”) were found, as well as (b) a low and not very changeable pitch, slow rate of articulation, and steadily soft energy (like scorn and cold anger). Following these four vocal patterns, the ironic voice could be defined as a “voice of banter.” In such a way, irony appears as a method used to manipulate the weight of indirect speech, which allows the efficacy of the word and the innocence of silence. Moreover, the ironist can be described as an able director of his own image, able to play with the voice. Within social relationships, in fact, he can use his own voice for calibrating strategically his ways of (un)masking himself to the others.     

The Relationship of Culture and Empathy in Cross‐Cultural Counseling

Empathy has been identified as a core condition for providing counseling. There are numerous articles discussing the components of empathy. However, as the U.S. becomes increasingly ethnically diverse and the world becomes more globalized, there is little discussion on how empathy will be effective with diverse populations. This article discusses the interaction of culture and empathy and suggests guidelines for establishing cultural empathy.