1,720,957 research outputs found
Gender based structu[r]al violence in relation to the traditional practice of wife inheritance : the case of Malawi : an empirical study of the violence experienced by widows involved in wife inheritance practice
Get PDFMasteroppgave i "Comparative social work" - Universitetet i Nordland, 2013The purpose of the study is to investigate how gender based violence is enhanced through the
practice of wife inheritance. This study is meant to describe and analyze the experience of
widows who have undergone the practice of wife inheritance or were asked to follow this
tradition. The study gathers the opinion of the widows, in regards to how they experienced the
practice and whether they approved of the practice or not. The study also aims at exploring
the different kinds of violence that women are subjected to during wife inheritance process.
Related to violence, the study will focus on the economical, psychological/emotional, physical
and sexual violence associated with the practice as experienced by the interviewed widows.
The study acknowledges that women face violence in different stages of their lives from
childhood to old age. In old age and adulthood, it includes the abuse of widows (economically
and physically), depriving widows of their inheritance, sexual cleansing of widows and all
violence associated with the tradition, culture and custom.
The study draws on four different but related social work theories namely, feminist persective
with a view on gender and intersectionality, the systems approach, social construction of
reality and anti-oppressive approach. The data consists of key informant interviews with three
leaders from the study area and eleven in depth interviews with widows who were inherited or
were asked to be inherited.
The findings of the study demonstrate that the views of the widows with regards to this
tradition is not homogenous. Tradition vs modernity influences how one perceives the
practice. The study also finds that consenting inheritance or not depends on many factors
facing the widow more than just the willingness to be inherited or not, which is an issue of
intersectionality. The study has also demostrated that the practice serves different
beneficiaries and most of the times those who benefit from the practice in different
circumstances tend to advocate for the continuation of the practice. Findings of the study
show that the practice does not just benefit the widow.
The study suggests that widows or women in this case should be made aware of their rights as
equal citizens. They should be given a choice to either follow the tradition or not without fear
of harmful consequencies like losing custody of their children and property.
Key words: wife inheritance, gender based violence, feminist perspective, social construction
of reality, anti-oppressive aproach, systems approach
Problems Facing Disabled People in Malawi : A Critical Reflection on My Encounter with a Disabled Woman in a Rural Area in Malawi
Get PDFThis critical reflection is based on my encounter with a disabled woman in a district in Malawi, and how I have reflected and analyzed the encounter using social work theories. The essay reflects on the story of the disabled woman and my own perception at that time, in addition to my analysis of these perceptions using different perspectives in social work based on my current understanding of these perspectives. In line with Fook’s (2002; 68) critical reflection techniques, social work theories will be applied to deconstruct and reconstruct the critical incident. The essay highlights the challenges and dilemmas I encountered in attempting to make meaning out of this encounter, which left me helpless and powerless, as I could not offer her any sustainable help at the time.<br /
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Social work and families in child welfare in Malawi
Get PDFThis article discusses professional discretion in relation to placing a child outside the family, as understood by Malawian social workers. The article is a product of an exploratory study covering different aspects of social work practice with children and families in Malawi. It is based on focus group discussions with practicing social workers that were conducted using a vignette. This article describes how social workers handle child protection cases, in which a child has to be placed outside the home or family. The article points out different solutions and the reasoning behind certain decisions on placing children outside their home. The study explores issues of patriarchy, intervention methods into families and the cooperation between social workers, community members and other professionals when helping families. The study found that a number of different factors affect the decision of placing a child outside the home. Social workers in this study put an emphasis on the importance of helping children within the immediate- and extended family to help cope with the lack of financial resources that would provide alternative options
Social work and families in child welfare in Malawi: Social workers considerations when placing a child outside the home
Get PDFThis article discusses professional discretion in relation to placing a child outside the family, as understood by Malawian social workers. The article is a product of an exploratory study covering different aspects of social work practice with children and families in Malawi. It is based on focus group discussions with practicing social workers that were conducted using a vignette. This article describes how social workers handle child protection cases, in which a child has to be placed outside the home or family. The article points out different solutions and the reasoning behind certain decisions on placing children outside their home. The study explores issues of patriarchy, intervention methods into families and the cooperation between social workers, community members and other professionals when helping families. The study found that a number of different factors affect the decision of placing a child outside the home. Social workers in this study put an emphasis on the importance of helping children within the immediate- and extended family to help cope with the lack of financial resources that would provide alternative options
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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