Karen Umemoto

Walking in Another’s Shoes Epistemological Challenges in Participatory Planning

Growing cultural diversity brings new challenges to the practice of planning. In participatory planning, this diversity poses challenges related to communicating across culture-based epistemologies and soliciting the voices of multiple publics. This article explores five challenges that planners face when working in communities where the cultural background of residents is different from one’s own. These challenges are (1) traversing interpretive frames embedded in culture, history, and collective memory; (2) confronting otherness in the articulation of cultural values and social identities; (3) understanding the multiple meanings of language; (4) respecting and navigating cultural protocols and social relationships; and (5) understanding the role of power in cultural translation.

Deliberative Planning in a Multicultural Milieu

This article explores the utility of deliberative planning theory given the scholarly debate over its limitations and prospects. A case study situated in the Japanese city of Kawasaki illustrates how deliberative planning theory can illuminate the limitations of deliberative planning theory and practice while revealing potential paths to create more democratic and inclusive planning processes. The case underscores the importance of (1) public acknowledgement of the constraints to deliberative planning, (2) deliberating over the design of a deliberative process, (3) mitigating identified constraints to deliberative planning, and (4) being open to alternative or parallel strategies given structural and other constraints in deliberative processes.

Essential Elements for Community Engagement in Evidence-Based Youth Violence Prevention

In the field of youth violence prevention, there has been increasing emphasis on “evidence based” programs and principles shown through scientific research as reaching their intended outcomes. Community mobilization and engagement play a critical role in many evidence-based programs and strategies, as it takes a concerted effort among a wide range of people within a community to alter behavior and maintain behavioral change. How do concerned individuals and groups within a community engage others within and outside of that community to effectively plan, develop and implement appropriate EB programs as well as evaluate the outcomes and impacts of locally developed programs yet to be proven? The authors discuss five elements essential for community engagement in evidence-based youth violence prevention based on their work in a university-community partnership through the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (API Center), a National Academic Center for Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention Center supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They include: (a) aligning EBPs with a community’s shared vision and values; (b) establishing an inclusive environment for the planning, implementation and evaluation of EBPs; (c) nurturing collaboration for increased effectiveness and efficacy of EBPs; (d) building adequate leadership and community capacity to develop and sustain EBPs; and (e) building a learning community for evaluation and self-reflection. The authors propose placing greater emphasis on “evaluative thinking” and organizational capacity for evaluation as we pursue evidence-based practices for youth violence prevention. This is especially important for ethnic groups for which an evidence base is not well established.

Moving Toward Comprehensiveness and Sustainability in a Social Ecological Approach to Youth Violence Prevention: Lessons from the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center

Youth violence is a serious public health problem affecting communities across the United States. The use of a social ecological approach has helped reduce its prevalence. However, those who have put the approach into practice often face challenges to effective implementation. Addressing social ecology in all its complexity presents one obstacle; the ability of private non-profit and public agencies to sustain such comprehensive efforts presents another. Here, we provide an example of our efforts to prevent youth violence. We worked with the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (APIYVPC) and two communities on O`ahu. We provide a case example from the Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (APIYVPC) of our work, in collaboration with two communities on O`ahu, to develop and implement a youth violence prevention initiative that is becoming both comprehensive and sustainable. We illustrate the incremental nature of what it means to be comprehensive and we underscore the importance of reaching sustainability as the project unfolds.

Exploring the hypothesis of ethnic practice as social capital: violence among Asian/Pacific Islander youth in Hawaii.

Background: Studies of youth violence have usually examined social capital using qualitative methods, but remain limited by small sample sizes. In addition, few studies examine violence among Asian/Pacific Islander (API) youth, even though they are one of the fastest-growing youth populations in the USA. Aims: To contribute to a better understanding of culture and ethnicity in youth violence among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by quantifying ethnic forms of social capital. Methods: We use an n = 326 sample of three API groups from Oahu, Hawaii. Defining social capital as ethnic practice, we test Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan forms of youth social capital on intimate and non-intimate violence. Results: Bivariate findings associate lower violence with language ability among Filipinos, coming-of-age practices among Hawaiians, and community leader engagement among Samoans. Multivariate tests showed language to be the strongest correlation. Bivariate tests also suggested potentially risky forms of social capital. Conclusions: Results lead us to hypothesize that social capital that deliberately places individuals within their respective ethnic communities are risk-reducing, as are those that promote formal ethnic community structures. Those that formalize ethnic practice and social capital into commercial activities may be associated with higher risk of violence. Given the relatively small sample size and the exploratory approach for the present investigation, further research is needed to determine whether the findings can be replicated and to extend the findings of the present preliminary study.

Technology, Culture, and Environmental Uncertainty: Considering Social Contracts in Adaptive Management

Natural resource planning is often riddled with uncertainty, especially when new technologies are introduced. While an “adaptive management” approach is attractive in such situations, it is difficult to implement where there is a real or perceived decline of the state. Based on a case study of mariculture development in Hawaii, the authors suggest that planners and policy makers consider informal social contracts as complements to formal regulatory frameworks to increase the viability of adaptive management regimes. Discussion includes the benefits as well as potential pitfalls of social contracts where formal regulations may be necessary.

Being Fearless and Fearsome: Colonial Legacies, Racial Constructions, and Male Adolescent Violence

Violence and masculinity, as many criminologists have argued, are tightly coupled in the United States. According to the current masculinity and crime perspectives, men who confront multiple oppressions (e.g., class, race, and political) are particularly apt to use violence because, while marginalized men lack economic power, they possess power in terms of their gender, especially through the use or threat of violence. While many scholars acknowledge that racial oppression can contribute to the development of violent masculine identities, the authors argue that race remains undertheorized in prevailing explanations of masculine identities and violence. In this study, the authors argue for further advancement of the colonial criminology framework to deepen our understanding of the race-based inequalities leading up to violence. More specifically, the authors analyze data collected from a 6-year ethnographic study of youth violence among Pacific Islander adolescents to illustrate the effects of the lasting legacy of colonialism as well as the continuing salience of racial and ethnic identity formation in explanations of violence, primarily involving Native Hawaiian and Samoan youths in Hawai‘i.

Diversity and Social Justice in Planning Education: A Synthesis of Topics, Pedagogical Approaches, and Educational Goals in Planning Syllabi

This article provides an overview of the types of educational goals, pedagogical approaches, and substantive topics in planning education related to issues of diversity and social justice. The study is based on a content analysis of one hundred syllabi collected from more than seventy instructors from North American planning schools during 2012–2013. It presents a synthetic summary of the range of educational goals and pedagogical approaches. It describes the curricular content in the form of substantive topics. The article is intended to support efforts to incorporate issues of diversity and social justice in planning education.

Do different dimensions of ethnic identity reduce the risk of violence among Asian American and Pacific Islander adolescents in Hawai‘i?

ABSTRACT This study examines whether different dimensions of ethnic identity are associated with reduced risk of violence among an understudied population: Asian American and Pacific Islander adolescents. Drawing from survey data of 298 Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Japanese, and Filipino adolescents in Hawai‘i, this study focuses on whether three dimensions of ethnic identity (“affirmation and belonging,” “ethnic identity achievement,” and “other-group orientation”) related to overall and different types of violence. Results of the multivariate analyses reveal that higher levels of ethnic identity achievement are associated with reduced risk of overall violence and family/partner violence, which suggests that this dimension is a beneficial social-psychological resource. Contrary to our expectations, higher levels of ethnic affirmation and belonging are associated with attacking someone. In addition, other-group orientation has no relationship with violence. Implications of our findings regarding distinct effects for different dimensions of ethnic identification are discussed pertaining to developmental research and violence prevention.

Epidemiology of mixed martial arts and youth violence in an ethnically diverse sample

Mixed martial arts’ (MMAs) growing international popularity has rekindled the discussion on the advantages (e.g., exercise) and disadvantages (e.g., possible injury) of contact sports. This study was the first of its kind to examine the psychosocial aspects of MMA and youth violence using an epidemiologic approach with an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) adolescent sample (N = 881). The results were consistent with the increased popularity of MMA with 52% (adolescent males = 73%, adolescent females = 39%) enjoying watching MMA and 24% (adolescent males = 39%, adolescent females = 13%) practicing professional fight moves with friends. Although statistically significant ethnic differences were found for the two MMA items on a bivariate level, these findings were not statistically significant when considering other variables in the model. The bivariate results revealed a cluster of risk-protective factors. Regarding the multiple regression findings, although enjoying watching MMA remained associated with positive attitudes toward violence and practicing fight moves remained associated with negative out-group orientation, the MMA items were not associated with unique variances of youth violence perpetration and victimization. Implications included the need for further research that includes other diverse samples, more comprehensive and objective MMA and violence measures, and observational and intervention longitudinal studies.