Michael R. Cope

Disruption of Routine Behaviors Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

ABSTRACT This paper frames the unfolding impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a process of lifeway disruption, analyzing the degree to which residents of spill affected communities were prevented from undertaking routine behaviors during the disaster. Special attention is paid to the influence of time, natural resource employment, and community sentiment. Drawing on data from the Louisiana Community Oil Spill Survey, the results show that people in the spill impacted region were prevented from engaging in routine behaviors, though this disruption has steadily decreased over time, suggesting a general trend toward recovery. Consistent with the renewable resource community concept, the results also show that those with ties to the fishing industry were more likely to be prevented from undertaking routine behaviors than were nonfishers. Finally, community sentiment is shown to ameliorate routine behavior disruption, thus, promoting resilience. Overall, these results challenge notions of monolithic paths to disaster recovery.

Post-feminism for children: feminism ‘repackaged’ in the Bratz films

After their release in 2001, Bratz dolls carved into Barbie’s previously monopolistic share of teen doll sales. Amidst their growing popularity, cultural critics expressed a host of concerns about Bratz dolls, especially over how they sexualize youth, but the line grew to include a host of products like costumes, makeup kits, games, books, clothing, and movies. It also inspired new, similar doll lines from other toy companies. In this article, we situate the Bratz’s popularity in a specific cultural moment tied to the history of modern feminism. We use a content analysis of the Bratz movie series to explore the feminist and post-feminist thematics it contains. We identify the images of girlhood that are being marketed through the films and explore how the series repackages not only girlhood but also feminism itself in a way that encourages girls to exchange political power for purchasing power.

Native American Vietnam-era Veterans’ Access to VA Healthcare: Vulnerability and Resilience in Two Montana Reservation Communities

As a growing segment of the military, Native Americans are expected to increase enrollment in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare. Currently, 20% of Native American veterans are aged 65–74, which means they served during the Vietnam era. This study explores the experiences of rural American Indian veterans from two Montana reservations with accessing VA health services. Utilizing detailed data obtained in focus group and individual interviews, we examine the experiences, attitudes, barriers and needs of rural Vietnam-era veterans. Analyses indicate that while Native American Vietnam-era veterans experienced a poor reception returning to the US after military service, they had more positive receptions in their home reservation communities. However, reintegration was often impeded by poor local opportunity structures and limited resources. As they have aged and turned to the VA for healthcare, these veterans have encountered barriers such as lack of information regarding eligibility and services, qualifying for care, excessive distances to health services, the cost of travel, and poor quality of assistance from VA personnel. Despite variations in their resources, tribal community efforts to honor veterans have begun to facilitate better access to healthcare. Focusing on the roles and importance of place–based resources, this study clarifies challenges and obstacles that Native American Vietnam-era veterans experience with accessing VA health services in rural, reservation communities. Additionally, findings show how tribal efforts are facilitating access as they begin to implement the 2010 agreement between the VA and Indian Health Services to better serve Native veterans.

Creole: a contested, polysemous term

ABSTRACT In this paper, we critically examine the polysemous term, creole, used at different times and various geographical areas to describe diverse identities, languages, peoples, ethnicities, racial heritages, and cultural artefacts. Our objective is twofold: (1) to describe the historically contested nature of the term and its connection to broader trends in defining race in the United States and (2) to suggest that a deeper understanding of racially situated terms such as creole can help to highlight the contextualized character of racial/ethnic divisions, trends, and labels. Our analysis shows that in many ways the Creole people of the United States Gulf Coast Region truly represent the “melting pot” mantra in espoused American ideology and exemplify a direct challenge to bygone racial ideologues which espoused the idea that mixing produces hybridized, impudent, weak, and sickly offspring.

From mass consumer society to a society of consumers: Consumption and the experience of community in late modernity

Abstract Many scholars argue that consumption of goods and services has eclipsed the local community as the locus of contact between the individual and society. Residents of two Mississippi Delta communities, in 1996 and again in 2007, were asked how often they shopped for consumable items outside of their communities. Logistic regression demonstrates a significant interaction effect between year and outshopping such that outshopping was positively associated with community sentiment in 1996 but not in 2007. These results may reflect larger shifts in society, as the function which community traditionally served – an access point to society – may have been replaced by hyper-individualized consumption. Such a transformation in consumption habits is adequately explained by the effects which globalization has had on rural residents’ consumption habits. Arguably, peoples’ contact point with society has shifted from its once solid-modern and genuine community footings to its present “liquid” and unstable simulacra of community.