Here is something you can't understand: the suffocating whiteness of communication studies

ABSTRACT

The authors utilize a modernity-coloniality framework to highlight practices of whiteness and white dominance within the academy and the field of communication studies in particular. The article grounds its framework in personal experience and theories in the flesh to build comradery with feminist of color scholarly forebears and to share with those who struggle to create spaces of change within the academy today and in the future. The authors advocate for an active consciousness of “included exclusion” as the first step toward decolonization. Decolonizing discursive and embodied knowledges creates avenues for social justice and change within the academy and beyond.     

Qualifications and Skills of Subject Librarians in Selected African Countries

Although subject librarians are found in many academic libraries worldwide, not enough has been written about the profession on the African continent. A study was, therefore, conducted, with the aim of adding to the knowledge about subject librarianship as it is practised in selected southern African countries. This article reports on the findings related to one of the main objectives of the study, which was to determine the qualifications and skills of subject librarians. The survey method was used to collect data from study participants. Semi-structured questionnaires were sent to 279 subject/learning support librarians, and semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted with selected library managers from selected institutions included in the survey. The study revealed that most respondents held degrees and/or postgraduate qualifications in library and information science, that more than half of them also held qualifications in other disciplines at various levels, and that many of them felt that they needed to acquire more information and communication technology skills.     

Effekte videobasierter Trainings zur Förderung der Selbstwirksamkeitsüberzeugungen über Klassenführung im Grundschulunterricht

Self-efficacy in classroom management and knowledge on classroom management are important teacher resources regarding their health. Fostering student teachers in their self-efficacy in classroom management and situated knowledge on classroom management is a promising approach for reducing reality shock at the beginning of in-service teaching. Thus, the present quasi-experimental pre-post control group study investigates whether video-based and practice-oriented coursework in teacher education can promote self-efficacy in classroom management and the professional vision of classroom management. Analyzing own classroom videos as well as analyzing videos from other teachers lead to a significantly higher latent increase in self-efficacy and professional vision than that of a control group. This was only the case for professional vision in a course with own teaching elements but without video analysis.     

Comparison of 1 and 2 days per week of strength training in children

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of 1 and 2 days per week of strength training on upper body strength, lower body strength, and motor performance ability in children. Twenty-one girls and 34 boys between the ages of 7.1 and 12.3 years volunteered to participate in this study. Participants strength trained either once per week (n = 22) or twice per week (n = 20) for 8 weeks at a community-based youth fitness center. Each training session consisted of a single set of 10-15 repetitions on 12 exercises using child-size weight machines. Thirteen children who did not strength train served as age-matched controls. One repetition maximum (1RM) strength on the chest press and leg press, handgrip strength, long jump, vertical jump, and flexibility were assessed at baseline and posttraining. Only participants who strength trained twice per week made significantly greater gains in 1RM chest press strength, compared to the control group (11.5 and 4.4% respectively, p < .05). Participants who trained once and twice per week made gains in 1RM leg press strength (14.2 and 24.7%, respectively) that were significantly greater than control group gains (2.4%). On average, participants who strength trained once per week achieved 67% of the 1RM strength gains. No significant differences between groups were observed on other outcome measures. These findings support the concept that muscular strength can be improved during the childhood years and favor a training frequency of twice per week for children participating in an introductory strength training program.