“I thought I’d have more trouble with white people!”: Exploring racial microaggressions between West African immigrants and African Americans

Racial tensions continue in 21st-century United States through the communication of racial microaggressions. We are interested in the communication of racial microaggressions directed towards West African immigrants by people with whom they expected to be allied, African Americans. Sixteen people who identified as West African immigrants were interviewed about communication struggles with African Americans in this qualitative, interpretive analysis. Owen’s thematic analysis was employed to analyze interview data. Results suggest the communicative impact of racial microaggressions on recipients is far-reaching and consequential. Narratives illustrate microaggressive communication occurs daily through invalidating, dismissive lines of questioning as well as targeted name calling and pejorative dialogue.     

Starting and Sustaining an Undergraduate Research Program: The SURIEM Experience at Michigan State University

Abstract

Mentoring undergraduate students in research is both rewarding and challenging. In this paper we present how we established a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in the mathematical sciences at Michigan State University. A goal of our REU is to include students who are at an early stage of their study of mathematics. We share our experiences in recruiting students, designing research projects, and mentoring our participants. We discuss the challenges we faced and the solutions we found while working with a diverse group of undergraduate students from across the nation.     

Images of the family: on interviewing young children about their social concepts

The empirical study explores children's perceptions of the family and family membership. 300 four‐, six‐ and eight‐year‐old children were interviewed with a semi‐structured ‘Family Concept Interview’. Interview strategies and research findings are presented and discussed. Establishing field entry rituals and determining appropriate modes and levels of discourse are important factors for creating an interview situation in which children are continuously attentive and motivated. Findings indicate that children do have a generalised and complex image of the family. The majority construct relatively large families with two or more children; over half the children include grandparents (father and mother)’, but one‐parent‐households are also accepted as ‘a family’, regardless of the child's own family situation. ‘Common residence’ is an important but not a necessary criterion for family membership. The findings show significant age differences concerning some aspects of children's family concepts.     

One size fits all?: Towards a differentiated regional innovation policy approach

Innovation has moved to the foreground in regional policy in the last decade. Concrete policies were shaped by “best practice models” derived from high-tech areas and well performing regions. These are often applied in a similar way across many types of regions. Here an attempt is made to show that there is no “ideal model” for innovation policy as innovation activities differ strongly between central, peripheral and old industrial areas. In this paper we analyse different types of regions with respect to their preconditions for innovation, networking and innovation barriers. Based on this classification different policy options and strategies are developed.