Institute on Race and Ethnicity- Category A (Research)

Troy Abel and Maureen Zeise, UW-Green Bay
Osei-Mensah Aborampah, UW-Milwaukee
Jeanne Hewitt, Ann Snyder, and Julia Snethen, UW-Milwaukee
Jerlando Jackson, UW-Madison
Stanlie James, UW-Madison
James Oberly, UW-Eau Claire
Nicole Roberts, UW-Milwaukee
Lynet Uttal, UW-Madison

Troy Abel and Maureen Zeise (graduate student), Department of Public and Environmental Affairs, UW-Green Bay - "Oneida Environmental Ethics: Local Knowledge and Policy Justice."
Much of the social science literature on environmental justice coarsely examines the spatial concentration of pollution in poor and minority communities that overshadows qualitative and historical research. Institute funding will support graduate student collaboration in research that examines the role of local environmental knowledge, ethics, and justice in the cultural belief systems of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. The project's goal is to begin providing qualitative and historical analysis that will deepen the understanding of environmental injustices experienced by the Oneidas. A combination of semi-structured interviews with 10-15 cultural leaders will be combined with a content analysis of historical documents in an exploration of Oneida Nation sovereignty and self-determination, environmental justice, stewardship and land ethics, and human rights.

Osei-Mensah Aborampah, Department of Africology, UW-Milwaukee - "Ghanaian Traditional Healers and HIV/AIDS Intervention/Prevention."
Until western medication is made affordable and easily accessible to persons living with AIDS in developing societies like Ghana, patients will continue to rely heavily on traditional healers. This proposal seeks to furnish some additional data bearing on the role of traditional healers, especially women healers, in HIV/AIDS intervention/prevention in Ghana to determine the effectiveness of their treatment. Information from this and a previous study will be analyzed for presenting at professional associations, and incorporated into a booklength manuscript on Ghana's sociocultural traditions and institutions.

Jeanne Hewitt, Institute of Environmental Health, Ann Snyder, Department of Human Kinetics, and Julia Snethen, College of Nursing, UW-Milwaukee - "Measurement Issues and Procedures for Studying Health Behaviors and Obesity in 10-12 Year-Old Latino Children."
Last year a group of UW-Milwaukee faculty and community partners received a grant from the National Institute on Environmental Health Sciences. In that application, it was proposed to use existing validated instruments to assess physical activity, food intake, social and family environments, as well as built environment characteristics (e.g., neighborhood and housing characteristics, crime, pedestrian and motor vehicle injury, availability and use of transportation systems, accessibility and affordability of food, use of fast food and other restaurants). This Obesity and Built Environmental proposal will examine the problem of obesity in the two most populous Latino neighborhoods in Milwaukee, each one having very different built environments. The major limitation of the first application involved the use of the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) instrument, designed for older children, to be used in a classroomadministered setting. Although sufficiently reliable and valid with children in grades 8 through 12, the YRBS is unreliable when administered to younger children. Thus, the primary purpose of this study is to determine the reliability and validity of food intake and physical activity items from the YRBS and additional new items generated by this research team using in-person interviews, and to determine the reliability of physiological measurements (height, weight, blood pressure, pulse) in children ages 10-12. The acceptability of the interview questions and research procedures by the Latino community will also be examined. This will be accomplished in two phases. In Phase I, 20 children ages 10- 12 and their primary caregiver will be interviewed to assess internal consistency and intra-interrater agreement to validate children's' responses with their caregiver's, and to test physiological (height/weight, blood pressure/pulse) measurement protocols. In Phase II, the revised YRBS will be administered with 36 children-caregiver dyads to evaluate the reliability and validity of the YRBS and physiological measurements.

Jerlando Jackson, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, UW-Madison - "What Do We Know About the Glass Ceiling Effect? A Critical Review of Social Science Research."
The concept of the "glass ceiling effect" has emerged in social science research in general, and in education in particular, over the past twenty years. These studies have described the impediments that women and people of color encounter in their quest for senior-level positions (e.g., CEOs) in society as a result of this phenomenon. Literature, both empirical and non-empirical, has provided broad and varied interpretations of the glass ceiling effect. In turn, the literature is less than settled on the application of the term. This research will analyze and critique approximately 270 documents to advance the theoretical and practical knowledge of the glass ceiling effect in social science research, specifically as it relates to race, ethnicity and gender.

Stanlie James, Department of Afro- American Studies, UW-Madison - "Worthy of Liberation: Black Feminisms and International Human Rights."
This project articulates an interrelationship between Black Feminist and International Human Rights theorizing and activism. Disheartened by the entrenched recalcitrance of the U.S. government and, in turn, the limited agenda and success of the Civil Rights movement, some Black women, continuing long established traditions of confronting racism, sexism and classism, are looking towards the international movement of human rights as a viable option. Through human rights, their struggles could be linked to others fighting multiple oppressions while global attention could be focused on the failure of our government's policies and laws to protect the rights of minorities. The project explores U.S. Black women's commitment to social justice by analyzing the international dimensions of their activism and scholarship, while, at the same time, questioning Black Feminisms' contributions to international human rights discourse and practices.

James Oberly, Department of History, UW-Eau Claire - "The Electronic Royce-Kappler of Wisconsin."
More than a century ago, two employees of the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled information to produce two valuable reference works. Charles Royce produced a set of maps depicting every land cession by an Indian tribe to the United States from 1784 to 1890. Charles Kappler compiled a reference work that included all ratified treaties between Indian tribes and the United States as well as significant acts of Congress legislating on Indian affairs. This project will merge the two paper reference works into one web-based project that will allow users to see and analyze the land history Wisconsin Indians.

Nicole Roberts, Department of Psychology, UW-Milwaukee - "The Emotional Impact of Media Images: A Comparison of African Americans and European Americans."
How do viewers respond emotionally to information communicated by someone of their own ethnic group versus a different ethnic group? What attitudes, values, and beliefs influence these emotional responses? This research will address these questions by examining the emotional responses of African Americans and European Americans to media clips (commercials, political speeches, stand-up comedians) featuring either African Americans or European Americans. In addition to questionnaires, behavioral and physiological measures will be collected. The study will show how racial and ethno-cultural backgrounds interact with cultural context to influence emotions in daily life. This work has significant implications since emotional responses guide how we process information, make decisions, and interact with others, as well as influence whether our physical and mental health are sustained or compromised.

Lynet Uttal, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, UW-Madison - "Latino Families in the Midwest: Parenting Education and Mental Health."
Funding of this proposal will support the analysis of data collected on the local knowledge and belief systems of Latino immigrant parents who are raising their children biculturally in the United States. This mental health issue has been addressed in educational workshops in Dane County, Wisconsin, for the last four years. Data has been collected from field observations of discussions in the workshops, research slips and pads, individual interviews and focus groups with parents, childcare providers, and nonprofit agency staff. A book manuscript about Latino families in the Midwest and articles about bicultural parenting issues and program design will be produced.