Joy Kreeft Peyton, Donald A. Ranard, & Scott McGinnis (eds.), Heritage languages in America: Preserving a national resource. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics and Delta Systems, 2001. Pp. vi, 327. Pb $20.95.

2003 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-441
Author(s):  
Lida Dutkova-Cope
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Long Beach ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Subject ◽  
National Resource

This volume, a product of the First National Conference on Heritage Languages in America, held in Long Beach, California, in 1999, opens with the editors' introduction, followed by fourteen chapters within five thematic sections: “Defining the field,” “Shaping the field,” “Educational issues,” “Research and practice,” and “A call to action.” Together, they make a compelling case for the need to preserve and exploit heritage languages in the US as a national resource. The book provides a comprehensive overview of pressing issues and challenges within the growing field of heritage language (henceforth HL) education, and it successfully demonstrates “why those who are involved in the heritage language movement believe that it is important for the United States to preserve its non-English languages” (5). The volume is intended primarily for “educators, community leaders, researchers, grant makers and policymakers” (5), though its clear, nontechnical language makes it accessible to any reader interested in the subject. Its effective thematic organization, likely to appeal to both novice and expert readers, and its overall coherence, accentuated by ample cross-referencing, testify to careful editorial preparation and suggest the desire of all involved to speak with one voice as they build their case and issue a call for action on behalf of heritage languages in the US.

“It is the hardest to keep”: Kurdish as a heritage language in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (237) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaffer Sheyholislami ◽  
Amir Sharifi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
The Us ◽  
First And Second Generation

AbstractThis article situates the Kurdish language within the diasporic context of the United States, and explores the roles that the language plays for the community. This is investigated through a mixed method encompassing literature and media reviews, interviews with community members and leaders, and a survey conducted among the Kurds in Southern California. The findings show that both first and second generation Kurds see their language not only as a symbol of their cultural identity and survival but a means of building and maintaining relations with each other, with other Kurds in the US, with relatives in the homeland, and also with their heritage. Nevertheless, members of the second generation think that language constitutes one of the most challenging cultural heritage elements to keep for many linguistic, socio-economic, cultural, and political reasons. The article concludes that there are no easy ways of maintaining minority languages like Kurdish much less transmitting them to future generations. The prospect for a promising future seems highly unlikely as long as heritage languages in the US are perceived as personal choices only, and the state does not assume responsibility for their maintenance let alone their transmission to future generations of newer immigrants.

Marcus Cunliffe Writes America

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-382
Author(s):  
MICK GIDLEY
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Studies ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
The United States ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
George Washington ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Washington University

Marcus Cunliffe (1922–1990) was incontestably an important figure in American studies. In the early part of his academic career he helped to found the subject area in Britain, and he was later both awarded professorial appointments at the Universities of Manchester and Sussex and elected to the chairmanship of the British Association for American Studies, from which positions he served as a personal inspiration and professional mentor to several “generations” of UK American studies academics. Those who knew him and worked with him were invariably struck by his tall good looks, charisma and charm – characteristics that no doubt also contributed to his successful career, in Britain and in the United States, first as a visiting scholar, and later, during his final years, as the occupant of an endowed chair at George Washington University in Washington, DC. As the correspondence in his papers attest, he was held in high – and warm – regard by many of the leading US historians of his heyday. More might be said about his charm here because it also permeates his writing and persists there as a kind of afterglow, and not only for those who encountered him in person – but this essay is a critical reconsideration of his published work that, though appreciative, at least aspires towards objectivity.

Protocol to the Convention on the Prohibition of Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons – History, Main Provisions, Significance and Reasons for Not Signing

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-21
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Special Role ◽  
International Agreement ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Weapons Control

Received 30 January 2021. Accepted for publication 20 March 2021 The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) does not have a legally binding verification regime. An attempt by the Ad Hoc Group of Experts, created by the UN Committee on Disarmament, to strengthen the BTWC by developing a legally binding document – the Protocol, was blocked by the United States in July 2001. The purpose of this work is to study the history, main provisions, significance and reasons for not signing the Protocol to the BTWC. The attention is paid to the events in biological weapons control, which have led a number of countries to the understanding of the necessity to develop the Protocol. The background of the US actions to block this document is the subject of special consideration. During the Second Review Conference on the Implementation of the Convention (8–25 September 1986, Geneva) the USSR, the German Democratic Republic and the Hungarian People's Republic proposed to develop and adopt the Protocol as an addition to the BTWC. This document was supposed to establish general provisions, definitions of terms, lists of agents and toxins, lists of equipment that was present or used at production facilities, threshold quantities of biological agents designed to assess means and methods of protection. The proposed verification mechanism was based on three «pillars»: initial declarations with the basic information about the capabilities of each State Party; inspections to assess the reliability of the declarations; investigations to verify and confirm or not confirm the alleged non-compliance with the Convention. The verification regime was to be under the control of an international organization – the Organization for the Prohibition of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons. However, the US military and pharmaceutical companies opposed the idea of international inspections. The then US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John Robert Bolton II, played a special role in blocking the Protocol. During the Fifth Review Conference in December 2001, he demanded the termination of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts mandate for negotiations under the pretext that any international agreement would constrain US actions. The current situation with biological weapons control should not be left to chance. Measures to strengthen the BTWC should be developed, taking into account the new fundamental changes in dual-use biotechnology. It should be borne in mind, that the Protocol, developed in the 1990s, is outdated nowadays.

scholarly journals MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY IN THE GLOBALIZED WORLD

2016 ◽  
pp. 0-0
Author(s):  
Ирина Нагорная ◽  
Irina Nagornaya
Keyword(s):  
Death Penalty ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Trend ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The Government ◽  
Globalized World ◽  
Further Development

The subject of this research is the death penalty as a mandatory punishment for the most serious crimes in the United States, Asia and the Caribbean and corresponding constitutional problems. The author analyses foreign courts’ judgments and foreign researchers’ points of view. The author considers the influence of the jurisprudence of the US Supreme Court on the countries with similar legal systems, the importance of legal thought in other countries for further development of law-enforcement practice in a particular region and the globalized world. The author analyzes inconsistent position of Singapore, as well as the indecisiveness of the government of Malaysia, because until recently these two countries were fervent supporters of the mandatory death penalty in the Commonwealth. The author supports the global trend towards the abolition of the mandatory death penalty and the fact that the “Asian values” are not an insurmountable barrier to achieve this goal.

Heritage Language Instruction for Post-secondary Students from Immigrant Backgrounds

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Kimi Kondo-Brown
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Students ◽  
Intergenerational Transmission ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Post Secondary

The “intergenerational transmission” of heritage languages (HLs) is crucial to the vitality of heritage language communities (especially for indigenous communities, where immigration is not a source of new speakers). We know, however, that HLs in the United States often do NOT survive well from one generation to the next as the shift to English takes place. In conjunction with the Second National Conference on Heritage Languages in America, a small group of researchers met to discuss priorities for research on intergenerational transmission of languages. Each of the ten researchers who participated prepared a short paper, posing research questions with some commentary to guide future research. Those papers form the major part of this article, covering topics related to language ecological patterns (in communities, families, and institutions), language ideology, measurement issues, and literacy.

Asian Immigrant Communities' Civic Participation in Cultivating Bilingualism and Biliteracy in the United States

2019 ◽  
pp. 157-171
Author(s):  
Kwangok Song
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Asian Immigrant ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Heritage Language Schools ◽  
Children's Literacy ◽  
Language Schools

This chapter discusses how Asian immigrant communities in the United States cultivate Asian immigrant children's literacy learning in their heritage languages. Although the United States has historically been a linguistically diverse country, bilingualism has not always been valued and acknowledged. Strong social and institutional expectations for immigrants to acquire the socially dominant language have resulted in language shifts among immigrants. Concerned about their descendants' heritage language loss, Asian immigrant communities make organized efforts to establish community-based heritage language schools. Heritage language schools play an important role in immigrant children's learning of their heritage language and culturally appropriate ways of behaving and communicating. It has also been noted that heritage language schools encounter several challenges in motivating heritage language learners. Heritage language schools should be considered as complementary education for immigrant students because they take critical responsibilities to support immigrant students' language and literacy development in their heritage languages.

A Century of US Diplomatic Security

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-36
Author(s):  
Patrick Cullen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Us Military ◽  
The Us ◽  
Military Units

The United States' diplomatic security apparatus that operates today from Washington DC to Iraq and Afghanistan is uniquely massive. It is incomparable in its size, budget, degree of institutionalization, and level of sophistication when set against both other nations as well as its own humble origins in WWI. To understand why this is so, the first half of this chapter historically maps and causally explains how, and why, US diplomatic security has been transformed over the course of its modern hundred-year history. The second half provides an empirically rich study of the various roles and functions of the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the US military units that protect the US diplomatic mission.

Jean Charlot and the Mexican Mural Renaissance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Charlot
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Mexican Art ◽  
Print Medium ◽  
Carnegie Institution Of Washington ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
Chichen Itza

That the Mexican mural renaissance is understudied is clear from the fact than not one of its artists has been the subject of a scholarly biography. Moreover, the movement as a whole has usually been viewed through nationalist prejudices and partisan interpretations. A current reevaluation uses the wedge of several hitherto marginalized artists who figure more prominently in documents and chronology than in popular history. Among them, Jean Charlot can be placed securely at the beginning of several major developments, which were continuations of his work in France. At the open air art school of Coyoacán, he helped the young teachers move from impressionism to a geometry-based postimpressionism more appropriate for mural composition. He introduced woodcut, which he had practiced in France and which became the print medium of choice for generations of Mexican artists. His first mural, The Massacre in the Main Temple, was important for its successful use of fresco—immediately adopted as the preferred medium by other muralists—and its dynamic geometric composition, an alternative to Diego Rivera’s static classicism in Creation. Charlot further broadened the thematic and stylistic options of the movement in a series of small oils and in the first studies of the indigenous nude. He continued to nourish his colleagues with the results of his work as an archeological draughtsman at the Chichen Itza expedition of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC. Charlot also participated in the notable collaboration between artists and writers in 1920s Mexico. Along with Manuel Maples Arce, he was on the two-man Direction Committee of the estridentista movement, illustrating books of poetry and joining group exhibitions. His writings are among the earliest discussions of contemporary Mexican art—publicizing the movement in Europe and the United States—and continue to influence interpretation today. His collections of documents and interviews, as well as his personal experience, became the invaluable basis of books like his The Mexican Mural Renaissance, 1920–1925 and numerous articles in several languages. His latest bibliography is 173 pages long. Charlot fulfilled the unique role of insider-outsider, participant-observer, in the Mexican mural renaissance.

The Watergate Crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafydd Townley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Richard Nixon ◽  
The Us ◽  
National Headquarters ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S

The Watergate affair has become synonymous with political corruption and conspiracy. The crisis has, through fact, fiction, and debate, become considerably more than the arrest of five men breaking into the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington DC in the early hours of Saturday, June 17, 1972. Instead, the term “Watergate” has since come to represent the burglary, its failed cover-up, the press investigation, the Senate enquiry, and the eventual resignation of the thirty-seventh president of the United States, Richard Nixon. Arguably, Watergate has come to encompass all the illegalities of the Nixon administration. The crisis broke when the Vietnam War had already sunk public confidence in the executive to a low ebb, and in the context of a society already fractured by the turbulence of the 1960s. As such, Watergate is seen as the nadir of American democracy in the 20th century. Perversely, despite contemporaries’ genuine fears for the future of the US democratic system, the scandal highlighted the efficiency of the US governmental machine. The investigations that constituted the Watergate enquiry, which were conducted by the legislative and judicial branches and the fourth estate, exposed corruption in the executive of the United States that stretched to the holder of the highest office. The post-war decades had allowed an imperial presidency to develop, which had threatened the country’s political equilibrium. Watergate disclosed that the presidency had overreached its constitutional powers and responsibilities and had conspired to keep those moves hidden from the electorate. More significantly, however, the forced resignation of Richard Nixon revealed that the checks-and-balances system of government, which was conceived almost 200 years before the Watergate affair, worked as those who devised it had planned. Watergate should illustrate to Americans not just the dangers of consolidating great power in the office of the president, but also the means to counteract such growth.

FDA at BIO 2011 – Weighing a hefty mission: Where is the balance?

1969 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Levy
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Sector ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biotechnology Industry ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Current State ◽  
Industry Organization ◽  
The Us ◽  
Quality Of Food ◽  
Biotechnology Industry Organization

The mission of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to promote public health by ensuring the safety and quality of food and medical products sold in the United States. At this year's annual Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) convention, significant discussion revolved around the appropriate interpretation and execution of that mission.The BIO meeting hosted 15 646 participants from across industry, government and the nonprofit sector, focusing on the current state of the biotechnology industry, as well as its challenges in seeking to further improve public welfare. Perhaps partly because this year's meeting was held in Washington, DC – the seat of the federal government and of BIO's headquarters – much attention was paid to the US regulatory environment. In particular, attendees debated the quandary faced every day by the FDA: how to enable access to novel therapies quickly, but only once their safety has been certified.

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