Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Dalits, "type-scripted" as lowly people (untouchables), have developed a variety of reasonings, rationalizations, and behavioral responses against the traditional caste norms and ideology in their strivings to overcome their degraded status and realize equality with higher caste persons. These adaptations are to help improve their self and communal esteem. This paper examines how they oppose, flout, and violate these norms through their ideational and behavioral responses in order to test avenues for equality, to force equality on those who discriminate against them, and to impose selectively their sense of equality on those who are powerless, by sometimes harassing them openly and sometimes secretly when "appropriate." Such deviance is investigated within various types: ideational deviance (as expressed in stories, narratives, speech, songs, drama, and gossip), behavioral deviance (as expressed in physical behavior in intercaste contexts), individual deviance, and collective deviance.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: United States v. Dennis was “the great American political trial” of the 20th century and for many a free speech disaster. After a turbulent showcase trial that attracted global attention, eleven national leaders of the Communist Party USA were convicted under the Smith Act of 1940 for conspiring to advocate and teach forbidden doctrines of violent revolution and to organize a quasi-secret Stalinist party for indoctrination and training of operatives for future subversive action. Even though Judge Harold R. Medina’s charge to the jury stiffened constitutional protection of group political expression, the case became a symbol of regrettable government repression of radical dissent in emergencies and spawned his current reputation as a biased cold warrior. Our theme is that these simplistic impressions need revision in light of both fresh research and current concerns about eroding civil liberties in the war on terrorism. Given the barnacles of misunderstanding that adhere to this landmark, we first state our conclusions about key issues in condensed form. Next we analyze Medina’s crafting of the free speech charge during the darkening atmosphere of the cold war, and finally we trace the charge’s subsequent influence in the evolution of free-speech doctrine.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Since President Vladimir Putin will leave office in 2008, Russia is undergoing a succession scenario. Such scenarios are the Achilles heel of its political system. But they also have implications beyond the question of who rules at home. Indeed, the course and outcome of this succession have profound repercussions for foreign policy and for Russia’s further institutional development, not least as it applies to the relationship between the state and its multiple instruments of force or power structures. And from what we can already see a comprehensive strategy of internal consolidation that entails portraying Russia being a besieged fortress threatened by enemies from within and without, as well as moves towards an ever greater scope of a police state is taking shape.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: (to be uploaded)

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper examines racialization as an important process in the production and reproduction of racial inequality in the workplace. While existing studies have addressed this issue in the context of urban, industrial and service jobs, this study centers on agricultural jobs in rural Washington State. The main focus is on exploring the ways in which employers think about race, and how these views affect hiring and other management decisions. Given that constructions of the body are a crucial element of racialization, attention is paid to how employers perceive and characterize the bodies of workers from various racial backgrounds, and to how these perceptions factor into the placement of workers in jobs involving various levels of environmental and health risks. Finally, previous research suggests that employers think of race as a spatialized category. This paper analyzes if and how employers’ relate their constructions of race to particular landscapes and places. Data is derived primarily from in-depth face-to-face interviews with employers. Content analysis of newspapers, ag newsletters, websites, and industry magazines is used to supplement the data from the interviews. Census and statistical data are used to contextualize the interview data. Preliminary data indicate that agricultural employers blur racial distinctions among workers by invoking a universal, homogenous “American” identity when it comes to workers in managerial positions, and an individualistic “work ethic” when talking about workers in lower-level positions. Employers assume that this “work ethic” is different for different “cultural groups.” Data collection and analysis for this study continue.