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Ember et al. (1992) addressed whether the “democracies rarely fight each other” hypothesis held true in the anthropological record of societies of various sizes and scales around the world. They indeed found that more participatory polities had less internal warfare – or warfare between one society’s territorial units (e.g. bands, villages, districts). The purpose of this paper is to examine when political participation would have similar effects in eastern Africa, and whether more participatory polities commit fewer atrocities against each other.

A cross-cultural sample of 46 societies from eastern Africa was used to retest the original Ember et al. (1992) multiple regression model and revised post-hoc models. The team read ethnographies to code for levels of political participation at the local and multilocal levels. Other variables came from previous research including warfare and atrocity variables (Ember et al., 2013).

The Ember et al. (1992) model did not replicate in eastern Africa, but analysis with additional variables (degree of formal leadership, presence of state-level organization, and threat of natural disasters that destroy food supplies) suggested that greater local political participation does predict less internal warfare. Also, more participatory polities were less likely to commit atrocities in the course of internal warfare.

This study demonstrates regional comparisons are important because they help us evaluate the generalizability of worldwide findings. Additionally, adding atrocities to the study of democracy and warfare is new and suggests reduced atrocities as an additional benefit of political participation.

When Sir William Mather becomes President of the Association of Colleges for Further and Higher Education in February, he will be assuming an office which was first occupied by his grandfather, The Right Honourable Sir William Mather PC, in 1895. Continuity—of which this is anexample—amongst people, policies and philosophies has strongly characterised the 80‐year history of the Association. R. L. Roberts, father of the present Honorary Treasurer, Brian Roberts, also served the Association for many years as Honorary Treasurer. He was in addition Chairman of the Council in 1930 and 1950, as was Brian in 1964. In the last thirty years the Association has had only three Honorary Secretaries—J. C. Jones, Eric Richardson, and myself—all three of whom, by rare coincidence, were present at the 1974 summer conference in Bournemouth.

Does a village’s location in a regional economic system predict the extent to which close interpersonal relationships are based on socioeconomic similarity? A comparison of sample social networks of four frontier villages in northwest Ecuador showed that village centrality influences the dominant types of social relationships and, thus, the differential tendencies for socioeconomic differentiation. Compared to residents in peripheral villages, those in central ones were more likely to name individuals of their own class and to note mutual relations in their social networks.

This paper addresses how local retailers remain resilient in negotiating the lead up to and immediate aftermath of two major disasters (Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae) within a developing urban context (Dagupan City, Pangasinan). It highlights the specific mechanisms by which urban traders engage the Philippines’ more pervasive and highly resilient “culture of disaster” vis-à-vis conditions of chronic natural hazard.

This study relies predominately on the traditional anthropological techniques of participant observation and informal/semi-structured interviews to gather relevant project data. Supplementing these two core methods are findings derived from secondary sources like local and provincial newspapers, government records, public and university libraries, and census findings.

Findings suggest that a continual cycle of disaster impact and response does not overtly affect small retailers’ entrepreneurial initiative. It becomes clear that a persistent threat of natural hazards fosters a rather fatalistic sense of self-reliance.

Study was designed and funded as a quick-response study; therefore, the research timeframe was rather compressed and the informant pool somewhat limited.

The Philippines is widely recognized as a “culture of disaster” given its volatile position along the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” and “Typhoon Alley.” This distinction assumes added dimension as the effects of global climate change become increasingly pervasive at the local level.

This paper adds ethnographic detail to a growing body of data on small business resilience within disaster prone areas of the Global South amid intensifying global climate change.

Recent scholarship has focused on the schooling experiences of Black boys in early childhood; however research on the experiences and outcomes of Black girls in early childhood remains virtually nonexistent. More research is needed to ensure that every Black girl excels in early childhood education. Through three reflections from Black early educators, written iteratively through a process of reflection, discussion, writing, and revision, this chapter highlights aspects of Black girls' schooling that can promote Black girls' rapidly developing social, emotional, regulatory, and moral capacities. Within each reflection, the educator's advance our understanding of culturally relevant pedagogy by showing how educators can “teach to and through” Black girls’ funds of knowledge. Additionally, the reflections highlight the powerful role schools play in the lives of Black girls, underscoring the need to more deeply investigate teacher's perceptions of Black girls in addition to the positive and the negative policies and practices enacted in classrooms. The chapter concludes with critical and timely recommendations for research, practice, and policy.

The following annotated bibliography of materials on orienting users to the library and on instructing them in the use of reference and other resources covers publications from 1979. A few items from 1978 were included because information about them had not been available in time for the 1978 listing. Some entries were not annotated because the compiler was unable to secure a copy of the item. The bibliography includes publications on user instruction in all types of libraries and for all types of users from children to adults. To facilitate the use of the list, it has been divided into categories by type of library. Even though the library literature includes many citations to items on user instruction in foreign countries, this bibliography includes only publications in the English language.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.