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Purpose – With an acknowledgement to Benedict Anderson's seminal writings on “imagined communities,” this paper examines several meanings and uses of the concept of imagination: theoretical, methodological, and substantive.

Methodology/approach – Application of these meanings are illustrated from eight qualitative researches, combining direct observations, interviews, participant observation, and document analysis.

Findings – Data are drawn from diverse settings, such as undocumented migrant communities, terrorism, Native American communities, collaborative divorce, nationalism, mass killers, players of video games, and genocide, to illustrate the potential uses and meanings of imagination.

Originality – These diverse researches illustrate the potential empirical and research contributions of these ideas.

In this chapter, the author outlines the historical, legal, and jurisdiction regarding incarceration rates of Native Americans. It examines reports and data in areas where problems of racial disparity continue to endure. As the smallest minority population in the United States, it raises questions as to the disparity of Native Americans. Native Americans are unique in their relationship with the federal government, and should be critically examined to distinguish what makes their involvement in the criminal justice system inimical.

The author examines the law enforcement, courts, and corrections data, through various reports; concerning causes of Native American criminality, incarceration rates, health disparities, jurisdictional schemes, human rights, and race. It is argued that federal governmental laws and various bureaucracies exacerbate conditions through overreaching policies which invalidates many of the positive aspects Native People bring to themselves.

Native Americans are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. As the smallest segment of the population, they have a higher incarceration rate per capita. It is without question that chronic underfunding of law enforcement, courts, and corrections in reservation communities continues. In light of Congressional claiming to want to alleviate problems in Indian country, little impact has been realized.

Native American societies are often considered a silent minority. Information pertaining to the many social issues enveloping Native communities often falls on deaf ears and political party leaders who are more interested in a larger constituency fail to lend their assistance in a manner deemed appropriate to truly grasp the larger problems.

Francisco J. Alatorre earned his law degree in Mexico, where he also practiced law before emigrating to the United States in 1991. He completed his Ph.D. degree in Justice Studies in 2011, and he is now Assistant Professor of Criminology at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico. His dissertation research involved a study of undocumented immigrants in Arizona.

David Altheide reflects on his long career, noting the role of family, friends, colleagues, organizational culture, and luck.

The objective of this explorative study was to analyse the association of socio-economic factors and attitudes towards cooking with the time devoted to home meals cooking in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, the authors tested and analysed data to see if there is any relationship between the time devoted to cooking by respondents and obesity.

The sample data consisted of 1,006 inhabitants’ subjects selected using the quota sampling following the structure of the population structure. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions were estimated to analyse factors influencing the time spent in the preparation of meals at home. The correlation between time devoted to cooking by respondents and obesity was addressed using the Kruskal–Wallis test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).

The results showed that female gender, higher age, smaller household size and presence of children increased the time spent by respondents in the preparation of home-cooked meals. Home cooking is perceived as a tastier option compared to, for example, chilled ready meals. The time devoted to cooking by respondents and her/his above average weight are correlated in our study.

To the authors’ knowledge, no recent study has comprehensively analysed cooking behaviour and time spent cooking in the post-Soviet countries, including the Czech Republic. The authors’ quota-representative study provided relevant insights into eating behaviour, as the Czech Republic has faced a high increase in the obesity rates in the last decade.