Colonisation in Australia has had long-term, pervasive, detrimental impacts on Indigenous Australians. When measured by national benchmarks, Indigenous children in Australia are currently at increased risk of developmental difficulties in comparison to their non-Indigenous peers. Community-led initiatives, such as playgroups, can provide safe and…

This review of current legal practices with respect to censorship in the areas of obscenity and pornography contains a history of anti-obscenity legislation; a review of the efforts of the United States Supreme Court and lower courts to define obscenity; a discussion of publisher Larry Flynt's battle against the "community standards"…

Criminal justice agencies often call for partnerships with the community. In restorative and community justice initiatives, citizen volunteers often serve as decision makers in nonadversarial sanctioning. Although prior research has reported the attitudes of other participants in restorative decision making, such as victims and offenders, none…

Communities with a flexible, open leadership structure may weather energy booms better than communities with old-guard leadership cliques, according to a study of community governance in two small Texas towns. Although similar in location, ethnic composition, population, access to transportation, economic base, and importance in the county,…

In 1985, Illinois adopted state legislation supporting school district mergers. In one rural district studied, local opposition to consolidation was based on self-interest, ideologies of localism and traditionalism, and (to a lesser extent) research information. Implications for policymakers and the complexity of the "local control"…

This dissertation, which won the Dissertation of the Year Award, examines how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform. Set against the backdrop of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), this ethnographic study describes the challenges of effectively coupling top-down…

A year-long ethnographic investigation examined how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform while resisting state priorities and policies mandated in the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Contrasts KERA objectives with cultural themes prominent in this poor…

One of the results of rural school district consolidation has been the potential for schisms that develop among the divergent populations with distinct traditions, culture, and customs. This paper presents research on an Appalachian school district that remains in cultural turmoil after 25 years of consolidation. The population of the three…