Monroe College

Abstract: This article focuses on the sexual attraction motive for skin bleaching in Jamaica. Some captive Africans on plantations in Jamaica altered their complexion. These Africans modeled the British in the colony who bleached their skin to protect the “superior,” “sexy,” and ideal white skin from the “impurities” of interracial sex and the tropical climate. The beauty and sexual attraction accorded to light skin was also evident in skin bleaching newspaper ads in the 1950s. The ads told women that acquiring light complexion through skin bleaching would make them sexually attractive to men. The persistence of colorism and its most blatant expression—skin bleaching—is also evident in contemporary Jamaica as expressed in some dancehall songs which praise skin bleachers, and the explanatory narratives of skin bleachers that bleaching makes them pretty and sexually attractive to potential spouses. Similar themes are reflected in the criticism that the browning Dancehall Queen Carlene was deemed sexually attractive and choreographically talented only because of her brown physicality. Some spouses request that their partner acquire the bleached physicality because they find it sexually attractive similar to many male clients in “massage parlors” who only request female sex workers who bleach their skin.

Abstract: This report documents the adaptations made by three teacher educators in an early childhood teacher preparation programme in New York City when classes were transitioned to digital environments due...

Abstract: This article deals with reintegrating deportees in Jamaica. There is the belief among the citizenry, the media, and the government that the deportees are fueling the crime rate. Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Some 15,618 deportees were sent to Jamaica from various countries between 2005 and 2009. The purveyors of the deportee-crime link ignore the influence of garrison communities on the crime rate which are political communities governed by criminals. Another view argues that the deportees have a minimal impact on the crime rate. None of the viewpoints can be substantiated without a representative survey with a rigorous methodology on the deportee-crime link. The various viewpoints also ignore the need to reintegrate the deportees. Only one church group the Cornerstone Ministries has a reintegration program. The government has a temporary piecemeal program that provides assistance and temporary housing rather than reintegration. Some societies (e.g. China, New Zealand, and Australia) have reintegration programs for ex-offenders which give them a stake in conformity by reaccepting them in the community after punishment. These models can be applied to Jamaica with the creation of a national reintegration program taking into account the cultural differences.

Abstract: Located in the south of Senegal, the Upper-Casamance (present-day Kolda region) has a strong vegetation dynamic mainly due to the clearing of land for agricultural needs, bush fires, population growth and uncontrolled logging. In such a situation, mapping and quantification of changes in vegetation cover become relevant for a more rational and sustainable management of plant resources, but also for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This study aims to detect the degradation and regeneration of vegetation cover during the last two decades in Upper-Casamance. It is based on an analysis of the trends of MODIS NDVI images time series acquired over the period 2000-2018, on a land cover and use changes (LULCC) maps established from Landsat images (ETM+ 1999 and OLI 2018), and a joint analysis of NDVI and LULCC trends. Data processing is based on the calculation of the Kendall correlation (τ) and the p significance test at the 10% threshold, and on a multistage unsupervised classification, respectively. The study shows significant changes in land cover and land use, including conversion from forest to savannah (13.5%), and from savannah to crop and habitat areas (7.9%). Significant negative trends in NDVI (related to forest-savanna conversion and forest-cropping and habitat areas) are observed in 2.1% of the study area and indicate vegetation degradation especially along the border with Gambia, on the Pata-Ndorna axis, in the centre of the study area, and around Medina Gounass. On the other hand, significant positive trends on 1.8% of the study area are evidence of regeneration in the south and are linked to the conversion of cultivated areas into savanna and forest. Joint analysis of NDVI and LULCC trends indicated significant degradation in south of Kerewane and Niaming, on the Ndorna-Pata axis, around Medina Gounass, and towards Sare Coly; and significant regeneration at the northeast border, north of Mampatim, to the south towards Bagadadji and Medina El Hadji, and between Linkering-Paroumba. This analysis also revealed that the two sources of data (NDVI et Landsat) are spatially consistent and that most of the trends in vegetation productivity are explained by changes in land use and not by climate.