Responses to a web-based survey following Hurricane Katrina were evaluated. The 3,140 university student respondents were separated into impact groups based on evacuation experience: high-impact (student evacuated), moderate-impact (friend/family evacuated), and low-impact (neither student nor friends or family evacuated). Students’ responses to items evaluating service utilization, services desired, and psychological distress were examined by gender, race, and impact group. Female students rated services as more supportive, and reported a greater desire for services not provided by the university, compared to male students. Compared to Caucasian students, African American students viewed services as more supportive and desired services not already provided by the university. Students in the high-impact group scored higher than the other impact groups on measures assessing symptoms of psychological distress. Overall, the results may be used by universities and other organizations to implement future programs and policies for responding to natural disasters.

This book is concerned with what happens to women when wars officially end. Along with several other volumes it recognises that women face particular difficulties at such ¿aftermath¿ moments which often have very strong continuities with what happened during wars, and with the nature of gender relations in society prior to armed conflict. At the international level remarkable progress has been made; in establishing women¿s legal rights; in the identification of sexual violence as a potential war crime, and even progress in some women¿s abilities to access such legal frameworks. Nonetheless, when faced with a post-war backlash from men and the state, women in highly varied cultural contexts tend to face distinct difficulties as they seek justice for crimes committed against them during and after wars; when they attempt to participate in ¿truth and reconciliation¿ endeavours, and when they attempt to re-build their lives. This book explores how far we have come both through international frameworks and in particular countries, and examines the ways in which the endings of war still often bring highly gendered challenges for women which are themselves often violent.

Cette thèse de doctorat en histoire porte sur l’« Incident du 28 février », la révolte qui agita en 1947 Taiwan contre le pouvoir chinois après que la Chine eut récupéré sur l’île en 1945, après cinquante ans de colonisation japonaise. Cette rébellion, rapidement et très brutalement réprimée, est au cœur des luttes mémorielles qui agitent Taiwan depuis sa démocratisation, l’enjeu étant la légitimité de la souveraineté chinoise sur l’île, et l’identité de cette dernière. L’objet de mon travail est la violence politique, ses modalités et sa genèse. J’analyse l’éruption de violence de 1947 à la lumière de cinquante ans de relations sino-japonaises, en particulier la guerre de 1937-1945. Du côté taiwanais, la révolte s’appuie sur les réseaux et le répertoire d’actions et de symboles développés durant la mobilisation pour l’effort de guerre japonais, tant au niveau des troupes coloniales que des groupes paramilitaires et de jeunesse, sans qu’on puisse pour autant qualifier l’insurrection de pro-japonaise. Le passé colonial, et particulièrement la militarisation de la société taiwanaise qui s’est accompagnée d’une assimilation culturelle intensive, sert de ressource pour l’action politique. La violence employée du côté nationaliste chinois remobilise une riche expérience contre-insurrectionnelle, en particulier celle des années 1930. Son intensité disproportionnée s’explique par la perception de la rébellion comme un acte de guerre prolongeant l’invasion japonaise et déniant à la Chine son statut de vainqueur et de puissance civilisée. Elle solde les comptes de la guerre sino-japonaise à l’échelle locale par victimes interposées et parachève l’épuration des élites coloniales. / This PhD dissertation in history deals with the « February 28th Incident », a 1947 Taiwanese revolt against the Chinese rule restored in 1945, after fifty years of Japanese colonization. This rebellion, swiftly and very brutally quelled, has been central in the memory wars that have characterized Taiwan since it democratized. What is at stake is the legitimacy of China’s sovereignty over the island, and Taiwanese identity. The focus of my work is political violence, its modalities and its genesis. I analyze the outburst of violence of 1947 in the light of fifty years of Sino-Japanese relations, particularly the 1937-1945 war. On the Taiwanese side, the revolt taps into the networks and the repertoire of actions and symbols developed during the mobilization for the Japanese war effort. This mobilization affected colonial troops but also youth and paramilitary groups. This does not mean that the insurrection was pro-Japanese. Rather, the colonial past, more specifically the militarization of Taiwanese society during the war and the intensive cultural assimilation that accompanied it, is used as a resource for political action. The violence exerted by the Chinese Nationalist side remobilizes a rich experience of counter-insurgency, particularly that of the 1930s. Its disproportionate intensity stems from the perception of the rebellion as an act of war in the wake of Japan’s invasion of China, which denies the country its newfound status as a victor and a civilized great power. The suppression settles the accounts of the Sino-Japanese war on a local scale through proxies, and completes the purge of the colonial elite.

This thesis investigates the social and economic history of slavery in Libya in the period between 1800 and 1950. Focusing on Tripoli and the trading centres of Ghadames and Fezzan, it uses a combination of sources including legal records, travel accounts, commercial correspondence, memoirs and oral interviews to examine the impact of the slave trade, the economic and social lives of the enslaved, and their experiences of emancipation. Examining the trading of slaves in Ghadames, the thesis reveals how merchants considered slaves one commodity among others. It analyses how the slave trade continued until the Italian occupation of Libya in 1911, long after the formal prohibition of the trans-Saharan slave trade in 1856. Despite a long-term decline, caravan trading networks remained somewhat resilient and continued with alternative commodities such as ivory and ostrich feathers. This thesis then moves to analyse the social and economic lives of the enslaved, and the legal status of slavery in Libya. It explores the dynamics of employment, resistance by slaves and master-slave relations by analysing two major categories of slaves, who were treated considerably differently; those who worked in the caravan trade in Ghadames, and those slaves who worked as domestic servants in Tripoli. Many existing sources showed the differences in social relationship between slaves and masters. Different occupational categories, such as caravan workers and domestic servants, had different access to patronage, or experiences of abuse and violence. Oral interviews reveal that slaves in Tripoli experienced less violence compared to those in Ghadames and Fezzan in the nineteenth century. However, mistreated slaves had the right to a court hearing. The court provided a platform for slaves to challenge abuse, with some slaves seeking to push these boundaries further by going to court to assert their rights to better treatment by their owners. The third chapter explores the patterns of religious and economic manumission that existed in Libya before the abolition of slavery, It also traces changes of policies of emancipation that pursued by Ottoman and Italian governments. Finally, the thesis explores the social history of emancipation through examining the economic and social lives of communities of freed slaves. Through surveying a large number of legal cases, the thesis argues that slavery in Libya was marked more by continuities than change across the period of study. The legacy of slavery has persisted over time as relations of clientship between ex-slaves and ex-masters replaced direct relations of ownership. This thesis shows the difficulties faced by slaves in negotiating for clientship (al-wala’) from their former masters. Some ex-slaves unquestionably improved their status with a substantial minority experiencing social mobility as caravan workers and agents, while others remained ill-treated, with irregular work and subsistence wage labour; living on the margins of Libyan society.

The diploma thesis deals with the awareness of population of the Vysočina Region of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. The aim of this thesis is to find out the level of knowledge of the population about this accident and then to compare the knowledge of the population aged 18-44 and over 45 years. Two hypotheses were set in the thesis, H1: More than 2/3 of all respondents in the Vysočina Region will have more than 60 % of correct answers in a questionnaire concerning the knowledge of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and H2: Respondents over 45 will have significantly higher knowledge of the Chernobyl nuclear accident than inhabitants under 45 years of age. In order to achieve the defined objectives and to verify the hypotheses, a questionnaire was prepared, a questionnaire survey was carried out and then the results were evaluated using the methods of descriptive and mathematical statistics. The questionnaire consisted of 15 questions. The research group consisted of 100 inhabitants aged 18-44 and 100 inhabitants aged over 45. The results of the questionnaire survey show that the overall success-rate of the answered questions was 66 %. Residents aged 18-44 responded correctly in a total of 61 % and residents over 45 in 71 %. The stated aims of the thesis were achieved and both hypotheses were confirmed. The benefit of the thesis is mainly the acquired picture of the state of awareness of the population of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in the Vysočina Region. The obtained results of the diploma thesis can be used, for example, by crisis management authorities related to the issue of nuclear energy or protection against ionizing radiation, both in connection with preparation for these situations and with a focus on preventive educational activities.

This study examines privatization and valuation processes in the context of privatized state owned enterprises in Tanzania. It investigates the implementation of the privatization process and valuation methodology in a developing economy where the market system and its associated institutions are not fully developed. The objective of this study is twofold, first to investigate how the privatization process was carried-out towards the stated objectives and second to find out how asset valuation was carried-out in assisting decision-making at the ‘Presidential Parastatal Sector Reform Commission’ (PSRC). As a means to achieve the above objective, the study traces five interrelated aspects in the privatization process. The tracing attempted to find out whether or not the five aspects proceeded in ways that enabled attainment of the stated objectives. The five interrelated aspects included, Formulation of privatization strategy; Valuation methods; Valuation error; Buyers of State owned enterprises and Developments after privatization. The study found that strategy formulation being undertaken by PSRC did not promote higher competition, higher prices and higher government revenue; the present Valuation methodology as used by the Valuation firms engaged by PSRC did not improve certainty in the determination of reserve price; further that valuation estimates were not good proxies of sale prices; the issue of wider ownership participation by the people was far from being achieved; And that follow-up on changes of ownership and changes in the physical developments was lacking. Both privatization and valuation stand to yield expected results where the market system and its institutions are well developed and are functioning properly. Had there been reasonable and basic preparations prior to take off, privatization process in Tanzania could have been carried out in better ways and yielded better results than it is now / QC 20100915

Im Mai 2010 begab sich eine Studiengruppe in das Land Niedersachsen, um nach den Spuren polnischer Migranten zu suchen, die sich im Zweiten Weltkrieg und unmittelbar danach in Nordwestdeutschland aufgehalten haben. Es handelte sich dabei um Feldforschung zur Geschichte der Polen, die infolge des Untergrundkampfes während der deutschen Okkupation sowie einer aktiven Beteiligung am Warschauer Aufstand verhaftet und in die Kriegsgefangenenlager sowie Arbeitslager verschleppt wurden. Die Frage nach ihrem Schicksal während und nach dem Krieg hat die Studenten aus Deutschland und Polen begleitet. Besichtigt wurden Originalschauplätze in Niedersachen, besonders im Emsland, darunter Kriegsgräberstätten sowie einige Orte, wo einst Kriegsgefangenenlager gestanden haben. Auch der Stadt Haren, wo sich 1945-1948 das Zentrum der Polnischen Besatzungszone befand, wurde ein Besuch abgestattet. Das Band enthält studentische Beiträge mit Vorwort von Prof. Dr. Zdzisław Krasnodębski. / In May 2010, a study group went into the Land of Lower Saxony to search for traces of Polish migrants in the Second World War, who have been imprisoned in northwest Germany. This was a field research on the history of Poles, who fought during the German occupation among other as active participants in the Warsaw Uprising. The question of their fate during and after the war accompanied the students from Germany and Poland. The original sites in Lower Saxony, particularly in Emsland were visited, including cemeteries and some places where once the POW camps have stood. We visited also the city Haren, where 1945-1948 was the center of Polish occupation zone. The volume contains student’s entries with a foreword by Prof. Dr. Zdzisław Krasnodębski.

Loss is a fundamental part of the human experience, from the loss of security and innocence that comes with the necessary separation of child from parent to the ultimate loss of life. Along the way, there are the losses of jobs, of incomes, of homes; the losses of friendships, of family members, of lovers; the losses of direction, of control, of hope. As cognitive and caring beings, humans struggle to cope with these losses, to greater and lesser degrees of success. This is the theme at the heart of this thesis. Fire Ants is composed of ten short stories, fictive works, which differ in specific subject matter, yet deal unilaterally with issues of loss. Like the venomous creatures that threaten to eat B. D. Packard alive in the title story, life eats away at a number of characters in the collection who are deficient. The narrators in "Aftermath" and "Hues," for example, suffer psychological -- if not physical -- deaths. But not all of the characters lack coping mechanisms, unhealthy as they may sometimes be. As the stories unfold, some characters begin to gain small degrees of perspective and understanding, to learn that while life is full of loss, it is not always entirely bleak. As demonstrated in "Cross Creek," good exists, though it is not always where one might expect it. And life can be full despite loss, as depicted in "Stitches."

Cette thèse est consacrée conjointement aux mobilisations et luttes de classement des groupes issus de la guerre de 1998-1999 au Kosovo et aux modalités d'accès à leur reconnaissance légale et légitime, ainsi qu'à l'étude du processus de construction de l’État au Kosovo et de la production de ses formes symboliques de consécration. Deux objectifs orientent ce travail : Le premier est de rompre avec certaines évidences et d'apporter de nouvelles pistes de réflexion sur la formation, l'identification, l'existence et la définition des groupes sociaux issus de la guerre (les victimes civiles, les anciens combattants, les prisonniers de guerre, les familles des personnes disparues, etc.). Le second est d'examiner les relations complexes entre le travail de domination symbolique de l’État au Kosovo et les luttes que mènent les groupes sociaux issus de la guerre pour pouvoir maintenir leur position dans l'espace social. / This thesis examines jointly, the mobilizations and the classification struggles of the post-war groups in Kosovo after 1999, focusing on the access procedures toward their legal and legitimate recognition. It also analyzes the State formation process in Kosovo and the production of its symbolic forms of consecration. Two main contributions of this work are: First, it highlights a number of issues on post-war groups formation, identification, lifestyles and definition (civils victims, war veterans, war prisoners, families of missing persons, etc.) needing reflection and it questions the conventional wisdom. Second, it examines the complex relationships between the symbolic domination work of the State in Kosovo and the struggles of post-war groups in freeing from their social condition.

De 1945 à 1956, les « personnes déplacées » (réfugiés volontaires ou exilés par les déportations, les persécutions et le projet d’extermination) ont vécu sous la garde des autorités internationales dans les centres initialement ouverts par l’UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration). En attente d’un retour toujours plus hypothétique ou d’un visa d’émigration, la majorité de ces milliers de DPs, ainsi que les a baptisés la pudeur de l’administration internationale, se trouvait sur le sol allemand. Parmi eux se trouve une petite proportion de rescapés de la destruction des Juifs d’Europe bientôt rejointe par les « infiltrés », fuyant l’antisémitisme persistant à l’Est ou revenus d’exil. Privés de l’espoir d’un retour à la vie antérieure à la destruction et espérant une émigration prochaine qui se fait attendre, les DPs juifs vivent en Allemagne un temps suspendu tandis que se modifient les équilibres internationaux jusqu’à la guerre froide. Dans cet intervalle, voué à l’attente et à l’inactivité forcée, dans la promiscuité et la misère de la vie du camp DP, des hommes, des femmes et des enfants ont fondé une société singulière. La présente recherche s’intéresse à la représentation de cette communauté par elle-même. Autobaptisée She’erit Hapletah, ceux qui restent survivant, elle naît et se dévoile au travers de performances variées. Dernière expression d’une culture yiddish foisonnante en Europe, elle se concentre sur les zones britannique et américaine d’occupation de l’Allemagne. Cette étude s’attache aux performances DP entre 1945 et 1952, date du transfert de la responsabilité des réfugiés de l’autorité internationale vers la RFA. / Two weeks after the VE-Day, a group of survivors performed a show in the displaced persons camp of Belsen singing and playing the life they endured in the sadly famous concentration camp nearby and the life before it all happened just as the future they wanted up to now. This theatre was the first of dozens of Jewish theatre groups to perform shows all over Germany in DP camps where refugees from the non-enemy nations and victims of the Holocaust were waiting in the hope of a next emigration to Palestine or the United States. They lived in camps opened by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), behind gates or even barbed-wires of the “assembly centers”, controlled by military forces. Opened in 1945, the last assembly center closed down no less than eleven years later. While waiting on the “cursed soil” of Germany, the Jewish DPs, unable orunwilling to work for or even in Germany, dedicated their time to perform and represent themselves, not only on the theatre, but also in sport events, bals, ritual plays and every imaginable kind of performance. This research focuses on the Jewish DPs temporary settled in West Germany and the way they built up a new life by performing the past and the next future in Eretz Israel. This work interrogates the possible significances of the performances in Yiddish just after the Holocaust and the way survivors dealt with their past in the present of the new camp. After 1948, the rate of the DPs in Germany progressively decreased, the cultural, artistic and politic experiences disappeared at the same time, therefore, this work ends up in 1952 and focuses mainly on the years 1945-1949.