Volume 36 No. 2

Jomo Phillips, Karen Ring, Patricia Hackett , Kari Grenade and Halimah DeShong

Issue Summary

The thematic focus in this issue include: cave-in, psychosocial, disaster response, disaster management, social services, social work, case study, ecological systems, output volatility, Vector Error Correction Models, Barbados, Guyana, gender, sexuality, sexual violence, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, feminist poststructuralism and discourse analysis.

In this issue

Psychosocial Responses to a Disaster in the Caribbean: A Case Study of a Barbados Cave-In

Pages:  1-35Author(s):  Jomo Phillips, Karen Ring and Patricia Hackett

A Barbados cave-in contributed to several deaths and residential evacuations; there was also an unprecedented social service mobilisation. This study examines the preparedness of social workers responding to the disaster and examines challenges in coordinating and delivering psychosocial services to affected community members. A case study design, which includes a survey of affected community members, a focus group with responders and interviews with agency managers is utilised. Data indicates poor service coordination, communication challenges and lack of preparedness of workers and agencies to meet the needs of the affected.

Keywords:  cave-in, psychosocial, disaster response, disaster management, social services, social work, case study, ecological systems

Decline in Output Volatility in Two Small Open Economies: The Cases of Barbados and Guyana

Pages:  36-65Author(s):  Kari Grenade

This article utilises Vector Error Corrections Models for Barbados and Guyana to assess the relative importance of internal and external factors in explaining the decline in output volatility in each country over the past two decades.  The findings for Barbados suggest that stable tourism inflows, as well as smaller external shocks have been the main contributors to lower output fluctuations.  The findings for Guyana suggest that internal policy improvement has been the overriding factor reducing output fluctuations.  Policy-makers in both countries are encouraged to keep strengthening economic resilience to ensure that the scope for continued stability is increased.

Keywords:  output volatility, Vector Error Correction Models, Barbados, Guyana

Gender, Sexuality and Sexual Violence: A Feminist Analysis of Vincentian Women’s Experiences in Violent Heterosexual Relationships

Pages:  66-95Author(s):  Halimah DeShong

In this article, I examine three separate, but related themes on women’s experiences of violence in intimate heterosexual relationships: sexual infidelity as a rationalisation of men’s violence against women, the construction and surveillance of women’s sexuality, and narratives of sexual violence.  The analysis is drawn from interviews with 34 women and men from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Using a feminist poststructuralist approach to discourse analysis I argue that acts of physical violence against women, as well as other forms of control, coercion and abuse, are indeed embedded within broader asymmetrical gendered relations of power.  Violence against women is often rationalised and justified as a means of responding to threats to traditional arrangements of gender and sexuality.

Keywords:  gender, sexuality, sexual violence, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, feminist poststructuralism, discourse analysis

More Journals

In this issue: Wendy C. Grenade,Tennyson S. D. Joseph, Horace G. Campbell, David Hinds, Patsy Lewis & Dr. The Honourable Ralph E. Gonsalves
In this issue: Dr. Winston Moore, Dr. Justin Robinson, Ms. Tracey Broome, Dr. Coreen Leacock, Dr. Benita Thompson, Mr. Emmanuel Asomba, Prof. T.K. Jayaraman, Dr. Chee-Keong Choong & Mr. Richard Kelly
In this issue: Dr. Barbara Ingham, Dr. Mark Figueroa, Dr. Compton Bourne, Prof. Dennis Pantin, Prof. Norman Girvan, Dr. DeLisle Worrell &Vaughan A. Lewis