Category Archives: Culture

Conflict Levels Don’t Change Much Over Course of Marriage

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Think about how much you fight and argue with your spouse today.  A new study suggests that your current level of conflict probably won’t change much for the remainder of your marriage.

That may be good news for the 16 percent of couples who report little conflict or even the 60 percent who have only moderate levels of conflict.  But it’s not such happy news for the 22 percent of couples who say they fight and argue with each other a lot.

The study followed nearly 1,000 couples over 20 years, from 1980 to 2000. (more…)

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Jailhouse Phone Calls Reveal Why Domestic Violence Victims Recant

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study uses – for the first time – recorded jailhouse telephone conversations between men charged with felony domestic violence and their victims to help reveal why some victims decide not to follow through on the charges.

Researchers listened to telephone conversations between 17 accused male abusers in a Washington state detention facility and their female victims, all of whom decided to withdraw their accusations of abuse.  For each of the couples, the researchers analyzed up to about three hours of phone conversations. (more…)

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Marcus Garvey Movement Owes Large Debt to Caribbean Expats, UCLA Historian Finds

Conventional wisdom has long held that Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, which advocated racial self-help and the unity of the African diaspora, grew out of the heady political and cultural environment of the Harlem Renaissance and benefited African Americans above all other black people. Any Caribbean role, according to this view, was separate and incidental to the primary legacy bequeathed to American race relations by the charismatic Jamaica native.

Now a UCLA historian argues the reverse in the first book of a multi-volume series on the Garvey movement and the Caribbean. From the UNIA’s organizational structure to its most valuable foot soldiers during its first half-decade, Garvey’s Caribbean links were indispensable to the movement’s success, and the region ultimately proved to be its most important theater, contends Robert A. Hill in “The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers: The Caribbean Diaspora 1910–1920.” (more…)

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Roman Civilisation Travelled Further than History Books Tell Us

A University of Exeter archaeologist’s research has uncovered the largest Roman settlement ever found in Devon. The discovery could force us to rewrite the history of the Romans in Britain.

The discovery of a large Roman Settlement in Devon was the result of a chance metal detecting coin find.  Danielle Wootton, the Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and archaeologist at the University of Exeter was called on to investigate further. (more…)

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“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” Collection Donated to Ransom Center

AUSTIN, Texas — The Harry Ransom Center, a humanities research library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, has acquired a collection of materials from husband-wife duo actress Carlin Glynn and writer and director Peter Masterson relating to their careers and their work on the original Broadway production and film of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”

The collection consists of eight document boxes of materials, half of which relate to the 1978 musical. The musical was directed by Masterson, who also co-authored the book with Larry L. King. Carol Hall wrote the lyrics for the musical. The stage musical starred Glynn as Mona Stangley, the owner of a brothel in the fictional town of Gilbert, Texas. The show ran for more than 1,500 performances on Broadway, toured extensively and was adapted to film in 1982. (more…)

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Trend in Young Adults’ Dating Habits, Committed Relationships May Not Lead to Marriage, MU Researcher Finds

*Trend may help explain decline in marriage rate, particularly among young adults*

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Changes in relationship formation and dissolution in the past 50 years have revealed new patterns in romantic relations among young adults. The U.S. Census indicates that young people are choosing to marry later and cohabitating more often than past generations. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that people in their 20s are redefining dating by engaging in “stayover relationships,” spending three or more nights together each week while maintaining the option of going to their own homes.

“Instead of following a clear path from courtship to marriage, individuals are choosing to engage in romantic ties on their own terms – without the guidance of social norms,” said Tyler Jamison, a researcher in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS). “There is a gap between the teen years and adulthood during which we don’t know much about the dating behaviors of young adults. Stayovers are the unique answer to what emerging adults are doing in their relationships.” (more…)

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What is War Good for? Sparking Civilization, Suggest UCLA Archaeology findings from Peru

Warfare, triggered by political conflict between the fifth century B.C. and the first century A.D., likely shaped the development of the first settlement that would classify as a civilization in the Titicaca basin of southern Peru, a new UCLA study suggests.

Charles Stanish, director of UCLA’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, and Abigail Levine, a UCLA graduate student in anthropology, used archaeological evidence from the basin, home to a number of thriving and complex early societies during the first millennium B.C., to trace the evolution of two larger, dominant states in the region: Taraco, along the Ramis River, and Pukara, in the grassland pampas. (more…)

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