July 1993

Research and Graduate Education at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill / July 1993 / Volume X, Number 3

VANTAGE POINT Across the Boundaries of the Traditional Disciplines ultural Studies. Cognitive Science. Intemational Studies. Materials Science. Women's Studies, Environmental Sciences. African-American Studies. Psycholinguistics. Southern Studies. These phrases, and others like them, are now commonplace at UNC-Chapel Hill and at univenities around the world.

Each is the name of an emerging field of teaching and research, whose swiftly growing body of knowledge and expertise has important applications to real-world problems and experiences. Each phrase reminds us how rapidly learning and discovery are being transformed in light of new needs and new methods. Each reminds us, as well, how difficult it is to reorganize the university around fresh demands and opportunities.

By now it has become a cliche to observe how much of our teaching and research goes on

acros the

boundanes of the traditional academic disciplines. Many UNC-CH faculty members are engaged in research that is not easily clasifiable within a single field. This is true even for faculty whose work may not lie within the bounds of the glitzy areas named at the beginning of this article, but whose research draws upon insights from several disciplines. 0ur students are even more interdisciplinary than the faculty. They will live and

work in a world transformed by new questions, original methods, and yet-undreamed-of ways of solving human problems. Many come to Chapel Hill interested not in chemistryperse but in solutions to environmental problems; not in sociologyperse but in the pathologies of poverty, crirne, and disease in our cities; not in managem enl per se but in busines organizations that will operate in an international marketplace o

) E

;

z o zl

where quality products and services alone will prevail.

Should not our institutions of higher learning embrace the kinds of communities in which such learning and discovery occur? Can Carolina secure its academic excellence on any other basis?

Alas, here as elsewhere, it is easier said than done. Neither this University nor any other of which I am aware is basically organized to support the emerging disciplines. By this I do not mean that there is no sup port for cultural studies, materials science, or women's studies at Chapel Hill. There is. But such support is

won against great odds, because this University, like its peers, is still oriented around the traditional departments, some of which grew up a century ago and almost all of which emerged before the cultural, technoIogical and international developments that have brought forth the new academic ventures.

Consider how our University's dollars are allocated: Almost all of them go to the familiar schools, departments, and programs. These units have served Carolina well for decades, and we can scarcely imagine doing without them. As a result, faculty in an emerging field are nearly always required to raise money from outside the Univenig or to expend great enelgy inspiring the reallocation olmodest amounts of the existing dollars. (ln fairnes, I should note that many faculty in "tradilional" disciplines are also obliged to raise outside money in order to keep their work going.) Fortunately, Carolina faculty are remarkably entrepreneurial, and many of them have succeeded in obtaining the funds to launch new fields.

Consider also where the authority lies. Department Chairs and program directors require the services of the very same faculty members who would like to spend some of their time in new disciplinary areas.

Whether and to what extent those faculty can be released to develop new interdisciplinary counes or to embark on research projects with colleagues from other disciplines are decisions that rest with administra' tors who have large and recognizable responsibilities to existing programs.

Like other research univenities, UNC{hapel Hill has a repertoire of devices for accommodating faculty and students who want to embark on new academic ventures. We establish "programs," "cunicula," and "centers." We sometimes allocate dollars to support new initiatives. 0ur development officers work hard to help faculty raise resources lor new fields of teaching and research. But all of this goes on amidst difficulty and contention. Any expenditure of a faculty member's time in a new direction is potentially subtracted from his or her old commitments. Every dollar that is internally reallocated to a new enterprise is taken from is suspected of contribut-

somewhere else. Every proposal to establish administrative support for a new field ing to bureaucratic bloat at a time when the University can least afford it.

How can our University respond more effectively to the interdisciplinary needs and opportunities it faces? We need to open administrative avenues for establishing and nurturing new ideas. Faculty require

help in jumping through the inevitable bureaucratic hoops on their way to new initiatives and more assis tance than they presently receive in raising outside money. Together we need to think about how to integrate the new disciplines into our University, perhaps even at the expense of some of the old. These things can happen only if there is a widely shared recognition that our future lies in these new directions and a deter-

mination to get there.

?-*r^a- Z- .

N|" C^,-,.,^,,t-

Richard L. McCormick Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Profesor of History

Research and Graduate Education at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill/ July 1993 / Volume X, Number 3

DEPARTMENTS

Endeavors Research and Graduate Education at The

2

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

NEWSMA(ERS: Carolina Faculg in

the Headlines

Was a Bird or Dinosaur First in Fliqht?

July 1993

3

Volume X, Number 3

CAROIINA OPINION: Tar Heels Speak Out Harassment of Akican Americans and Homosexuals

Endeavors is a magazine published three times year by the 0ffice of Research Services at The

a

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Each issue of Endeavon describes only a few of the many research projects undertaken by faculty

DIALOGUE: Issues in Research Childkftlt

Controversies and Conversations

.sturtes, puge 2()

-Ga1-

A Year in Review

and students of the University.

VITA: A Profile Requests for permission to reprint material,

Craig Tumer

readers' comments and requests for extra copies should be sent to Editor, Endeavors,Office of

WHY ARE. . . The Blues Called the Blues?

A Carolina Profesor Explains

Research Services, CB #4100,300 Bynum Hall, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 275994100 (919/96e5625).

MARKETPTACI: Universig Innovations Solving the Problem with Polymers

Chancellor Paul Hardin

SCHOLARIY PURSUITS: Student Research Equality in a Mexican Junior Hiqh School

Vice Chancellor lor Graduate Studies and Research

Mary Sue Coleman

Klrls uork out. puge ](i D irector,

COVER STORY

1ffice of Research Seruices Robert

P.

Lowman

O 1,

Aduisory Board for ORS Publications

Feeding Soccer Balls to Snakes A Liquid Crystal Lrpert Plays With

Buckyballs

by

Scott

Lowry

Philip Cul Kenneth Coleman

FEATURES

Katherine High Douglas Kelly Carol Reuss

|Il )

Editor

Assistont Editors

Lisa Blansett Paul 0arber

Dottie Horn

'leuching

ntnt'rrtt,nt. pa4i:

(i

Ashley Singleton

S.

Punishment to Prevention

l5

A Mouse With a Mighty Cholesterol Count

Photographer: Will 0wens

r

Prison Cap Legislation in the Tar Heel

State

by Pctul Garber

Gene Targeting Techniques Create a Practical Model

for Atherosclerosis

by Chistino

S

Stoch

Stock

Illustrators: Jane Filer, Robert You

De s rgne

by Christino S. Stock

r3

Christine Sneed Christina

Realit-v?

Does Psycholoeical Momentum

Affect Sports Performance?

Brenda Powell

Scott Lowry

fne Big Mo': Illusion or

Martell/Desi gn

c()\'LR l'HOTO Fltgellenes. u neri ntrrlertilt

O1993 by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Disease Prevention

by Poul Garber

18 ;:::x ffi ',;,,ilIil,T.ffi ii: 1;'"ilil:,1i.'#" Than Anticipated

by Christino S. Stock

rucceeiled rn uttuchtng polt'-

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chtttns trt hutktbulls.

Presion Snee, UNC, and Tom Palmer, NC Supercompulng Cenler.

2

0 H:I;ffr,fl i.sJi,fl ,,.n rurhng about Givinq Birth

by Dottie Horn

Corolino Foculty in the Headlines

NEWSMAKERS

WAS A BIRD OR DINOSAUR FIRST IN ruGHT? Archaeopteryr Clawed Its Way to the Tree Tops (And Then Flew Off)

He received about 50 letters from across the United States. One day he received a lengthy letter from a creationist, who apparently thought his work supported special creation theory. The next day, an atheist organization lauded him on his work. "l figured the two cancelled each other out," he says.

Feduccia's findings appeared in The Nea

ne hundred and fifty million years ago in

York Times "Science Times" section,

the forests of what is today Bavaria, the first birds took flight. One hundred and thirty

g

other papers nationwide. He spoke on four radio

two years ago, Thomas Henry Huxley, an ally of u

the estimable Charles Darwin, suggested that birds

-o

evolved from the dinosaurs. Following Huxley's arguments, other scientists argued that flight emerged

o

from the ground up; protobirds ran, jumped and flapped their wings, eventually taking

off-a

theory

paleontologists, the public and the media have enthusiastically embraced.

Five months ago, Alan Feduccia, profesor of

Ahn Feduccio

lrus upset the paLeontoloqicul

uorkl

contacted by television stations in Tokyo and Sydney, Australia. "l even got conned into speaking on a creationist/evolutionist

debate on a Palm

Beach radio station for 30 minutes." and Feduccia is now taking calls from colleagues

dhosaurs

who want to play racquetball. Before the interview

The media attention has finally died down,

comes t0 a close, he shows off two of his favorite

dramatically shook uo the dinosaur-loving world,

He then projected the slides, traced the cur-

when he published findings in Science indicating that Archaeopteryx evolved as a bird independently of dinosaurs during the late Jurasic period and

vature of the claws, measured their geometry and

"l hadn't realized what an impact this study

talk shows, including Voice of America, and was

(and thrilled ontithologists ) bv prouidutg Dery strong etidence that bids euolaed independently frorn

biology and internationally renowned ornithologist,

that flght evolved from the trees down.

Ihe Chorlotte

Obseruer,The News & )bseruer and numerous

fosils, also from the late Jurasic, which he keeps

compared them to fosils ol Archaeop[eryx.Iltook

in a file cabinet, wrapped in plastic.

"This is the smallest pterosaur," he says,

six months for Feduccia to complete the meticulous, and at times arduous, comparison, he says. "l don't

which

advise it t0 anyone." Foot-claw arc of the fossils was

pterosaur. Imagine that thing flying around." Then

identical to those of modern perchers and hand-

he pulls out a cast of a dragon fly, which is a bit bigger than a sparrow. "Look," he says with ardor, "you can clearly see its delicate vein structure."

gently handling a small cast offlerodoctylus elegans, is the size of a sparrow. "lt's a great little

would have," Feduccia says. "l was iust trying to produce an honest study. Advocates of the birddinosaur connection are stuck with this ground-up

claw arcs matched those of climbers-"totally out of the range of ground dwellers," he says. "The

theory for the origin of flight. In my opinion, it is

conclusion seemed inescapable lhat Archaeopteryx

biophysically imposible "The arboreal theory-the tree-down theory

was using its fingers for tree{runk climbing, and it

He is now finishing the second edition of his bookThe Age of Birds,to be published by Harvard

was a perching bird too."

Press

facile theory, lf you jump out of -is an intuitively a tree, from limb to limb, you can easily imagine

Feduccia's evidence t0 supp0rt the arboreal

theory-the theory-is a tortuous explanation for

theory of the origin of flight, he says, refocuses the

in late

1994. "lt's really

flight evolved," he says,

critical to know how

-because

it's a major portion

of this book."

the oriqin of flight. The cursorial

origin of birds and flight to a logical setting. He

ground-up

criticizes cursorial scenarios not only as biophys-

is concerned, a German scientist announced the

something that can be explained very eastly with

ically imposible but also intuitively displeasing.

discovery of a 150-million-year-old fosilized rela-

the arboreal theory."

Everything about feathers, he says, points to an

tive of Archoeopleryx in April. The skeleton of the

arboreal theory. They represent "gros overkill"

still nameles bird includes long, curved claws and

To demonstrate thal Archoeopteryx was not a cursorial bird, a running, ground dweller, Feduccia eopteryx's claws with those of 500

compared ,4rcfta modern birds. "lt's difficult to look at a slab of

to explain thermoregulation, and, he says, feathers

the sternum of a powered flyer. The Iind appears to

would produce drag and inhibit an animal from

conlirm Feduccia's theory that ancient birds were

running and then flying up from the ground.

arboreal and volant. "ln esence it validates every-

"The notion of hot-blooded dinosaurs with

crushed bones and learn much about it," he says, refening to fosilized remains. "lt occurred to me

feathers is totally erroneous," he says. But it has

that the claws might be the clue."

great public appeal. His work, in effect, is a crusade

At the Smithsonian lnstitution, he photographed claw samples of ground dwellers, such

Natural history museum curators, teachers,

paleontology."

to adjust lo the Archaeopteryx's new identity, Feduccia says. "l think people are going to be a lot

such as motmots, toucans and coucoos; and tree-

responded to media requests for interviews, took

as woodpeckers, nuthatchers

phone calls, some congratulatory and others not,

and woodcreepers.

fossil is found, and it lays the whole thing to rest." the press, paleontologists and the public will have

For the entire month of February, Feduccia

trunk climbers, such

thing in the Scrence article. All of a sudden this

against "the rampant speculation that characterizes

fowl and quail; perchers,

as road runners, guinea

Thanks to serendipity, as far as Feduccia

and spoke on talk shows about his work. "Some people were quite dismayed," he says. "The phone

would ring all day."

happier with,4rchaeopteryx as alree dweller."

I

Tar Heels Speak

)ut

CAROTINA OPINION This column feotures informotion from the Corolina Poll conducted by the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication ond the Institute for Research in Social Science.

Harassment of African Americans and Homosexuals

by Gary D. Gaddy A majority of North Carolinians also say that

he majority of North Carolinians say that

Although a plurality of North Carolinians

neither blacks nor homosexuals have been

the news media give too much attention t0 attacl$

think that the government

attacked or harassed in their community

against both blacls and gay men and lesbians. By

vent attacla both against African Americans and

is doing enough to pre-

because of their race or sexuality, according to a

a margin of 61 percent to 16 percent, those surveyed

gay men and lesbians, opinion is split, with majori-

recent Carolina Poll. 0f the adults surveyed, 76 per-

say that television and newspapers give too much

ties of several groups saying the government should

cent say gay men and lesbians have never been

attention to attacks against blacks rather than not enough. By a similar margin of 61 percent to 14

be doing more. In particular, 54 percent of those under age 25 say the government should do more

attacked or harassed in their community because

percent, they say that television and newspapers

t0 prevent attacks against blacks and 52 percent

never been attacked or harased in their commu-

give too much attention to attacks against gays

say it should do more t0 prevent attacls against

nity because of their race. While this suggests

rather than not enough. People under age 25 and

homosexuals. For blacks, the majorities are even

harasment of blacls because of their race is more prevalent in North Carolina than harassment of

blacls are the groups most likely to say that the

larger with 72 percent saying the govemment should

media don't give enough attention to such attacks.

0f those under 25, 29 percent say not enough atten-

do more to prevent attacks against black and 63 percent saying it should do more t0 prevent attacks

of their sexuality, and

6l percent

say blacks have

gays because of their sexuality, black North Caro-

is given to

inians are more likely to say there is no harasment

tion

of blacla in their communities than whites (71% vs.

say not enough is given to attacla on gayr. Among

617,). Blacls are also more likely to say there is no

African Americans, 38 percent say not enough

harasment of

attention

gays in their communities than whites

attacla on blacls and 43 percent

is given to

attacla on blacks and 29 per-

cent say not enough is given to attacla on gays.

(944kvs.73%).

Have there been attacks or harassment in your community: 0n gay men or lesbians?

against gays.

North Carolinians think that most people in their communities would be more likely to be sympathetic to a black couple in their community

who was harased or threatened because of race than they would to a homosexual couple treated similarly.

Most people in their community would expres

0n African Americans?

Seldom

sympathy to a harassed black couple, according to

ll%

68 percent of those surveyed, but only 25 percent

Seldom 6%

SometimesS%

Never6l%

say most people in their community would do like-

Somelims l9%

wise for a homosexual couple. Although blacks

Often 4%

and whites both see most people in their communi-

No answer 6%

Nomer6%

ties expresing sympathy to harased black couples (72% and 68%), whites are more likely than

Do you

think the govennment is doing enough to prevent attacks: On gay men and lesbians?

0n African

blacls

to say that if homosexual couples were harased

Americans? 72%

Doing enough

most people in their communities would "just let it go,' by a margin of 50 percent t0 30 percent.

While more people say they personally would expres sympathy (as compared to what they think

48%

most people in their communities would do) to either a harased black or homosexual couple rather than "just letting it go," harasment of black couples would still elicit more expresions of sympathy than harasment of homosexual couples.

According to the poll,86 percent of North Carolinians say they would expres sympathy to a harased black couple and only 6 percent would "let it go," 50 percent say they would expres sympathy to a The Carclina Poll tL'us conducted h.om

l'ebruon 26. l!)93. to lkn.ch 1,

199,). during

uthich

59E rondomlt'

selected adult resrclents of.\ctftlt Corolina households Luere intertieu:ed bv telephone. Erpected enrn is

opprcrirnateh plus or ntinus

4 percent

for tlrc total

sarrtpLe. but ts kuger

hr

cctntporisons between qrctups.

slori LL'ere osked of o spltt xrnple. 2E) respondenls being ushed the qu?stbns obout horossmenl of gots utd 3l6 osked obout lrurnssment of hlocks. f)rpected enor for these sLtmples ts opprorinntel\ plus or mrnus 6 percenl t'or lhe totol sonple. Dut i.s olso kn.qer fctt'cctn1xuisons hetLteen qroups.

The quesliorts userl irt thts

34 percent would "let it go." Interestingly, while more blacla than

harased homosexual couple and

whites say they would expres sympathy to a harassed homosexual couple (62% vs. 48%), whites are as likely as blacks (8870 vs. 84%) to say they

would expres sympathy to

a

harased black couple.

I

lssues in Research

DIATOGUE

6 l. /t From August until June, scholars, administrators and tlrc lay public yelled or whispered, undermined or ualidated, created harmony or cacophony as they drscussed

tft

e rssues surrounding teaching

and research, faculty diuersity, budgets and salaries. This sompling of the many positions taken in the public record, uttered in different situations and at

Teaching, Research, Tenure, Education "Those professors who still manage to teach

more than a few hours a week are actually looked

down upon by their peers. to sav nothing of the negative effect teaching has on their chances for tenure. pav and promotion."

Report

b1-

that affected research.

ctn Children, Youth and Fomilres. New York Times Netus Seruice. Greensboro News and Record,

September 15.1992

these two criteria are not evenly applied. AII too

often, an excellent researcher will be promoted even if he or she is mereiy an adequate teacher, whereas an excellent teacher will not be promoted From o letter aritten by Peter Filene, history professor, and Joel Schwartz, director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. The letter was signed by 43 award-winning t'aculty members ond t'orutarded

"UNC Chapel Hill faculty teach most under-

graduate courses and most undergtaduates. Undergraduates cannot avoid iacultviaught counes befote graduating."

to the dean of arts and sciences. The Chapel Hill Herald, lonuary 15, 1993.

"What about teaching versus research in a tenure decision? Colleagues

Stephen S. Birdsoll, dean of the college of ctrts

and sciences. Transylvania Tim

want to reward those who do both. Regrettably

if he or she is merely an adequate researcher."

the US House Select Committee

different times, creates a dialogue that qiues a fuller sense of the many uoices

"lnstead of 'research versus teaching,' we

es,

Breuord, NC,

lonuory 4, 1993

versa. Most faculty do both very well and earn

"There's a perception among the public, of

which I'm a member. that there are some instances in which we say to the professor that in order to be tenured there has to be some public service, wink, some excellence in teaching, wink, and some research-and that's where we're really qoinq to check you out."

Alexander Hall, loayer ond t'ormer stlte House member, at o Board of Gouernors Meeting following the autctj- oDer recent tenure denials ctt UNC-CH Raleigh News & Obseruer, lonuon

point out that the

public only hears of extreme cases-the excellent teacher who does not excel in research, or vice-

8,

1993

)

tenure based on both. Typical cases are not publicized."

Jomes L. Peocock

lll, Kenon professor of

anthropology and choir of UNC foculty, in remorks deliuered before a meeting of the foculg Raleigh News & Observer, lanuary 10, 1993

Controversies & Conversations A Year in Rerieu'

\

S\

N"i

"This is an innovative agreement. I believe

Faculty Diversity "About l0 percent

r-rf

UNC's full professors

and one-fifth of tenure-track facultl'are women.

Women made no gains in moving to the rank of

profesor f rom

1989-90

to

1990-91 ."

Annuol report on the Connittee of the Status of Vtomen The Chapel Hill Herald,)ctober 16, 1992.

"Tenure is no friend to women. it does not pr0tect them from institutional drscrimination,

UNC from the top of national polls rankinQ faculty.

and Hoechst Celanese scientists to get to know

Salaries no longer remain cornpetitive, which bodes

each other better and to build collaborations."

badly for a major research university of UNC's

Mary Sue Colemon, uice chancellor for

Shrrky

biolog

M

caliber

research and graduate studies, commenting on the

Prouost Richard McCormick, addressing the Employee Forum. Since 1982, UNC CH saloies t'or

monufocturer uhich utill fund scholorship t'or minorr

full time professors hos dropped from the top t'ifth

ties ond

uonen for

studres in scientific disciplines.

The Charlotte Obser.rer, October 11, 1992

)

of the siro*-eight conporoble research uniuersities to fifN-seuenth. The Chapel Hill Herald, lonuory 1

"

Tilghmon. professor of moleculor

at Pinceton, from her oped piece for the

New York Times, entitled, "Science us. Women-A

"UNC has 13 black faculty'members with

endowed chairs. That number is

21

"We were on the \,erge of being one of the top 10 or so in the

percent of the

6l actir,e and retired black faculh'members holding endowed chairs acros the country. "l'm especially

country. And then the bottom fell out."

retired in Decenber 1992, on the et'fect of the budget cnsrs on UNC's libraries Associoted Press Report,

Chapel Hill Newspaper, September 9. 1992.

"People from all over are coming in to benefit

pleased that North Carolina, a Southern university,

from the research we re doing at the University of

had the most."

North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chuck Stone, professor in the School

of

"

UNC Chancellor Paul Hardin addressing a

loumolism commenting on his suruel' of faculty. lssocrote Pess reporl. Winston-Salem Journal.

j oint state House-Senate appropriotion subcommittee

September, l8,1992

$280 million budget request. The Chapel Hill

on higher education meeting to reuieu the Uhir,erslr.r.'s

Herald, April

I,

1993

History professor Gil loseph on the numbet of highly esteemed scholors

uho haae left UNC-CH

to tohe positions at other prestigiaus colleges and uniuersities, including Yale and Emory. 0ften these scholars are lured

uilh

substantiolly better benet'it

pockoges ond solories more than 35% higher than UNC can offer. Joseph hos been U

hied by

Yale

niuersity. Rolergh News & Obsen er, J une 1 4, I 993

"l d0n't think it's any pie-in{he-sky request or just a wish list. We reaily need that money."

la1' Robinson, uice president for public aft'aus on the Uniuersity's request t'or additional monies to add foculty and stot'f to support progroms, update

computer equipment, improue the libraries and giue faculty consecutiue 6 percent onnual poy rncreoses.

"The people and chrldren of Nofih Carolina benefit l,ery little from research. There are not many subjects left Ifor research] that benefit the general

population."

John Pope, Bocud ofTrustees, U,NC-CH The

DailyTar Heel, December 9,

7,

993 "This university is eminently raidable "

Budget and Salaries

lomes Gouen, Uniuersitti Librorian, who

Rodicol Solution." lonuory 26, 1993

"

donotion mode by the Neu Jerset-bosed chernical

Rather it rigidifies their career path rvhen they' need

maximum flexibilitr

"A lack of recent salary increases has pushed

it is one that will allow UNC-Chapel Hillscientists

1992.

The Chapel Hill Herald, )ctober 14. 1992.1

A Profile

VITA

E

b g

= tr

I

tltetr cltttructers should respond lo t:ut'h other

h

the recent Plur',,|'/riAers

pre.sertlultn of

l

luntLet.

Craig Tumer

flu.ry fall. while thousands of strrdents settle fi into their desks for the new school year at

I-.1UNC-CH, an elite troupe of recruits

begins a

three-year program in Graham Memorial Hall. They

spend most of their time not in traditional clasrooms but doing hands-on training with specialists

Don't worry, Turner is not running a clandes-

These student actors are Iearning to control

tine school for espionage and asassination. Instead,

what we all unconsciously do every time we inter-

he teaches movement lor the actor in the dramatic

act with others. Our body language sends sub-

art department.

Empty-handed stage combat serves Turner

liminal mesaqes that can validate or undermine our words, tell others what sort of relationship is

well for introducing students to the idea that they can use their bodies to be better actors. "lt rs one

appropriate or c0nvey myriad other unspoken response-action loop set up whenever two people

only experience watching television or movies:

of the very first skills we do because it uses the whole body," he explains. "You have to acquire

fighting for their lives in an ancient castle in Den-

a certain physical skill to be able t0 r0ll, t0 fall,

of interactive behaviqr," he says. "lt's a way of

mark, perhaps, or assuming the identity of a naive

to work on the floor and to move your body very

studyine how we model what we think the world

American traveler in Paris. Turnels goal with these

vigorously without hurting yourself ."

is and how we

like Asociate Profesor Craig Turner. Eventually they

will be thrown into situations most ol

us

will

students is to teach them how to use their bodies

Students are simultaneously learning a

to best accomplish any misions for which they

deeper lesson, Turner adds. "Stage combat also

may be chosen.

involves some psychological questions, like how

communications. Turner is fascinated by the actionare together. "l'm interested in the nuts and bolts

think it operates. And I'm intrigued

by how human movement conveys or sometimes doesn't convey what we think it does."

This interest extends beyond the theater.

He begins by introducing his charges to

do you deal with violence? How do you deal with

Turner has lectured women's groups about how

empty-handed combat, but with a different aim than that of most karate or judo instructors. "ln the

anger?" As students answer these questions, they

to present themselves to make the right impresions

begin to realize how movement can strengthen their art. "Movement is an extension of what the

in the busines world. The smallest details can be

actor's doing on the inside," Turner says. "The body

'l even taught them how to shake hands," he remembers. "ln some busines situations there's

they discover being able to tap into the dark side

can support the artistic impresion you re trying

a certain kind of handshake which gives more

and t0 face that. They have t0 come to grips with

to create for an audience."

confidence than others."

martial arts, one learns to transcend violence so that it doesn't rule your life," says Turner. "But here,

their own senso of violence."

impofiant.

WHY ARE...

The Blues Called the Blues?

A Carolina Professor Explains

Even more gratifying is the work he has done

with people referred to him by psychotherapists.

Results can be dramatic, as with a patient referred to him a few years ago in Seattle. "The minute

\i.9k

I

started t0 get her t0 change the way she thought she could move, the way she thought she could

present herself, it began to change her whole selfimage and her whole self<oncept," he recalls with obvious satisfaction.

"How you take up time and space with your body is a demonstration of yout soul, ol your spirit," says Turner. Everything he does

with his acting stu-

dents reflects this, even juggling exercises. "l don't teach them how to be jugglers," Turner remarks, "but through juggling I teach them how to be better

E

a

actors. Juggling is just a tool, it's just a device. It's a ruse, it's a

lie. As Iwatch you learn how to learn

he term probably comes from

devils.'

savs Assistant

.blue

Profesor Glenn

Hinro, ofihe curriculum in folklore.

The phrase meant something deeper than the

juggling, I understand exactly what your problems

=

are and what your strengths are, and then we try

disappointment basketball fans at a certain university in Durham felt after the tourna-

to fill that out."

ments last March. When Thomas iefferson

Filling out what these developing actors bring

with themselves

[l I I

is a long, involved

proces. About

a dozen specialists teach the students such tools

of the trade as movement, voice and speech, and acting; guest artists and teachers contribute their

f'rofessor CraigTurner. u:ho hus co-authored a bctok on Elizabethan su<trdpLal-. nakes a pr.tint u'hile

wrote in 1830 that "[W]e have something of the blue devils at times,' he was refening to what we today would call clinical depresion.

demonstrating hou: the rupier uas used in

What puzzles Hinson is the still-unan-

Shukespeare's day-.

swered question of how the label first came

own experiences. 0ne of the department's strengths,

to be applied to the music that is now usually

Turner believes, is the way the profesors work

This search is made more difficult by being con-

together t0 present an integrated program. "ln a

ducted under public scrutiny instead of in the shelter of a library or laboratory. "What we do on

wandering black man singing on the front

go from flower to flower and have to pull it all

the PlayMakers stage or when we do other productions, those are our laboratories," he says. "When

relationship.

together. All of us on the faculty really meld and

you watch a Playmakers production you are watch-

blend what we do together; we understand each

ing, in action, what we're developing within the

other's methods and what we're going for."

pr0gram."

profound way, it's unusual compared to a lot of graduate programs in certain fields where students

The first projects new students tackle, like

acting students, local amateurs and nationally

tionally broad, asking only for strong emotional

recognized profesionals. Everyone benefits from the experience. "Guest artists come in and see

ested in getting the new actors to do," explains Turner, "is just respond, respond, respond: 'What's

young actors who are still growing-it's interesting

your impulse? What do you want to do?'Once they

been out a while," Turner says. "The students are

to see what that does to older artists who have

understand the hot and the cold, the ytn and the

able to work with them and to see the variety of

yanq, the dark and the light, then you play the grays, then maybe you go to Chekhov, And then you get

ways in which profesionals solve problems, and compare it to what we've been doing in clas. And

into Shakespeare, where there's a highly relined

it's further broadened my knowledge of the profes-

text. The constraints become increasingly more

sion, of what's happening out there, because I can

difficult

as you deal

with more sophisticated and

clasic material,"

always find out what the latest is going on by talking to people who come in."

Like other aspects of acting, movement is a

These productions also show Turner just how

complex skill demanding years of training before

much his advanced students have learned from him

students can turn it to theit advantage. Actors are constantly experimenting to find which gestures

about makinq their characters believable to the audience. "l can see points where they've used what

or postures send the right signals to the audience

they've learned," he observes. "lt's very satisfying-

about the character they portray. Similarly, Turner

if it worla, if they did it in

is constantly experimenting, finding how he can best help actors discover their sense of who their

the role or help the play. And in many ways, with

characters are and how those personalties would react faced with the situations set up by the play.

porch about the sonows of a broken In fact, this African-American dance music was originally far livelier than most people realize. Songs often reioiced in the pleasure of love. Musicians were as likely

PlayMakers productions throw together

stage combat in the movement clases, are inten-

reactions from the actors. "What we're really inter-

asociated with the image of a lonesome,

a way that really

all of them, that's happened."

I

to be women as men, and many were stable,

workingrlas African Americans. Furthermore, solo performances were virtually un-

heard of, with the 12-bar structure inviting everyone to join in the celebration.

Hinson believes that the man most responsible lor establishing the modem stereotype was Howard 0dum, former Kenan

profesor of sociology at UNC. In the 1920s, 0dum wrote not only scholarly studies such

x

Negro Worhaday Songs but also a fiction

trilogy about a onsarmed African-American musician based on Durham's Left Wing Gordon. lt was Odom's popular novels which Hinson says set the stereotype in concrete.

Next time you hear someone singing the blues, take a moment to think about the Carolina blue connection. And don't let those blue devils get you down!

did help Gat a question? We'll get an answer. Write Endeavors al CB# 4100 or call 966-5625.

U niu er sity I nnou

o

tio

n

s

MARKETPLACE

SOLVING THE PROBTEM WITH POLYMERS A Breakthrough Using Environmentally Sound Solvents

mers involves combining f luoroacrylate m0n0mers,

plains the implications of DeSimone's work: "The way companies are synthesizing things now is going

the building blocks of fluoropolymers, with super-

to have to change. There's too much economic

critical carbon dioxide (C0, in

gain for these products to get out 0f the busines," he says. "And now, we think there's a way they can

DeSimone's method for creating fluoropoly-

gas and a

a state between a

liquid) and an initiator compound. He

n v the end of the decade. certain proceses l{ ro, maKlng n0n-stlcK cooKrng surtaces.

Ll.ur., an. turnlture statn-guar.s. computer

mixes them in a cylindrical, stainles steel high-

disk-drive lubricants and many protective synthetic coatings will be banned. The Montreal Protocol on

dioxide a day or two later.

pressure chamber with small, round windows

continue making their existing line of products."

DeSimone's work replacing Freon with carbon

made of clear industrial sapphires. The mixture

dioxide has evolved into research with even greater

look

posible repercussions. In March,

like water until scientists release the carbon When the pressure in the chamber is released,

Substances that Deplete the Ozone l-ayer, an inter-

1993, DeSimone

presented a paper, with his graduate students, Guan

and Elise Maury, and postdoctoral research aso-

national treaty signed by more than 70 nations, will

the carbon dioxide turns back to a gas, and the

ciates James Combes and Yusuf Menceloglu at the

force chemical companies to cease production of these substances if they cannot devise an environ-

polymer precipitates looking somewhat like a Iump

American Chemical Society National Meeting in

of chewing gum. The polymer can then be shaped into the needed form. And no waste-disposal

Denver, Co., on replacinQ water and hydrocarbon solvents in polymer production with C0r.

mentally sound way of making them.

The problem with making some of these

environmentally noxious Freon, a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), is crucial to their synthesis for many chemical companies. But work by UNC-CH Assistant Profesor of Chemistry Joseph DeSimone could

A report on these findings appears rn the August 14 isues of Scrence. UNC"CH graduate student

in fluoropolymer production.

'With C0?, you don't generate organic waste,"

as a solvent

the use of water as a solvent in making acrylic plastics, such as Plexiglas and Lucite, PVC

(polpinyl

3M's Corporate Research Technology Development

chloride), which can take the form of piping and plastic food wrap, and rubber. But purification and

I-aboratory in St. Paul, Minn., coauthored the report.

disposal of contaminated water is an expensive

Zhibin Guan and Cheryl

S. Elsbernd, a chemist at

DeSimone explains that several methods

eradicate this problem. He has devised a means to replace Freon with common carbon dtoxide

The federal government does not yet prohibit

problem tarnishes the procedure.

products-all containing f Iuoropolymers-is that

and politically volatile problem for chemical

exist for making fluoropolymers, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. 0ne important

companies. "lt's early yet," DeSimone says. "But the

potential in its general applicability

quite high.

DeSimone saysl 'There is nothing to dispose

of . The

method uses Freon because the materials will not disolve in traditional organic solvents. But since

Water waste could be done away with in the pro-

cost for handling waste is skyrocketing; and

C0,

Freon has been blamed as a maior culprit in the

duction of many polymeric materials.

you can vent straight to the atmosphere." Although

C0,

is a greenhouse gas. DeSimone s procedure

adds nothing t0 current atmospheric levels. he explains. He uses what already exists and then releases it.

thinning of the ozone layer, its use

is being phased

out and will be banned by the year 2000 Robert Pozner, asociate director of Triangle

is

"Pending Iegislation is clear on the horizon," he says. "We need to find viable alternatives; is an acceptable

C0,

medium lrom a chemical point

Universities Licensing Consortium, an organization

of view. It's effectively inert, and it acts as a good

that markets intellectual property t0 industry, ex-

solvent."

DeSimone's breakthroughs have kept him busy working in and giving tours of his lab and

speaking in lecture halls. In the Iast two years he has given more than 50 lectures at chemical com-

panies and profesional meetings. "The simplicity of it all impreses people the most," he says.

For his Freon-replacement work, DeSimone receives funding fiom Du Pont, Unilever Research and 3M. The same three companies, in addition to a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award and the Presidential Faculty Fellow Award, finance his research in other areas. UNCCH has applied for patents on both the Freon-and

water-replacement procedures.

I

DeSimone's research discussed in this article was supported in part by $125,000 from the National Science Foundation's Young Inuestigator Award.

loseph

DeSrrnc.ne

0ight.l ond his resertrch teom. Mtke Clork,

Ehse

Mourt,.limnn Combes, Zhtbtn Guan and.lin

IkCloin tleft) ore nokrng fluoropohnters in the lob u'ilh carbon dioxide tnstead of

Freon.

E.Nrl).E.A.V.O.R.S

Feeding Soccer Balls to Snalres A Liquid Crystal Expert Plays With Buckyballs by ftoftLorvry

bt many chemists talk about their work in terms of soccer balls and snakes and feeding frenzies. But then, not many chemists would

think to dump a bunch of buckyballs into a colleague's highly reactive polymer solution. Professor

Edward Samulski of the chemistry department encouraged his student assistants to do just that,

Those trying to use buckyballs have found

that

Cuo is

not user-friendly. Fullerenes cannot be

and the results could well help buckyballs find all sorts of jobs in the coming years. Already people

melted or solution-cast into thin films or other forms

are touting these molecules' potential as super-

doped with alkalimetals like lithium to allow high-

conductors, drugdelivery capsules to fight cancer,

temperature superconductivity, the substance de-

molecularscale

-ball

bearings' or lubricants, com-

for optical and electronic applications. When

composes 0n exposure to air. Such intransigence

ponents in high-speed optical computers and who

is a serious hindrance as scientists move from leam-

knows what else. Buc$balls may well be the

ing buckyballs' properties to finding ways to exploit

molecule of the

those properties. Fortunately, Samulski's research

'90s.

The formal name of this new soccer-ball-

team has figured out a way to get a handle on

shaped form of carbon, Buckminsterfullerene,

buckyballs, a handle that should help researchers

honors the inventor of the geodesic dome because

take

the researchers who discovered the

Cuo

molecule

Cuo

from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Samulski and fellow profesors Richard

1984 thought the spherical anay of its 60 carbon atoms looked like Fulle/s domes. And just as archi-

Jarnagin and Joseph DeSimone succeeded in mak-

tects three decades ago sought new uses for the

them. The resulting molecule, with its polymer arms

dome, it seems as if nearly every scientist today is

radiating from a buckyball at the center, reminded

in

looking for ways to use

Cuo.

But Samulski is taking

ing buckyballs and attaching polymer chains to

the researchers of Flagellata, cells with whiplike

a different approach that could have a more telling

appendages used for motion. Research group

effect on the molecule's future. He is interested not

members, in what Samulski calls "some sort of

so much in finding uses for buckyballs as in finding

masochistic creative wordsmithing," named their

ways to make buckyballs easier to use.

new clas of molecules flagellenes.

E.Nof).E.A.V.O.R.S

10

Flagellenes combine the desirable'properties

As Samulski explains, this order is extremely

,

DiSital watches and Kevlar fibers were un-

knoiv'n when Samulski began studying liquid crystals

in solid films. they separate into buckyball-rich

subtle at the molecular level: "lf you were riding around on,,one of these molecules, you wouldn't

regions and polymer*ich regi0ns, "This spatial

be able to tell whether you were in the ordinary

scientists had not even heard ol liquid crystals then.

ordering is very intriguing,' Samulski remarks. "You

Iiquid or the liquid crystalline state." But step back,

even thouqh they had been discovered in 1888.

would still have any interesting properties of

and the results become dramaft:,,He points t0

Liquid crystals were all but lorgotten by the 1930s, Samulski says, because researchers asumed they

of therr two components and add a useful wrinkle:

C60

in

as a graduate

student in the mid-I960s. In fact. most

the buckyball-rich neighborhood, while at the same time conferring procesing capability by having

nature for some examples. Beetles' shells are iridescent because they were deposited in a liquid

the polymeric part. And the polymer could protect

crystalline state whose spatial periodicity matches

scientists figuredoulfrat they could be used in

the buckyball enclave because it's fairly inert and

the wavelength of visible light. 0r consider cell replication. "There's evidence that the DNA in

verylow-energy v'i$ral displays. That rekindled

is a nice encapsulating material. Cuo is rather

in'

chromosomes is packaged in a

liquid crys-

soluble and intractable as it stands, but as soon as you attach a polymer chainto it, it disolves; you

certain

can even cast films from the sOlution."

s0 you can get the stuff out in a hurry and do some-

Creating a new class of molecules was far from Samulski's mind whefl he turned his attenti-Qn to buckyballs shortly after their discovery. Instead,

talline state," says Samulski, r'lt's fluid yet organized, thing with it and put it back together again in'a very compact way.'

Just as exciting as what nature can do with

knew everJthing about them. But around 1960,

interest in these substances iust as Samulski was looking for a disertation topic; he has remained interested in them ever since.

"A large part of my research is devoted to undetstan{ing what in terms of molecular structural characteristics enables one molecule t0 melt into a liquid cry$al while a structure only slightly differ-

liquid crystals is whqt people can do, An eleetric or magnetic lield has negligible effect on an ordinary

ent melts ihto an ordinary liquid," says Samulski.

liquid Apply the same field to a Iiquid crystal. and

shapes work and which don't. Football'shaped

was going on fast and furious in many labs all,over

the molecules all literally fall into line like a roomful of compases. Samulski uses cows and cars to

molecules tend to show liquid crystal phases; baskelball or soccer ball shapes show plastic

the world and by the time we made

explain the effect of fields on normal liquid mole-

$talph.ses.'

he was out to play a hunch. "As soon as I saw a

buckyball Isaid, 'Gee, that will be a plastic crystal All we have to do is make some and melt it and I could prove it,"' remembers Samulski. "Bq! work Cuo

at UNC,

"We've got some general ideas on which molecular

people had already shown that it was in fact a

cules and liquid crystal molecules, "lf you had a

plastic crystal."

herd of cattle or a fleet of New York cab drivers and a stoplight in the middle 0f the desert. for the most

Samulski to

part they wouldn't respond individually or collec-

A plastic crystal is an intermediate state most

It was its soccer ball symmetry that drew Cuo. "We

made fullerenes by burning

a carbon arc. We separated buckyballs from the

spherical molecules exhibit between their liquid and solid states. They arrange themselves in the

tively to a right{urn-onl1' arrow. However. if you

soot and we had them sitting around," he recalls, "but we weren't sure exactly what to do with them."

rigid lattices exhibited by crystals, but because the

had a bunch of cars operated by cautious dtivers,

lnspiration struck at one of the regular research

molecules spin rapidly in place in that lattice, the

even though they're not perfectly ordered-there

group meetings of chemistry faculty and students,

material becomes mushy, Cool them a bit and plastic crystals become normal brittle solids; warm

are no lanes in the middle of the desert-if they encountered this right turn signal, you would notice

an informal forum designed to evaluate research

them and they melt into normal fluid liquids.

that all the cars would turn right at the same place."

programs and try out new ideas, Why not see what would happen when buckyballs and living poly-

Getting all the molecules in a liquid crystal to align, to "turn right," results in striking properties,

mers met?

of connection to liquid crystals, that's no accident.

Liquid crystals also exist between the solid and

such as a sudden change from transparency to

polymer molecules. "They are like piranhas sitting

Iiquid states. Not only d0 their molecules spin like

opacity. This eflect is the principle behind the ubiquitous liquid crystal display (LCD) of wrist-

around waiting for something to eat, 0r maybe a snake would be a better analogy since it's a long

watches and flat-panel computer scleens. Aligned

molecule," Samulski explains. "You start with a

molecules can also impart impresive strength to

monomer such as styrene and add a reagent that

If the name plastic crystal suggests some sort

those of plastic crystals, but they are ftee to move about almost like those of a normal liquid: almost

but not quite. Their movement is not actually random, but exhibits long-range orientational order.

LivinQ polymers are basically hyperactive

materials. The orientational order of the molecules

opens up the molecule and makes it ready to add

persists when fibers are spun from liquid crystalline

another styrene monomer. That gives you a dimer

solutions or melts, resulting in fabrics like Kevlar

which opens up giving you a trimer and so on until yOu get a polymer, a long chain of monomers.

strong enough to stop bullets.

E.N.D.E.A.V.O.R.S

"But in a living polymer, one end of that chain

l1

interested and interesting people that made it

tical molecules and conventional polymer materials

looking for the next monomer. Or you can feed it something interesting and see what it

happen here before it happened aninvhere else.

with their random distribution of molecule

Whenever I talk about this stuff, other laboratories

One outcome could be the first ordered self-asem-

will do. We threw in buckyballs and sure enough,

kick themselves for not having done it."

is alive and

the living polymer went for it in a sort of feeding

Samulski intends to c0ntinue chasing down

frenzy, attaching several chains onto a single

ideas in a number of different directions. Flagel-

buckyball and made this octopus-shaped mole-

lenes continue to be a high priority, with ongoing

cule." Samulski, DeSimone, Jarnagin and their

experiments looking at conductivity and nonlinear

students had asembled the first flagellenes.

optical properties. Work

Samulski says he feels right at home working

is in

progres to improve

sizes.

bly on gold of a monomolecular film of macromole cules, opening the door to all sorts of electronic, optical and biological applications.

Nor have liquid crystals been neglected in the excitement over flagellenes. Samulski is cunently excited by thiophene, an aromatic monomer that

flagellenes by allowing only one living polymer to

has been Iargely overlooked by polymer scientists.

with flagellenes because, like liquid crystals, they

attach to each buckyball. Such monoflagellenes

Thiophene, a nonlinear, benzenelike molecule

are characterized by unusually ordered phases.

would involve les disruption of the

This spatial ordering in flagellenes, with buclryball

with five carbon atoms and one sulfur atom, can be incorporated into polymers that exhibit liquid

Cuo cores,

regions altemating with polymer regions, is periodic

thereby preserving their intrinsic optical and electric properties. Samulski is also intrigued by what

and regular on a very fine level. Samulski is pleased

could result when other types of polymers are

that this property may help others put buclryballs

attached to buckyballs. 0ne of his undergraduate

to use, but he is even more excited by the aesthetic

students is trying to attach living polymers to bucky-

sellasembled macromolecules or lagellenes

qualities ol the supramolecular order in these new

tubes, a sort of elongated buckyball; succes could

become as much a part of our lives as the small-

materials.

lead to new, super-strong, reinforced polymers.

That's no surprise from a man who approaches

Samulski is also developing an interest in

crystallinity, providing yet another structural handle for Samulski's experiments.

Will thiophenetontaining polymers, f

molecule liquid crystals apparent all around us in digital watches and portable computer screens?

science as an artist. "l'm excited by the intrinsic beauty 0f the buckyball itsell," Samulski says. "l

molecular biology because certain genetic expres-

Samulski believes that researchers must first dis-

sion systems should allow him to produce poly-

cover more efficient ways of synthesizing these

should have been a painter, but I do my creativity

mers to exacting standards. We cannot asemble

new materials. He hopes to spur synthetic chemists

through science. I'm a right-brain-dominant person,

synthetic polymers with a precise number ol

to do just that as he turns up more and more interesting molecular shapes and properties. "l think

and I like being able to make bizarre associations

monomers, but organisms can be used to make

from very different fields. And that's guided me,

biological polymers with whatever number of

allowed me to be creative."

monomers we want in the chain. Samulski wants

that would be the most efficient use of my talents," he explains, "to continue to understand why they

to study the behavioral differences between such

are the way they are."

Most of Samulski's work involves exploring that abstract tenitory where the boundaries between

I

biosynthetic polymer materials composed of iden-

the traditionalscientific disciplines melt away. "My

Samulsfti s reseorch discussed

research is sort of in a twilight zone between physics

of a number of projects supported by $41 5,000 from

and chemistry,' he says. "Exactly how the

the U.S. Air Force

physical properties and the chemical structure interplay is really where the fun is, where the excitement is.' Appropriately, the name flagellene comes from yet another

discipline, biology.

Samulski points out that the three fields of

biology, chemistry and physics are pretty much

one at the molecular level. And inspiration, he

believes, can be found anywhere.

This attitude encourages taking chances, and Samulski appreciates working with other risk-taken. He notes

that Dick Jamagin helped him synthesize and purify buckyballs when

most people thought it was a waste of time,

while Joe DeSimone was willing to risk his living polymer solution just t0 see what would happen when buckyballs were added. "0ur flagellene project could not have been done by one person alone. It was the sort of fortuitous combination of

in

this article is one

E.N.D.E.A.VoQof,o$

12

The BiSMot: Illusion or Reality?

Does Psychological Momentum Affect Sports Performance?

by Christina

S.

Stock

r t s the third round of the NCAA Men s BasketI bull Tourrurent. With two and a half minutes I t.i on the clock. the Tar Heels are clinging to a

against one another in a motor-skill game, which

two-point lead against Arkansas. They are looking

across a page. They competed for time and the

for somebody to get hot. The Heels' Donald Williams

accuracy of the croses

Silva calls "novel mazes." The students

crosed out

circles plotted on a Iine that winds haphazardly whether they remained

-

hits an 18-foot shot, and the Razorbacks' Darrell

fully within the circles or strayed out. The subjects,

Hawkins answers back with a three-pointer from the top of the key. Score: Heels-75, Razorbacks-74.

volunteers, half male and half female, could not

With 42 seconds left, George Lynch hits Williams

ceived fabricated feedback that made them think

for a layup. Then Williams makes three of four free

they had positive or negative momentum, regard-

throws. ln the last 1:53 of the game, Williams has

les of how they were really doing.

see one another during the competition. They re-

"Each subject experienced either'winning'

scored seven points. The Heels win 8&74 and

qualify for the semi-finals.

Questions: Was the momentum on the Tar

or'losing' during the competition," Silva explains.

=

Heels'side? lf they thought it was, did that posi'

affect how the subjects performed later in the con-

a j

tively affect their performance? Were they bound

test. If momentum is created by succes, as theory

to win once Williams got on a roll?

suggests, the performances of the 'winners' would

:

John M. Silva III, profesor of spon psychology O

Joltn

lll

Silt:u Ill L:huilenges conunt)n nolirn.s ol

pslcltrrloqirtrl tnonlentunt irt utlilettcs

"Momentum is uery real in basketball.

It's definitely there and definitely

"We hypothesized that these experiences would

be expected to improve, and the performances of

in the department of physical education, exercise and sport science, says ... maybe! "People think

the 'losers'would be expected to deteriorate."

they're hot, and they feel like they're hot. The question is, are they hot from a performance perspective

and reported feeling positive momentum did not

versus a cognitive and emotional penpective? From

losing and reported feeling negative m0mentum

a performance point of view, there is little evidence

did not decline fuffier. "Thus, winning and losing

that thinking you're hot enhances performance."

affected the subjects' emotions and thoughts about

But subjects who thought they were winning g0 0n t0 improve, And those who thought they wete

a factor. There are things you do

hit a rhythm, get in a groove, go on a roll. The crowd

their performance, but these emotions and thoughts were not translated into actual performance

to breah the momentum of losing

gets riled up; the players get excited; the announc-

changes," Silva says.

ond keep the momentum of winning.

I'ue experienced it many times."

-Sylvia

Hatchell

But how can this be? Everyone has seen a team

ers say the team has control of the momentum.

He does not contest that a player really feels

And the coaches either try to exploit posesion

hot, nor that an observer perceives a streak. But

of the momentum or sabotage it. Silva points out, "There is no question that being in a groove exists.

evidence from this study and another he conducted using data from NCM tennis matches suggests that

But there appears to be an attributional enor.

performance is not dramatically different during a

We've been too liberal t0 use momentum as a

so-called period of momentum.

convenient label to explain events we observe Silva has published his most recent report on psychological momentum in the 1992 isue of the lournal of Sport ond Exercise Psychology.

Silva's conclusions

will undoubtedly meet

contention. Coaches and players manipulate mo-

at significant points in competitions."

ll

delineates experimental findings which contradict what most players, fans, announcers, teachers and coaches commonly believe about momentum.

Allen E. Cornelius and Laura M. Finch, graduate students in sporl psychology, are co-authors of the paper. The findings surprised them all, Silva says.

"We thought momentum was operating too."

Silva, Cornelius and Finch conducted a series

of experiments in which 116 students competed

mentum regularly as part of game tactics. Tar Heels women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell says, "Momentum is very real in basketball. It's definitely there and definitely a factor. There are things you

"lt's amazing how many times the announcers are creoting an entertoinment scenario that doesn't really pan out.

Momentum is an ouerused concePt." -John

Silva

E.N.D.E.A.Yo(fof,og

do to break the momentum of losing and keep the

13

Punishmentto Prevention

momentum of winning. I've experienced it many times."

Joe Sagula, Tar Heels volleyball coach agrees.

"Coaches and players try to do things to psych themselves up. People try to control and manipulate

momentum by controlling tactics. When people think things are going their way, they tend to play

Prison Cop Legislation in the Tor Heel State

better. Sometimes just one play can get a team going. Ithink momentum has a very big effect in

by Paul Garber

volleyball."

Silva hypothesizes that what looks like momentum is actually only a performance run or streak

that would normally happen in the course of a game. And, it has little or nothing to do with how

confident the players feel.

Coaches and players could apply his resuls in several ways, Silva says. "Spons are emotional.

It's easy to get caught up emotionally in the situ-

ation." A cold attitude toward momentum could help players remain objective about their own runs. "lt could help athletes understand they should keep their role within the team. Many times players lose

discipline because they think they are hotter than they are."

A team could cope better when the opposi-

tion

is hot, too. "Teams get rattled. Any player

"We really haue to look at how

or

hids grow up: their fomilies, their

team has to learn how to withstand a run. They

schools, their communities. We u)ant to

need to know these runs will take their course. The probability is Iow that high performance will last

keep them from doing the uime in the

long. So there is no need to panic."

first place, ond there is not enough

Silva says an objective attitude toward mo-

interest in doing lhoL "

mentum could also help announcers call games more accurately. "lt's amazing how many times the

-Stevens

H. Clarke

ann0uncers are creating an entertainment scenario that doesn't really pan out. Momentum is an overused concept."

Nonetheles, Silva is not prepared to entirely

orth Carolina appean to have a serious crime problem. The Carolina Poll conducted in the

North Carolina Department of Correction, the state

spring of 1992 by the UNC-CH School of

to alleviate overcrowding by releasing enough legal-

enacted the cap as a short-term, emergency measure

discredit the effect of psychological momentum on

iournalism and

performance. It may merely exist on a smaller level

Institute for Research in Social Science showed

population falls below the cap, which presently

that no one has discovered how to measure yet.

And, he says, though rare, "pure examples" of

that nearly twothirds of the state's residents were

standsat21,200.

worried that they or their families would become

momentum do exist: when players feel hot, think

victims of crime. Crime rates appear to be escalat.

The drawback of the cap is that it depreciates the credibility of prison time as a punishment or as

Mass

Communication and the

they are hot and their performance far exceeds

ing; criminals seem to be spending les and

the normal run or streak. This does happen. For

time behind bars. To many people, the obvious

example:

solution

is just to

les

build more prisons.

But Stevens H. Clarke, criminal justice re-

It is a clear, warm night at Arlington Stadium

Iy

eligible prisoners so that the state-wide prison

a deterrent. Furthermore, some people seeking an

explanation for increasing crime rates blame the cap, saying it simply puts criminals back on the streets sooner.

on May 1, 1991, and 33,439 fans are holding their

searcher at the Institute of Covernment, wants to

collective breath. The Texas Rangers are playing

dispel beliefs that lengthy prison terms are the best

an inconsequential effect, neither good or bad, on

means of dealing with crime. He suggests instead

crime in North Carolina. Clarke's research suggests

host to the Toronto Blue Jays. Texas is up

3{.

It's

the top of the ninth, and Nolan Ryan is pitching.

a shift

The Jays have two outs, and Roberto Alomar is at

system to a preventive approach.

the plate with two strikes. Ryan pitches. Alomar swings. He mises. Strike three. Ballgame. no-hitter, a major league record.

'When all three of these variables converge: "now that's momentum!"

I

Clarke recently examined the state's Prison Cap legislation in a study which appeared in the

Nolan Ryan has pitched hisseventh career

emotion, cognition and performance," Silva

in attention from an inadequate punitive

says,

Institute's journal Popular Gouemment. The state

However, Clarke believes the cap has had

that crime rates in North Carolina in the period following the cap legislation generally did not increase any more than in the rest of the South.

Clarke examined data the FBI reported on the number of "index crimes" per 100,000 residents.

enacted the cap in 1987 as a result of the Small vs.

Index crimes comprise violent crimes-murder,

Martin lawsuit alleging that prison overcrowding

rape, robbery and aggravated

had reached unc0nstituti0nal proportions. Accord-

crimes-burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.

ing to Bill Poston, public information officer for the

He compared the FBI data from 1984-1991 for North

asault-and property

E.Nof).E.A.V.0.R.S

t4

"lt's important to haue just, fair

punishment, but we should not confuse that with cime preuention. We could haue the best criminal justice system

in the world, and we'd still haue a lot of crime.

"

-Stevens

H. Clarke

Nor is expanding prisons to lock up more people after they have committed a crime a costa

effective solution. ln 1992, $103 million was appropriated by the state to build more than 3,300 new

q

o

;

"beds," the space required for each inmate. That

z

works out to about $31,200 for each new space.

Prison operating costs for 1991 averaged roughly

F

a

$20,000 per inmate.

a

thing: people are willing to entertain the idea of building more prisons and operating them, but we

As Clarke says, "here's the really puzzling I

b ucnntnrrktte nore irnutes. Jolutson Count,v Correctional Center hus a prsenl toktl (apo(it) of 551 as nundated llr'lrrnils set ln Prisr-rn Clup Leqiskrtiort. Sleoens L-/an?e (lrques tltet trsouttes cou1rl

Recenllr' e.tpunded

be put to better use rn findirtg tiruls k) pt?renl,

rut just punish,

titte

don't know where the money is going to come from t0 operate tho;e prisons that we're already building. lf we try t0 prevent crime by building more prisons we're going t0 have to take the money

Carolina to the data for I 6 other southern and border states and the District of Columbia.

tion between the time people serve in prison and their Iikelihood of doing a new crime when they

away from other programs such as education."

Rather than narrowly focusing only on prison

get out, especially a new property crime like larceny

terms and their Iengths, Clarke suggests that more

for all states, Clarke found that North Carolina's

or burglary." This correlation holds up even after

time should be spent understanding why people

violent crime rate remained well below the overall

taking int0 acc0unt differences among offenders

commit crime. "We really have to look at how kids

Southern rate; only the state's burglary and larceny rates increased at a faster rate than the region's.

such as age, criminal history or type of crime

grow up: their families, their schools, their commu-

committed.

nities," says Clarke, "We want t0 keep them from doing the crime in the first place, and there is not

While crime rates increased across the board

As Clarke interprets the statistics, the cap is not the proper scapegoat. "lf the cap had a

[negative] effect, we would see a general increase in all kinds of crimes, not just one or two," he says.

AIso, Iengthy terms can have a detrimental effect on people by depriving them of a normal life, making them unemployable, and posibly making

Furthermore, the state's rate for auto theft increased

them victims of homosexual rape. "lt's important to have just, fair punishment," Clarke says, "but we

much more slowly and remained significantly below the South's rate. "lt's not because of the cap

should not confuse that with crime prevention. We could have the best criminal justice system in the

that we have so much crime," Clarke says. More-

world, and we'd still have a lot of crime."

over, he says the cap did not significantly affect

enough interest in doing that."

According to correction official Bill Poston, 95 percent of prison inmates have

les than a high

school diploma. He says it's time fot the state to stop thinking about how to expand its prisons and to start looking at preventatives, Iike education

reforms.

As an analogy, Clarke compares the response

No one doubts that crime is a serious problem.

crime rates because the prisoners released earlier

oriented nature of the criminal justice system t0

tended to be lower-risk offenders and, on average,

hospital. Just as one would not expect an emergency

The question is whether the prison system holds the solution to the crime problem. "What I'm trying

prison terms were not shortened much.

It is common to assume that longer prison

room to prevent accidents, one should also not expect the criminal justice system to prevent crime

to do is get people to think beyond the criminal justice sptem," Clarke says. "l'm concerned with

"The idea that the way t0 prevent crime is to lock

improving the criminal iustice system; I've spent much of my working life on it, I care a lot about it.

terms

will reduce crime by frightening would-be

offenders. Although Clarke acknowledges that the threat of a long prison sentence probably has some effect on crime, a recidivism study he published

a

up people responsible is like saying the way to prevent AIDS is to lock up all the high risk people," Clarke says. "This preoccupation with punishing

last year suggests that longer prison terms are more

people isn't going to help us much with preventing

likely to have just the opposite effect. "Our study of recidivism suggests that there is a positive correla-

crime, and preventing crime is more important than trying to figure out how to punish people."

But what alarms me is that increasingly it is being

thought of as the only way to prevent crime. If that's what you tell people they're going to be sorely disappointed."

1

E.Nof)rf,oIrIIoQoR.S

15

A Mouse lryith a Mighty Cholestertl Count Gene Targeting Techniques Create o Proctical Model for Atherosclerosis

by Christina

S.

Stock

Reddick says, "The rnouse provides a stable

ardiovascular disease is the primary cause

understanding of multifactorial diseases, such as

of death in Western societies. In 1990, the

hypertension and atherosclerosis," Dr. Claude

genetic base on which we can look at modifica-

last year for which data are available, 18,047

Lenfant, director of the Institute, says,

tions which increase and decrease hardening of

Americans died due to complications created by

Using gene targeting techniques developed

the arteries. And we can get results in a relatively

atherosclerosis: heart attacks and strokes. And until last October, no practical, small-animal model

ology, Maeda's team disrupted the gene responsible

for studying atheroscierosis, or hardening of the

for creating apolipoprotein E. a protein the Ii",er

arteries. existed.

depends on to remove fat particles called chylomicron remnants. "lf apolipoprotein E is not there,

exceeds that of other animals, 0r even humans.

researchers led by Dr. Nobuyo Maeda, asociate

the remnants accumulate in the blood, and choles-

This knowledge makes assays for screeninq the

profesor of pathology, succeeded at genetically

terol and other fats go up too," Maeda explains.

But then a team of pioneering UNC CH

by Dr. Oliver Smithies, Excellence profesor of path-

Maeda says the other great advantage of using

mice for research, instead of rabbits or pigs, is that knowledge about the qenetic structure of mice far

effects of other genes on atherosclerosis possible.

altering mice to reach cholesterol levels five times greater than normal even when they eat a regular

a high{at, high-cholesterol diet, stress, high blood

diet. The research implications of an atheroscler-

pressure and lack of exercise can all aggravate the

otic mouse are compelling.

condition. Arteries clog with fats and other debris

Although atherosclerosis is a genetic disease,

And breeding and raising the mice costs less than other animals.

Requests for the mice have poured in from

around the nation and as far as Germany. Researchers in nutrition, biochemistry, pathology, to

*:{

{4'

short span of time."

'** i_OO"*t . *-a..J tr b

name a few fields, are using these mice to compare

how vitamins, fish oil, animal fat and cholesterolfighting drugs affect the gene{argeted mice and normal mice. Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, is reproducing the mice on a large scale.

Maeda says Jackson

*,

will distribute the mice for

research purposes charging only the cost.

1..-

Dr. Steven H. Quarfordt, associate profesor in the division of gastroenterology at Duke Univenity

These qenetrcolLt ullered rrttct' uppeur nrnnrul

is using the mouse to study fat and cholesterol transport. "l'm ecstatic about the mouse," he says.

"What Dr. Maeda made is exactly what I need to

But

answer questions about what apolipoprotein

{ url lrcallht'. just like hunans urth undiagnosed olheroscleroslr tn set'entl ntonths their Ltsntnat urtcrtes (riqltt) u,tll he ulnutst uunpletelv ck4gtd uith fat deposits

E

somewha[ like iron pipes closing up with rust.

does in the transport of trigliceride Ifat] and cholesterol." For 10 years Dr. Quarfordt has been

lent opportunity to mimic human disease and study

When the coronary arteries get blocked, a heart

researching how readily fat and cholesterol leave

modifications in drugs and diet in a controlled en-

attack results, When the carotid arteries, which

the body, but only with this gene-altered mouse

vironment. It

feed the brain, clog, a stroke occurs,

could he study the proces with reduced apolipo-

"With a model like this, we'll have an excel-

is going to provide a lot of answers to

imp0rtant clinical questions that affect just about

Drug, diet or vitamin treatments for hardening

everybody's Uncle Fred and Aunt Sally," says Dr.

of the arteries take decades to test because athero-

Robert Reddick, Kenneth Brinkhous Distinguished

sclerosis is a cumulative disease, worsening over a penon's entire lifespan. Using the mice circumvents

Profesor of Pathology.

Together with Maeda and Reddick, Dr. Sunny

is the cleanest system available." he says. "lt's an

unbelievable opportunity,"

I

the problem of waiting decades to see if theoreti-

H. Zhang, graduate student in pathology, and Dr.

cal treatments will succeed. Maeda explains that

Jorge A. Piedrahita, now at Texas A&M University,

the mice's condition progreses drastically within a

published a report 0n their work in the October

year, and, she says, cumulative research results can

16

protein E, an aspect crucial to greater understanding of the mechanisms of lipids metabolism. "This

isue of .lcience. The National Heart, Lung and

be acquired within 5 months. With such immediate

Blood Institute supported the research.

"The mouse should quicken the pace of

results researchers

research and increase by leaps and bounds our

lifetimes, to screen drug, diet or vitamin treatments.

will be able to determine the

most effective treatments without waiting years,

Maedo's research discussed in this article wos funded in full by $935,168 from the National Heart, Lung and Blood lnstitute.

E.N.I).E.A.VoQof,o$

l6

Neverlbo Youn$ Childrlen and Heart Disease Prrcvention

by Paul Garber

"We got inuolued because of the lach of physical education programs in North Carolina. Schoo/s are dropping P. E. So here we haue all these fat hids and we're taking awoy their options to

reduce weight and normalize blood pressure."

-Robert

McMurraY

The study examined 1,261 third- and fourth-

"lf you can learn how to incorporate

physical actiuity into your lifestyle and see that it makes a difference uhen you're young, you are more aqt to

continue to be deuoted to it later on."

-Joanne

graders in six rural and six urban schools

acros

the exercise interventions and lesons on nutrition, the benefits of physical activity, and the dangers

z

of smoking. The other 674 students received no

o zl

W

who received the interventions showed significant

Harrell

x',','.',",]f,l

i

o

decreases in cholesterol and body fat, and increas'

hen you think about heart disease, you

il :il JTt[

E

special exercise or health lesons. The children

es in aerobic capacity. These changes in their young

f f ,

I

,6

North Carolina. 0f these students, 587 received

;,lf i'ill,

usually do not appear until midlife, the behaviors that lead to heart disease can begin at a very young age. There is evidence that some children as young

Harell

Shrikant Bangdiwala, the project's biostatisti"

as they get older.

-

again. Although the manifestations of heart disease

Joanne

bodies may help them fight cardiovascular disease The exercises that the researchers used for

cian, says that the researchers found a significant

the study differed from regular physical education clases by stresing activity over skill. "Since there

difference between rural and urban schoolchildren.

no scoring, winning or losing, everybody partici-

he says. "We see this as an important result because

is

pates,' says Robert McMurray, the project's exercise physiologist. "You don't have to be a great baseball

"The interventions worked best in rural schools," of the predominantly rural nature ol the state."

hitter or catcher, just be able to run and be active,"

Hanell adds that rural schools may be a focus for the group's research in the future. "Children in rural

he says. Running, jumping rope and small-team

areas had the worst risk factor profiles and indeed

UNC-CH significantly improved heart disease risk

soccer without goals were part of the exercise

had the best response to interventions," she says.

factors in third- and fourth-graders through an eight' week intervention program. The interventions had

program used in the study. The exercises were

two parts: on three days of the school week the

groups moving.

as 3 have fatty

streak in their aortas that may fore-

shadow heart disease later in life.

But there is hope. A group of researchen at

children received 2Gminute exercise periods. 0n the other two days of the school week, they received

designed to be fun and to keep the large muscle

Hanell

says that the

children enjoyed partici-

The researchers studied two methods of inter'

vention: largegroup intervention in which all thirdand fourth-graders in randomly selected schools received the interventions; and small'group inter-

pating in the study, and that their enthusiasm was

vention that focused on children believed to be at'

infectious. "ln one of the schools, the seventh'and

risk for cardiovascular disease based on health and

"The behaviors that we believe are related to

eighth-grade students petitioned the principal to be

fitnes pre-asesments. The students in the small

atherosclerotic changes are initiated in childhood," says Joanne Harrell, an assistant profesor in the

allowed to have an exercise program Iike the third-

groups had the advantage of having fewer students per teacher, allowing them to have more personal-

lesons that stressed the importance of good health.

School of Nursing and the principal investigator on the school-based intervention research. "lf you can

and fourth-graders were having."

"We got involved because of the lack of

ized instruction. "The point was to see if the individualized, small-group intervention was more

learn how to incorporate physical activity into yout

physical education programs in North Carolina," McMunay said. "Schools are dropping P.E. So here

Hanell

Iifestyle and see that it makes a difference when

we have all these fat kids and we're taking away

you're young, you are more apt to continue to be

their options to reduce weight and normalize

devoted to it later on."

blood presure."

succesful than the large-group intervention," says.

E.N.D.E.A.Vo(frf,rg

17

II o

o

Harrell hopes that the school-based interven-l tions will catch on. would like to see this kind of program implemented in the school system. Maybe not all year every year, but for part of the year every

week and perhaps at intervals more often," she says. "l'm hoping that as more

year, for at least eight

people become aware of the potential here and how badly off the children really are, that we can make some impact with a program that is really cheap and easy to do,' she says.

"l am very interested in taking my research beyond academia and hope to affect policy," Hanell adds. "We need to work with school committees on a local, regional and state-wide basis to

do. There's a legislative subcommittee that lools at physical fitnes and youth, and Dr. McMurray made a presentation of our prelimi-

see what we can

Research assistant Diane Dennis monitors porticipants' progress during the bike test in a preissessment fitness screening. The data gathered during the pre<tssessmenls enabled reseorchers to pinplint children already at

The researchers discovered no difference between the two approaches. "We found that the

largegroup intervention worked at least

as

well

with the children as the smallgroup, which really surprised us,' Harrell says. "Clinicians generally

Hanell studied third- and fourth-graders be cause they had reached the age where the inter-

ventions would begin to have a long-term influence on the children. "Developmentally, by about thirdor fourthgrade children seem ready to realize that

think that you deal with people at-risk, and if you focus individually it will help them. Well, with

what they do now can have an impact later on," she says. "Younger than third-grade they really

schoolchildren that wasn't the case.'

can't do that."

Hanell was pleased that the largegroup intervention worked as well as the small-group interven-

The researchers hope that what the kids learn in school now will help keep them healthy for life.

tion because the largegroup intervention is cheaper

"We hope not to just change knowledge but change

and allows all of the children to be involved. "Clear-

behavior," says Annette Frauman, the project's pediatric nurse. "lf they develop habits that stres

ly everyone can benefit from a physical activity program or from more knowledge about heart disease," she says.

nary results before that subcommittee. As a result of that presentation, we've had several calls from

rish for cardiouascular diseose.

exercise and low{at eating, that should put them at lower risk for heart disease."

school districts and concerned parents, but a lot more needs to happen to get it implemented state

wide. I'm eager to discus with legislators, school boards and other groups that have an impact on school curricula ways that my study could be

applied in their settings."

I

"Deuelopmentally, by about third or fourth grade children seem reody to

realize that whot they do nou) can haue an impoct loter on."

-Joanne

Harrell

E.N.D.E.A.YoQof,o$

l8

Centr:al Europe Embarks on an Arduous Journey Documenting Why Priuatization Is a Tougher Task Than Anticipated

by Christina S. Stock

f I I

n

the papers have documented is that it's a far more

1990 a previously booming Czech electronics

.orprny

complex proces than anybody had ever anticipat'

neededio barterand trade to getsuP o

plies. PIVO Praha (an alias to cover the firm's

identity), the stateowned electronics company, had to borrow money just to cover wages. Customen owed the company $3.7 million, and worker layoffs

The main mision of the project, funded by

tr

a grant from the Johnson & Johnson Corporation,

E

is to provide American and

I

loomed. In an attempt to make the company com-

o

petitive in the dawning era of Iree markets, PIVO's

ies

multinational companwith information to asist investment decisions

and to help busines schools examine private enterprise isues.

management decided to attract a foreign investor.

U

The company hired American busines consultant George Jackson. He was to assess the company's

r t

problems and develop a privatization plan.

PIVO's history and the task belore Jackson are

E

s

described in one of a series of 15 working papers published by the UNC-CH International Private

Central Europe were actually going about the privatization proces. And what's become clear from our

Priuate Enterprise Deuelopment Research Center.

studies is that there's no single most effective way

says

Dennis Rondinelli, diector of UNC-CH lnternatbnal

priuatization of Central European countries

is

more complicated than the West had expected.

all of the papers, in translation, are used by policy makers in the countries themselves. The U.S. State Department asked for and received a set. And many American consulting firms have also requested the

o

identify different ways that different countries in

clas

rooms of leading American busines schools. And

o

zf

Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. "We tried to

The case-study papers are being used in

I

Enterprise Development Research Center at the

to go about privatization," says Dennis Rondinelli,

ed. It's going to take far longer," Rondinelli says.

c

papers.

The highly focused accounts of privatization processes in the papers demonstrate how the his'

torically unprecedented conversion from a command economy to a marketdriven economy is an inevocable change. And to the dismay of many, the transition will be more complicated than the

quick fix prescribed by many Western consultants

director of the Research Center.

When the communist regimes of Central

Rondinelli commisioned a group of mostly Central European academics and policy makers in

Rondinelli hopes to receive funding to examine how management reacts to and affects environmen-

Europe disintegrated in the late'80s, and democrat'

1991 to examine privatization policy and specific stateowned enterprises (SOEs) considering privati'

tal regulations and conditions in Central European pulp and paper mills. And then, perhaps in a few

ically elected leaders appeared, Westerners rushed

zation in Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary

years, another series to update findings in

The prospects seemed promising. Central Europe,

and the once Yugoslovian republic of Slovenia.

The Center published the resulting series of papers

Priuotizotion ond Economic Reformwill come out.

though operating under a planned economy lor

The vital findings of the book, says Rondinelli,

in 1992. Several ol the papers analyze the vulnerabilities and potentials of a number of the dinosaur SOEs: tobacco, electronic, furniture and tool com'

are that

panies. Others examine the privatization of a geographic area or an entire country. This summer the series will come out as a book, litled Priuqtization

l)

the convenion proces from

a command

in to offer advice on how to foster free enterprise.

almost half a century, was industrialized long ago. is skilled and educated, and popu-

The work force

economy to a market economy is greatly more

lations were initially enthusiastic. Infrastructure

complex than ever expected and 2) no formula

roads, railways, airports, telecommunications

exists for privatization; choices abound.

exist. And markets are sizeable. But the former

"What our studies have done is to document

and Economic Reform in Central Europe: the Changing

the fact that there are a dozen different ways of privatizing state enterprises. They all have some

Busrness Climate, published by Quorum Bools.

The publication of this work prepares the way

weakneses and some strengths." The papers discus a vast range ol choices, including vouchers,

-

-

communist nations have shown they come with their own labyrinthine set ol problems.

The new governments face isues unknown to communist regimes: how to designate property

for the Center's next projected research, a more

buyouts, selling to foreign investors and liquidation

ownership; who should reclaim once confiscated Iand; how to start a stock exchange or privatize

specif ic study examining environmental conditions

"That provides the lramework for people to under'

banls. They must decide to what extent should

and regulations in manufacturing industries.

stand what the alternatives are. The other thing that

foreign busineses be permitted to invest; if SOk

E.N.D.E.A.V.0.R.S

l9

(the majoritv of enterprises) should be shut down,

to a free-market economy rvouid cure communist

sold to pril'ate investors or bought out by manage-

countries' multifarious and rampant ills. Rondinelli

ment or employees; and if vouchers and auctions

He grimly recalls a story a colleague told him

says, 'We'r,e been preaching in the United States

when Rondinelli visited the former Czechoslotakia: "One of the people Iwas working with had gone

should be used to introduce the people to free

for 40 years that's exactly what they need to do if

back and forth from Bohemia to Cermanv for busi-

enterprise.

they want to be able to deal with their economic

nes in

problems effectively, and if it fails, it will not onlv be

people were allowed to travel. My colleague took

"Success 0f macroec0nomic reforms depend-

1990 . After the fall of the communist regime,

ed on two fundamental achievements." Rondinelli

a political embanasment, but it

writes in his paper on the earh'transition period.

"The first challenge would be to privatize the large

in which the U.S wlll lose prestige in the world.'

The most impodant reason reform must

the living conditions between Czechoslovakia and

rnefficienl and unproductive state-owned manufacturing firms that had dominated these regions'

succeed is that no options exist, Rondinelli says.

"There are peopie in these countries whose future

Germany flabbergasted the old man. He began crying and then his son asked, 'Dad. what's the matter?'

economies and had become serious obstacles to

depends on the success of democracy and market

After his father recovered, he looked around at

future growth. The second task was t0 create a

economies. There's nothinq to go back to other than

Cermany''s wealth and said of his former commun-

critical mas of small- and medium-srzed businesses that could generate jobs and tncome for the

a life that's pretty drab and without much hope."

ist rulers, 'they wasted my life."'

will be a situation

his 80-year-old father over to Germany for the first

time in 45 years. And such a drastic difference in

millions of workers who lvould inevitably be displaced bv the industrial restructunng."

Rondinelli explains the unexpected unfolding of events in privatizing countries: "We were just

Enterprising Americans Work Abroad

overly optimistic about the abilitv to transform

a

socialist economies into market ec0nomies very rapidlv. All of these countries are trying to go through reform. privatization. unlortunately at a time when there is a world-wide recession. Also,

I I

I

t the same time the Kenan Institute of

erivate Enterprise formed the International

lPrivate

Center,

it

Enterprise Development Research

also began the MBA Enterprise Corps.

The Corps'executive director Lynne Gerber says, "Members are expected to help implement change and pass on ideas and knowledge to othen

in the company. It's more than just beinq a con-

don't think the international economists who were

The Corps sends recent graduates with Master's

sultant," Being able to implement change is a key

pushing for rapid reform took into consideration

degrees in Busines Administration from 22 lead-

the social implications of it. You're going to have

ing American business schools to Central Europe

to restructure and lav off a lot of people. And

and Southeast Asia.

element in the Corps and distinguishes it from other technical asistance programs, Gerber says.

"We're pleased with the development of the

there's nothing to absorb all of that employment.

Corps' members act as in-house consultants

So what we're beginning to see now are social and

in busineses converting from state to private

Corps. We started in '91 with 42 members. In '92,

we had 6i, and this year we have 85," Gerber says,

political backlashes against the rapid pace of pri-

ownership. They survey busineses,

ases the

The program's biggest growth has been in Poland,

vatization." For example, in mid-March of this year,

problems and then help implement solutions,

where members are now in 17 cities, after starting

the Polish Parliament defeated a bill that would

usually over a two-year period.

in two, The feedback from the companies that

have converted 600 state companies into private

enterprises. And this May. a no-confidence vote

Administrated by the Kenan Institute, the Corps is the largest private program providing

hired them is extremely positive," Gerber says.

"Many are requesting second Corps members."

brought down the Polish pro-reform government.

technical asistance for enterprise development

The slow pace of reform can also be attribu-

ted to other sources, Rondinelli says, for example,

in Eastern Europe. Selected volunteers from the schools are placed in companies throughout

inveterate sluggishness of managers who were very

Eastern Europe and also in pilot programs in

comfortable under the corrupt communist system.

Southeast Asia and Africa

And, the absence of a model only heightens the

uncertainty for former communist countries, pro-

With support from the Agency for Interna-

tional Development and private sources, the MBA

tracting the pace further. "Nobody has done it on

Enterprise Corps has places 120 members in the

the mas scale that's being tried in Central Europe.

Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia,

There's no experience. And as a result, nobody

Ghana and Indonesia. This year the Corps

anticipated all the suffering that would arise,"

be extending to Bulgaria, Uganda and China.

he says.

From the beginning, the Centels research direction has overlapped with the needs of the

Rondinelli explains why he believes capital-

wll

ism needs to succeed rn Central Europe. "They are

Enterprise Corps."We wanted t0 focus 0ur

strategic countries in terms of the world political

research on isues that were of interest to

situation. They could have an impact 0n Western

busineses and to our academic concerns with

European economies, especially if they don't succeed. Already there are large-scale migrations into

private enterprise," Dennis Rondinelli, the Centers director says. "But we also wanted to support the

Cermany. If these economies decline and fail. it will

activities of the MBA Enterprise Corps, providing

be a major social upheaval in that pafi of the world."

information on what was happening with eco-

And, he adds, at stake is the prestige of the Western countries, especially the United States,

who insisted conversion from a planned economy

U.S.

nomic reforms and privatization of state-owned enterprises."

Drnetn ('iurk I itll t. rt |uit: ltridLktt( LtrtLl lltrlgt'! lllutst lirirtt iltrsfurnq/r;n t hl'erstn irr ,\'1. 1.urls tttttil ir rrrriJi Ltt !ltr, (':t'clt Repubttt {r,r KrtLi i tL i',i;, tsliL-t It

kl

] i i ne

r.\' |

()I I

I

p u

I

t ut ljrno. art i llttslrtll -\. counâ&#x201A;Źsy MBA Enrerpnse Corps

i

5,!n.t1 1

E.N.D.E

20

A.V.O.R.s

The Pon'er of a Story Researcher Studies Women Talking about Giuing Birth

by Dottie Horn

he twins were both turned feet-down in her uterus, rather than poised head-down ready to descend. Worried about their safety, Leslie decided to have a cesarean. One afternoon two months after the birth, over the course of two hours, Leslie told the story to Asociate Profesor of Speech

Communications Della Pollock. Leslie talked about the binh in her own home, with clasical music playing in the background, with her twins close by.

Pollock has talked with 40 women, and occasionally their male partners, about their experiences giving birth. She is interested in the way women make their birth experiences meaningful and power' ful through telling stories about them. lt is not the events of the birth per se that interest her, but the

role and power of the story about those events.

In Leslie's case, the events 0f the birth itself were frightening. "lt remains one of the most hor-

{*q*ft

:;

rific stories I heard," says Pollock. A transcript of the interview with Leslie looks like poetry: Pollock

.'â&#x201A;Ź:

u" 'â&#x201A;Ź#,ie

has broken the nanative into separate lines based

on the rhythm of the phrases. Pollock has also used italics to emphasize the streses in Leslie's

words. In Leslie's birth, one of the first things to AIL

pholos coudesy oi l\4ariorie

Pyle BNC, ACCE. Lifecircle.

g0 wrong was the kinking of the tube which slowly

and continuously fed anesthetic into Leslie's spine The numbing of sensation stopped, letting Leslie feel the doctors cutting through the muscles in her

Each birth story is a performance. Performance encompasses the doing of the story, which includes

qualities of the storyteller's uoice, body and surroundings, as well as the interpretation of the story's numerous and fluctuating meanings.

abdomen, During and after the cesalean, Leslie was given morphine, which had an unusual side effect, paralyzinQ her colon. At first, Leslie did not know

that her colon was paralyzed. Because she was unable to eliminate anything through her bowels, Leslie's abdomen swelled over the course of two days back to her pre-delivery size. Her obstetrician

prescribed an oral laxative. Leslie's husband, Jim, a physician who had completed his residency and was a fellow at the hospital, intervened.

"

An oroll

laxative just wasn't gonna go anywhere because

ny bowel wasl paralyzed," Leslie related. lf Leslie's distended bowel had gotten worse, she might have ended up needing a colostomy. "He saued my colon by himself," Leslie said of Jim, who argued with another physician until Leslie was taken off the

morphine. Because of the bowel problems, Leslie was eatinq and drinking nothing. receiving nour-

21

,/,

l"r ;

* ,t $\

l'

s

*rh

:./l' ..f, "

.,i

ishment onll'through IVs. " [t] rvas verv difficulti 'cause Iwas trying to nurse both babies, So I'm

drinking nothing/ and I was just so thirsty I could screom " Leslie said.

Four da,vs after the cesarean. the staples were removed from Leslie s incision. Leslie's obstetrician stopped b),to say the incision looked good, When Jim looked at the incision. he was immediately concerned. "What had happened is that the obste-

trician had now mised a/ second

moTor complica-

tion." Leslie said. Some of Leslie

stitches had split

s

open. 'lt was basicaliy a gaping hole the slze of a

.

silver dollar and/ about like/ Iike like an inch and Even so, Lesle's voice was full of power as

ahalf deep." Leslie said. Because a life{hreatening

or reconciling themselves to their experiences,"

infection might have ensued. the opening could

she says. "But, the stories are alwa!'s more ambit a-

she t0ld the story. "To tell a story is to exercise

not be restrtched. "The1'' have to reson to a sort of barbaric wa1' of making it heal and that/ is b-v pack-

lent than that. There's always something else going

agency. It's to do something rather than to be done

on, and much of that can be traced to the perform-

to." says Pollock, explaining the power of story-

rnq rt./ Now. I couldn t take anv narcotjcs for the

ative act of telling."

telline, especially abouI one's bodily experiences.

Some people, for example. might interpret

poin of this," Leslie said. Three times a day. the wound was packed with saline gauze.

Leslie's relaxed voice whrle

tellng her story as evi"

story. Pollock had spoken with her several times.

dence that talkinq about the bad experience was making her feel better, Pollock disagrees. "Les[e

"But I had never heard her so clear and so focused,"

counterpointed her story repeatedly by saying, 'l m

says Pollock. 'Hervoice was low and relaxed and

not one of those people who needs to tell their story.'

One reason why she said, 'l don't need to tell it.'

Before the dav on which Leslie revealed this

so powerful, in the telling of what was a totally'

"A story is an embodied action. lt's something that

you do in and with your body in relation t0 someone else," says Pollock. "There's in the act of telling an achievement of a new identity that is determined

in collaboration with listeners. That new identity reflects the birthing mothers efforls at making the birth meaningful in her own terms. She is not just

disempowering event." How does Pollock explain Leslie's voice rvhile teiling the story? "There is a

might have been that she presumed people need

receiving ali of these meanings from out there and

to tell to make themselves feel better, It didn't make

enacting them, It's a way of reshaping the body or

way in which some stories function for women as

her feel better. There was a salting of the wound

recovering one's material vitality for oneself and

involved in havinq to tell." says Pollock.

one's own interest."

a wa1' of getting

rid of bad feelings, or overcoming

SPLITTING OPEN AND FIAMES AND JOURNEYS Women Talk about

Birthing Pain

ngry at hospital staff who had

broad physical gesturing." Along

these stars/ and what happened was

treated her rudely and given

with Amanda's anger, says Pollock, came one of the most vivid descrip-

was pushing so hard at the end I was

her lVs and a fetal monitor she

didn't want, Amanda gestured in wide

tions of the pain of birth she has

sweeping motions as she talked about

heard:

giving birlh. About a year after the birth, Amanda was telling the story to Asociate Profesor of Speech Communications Della Pollock.

"Presure, and/ stretching, and/ uh, breakinq...."

Pollock: "Yeah," Splining open and it was coming out [the] anus/ and you know just.../

busting blood vessels in my face..,."

Pollock: 'Ughhhh' "... so that I was pushing too hard

and I had you know my eyes closed tightly."

Such graphic, detailed descriptions of birthing pain were rare

the brggest presure/ and deep pain

among the women she talked to, says Pollock, "ln most of the stories.

talked with Amanda extensively,"

likei (laughs) waves/ and then I felt

it's this great gap, this thing that

Pollock says, "but I'd never seen this

like I was kinda underand seeing

people don't talk about," she says.

Pollock

is studying 40 women's

stories about giving

birth. 'l had

I

22

"Meny uomen I talk to, their mothers

had unconscious births and so don't haue stories to tell. We're coming out of a generation of silence."

-Della

Pollock

Turning back to Leslie, Pollock explains how bodily her story was. "She had a highly rhythmic quality. She was breathing her story out," Pollock explains, also citing Leslie's vivid bodily descriptions, as of the wound opening. Moreover, there was a tension in Leslie's story. "She was poised

between that place of experiencing her body as a spectacle, floating out there, seeing all these things happening to her, and then in the act of narrative, being able and encouraged to talk about what it was like from inside, from the perspective of the person that it's being done to," says Pollock.

For example, Leslie related in detail the argument

between her husband and another physician over

example, Anna saw their cat with a limp blue jay

the morphine. Leslie even ascribed each person

in its mouth. Anna chased the cat for ten minutes,

tions is perlormance studies, considers each birth

dialogue. But then she turned inside to her own fears and sensations: "l could have ended up... being

The cat eventually dropped the motionles jay on

story a performance. Performance encompasses,

the ground, standing guard over it. Screaming and

says Pollock, the doing of the story,

wheeled into surgery to [have] a portion of my colon removed... I was just delirious with pain."

clapping her hands, Anna ran at the cat, scaring it

qualities of the storyteller's voice, body and sur-

into running off. The lay flew to the top of a tree.

roundings; as well as the interpretation of the story's

Anna was four days late for her period. At that

numerous and fluctuating meanings. "What I'm not

in are the ones that are just real happy," says Pollock,

moment, Anna says, she knew she was pregnant.

"The omens justify a romance of the baby and the

doing is studying narrative texts exclusively," says Pollock. "That would give me a very different sense

As Anna and Michael told their story, they focused

birth that one might conventionally think

on the mystical experiences which accompanied their in-vitro fertilization. "They're deeply indebted

tering the story of science. Actually, I see it as filling

sumes stability and closure, and all of these stories

out the story of science, enabling it. lt's not folk

are totally provisional." Provisional means not only

to medical technologies and see science as mirac-

knowledge positioned against medical or scientific

that the story is a product of the moment when it is

ulous in the context of the birth of their baby," says

knowledge. They're interrelated and feed each

Not all of the stones were frightening or ciltical

like Leslie's. "Many of the ones I'm most interested

is coun-

Pollock, whose area of speech communica-

which includes

of what the story is about. The narrative text pre-

Pollock. Hand-in-hand with this gratitude to medi-

other and make each other more meaningful,"

told, but also that its meanings vary as well. "l've talked with some people two or three times, and

cine are the four omen stories they tell about their

says Pollock,

the story's c0mpletely different each time.

birth. 0n the day of their wedding anniversary, for

0r they

play out a different aspect of it," says Pollock.

"l often push them. Isay, 'Well what did it feel like? And that prompts

natural childbirth. It says you're sup-

said one woman. "Someone had told

talk about the pain in a way that isn't

posed to be in control ol the pain. If

me it would be like bad menstrual

some interesting metaphors or

clich6, their descriptions are more

cramps and it wasn't like that at all.//

nothing at all. 0r women resort to

metaphoric than Amanda's. "lt seems

you're doing it right, you won't feel pain. So, women are under the pres

we don't have an adequate language for pain, partly because people

sure of all ol these diflerent messages

pains in colors and real intense pain,l

that say that pain isn't acceptable.

it's like the top of a llame (laughs)./

In Amanda's case, anger served

haven't been authorized to speak

So, it either gets repressed, forgotten,

You know the blue pa( is always the

stimulus. "The anger she felt at

the clasic, 'lwas in some discom-

fort.' 0r, 'lt hurt like hell.

"

ln many cases, when women do

It was a b/ue

pain.// Idon't, Isee, Isee

about it," says Pollock. "ln the context

or it seeps out in these various

most intense part,/ it's quite intense

the doctors and nurses who had

of birth, you're pretty much taught

acceptable ways."

and I was very fortunate that I didn't

been incredibly rude to her," says

that the pain is not as bad as you think, or you're just being hysterical.

women used to describe pain was

umm,/ but that,/ it kind olleft me

And then there's this machismo in

flames. "lt was not like any.thing,"

breathles it wasso/ intense."

as a

Pollock, "enabled her to talk about the pain. It was a point of access."

One acceptable metaphor

go into that intense part forvery long...

E.N.D.E.A.V.Oof,.S

2,1

In addition to the bodily and provisional sides to the performance of a story, there rs also an

interactive dimension. "ln the interviewing," says Pollock. "there would often be this moment when

Birth is a prime moment of enculturation for u)omen.

the person would stop and say, 'So, what happened

During birth, women receiDe many messages about who

to you?"' Pollock, who has two children. would tell

they are as uomen and mothers from doctors, families

her birth stories. They weren't always interested in

ond the culture ot large.

what I said, but they'knew they'had to ask me.

There was a very demanding sense

0f'0K, now you

tell me. I've been exposing all this to you. Iwant to make sure that you're able to hear this and that

you're risking

as much

vulnerability

as i

moment of enculturation for women, she says.

am."'Talk-

ing about performance includes talking about what

During birth, women receive many messages about

happens in the relationship between performer

who they are

and audience. "The performative event includes the

families and the culture at large. For example, some

audience member as a participant," says Pollock.

messages many women receive during birth are

as women and mothers from doctors,

Pollock says that in many cases, she has been

that their bodies are an instrument for having a

the first person, or audience member, to hear these

baby, and that their well-being should be sacri-

stories. "As told in 'natural' contexts," says Pollock,

ficed for the baby's. Pollock would like women t0

"the stories tend to be, at least by the account of

have a greater role in defining themselves and the

the women I've talked to, much more fragmentary,

significance of giving birth, rather than having

buried, or not there at all. 0r, told a lot for the first

these meaninqs determined for them.

Already, the stories women have told Pollock

few weeks. and then not after that." Pollock likes

have gained a life of their own. Since hearing

what she calls the interventionist quality of her interviews. "The interview as an explicitly artificial

so don't have stories to tell," says Pollock. "We're

Leslie's story, for example, Pollock has told it again

context is providing a new occasion for this kind

coming out of a generation of silence."

and again. "l knew that I had to do that," she says, "that I was authorized to by the need to caution

0f talk. It s authorizing it and giving it a reason to

If Pollock has been the first person to hear

continue. The interview provides a stage that is

some of the stories she has collected. she won't be

others and gain supporl for Leslie's point of view."

lacking in our everyday codes of communication,"

the last. She is writing a book, which will relate the

Pollock says that people need to hear Leslie's story

says Pollock.

stories to four issues: body, knowledge, dialogue

because it has the power to reshape and reinform

and resistance. "The first effect that I hope the book will have is to prompt more people to tell

their thinking. Those who have heard it start talk-

their stories and t0 tell them over and over again

negligent obstetrician being a woman, the prob-

of doctors tell people not to listen to stories or to

and to make up new ones," says Pollock. "l hope it

lems asociated with bifihing in a hospital, and the

disrespect them. iust listen to your doctor or read

will give these stories a new authority," 0n another

gender roles implicit in Leslie's relationship with

your books, lhe Whot to Expect When You're Expecting books, which are sort of the standard

level, Pollock would like people to think more

her husband. Leslie's story sets many other conversations into play. "lt's that ongoing life of the story

Birth stories used to be told much more generally and often, Pollock says. People don't tell them as much now for a variety of reasons. "A lot

story now," says Pollock. Some women don't talk

about what their own birth stories mean and how they might like t0 tell them so as to "recover even

about their births because they are embanased by

more of the power of telling," she says.

not having had as much control over the experience as they wanted and expected. "Many women I talk to,

their mothers had unconscious births and

0ther women described their

ing about isues including the irony of Leslie's

that is one of its main soutces of power," says Pollock.

I

Ultimately, Pollock hopes that her work will stimulate more people to think and talk about the

politics of contemporary birth. Birth

who loves you so much,/ To just see

is a prime

Physical pain also gets mixed up

when hospital staff was less than

pain as a journey. "You don't even

you go to the bowels of hell and

with all kinds 0f emotional pain. says

respectful, women felt vulnerable

know/ where you are. You just don't,"

back/ (laughs) quite literally, you

Pollock. For many women, it is not

to manipulation. "lt wasn't just trau-

said one woman. "You're in another world./ It's like you transport, you

know, and... deliver/ this just, these

the intensity of the pain which is at

beautiful creatures." Pollock

the root of their feelings and often

matic in terms of being so painful physically." says Pollock, "The pain

have to go and get the baby/ on

on the journey metaphor's appeal: "Pain can be totally, immediately

their silence about the pain of giving

is where women lost their own sense

birth. Rather, it is the vulnerability

of center and sense of identity. That

overwhelming. To cast it into the

which accompanies such intense

was the center of the trauma for them."

pain. "Sometimes women just felt

I

another planet, bring the baby back, and it's this/ very... painful journey."

hter in the interview,

the woman

continues this theme: "l think how/

women did it years ago and I don't know./ To not have someone there

terms of a

ref

lects

story-one's going on

a

quest-rationalizes it to some extent, puts it into more human and 'heroic'

didn't like and felt embanased

terms."

about," says Pollock. In other cases,

pasive to the pain in ways they

Student Reseorch

24

SCHOIARIY PURSUITS Equality in A Mexican Junior High School

I

I I I

percent t0 l5 percent of students are lndian, the indigenous people of Mexico, while the remaining students are mestizo, the mixed race of Spanish and Indian. In clas terms, E.S.F. was more hetero-

t a secundaria or iunior high school in

Uexico,

l

-yearoid Antonio srruggles to oe

accepted in the group of four upper-middle

geneous than many schools in the United States.

p

"You'd be amazed that kids in the same clasroom

o

clas boys who occasionally call themselves the

would be living in such disparate situations," says

Juanitos. After living all his life in a peasant village,

Levinson. "Some were coming from peasant com-

Antonio had moved to the city and acquired money

munities where they didn't have running water in

the Mexican junior hiqh school or secundaria colled

t0 spend on hip clothes and a racing bike two years

the house, and had a pit toilet and dirt floors, to

E.S.F. encourages ifs sludenls tr,t see themselues as

earlier, when his father had obtained his own truck-

some of the wealthier kids in the town, who were

ing busines. His father, Antonio tells the Juanitos,

living something similar to an upper-middle-clas

recently bought a Golf. A Golf is a late-modelVolla-

lifestyle that we would know here, with the satellite

wagen. Speaking in an accent, Antonio pronounces Golf with an aspirated '9" instead of a hard "g," "Holf"

dish and kids having motorbikes."

instead of "Golf." The Juanitos burst out laughing

the grupos escolares, or school groups. Formed at

Teachers encouraged equality largely through

Hauing students utear uniforms is one way in which

Todos somos iguales, l4le are all equal.

began recounting all the car names Antonio had mispronounced. "l see [Antonio] as very different

fiom you guys; he's got another style," Levinson said.

the beginning of the students' three years at the

at Antonio's pronunciation.

Six months into his field work at this particu-

larsecundaria, Bradley Levinson, an August

1993

Alberto responded: "You're referring to the

secundaria, each grupo escolar is a clas of 3!50

school, and in the school it's another story entirely.

students. "Students are with this group the whole

ln the school you have friends that are all different

doctoral graduate in anthropology, listened to the

school day and all three years," explains Levinson.

kinds of students, from high and low society, but

Juanitos describe this incident with Antonio. It was

Each grupo escolar has students of varying abilities

there are certain school friends with whom you get

only one of many incidents Levinson observed or

and roughly an equal number of students from

heard described in which Antonio wavered on the

peasant villages. "Teachers are constantly exhorting

together (here he listed the three other Juanitos)."

Levinson asked again: "Yeah, but that's what

edges of the group, sometimes ridiculed but never

students to see each other as equal," says Levinson.

I'm saying. You guys may get along with everyone,

totally rejected. Levinson's work was advised by

Todos somos iguales are the often repeated Spanish

from high society to low society, but even still, you

Profesor of Anthropology Dorothy Holland. His

words for'We are all equal'.

get along best and get t0gether most often with

year of fieldwork was funded by a Fulbright Fixed-

During almost daily visits to the school,

Sum Student Grant, and his writing was funded

Levinson documented how the teachers' discourse

by the Spencer Foundation and an 0n-Campus

ol Todos somos igucles manifested itself in students'

Disertation Fellowship.

identities and interactions with other students. In

Levinson went to Mexico to study how clas-,

addition to observing and talking to the 20 focal

those who are more or as

les from

the same situation

yourself, right?"

Alberto hedged: "But I also get along well with allthe rest!"

The Juanitos' hesitance to even admit that

race-, and gender-based divisions among students

students he selected, he attended student parties

they make clas-based distinctions is exceptional,

were either transformed or reproduced at this par-

and visited students' homes when welcome, even

says Levinson. In schools in previously studied

ticular secundaria, which he calls by the pseudonym

taking trips with two different families. "My goal,"

countries, researchers have found race- and class-

Escuela Secundaria Federal, or E.S.F. At stake in

says Levinson, "was t0 get in touch with the fine-

based tensions erupting, resulting in students'

his research are questions including, How can

grained details of students' lives."

spray painting graffiti on school property, verbally

teachers and schools best intervene to encourage

He found that, at E.S.F., there wasn't any,thing

abusing each other or fighting. At an American

students to transcend divisions among themselves?

Iike the subcultures that researchers have found in

What impact can schools hope to have?

"What happens in schools usually," says

American, European and Australian schools.

had even a chance to hang around with the

Although he found lriendship groups such

Juanitos, and they would have been even more

as the

school, says Levinson, "Antonio never would have

Levinson, 'is that students create all sorts of distinc-

Juanitos, they did not define themselves in opposi-

tions among themselves. Usually those distinctions

tion to the mainstream school culture. The friend-

form into subcultures." A subculture is a group

ship groups were also more ephemeral and com-

of mixed ability groups and emphasis on equalig

which has its own distinguishing symbols and prac-

plex in terms of the race and clas identities 0f the

does influence how students see themselves and

tices, and in most cases, resists an official main-

group members.

relate t0 each other. The secundaria's approach

The Juanitos' neither fully accepting n0r

stream culture. For example, members of one

disparaging of him than they were."

Levinson concludes that the secundaria's use

also had limitations. As an example, gender-based

subculture that has been observed in American schools, the "Burnouts," oppose the official school

rejecting Antonio is an example of this complexity.

distinctions proved more intractable. Girls who

The Juanitos' wavering position finally led Levinson

spent a lot of time talking about boys rarely social-

culture by ignoring clas asignments, disrupting

to ask directly: "Okay, tell me if Antonio is a Juanito

ized with girls whose parents told them not to talk

asemblies with cynical remarks, and locating

or not." Levinson was tape recording an interview

to or about boys.

themselves in marginal rather than central spaces

with three of the Juanitos in one of the boys'

"The school is only one institution in society,

at school. Usually, observes Levinson, subcultures

kitchens.

"He definitely pulls with the guys," said

that in many ways reflects the balance of power in society," says Levinson. "My disertation suggests

Alberto, implying that he was a member of the group. Levinson prompted the boys further. "The

that the school can make modest inroads into

have a clas or ethnic identity. However, virtually all 0f the research on student culture has been done in American, European and Australian schools.

dominant structures of inequality. But, only that.

because in the midst of student diversity, teachers

thing is that sometimes he tall$ with a little accent," said Alberto, "and that's why we give him a hard

a much more powerful transformative agent in

encouraged equality among students. At E.S.F.,

time, and we don't like the way he looks." Alberto

society."

Levinson was interested in

E.S.F.

partly 10

It remains to be seen whether the school can be

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