Dr. Karen Carpenter - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dr. Karen Carpenter

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican, 2020

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican, 2020

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican, 2020

Caribbean Journal of Education, 2007

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican

This paper examines the gap between the present day theory and reality facing Reform Jews who rem... more This paper examines the gap between the present day theory and reality facing Reform Jews who remain unmarried and sexually active. While the Reform movement has sought to address issues facing women and sexual minorities, there is a paucity of literature on matters concerning the increasing number of heterosexuals who, for one reason or another, choose to remain unmarried while being sexually active. One of the only attempts at addressing the general conduct of Reform Jews has been the 1998 “Reform Jewish Sexual Values” position paper coming out of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexuality of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Of the ten guidelines, numbers seven and eight propose a covenantal relationship and describe the conditions under which sexual joy may be experienced within Judaism. The document encourages “B’rit (“covenantal relationship”) …grounded in fidelity and the intention of permanence” and “Simcha …human sexual activity should be experienced only in healthy and res...

Studies in sexuality in the Caribbean region have largely focussed on gender, disease control and... more Studies in sexuality in the Caribbean region have largely focussed on gender, disease control and public health and have employed a historical or sociological lens. This chapter takes a psychological look at what it means to be a sexual citizen in the English-speaking Caribbean. The population of some 40,000 inhabitants is the result of mass transhipment from Africa, India and China. Uprooted from their origins, the people of the new world created a melange of cultural practices under the controlling influence of their English, French, Spanish and Dutch colonisers. The result is a truly remarkable variety of cultural, ethnic and religious hybrids, packed into a relatively small geographic space. The challenge for psychologists in the region, working in sexuality studies, is to understand the post-colonial legacy of slavery and indentureship in supporting the sexual citizen of the modern Caribbean.

To understand Jamaica’s linguistic place in the world, we need to go back to the beginning of Jam... more To understand Jamaica’s linguistic place in the world, we need to go back to the beginning of Jamaica as an independent state in 1962. M.G. Smith, a pre-eminent ‘Brown’ Jamaican social anthropologist of the mid- to late twentieth century carries out his scholarly work using the sociological theory of the plural society (J.S. Furnivall in Smith, The British Journal of Sociology, 12, 249–262, 1961). Smith builds his career on the notion of the plural society which emphasizes the dominance of colonially imposed divisions among colonized peoples who coexist in the same society. Smith (The British Journal of Sociology, 12, 1961, p. 165) presents Jamaica as consisting of three ‘social sections’. He uses colours, ‘white’, ‘brown’ and ‘black’, as descriptors for these groups on the ground that they accurately describe ‘the racial majority and cultural ancestry of each section’ (Smith, The British Journal of Sociology, 12, 1961, pp. 163–164).

The Caribbean Sexuality Research Group (CSRG) is indeed proud to have been given the opportunity ... more The Caribbean Sexuality Research Group (CSRG) is indeed proud to have been given the opportunity of contributing to this special issue of Sexuality & Culture. The CSRG is a non-profit, non-discriminatory working group that recognises diversity in orientation, language and ethnicity throughout the region and focuses on research into sexualities in the Caribbean and its diaspora. The group is comprised of professionals from a wide variety of areas related to human sexuality. The articles in this issue of Sexuality & Culture reflect a small part of that diversity, as seven of our twenty-five members have been included in here. In their article, Cowell and Saunders explore the challenge of legal reform as it relates to the public discourse around heteronormativitiy and homosexuality. In Wine, Women and Song, Hubert Devonish examines the explicit sexual expression of Caribbean women in dance and the challenging of male dominance through these public displays. Carpenter and Walters, in A ...

HOUSING REVIEW-HOUSING CENTRE …, 1996

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican

International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health, 2016

Gay and bisexual men in Jamaica encounter stigma and discrimination due to criminalization of and... more Gay and bisexual men in Jamaica encounter stigma and discrimination due to criminalization of and negative attitudes towards same-sex sexuality. Disclosure of sexual orientation may be self-affirming, but could increase exposure to negative responses and stressors. Outcomes of an online survey among 110 gay and bisexual Jamaican men ages 18 to 56 years suggest that disclosure to family is affected by level of economic independence. Furthermore, negative familial responses to sexual identity significantly predicted depression. Social and structural interventions, and efforts to strengthen positive family relationships, are needed to foster an environment that enables well-being among sexual minorities in Jamaica.

Faculty of Arts and Education. Supervisor : Barbara Bailey. Thesis submitted 1998. Thesis (Master... more Faculty of Arts and Education. Supervisor : Barbara Bailey. Thesis submitted 1998. Thesis (Master's)--University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, 1999. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-168).

Sexuality & Culture, 2015

Transcultural psychiatry, 2014

The aim of this study was to examine illness presentation and understand how psychiatric patients... more The aim of this study was to examine illness presentation and understand how psychiatric patients make meaning of the causes of their mental illnesses. Six Jamaican psychiatric patients were interviewed using the McGill Illness Narrative Interview Schedule. Of the 6, 3 representative case studies were chosen. The hermeneutic phenomenological approach and the common sense model were used in the formulation of patients' explanatory models. Results indicate that psychiatric patients actively conceptualized the causes and resultant treatment of their mental illnesses. Patients' satisfaction and compliance with treatment were dependent on the extent to which practitioners' conceptualization matched their own, as well as practitioners' acknowledgement of patients' concerns about causation, prognosis, and treatment.

Sexuality & Culture, 2011

In 1997, two hundred and twenty-five (225) Jamaican adults were asked to give their opinions of t... more In 1997, two hundred and twenty-five (225) Jamaican adults were asked to give their opinions of the prevailing Jamaican male and female stereotypes. Again in 2009 a further one hundred and twenty-four (124) Jamaican adults were interviewed to determine their perceptions of the current gender stereotypes. The same was done in Barbados as a means of comparing the stereotypes of two English speaking Caribbean cultures with differing degrees of exposure to similar cultural influences. Equal numbers of male and female respondents were included in both studies. A 100-adjective list of male and female attributes was compiled using a 300-item list originally created by Cattell in 1943 and subsequently used and revised by various authors. The data were analysed using SPSS to arrive at the frequencies for each adjective. Responses of 65% or more were considered to be stereotypical of males and females within each culture. The results show that overall Jamaican men were seen as: coarse, reckless, aggressive, lazy, tough, arrogant, stern, disorderly, robust, rigid, autocratic, courageous, and hard-headed, Jamaican women were seen as: complaining, fussy, sexy, emotional, worrying, affectionate, sensitive, soft hearted and sophisticated. Barbadian men and women had overall lower stereotype scores than did Jamaicans. Barbadian men differed from Jamaican men in that they were seen as: reckless; disorderly; robust and tough man who is also show-off; arrogant; aggressive; hard-headed; courageous, adventurous; lazy; inventive and rigid, while Barbadian women were seen as: emotional; fussy; affectionate; complaining, sophisticated; sensitive; worrying; warm; fault-finding; sexy; touchy; sentimental and gentle. The popular music from both countries is used as a lens for understanding the cultures within which the respondents develop their gender

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican, 2020

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican, 2020

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican, 2020

Caribbean Journal of Education, 2007

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican

This paper examines the gap between the present day theory and reality facing Reform Jews who rem... more This paper examines the gap between the present day theory and reality facing Reform Jews who remain unmarried and sexually active. While the Reform movement has sought to address issues facing women and sexual minorities, there is a paucity of literature on matters concerning the increasing number of heterosexuals who, for one reason or another, choose to remain unmarried while being sexually active. One of the only attempts at addressing the general conduct of Reform Jews has been the 1998 “Reform Jewish Sexual Values” position paper coming out of the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexuality of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Of the ten guidelines, numbers seven and eight propose a covenantal relationship and describe the conditions under which sexual joy may be experienced within Judaism. The document encourages “B’rit (“covenantal relationship”) …grounded in fidelity and the intention of permanence” and “Simcha …human sexual activity should be experienced only in healthy and res...

Studies in sexuality in the Caribbean region have largely focussed on gender, disease control and... more Studies in sexuality in the Caribbean region have largely focussed on gender, disease control and public health and have employed a historical or sociological lens. This chapter takes a psychological look at what it means to be a sexual citizen in the English-speaking Caribbean. The population of some 40,000 inhabitants is the result of mass transhipment from Africa, India and China. Uprooted from their origins, the people of the new world created a melange of cultural practices under the controlling influence of their English, French, Spanish and Dutch colonisers. The result is a truly remarkable variety of cultural, ethnic and religious hybrids, packed into a relatively small geographic space. The challenge for psychologists in the region, working in sexuality studies, is to understand the post-colonial legacy of slavery and indentureship in supporting the sexual citizen of the modern Caribbean.

To understand Jamaica’s linguistic place in the world, we need to go back to the beginning of Jam... more To understand Jamaica’s linguistic place in the world, we need to go back to the beginning of Jamaica as an independent state in 1962. M.G. Smith, a pre-eminent ‘Brown’ Jamaican social anthropologist of the mid- to late twentieth century carries out his scholarly work using the sociological theory of the plural society (J.S. Furnivall in Smith, The British Journal of Sociology, 12, 249–262, 1961). Smith builds his career on the notion of the plural society which emphasizes the dominance of colonially imposed divisions among colonized peoples who coexist in the same society. Smith (The British Journal of Sociology, 12, 1961, p. 165) presents Jamaica as consisting of three ‘social sections’. He uses colours, ‘white’, ‘brown’ and ‘black’, as descriptors for these groups on the ground that they accurately describe ‘the racial majority and cultural ancestry of each section’ (Smith, The British Journal of Sociology, 12, 1961, pp. 163–164).

The Caribbean Sexuality Research Group (CSRG) is indeed proud to have been given the opportunity ... more The Caribbean Sexuality Research Group (CSRG) is indeed proud to have been given the opportunity of contributing to this special issue of Sexuality & Culture. The CSRG is a non-profit, non-discriminatory working group that recognises diversity in orientation, language and ethnicity throughout the region and focuses on research into sexualities in the Caribbean and its diaspora. The group is comprised of professionals from a wide variety of areas related to human sexuality. The articles in this issue of Sexuality & Culture reflect a small part of that diversity, as seven of our twenty-five members have been included in here. In their article, Cowell and Saunders explore the challenge of legal reform as it relates to the public discourse around heteronormativitiy and homosexuality. In Wine, Women and Song, Hubert Devonish examines the explicit sexual expression of Caribbean women in dance and the challenging of male dominance through these public displays. Carpenter and Walters, in A ...

HOUSING REVIEW-HOUSING CENTRE …, 1996

Language, Race and the Global Jamaican

International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health, 2016

Gay and bisexual men in Jamaica encounter stigma and discrimination due to criminalization of and... more Gay and bisexual men in Jamaica encounter stigma and discrimination due to criminalization of and negative attitudes towards same-sex sexuality. Disclosure of sexual orientation may be self-affirming, but could increase exposure to negative responses and stressors. Outcomes of an online survey among 110 gay and bisexual Jamaican men ages 18 to 56 years suggest that disclosure to family is affected by level of economic independence. Furthermore, negative familial responses to sexual identity significantly predicted depression. Social and structural interventions, and efforts to strengthen positive family relationships, are needed to foster an environment that enables well-being among sexual minorities in Jamaica.

Faculty of Arts and Education. Supervisor : Barbara Bailey. Thesis submitted 1998. Thesis (Master... more Faculty of Arts and Education. Supervisor : Barbara Bailey. Thesis submitted 1998. Thesis (Master's)--University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, 1999. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-168).

Sexuality & Culture, 2015

Transcultural psychiatry, 2014

The aim of this study was to examine illness presentation and understand how psychiatric patients... more The aim of this study was to examine illness presentation and understand how psychiatric patients make meaning of the causes of their mental illnesses. Six Jamaican psychiatric patients were interviewed using the McGill Illness Narrative Interview Schedule. Of the 6, 3 representative case studies were chosen. The hermeneutic phenomenological approach and the common sense model were used in the formulation of patients' explanatory models. Results indicate that psychiatric patients actively conceptualized the causes and resultant treatment of their mental illnesses. Patients' satisfaction and compliance with treatment were dependent on the extent to which practitioners' conceptualization matched their own, as well as practitioners' acknowledgement of patients' concerns about causation, prognosis, and treatment.

Sexuality & Culture, 2011

In 1997, two hundred and twenty-five (225) Jamaican adults were asked to give their opinions of t... more In 1997, two hundred and twenty-five (225) Jamaican adults were asked to give their opinions of the prevailing Jamaican male and female stereotypes. Again in 2009 a further one hundred and twenty-four (124) Jamaican adults were interviewed to determine their perceptions of the current gender stereotypes. The same was done in Barbados as a means of comparing the stereotypes of two English speaking Caribbean cultures with differing degrees of exposure to similar cultural influences. Equal numbers of male and female respondents were included in both studies. A 100-adjective list of male and female attributes was compiled using a 300-item list originally created by Cattell in 1943 and subsequently used and revised by various authors. The data were analysed using SPSS to arrive at the frequencies for each adjective. Responses of 65% or more were considered to be stereotypical of males and females within each culture. The results show that overall Jamaican men were seen as: coarse, reckless, aggressive, lazy, tough, arrogant, stern, disorderly, robust, rigid, autocratic, courageous, and hard-headed, Jamaican women were seen as: complaining, fussy, sexy, emotional, worrying, affectionate, sensitive, soft hearted and sophisticated. Barbadian men and women had overall lower stereotype scores than did Jamaicans. Barbadian men differed from Jamaican men in that they were seen as: reckless; disorderly; robust and tough man who is also show-off; arrogant; aggressive; hard-headed; courageous, adventurous; lazy; inventive and rigid, while Barbadian women were seen as: emotional; fussy; affectionate; complaining, sophisticated; sensitive; worrying; warm; fault-finding; sexy; touchy; sentimental and gentle. The popular music from both countries is used as a lens for understanding the cultures within which the respondents develop their gender