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Human geographers have analyzed the co-constitutive relationship between race, gender and sexualities across different spaces and social contexts and have called for intersectional approaches in discussions of identities, power and space. This article applies an intersectional framework to the processes of sexualization, racialization and exoticization that shape the daily lives and erotic/romantic encounters experienced and narrated by participants to two different projects: gay and bisexual men from a North African background living in Belgium; Italian gay men living in England; non-White gay men living in Italy. By discussing qualitative data collected during interviews with these men, and through a continued dialogue about this data between the authors, the paper explores both the effects of these processes on the lives of participants, and the strategies they enact to navigate their social worlds. The focus is on two elements, central to participants' narratives: the specificity of the intersectional experience of encountering men who expect a specifically gendered and racialized performance based on 'roughness' and 'wildness', and the capitalization on these exoticizing and racializing images to increase one's desirability on the dating/hook-up scene and everyday social and work life. By highlighting these elements, this paper shows the importance of applying an intersectional approach to analyses of the entanglements of racialization and sexualization in order to complicate linear accounts of these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces a series of articles related to the regulation of education system. An article by Agnès van Zanten discusses the increasing impact of competition in the regulation process of school activities within six local areas of Budapest in Hungary, Charleroi in Belgium, Lisbon in Portugal, London in England, and Lille and Paris in France. The analysis by Stephen J. Ball and Christian Maroy show that there are some convergences in the internal school's logics of action across the six local areas.

An international research collaboration answered, “Can equity in perinatal health for migrant women be measured for comparison across countries?” In nine countries, perinatal databases were assessed for the availability of equity indicators. Equity data were also sought from women and health records. Optimal sources of data differed depending on the migrant perinatal health equity indicator. Health and migration data, required to capture equity, were often not reported in the same location. Migration indicators other than country of birth were underreported. Perinatal health equity can be measured for international comparisons, although a standardized protocol is required to capture all indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Developing environments responsive to the aspirations of older people has become a major concern for social and public policy. Policies and programs directed at achieving “age-friendly” communities are considered to require a wide range of interventions, including actions at the level of the social and physical environment. This article compares the age-friendly approaches of two European cities, Brussels and Manchester, with a particular focus on policies and initiatives that promote active aging in an urban context. The article examines, first, the demographic, social, and multicultural contexts of Brussels and Manchester; second, the way in which both cities became members of the World Health Organization Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities; third, similarities and differences in the age-friendly approaches and actions adopted by both cities; and fourth, opportunities and barriers to the implementation of age-friendly policies. The article concludes by discussing the key elements and resources needed to develop age-friendly cities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses highlights of various meetings focusing on the field of nuclear physics that was held in 2011. These include the Rutherford Centennial Conference on Nuclear Physics held in Manchester, England, the first International Conference on Advances in Radioactive Isotope Science in Leuven, Belgium and the first Particles and Nuclei International Conference in Massachusetts.

The literature on colonial policies in general acknowledges that, for its colonisation of the Congo, Belgium sided with England and Germany in opting for a policy of adaptationism (indirect rule), rather than for assimilationism, which was espoused by France and Portugal in their African possessions. However, the juncture in history at which, the reasons why and the ideological backgrounds against which the Belgian authorities decided on this are not well understood. This contribution traces how, in the decades prior to 1918, Belgians in the Congo combined principles of indirect rule at the level of the political, administrative and judicial organisation of the colony with assimilationist tenets in the domains of language and culture. After World War I this changed dramatically, as the Minister of Colonies, Louis Franck, brought Belgium's indigenous policy fully and irreversibly in line with an encompassing application of adaptationism. This article also shows that adaptationism in the Belgian Congo was never applied to its fullest consequences and implications, but always involved a management of, and active interventions into, the pre-colonial linguistic and cultural diversity it was ostensibly supposed to cherish and defend. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article suggests the usefulness of an ecological approach in studying the development of teachers' ethnic stereotypes in schools. It builds on existing research in this area by exploring the importance of nationally specific educational contexts and school characteristics on the development of teachers' stereotypes of Turkish minority students. Observation and interview data from case-study research involving one Flemish (Belgian) and one English secondary, multicultural inner-city school suggest differences between Flemish and English teachers' ethnic stereotypes. These differences can in part be explained by the influence of nationally specific regulations governing teachers' power to evaluate students, a nationally specific policy on ethnic minority cultures and needs, the ethnic and gender composition of the school's student and staff population, and the enforcement of an inclusive school policy by the school's senior management. The conclusions discuss implications for further research on ethnic stereotyping and discrimination in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that early modern Calvinism in particular can lay claim to a transnational space in history. It focuses on how a Calvinist transnational network came into existence during the second half of the sixteenth century. It points to the role of repeated persecution, exodus and emigration in shaping both Calvinist theology and culture. Without this transnational experience of repeated emigration and persecution the international solidarity of Calvinists across Europe would not have existed by the early seventeenth century and the pan-European relief work for suffering co-religionists in Germany during the Thirty Years' War would not have been possible. Taking its departure in the exodus of a number of prominent merchant families from Lucca in Italy in the 1560s it follows their history for the next couple of generations, showing first their Huguenot affiliation during their stay in France and their experience of the Wars of Religion. It then follows them via Frankfurt and Nuremberg to Antwerp and Stade in Northern Germany until they finally settled in Amsterdam and London. In this process it emphasises how they intermarried with other Calvinist emigrant families from Flanders (with whom they formed trading companies) and it highlights their active roles within the refugee Calvinist churches which sprang up in the cities where they resided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2002 onwards, initiatives and first steps for the project International Comparative Analysis of Learning and Teaching (ICALT) have been taken by the inspectorates of education in England, Flanders (Belgium), Lower Saxony (Germany) and The Netherlands. The inspectorates of education in these European countries reviewed the results of research on the basic characteristics of good and effective teaching and selected standards and indicators for an observation instrument that could be used to evaluate the quality of teaching. The inspectorates from these countries jointly developed an instrument to observe and analyse the quality of learning and teaching in primary schools. The observation instrument was piloted for reliability and for validity in the four countries. Mathematics lessons in England, Flanders (Belgium), Lower Saxony (Germany) and The Netherlands were observed in 854 classrooms, with children who were about 9 years old when they started the school year. Inspectors in the four countries were trained in the proper use of the observation instrument, and used the instrument during their own inspections or evaluations. This study shows that the quality of teaching in the four countries can be compared in a reliable and valid way as regards five aspects: 'efficient classroom management', 'safe and stimulating learning climate', 'clear instruction', 'adaptation of teaching' and 'teaching-learning strategies'. It is found that only a few percentage points of difference between teachers are due to differences existing in the four countries. Furthermore, it may be concluded that the five aspects of quality of teaching are positively and significantly correlated with pupil involvement, attitude, behaviour and attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]