Revisiting the Formosan Encounter:how the Dutch-Formosan religious imagination informs contemporary Taiwanese citizenship

The Dutch East India Company encountered in 17th Century "Formosa" (Taiwan) an indigenous population whose religious practices were not yet influenced by either Christianity or Buddhism. In this paper, I will explore how the encounter between Dutch protestant missionaries and local indigenous religious practices shaped the foundation for a hybrid Dutch-indigenous Taiwanese culture and its influence on contemporary citizenship. I will do this by reviewing the literature of the "Formosan Encounter", reports of Dutch missionaries and East India Company personnel on indigenous Formosan religious practices. Secondly, I provide some case studies from fieldwork in Taiwan on the legacy of Dutch colonialism in indigenous Taiwanese folklore

Demonstreren kun je leren. Zo doen ze het in Servië

Haar generatie weet zich niet goed raad met demonstraties zoals komende zaterdag in Amsterdam tegen fascisme en racisme, schrijft Niké Wentholt. Haar advies: kijk eens over de grens, naar de recordbetoging in Servië afgelopen weekeinde

Improving Quality of Life of Families Headed by Parents With Intellectual Disabilities and Their Children by Means of Assistive Social Robotics

Background: Families of parents with intellectual disabilities still face discrimination, stigma and inadequate support, placing them in vulnerable positions. Social assistive robotics offers promising support. This study investigates the possible impact of social assistive robotics on family quality of life (FQoL). Method: An inclusive, iterative and qualitative research design was used, involving a co-researcher with an intellectual disability. Four families, headed by parents with an intellectual disability and children under 12, interacted with a robot at home. Prior to and after the interaction, visually supported semi-structured interviews on FQoL were conducted. Results: The robot had a positive impact on FQoL, particularly in family relationships, work and leisure, as the robot was integrated in the families' daily routines. Other domains were impacted less. Conclusions: Social assistive robotics has the potential to enhance FQoL and support vulnerable families, complementing existing systems. Further research and development are needed

Mapping Leadership in a Person-Centred Care Context: A Scoping Review

Introduction: Recent decades have seen a significant increase in focus on person-centred care. However, its implementation is complex. Person-centred care is paradoxically simultaneously described as fundamental and as extra to the nursing practice. Although the significance of leadership for the delivery of person-centred care is recognised, less is known about what this entails.Objective: Mapping leadership in a context of person-centred care.Methods: The search strategy focuses on the two main concepts: leader(ship) and person-centred care, with results limited to studies published between 2010 and 2023. A convergent data synthesis was performed, enabling an analysis of study characteristics and a thematic inductive analysis of qualitative, quantitative and theoretical studies in one.Results: A total of 27 studies were included. In these studies, the leadership subjects are almost all related to a formal (leadership) position. The included studies reference several leadership components. These include person-centred vision and culture, skills, being a role model, commitment/support, client engagement and facilitating forums and conditions for person-centred care. All components regard interactions or relationships. These can be found on different levels, ranging from interactions with the self, colleagues, patients, within the team and in the organisation.Conclusions: This review shows leadership as a concept connected to formal positions and roles and as a set of qualities, characteristics and/or skills of an individual. However, it also shows the importance of person-centred vision and person-centred culture in leadership. This includes an implicit focus on values of good care and on interactions or relationships. We propose explicating the latter two elements in a notion of person-centred leadership as a starting point for improving nursing practice and training

The Educational Value of Gratitude

This article offers a theoretical investigation of the educational value of gratitude. We make the case that it is possible to learn from and through gratitude experiences. More specifically, gratitude experiences include understandings regarding and a reflective awareness of the value, contingency and vulnerability of certain goods as well as one's dependency in relation to these goods. We argue that such experiences can transform one's outlook on life in a sense that is educationally relevant and valuable in relation to one's flourishing. Building on this, we claim that gratitude can contribute to the development of wisdom. However, since the interpretations of the world inherent in gratitude can be epistemically inaccurate and/or morally inappropriate, gratitude experiences must also be guided by wisdom. Instead of blindly accepting the perceptions implicit in gratitude experiences, people must reflect on these with genuine care for the truth and for justice. We suggest that educators can bring their wisdom and concern for justice to bear in stimulating and guiding others' gratitude experiences in a desirable manner, especially in the case of young people, whose reflective capacities are still developing. We conclude that gratitude experiences should be recognized as a potential source of educationally valuable forms of awareness and insights