Joining the conspiracy? Negotiating ethics and emotions in researching (around) AIDS in southern Africa

AIDS is an emotive subject, particularly in southern Africa. Among those who have been directly affected by the disease, or who perceive themselves to be personally at risk, talking about AIDS inevitably arouses strong emotions - amongst them fear, distress, loss and anger. Conventionally, human geography research has avoided engagement with such emotions. Although the ideal of the detached observer has been roundly critiqued, the emphasis in methodological literature on 'doing no harm' has led even qualitative researchers to avoid difficult emotional encounters. Nonetheless, research is inevitably shaped by emotions, not least those of the researchers themselves. In this paper, we examine the role of emotions in the research process through our experiences of researching the lives of 'Young AIDS migrants' in Malawi and Lesotho. We explore how the context of the research gave rise to the production of particular emotions, and how, in response, we shaped the research, presenting a research agenda focused more on migration than AIDS. This example reveals a tension between universalised ethics expressed through ethical research guidelines that demand informed consent, and ethics of care, sensitive to emotional context. It also demonstrates how dualistic distinctions between reason and emotion, justice and care, global and local are unhelpful in interpreting the ethics of research practice

UAS Literary & Arts Journal

Proof copy provided by Tidal Echoes.The 2015 edition of Tidal Echoes presents an annual showcase of writers and artists who share one thing in common: a life surrounded by the rainforests and waterways of Southeast Alaska.Dedication -- Editor’s Note -- Mid-Air -- Acknowledgements -- Salmon (Gohan Desu Yo/It’s Dinner Time) -- Xwaayeenák Richard Dauenhauer -- Loon -- Burney Falls -- Richard Dauenhauer -- Egg Carton Fox -- August Afternoon at Helle’s Pool, Vancouver, Washington -- Oak Run -- Buddy Tabor teaches me to filet a halibut -- Icelander -- Home -- Season’s End -- Young Me, Old Me -- The Window Seat -- Wind -- UAS Student Back Study -- Paintbrush Conversations -- Grey River Soulshine -- Across the Universe -- Aurora-Skaters’ Cabin 1 -- Whiskey and Autumn -- Leaf Wolf -- Spring Cleaning the Perennials -- Ode to a Rose -- Final Point -- After Spring Recital -- Olympic Ceiling -- Rodda-Hard going (too little snow) -- Birch Bark Calligraphy No. 2 -- Fishtailing -- Working the Corks -- Modern Alaskan Storyteller: An Interview with Ishmael Hope -- Bailer at the Back of the Boat (Excerpt) -- Close Up -- Bothering the Dauenhauers -- In Memory of Andrew Hope III -- Wolf Brimhat -- I Am From -- Crossing -- Revelations and Realizations -- The Shrinking Girl -- Untitled (Andi in Niki’s Room) -- Afternoon Reading, Rainy Room -- My Grandmother’s House in Metlakatla -- Deacon Charles Rohrbacher, Icon of St. Nicholas -- Honoring Tibet -- Fumi Matsumoto: Finding Art in Culture -- Pathway of Thorns -- Minidoka Interlude -- Mountain Dew Parrots -- Watch Out for Falling Objects -- Loose Change -- An Unkind Demise -- A Place That Holds Names -- Immortality (skull side) -- Opening Again the Box of Wisdom -- Iff’n I Go -- Colorless Blues -- The Heartsdance -- King of Dreams -- Hungering -- Colonialism -- Inside Out -- Rachel Day -- Lying Here -- Note to Wife -- Death -- Round the Clock -- Untitled (trap) -- Seeds of Racism -- Auschwitz Remembrance -- Moab 1 -- Pearl of the Orient -- Moab 3 -- Scars -- Transporting -- In Eliason Harbor -- Poet Passes: Leaves Words Behind -- Tough Guy -- Wolf Helmet -- Biographie

Misconceptions About Caves and Karst: Common Problems and Educational Solutions

Provides pedagogical insight concerning learners' pre-conceptions and misconceptions about groundwater, caves, karst The resource being annotated is: http://www.dlese.org/dds/catalog_DLESE-000-000-010-102.htm

Giving land back or righting wrongs? Comparative issues in the study of land restitution

Land is a significant and controversial topic in South Africa. Addressing the land claims of those dispossessed in the past has proved to be a demanding, multidimensional process. In many respects the land restitution program that was launched as part of the county’s transition to democracy in 1994 has failed to meet expectations, with ordinary citizens, policymakers, and analysts questioning not only its progress but also its outcomes and parameters

Implementation of repeat HIV testing during pregnancy in Kenya: a qualitative study.

BackgroundRepeat HIV testing in late pregnancy has the potential to decrease rates of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by identifying mothers who seroconvert after having tested negative for HIV in early pregnancy. Despite being national policy in Kenya, the available data suggest that implementation rates are low.MethodsWe conducted 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers and managers to explore barriers and enablers to implementation of repeat HIV testing guidelines for pregnant women. Participants were from the Nyanza region of Kenya and were purposively selected to provide variation in socio-demographics and job characteristics. Interview transcripts were coded and analyzed in Dedoose software using a thematic analysis approach. Four themes were identified a priori using Ferlie and Shortell's Framework for Change and additional themes were allowed to emerge from the data.ResultsParticipants identified barriers and enablers at the client, provider, facility, and health system levels. Key barriers at the client level from the perspective of providers included late initial presentation to antenatal care and low proportions of women completing the recommended four antenatal visits. Barriers to offering repeat HIV testing for providers included heavy workloads, time limitations, and failing to remember to check for retest eligibility. At the facility level, inconsistent volume of clients and lack of space required for confidential HIV retesting were cited as barriers. Finally, at the health system level, there were challenges relating to the HIV test kit supply chain and the design of nationally standardized antenatal patient registers. Enablers to improving the implementation of repeat HIV testing included client dissemination of the benefits of antenatal care through word-of-mouth, provider cooperation and task shifting, and it was suggested that use of an electronic health record system could provide automatic reminders for retest eligibility.ConclusionsThis study highlights some important barriers to improving HIV retesting rates among pregnant women who attend antenatal clinics in the Nyanza region of Kenya at the client, provider, facility, and health system levels. To successfully implement Kenya's national repeat HIV testing guidelines during pregnancy, it is essential that these barriers be addressed and enablers capitalized on through a multi-faceted intervention program

Santa Clara Review, vol. 105, no. 1

https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/sc_review/1019/thumbnail.jp

Precision Targets: GPS and the Militarization of U.S. Consumer Identity

For most people in the United States, war is almost always elsewhere. Since the Civil War, declared wars have been engaged on terrains at a distance from the continental space of the nation. Until the attacks on the World Trade towers and the Pentagon in September 2001, many people in the United States perceived war to be conflicts between the standing armies of nation-states conducted at least a border—if not oceans and continents—away. Even the attacks of September 11 were localized in such a way as to feel as remote as they were immediate—watching cable news from elsewhere in the country, most U.S. residents were brought close to scenes of destruction and death by the media rather than by direct experience. Thus, in the United States, we could be said to be "consumers" of war, since our gaze is almost always fixed on representations of war that come from places perceived to be remote from the heartland