Marxist theory and the Greek crisis

by Riad Azar, doctoral candidate at the LSE On the 21st of October, 2015, the first of a lecture series on Contemporary Marxist Theory was held at King’s College. The session was titled “Lessons of the Greek Crisis”, given by Stathis Kouvelakis, a Reader in Political Theory and Philosophy, former member of the central committee of Syriza and founding member of the party Popular Unity

Brain waste: the deskilling of London’s migrant professionals

by Riad Azar, Doctoral researcher in the LSE’s Department of Sociology “I still feel like a nurse, man.” Hugo heaved out a long sigh through his nose. We had been sitting in the kitchen of my flat for an hour. The tea he requested when the interview began had chilled; his back curved forward, resting his elbows on his knees to make a nest for his head in his hands. After discussing at length Hugo’s childhood, his dreams and desires, anecdotes of his father, his journey to London and the life he lives as a trained and experienced ICU nurse pouring beer at a pub in King’s Cross, I moved the interview forward by presenting him with a hypothetical: I: Have you ever had to use your skills, as, say someone falling down on a bus? H: Not yet, actually…[sigh] I would maybe not be the best, because that’s one year and a half I haven’t been practising…No, I’m losing my skills man, [pause, to himself] I’m losing them definitely

Long nights on Brick Lane

Riad Azar on ethnographic research in London’s Brick Lane “…and then I realised that time was circular”, a friend told me after reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel 100 Years of Solitude. Our discussion was stubborn, returning to me time and again during my first few weeks in London. I was about to begin an MSc programme in Political Sociology; it was time to think like a social scientist. But it must be possible, I thought to myself, to find a way to describe changes not only in time, but also in space. Physicists agreed that space-time was a curvature; linearity might only be a constraining factor on our human perspective. My ethnographic fieldwork on Brick Lane served as the lab to test out this idea, to counterpose the variables of time and space in order to describe social change in an urban environment, and to allow literature to inspire my epistemological foundations

Social theory and the sociological imagination: an interview with Nigel Dodd (2 of 2)

Part II of our interview with Nigel Dodd, LSE Professor of Sociology, interviewed by Riad Azar. Part I can be found here

Social theory and the sociological imagination: an interview with Nigel Dodd (1 of 2)

Part I of our interview with Nigel Dodd, interviewed by Riad Azar. Nigel Dodd is Professor in the Sociology Department at the LSE. He obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1991 on the topic of Money in Social Theory, and lectured at the University of Liverpool before joining the LSE in 1995. Nigel’s main interests are in the sociology of money, economic sociology and classical and contemporary social thought. He is author of The Sociology of Money and Social Theory and Modernity (both published by Polity Press). His most recent book, The Social Life of Money, was published by Princeton University Press in September 2014

Pancreatitis following Olanzapine Therapy: A Report of Three Cases

CONTEXT: Atypical antipsychotic agents (clozapine, olanzapine) have been linked to metabolic effects and acute pancreatitis. CASE REPORT: We reviewed the inpatient and outpatient records of three patients who developed acute pancreatitis while being treated with olanzapine. The mean age of the patients was 37.7 years (range 18–54 years, 2 female, 1 male). No alternative cause of acute pancreatitis was found in two of the three patients. In the remaining patient, olanzapine may have contributed to acute pancreatitis in the setting of hypertriglyceridemia. Olanzapine was discontinued in all instances. Over a mean follow-up of 14 months, one patient has had a relapsing course, but the remaining two patients have been symptom free without recurrence of acute pancreatitis. CONCLUSIONS: Our case series adds further support to the potential link between olanzapine use and acute pancreatitis. Close monitoring of metabolic parameters is suggested in patients treated with olanzapine. Alternative antipsychotic agents should be considered in patients at high risk for pancreatitis

Physician-Controlled Wire-Guided Cannulation of the Minor Papilla

Background. Minor papilla (MiP) cannulation is frequently performed using specialized small-caliber accessories. Outcomes data for MiP cannulation with standard-sized accessories are lacking. Methods. This is a case series describing MiP cannulation outcomes in consecutive patients treated by two endoscopists between July 2005 and November 2008 at two tertiary referral centers. MiP cannulation was attempted using a 4.4 Fr tip sphincterotome loaded with a 0.035″, 260 cm hydrophilic-tip guidewire, using a wire-guided technique under physician control. Results. 25 patients were identified (14 women, mean age 45). Procedure indications included recurrent acute pancreatitis in 16 patients (64%) and chronic pancreatitis in 2 (8%), among other indications. MiP cannulation was successful in 24 patients (96%). Sphincterotomy followed by pancreatic stent placement was performed in 21 patients (84%). Mild post-ERCP pancreatitis occurred in 3 patients (12%). Conclusion. Physician-controlled wire-guided MiP cannulation using a 4.4 Fr sphincterotome and 0.035″ guidewire is an effective and safe technique

Making it work : three case studies on the epistemology of everyday knowledge

The three case studies that make up this dissertation center on the role of social epistemology – the ways in which people construct lay knowledge in their social networks – to solve everyday problems, and how people know what they think they know. First, I present a case study of legal knowledge within municipal and county-level courts in three large cities in Texas. I ask, where do people receive legal knowledge? How do they think and feel about the legal knowledge they have received? How is knowledge they received deemed legitimate? I find that the sources of legal knowledge shape legal knowledge legitimacy and have implications for people’s views about and experiences with the criminal justice system. Second, I present a case study of a lead-in-water contaminated community in West Texas. I ask, how do residents understand the town’s water contamination, who (or what) do they blame for its condition, and why? How do those understandings of culpability shape people’s ability to collectively solve problems? I find that resident’s beliefs about the water crisis are shaped by their opinions of their neighbors and their opinions of their town. These two categories of opinions, private and public culpability, are talked about as the problem with the pipes on the one hand, and the problem with the pool on the other. These opinions and beliefs go on to shape how residents organize to save public infrastructure and how the town responds to their claims. Third, I present a case study of a cattle ranching community in the Texas Panhandle that suffered from devastating wildfires. I ask, how do community politics shape experiences and perceptions of disaster recovery? I find that the way residents narrated how they came together after the fires serves to reproduce everyday understandings of politics. Rather than talking about public expenditure in the form of millions of dollars of disaster aid funding that has historically buttressed the community against catastrophe, residents chose to highlight the role of their local community in helping each other. Together, these three case studies outline how knowledge production is a social endeavor.Sociolog