Facilitation of deliberation in the classroom: The interplay of facilitative technique and design to increase inclusiveness

Widespread global interest and adoption of deliberative democracy approaches to reinvigorate citizenship and policy making in an era of democratic crisis/decline has been mirrored by increasing interest in deliberation in schools, both as an approach to pedagogy and student empowerment, and as a training ground for deliberative citizenship. In school deliberation, as in other settings, a key and sometimes neglected element of high-quality deliberation is facilitation. Facilitation can help to establish and maintain deliberative norms, as well as assisting participants to deliberate productively and achieve collective goals. This article draws on our experience as scholar/practitioners running a Deliberation in Schools program in Australia to explore challenges and strategies for deliberative facilitation. The challenges we discuss are power, inequality, diversity and boundaries, disagreement and integration and these are discussed in the general context of inclusiveness. We highlight two facets of deliberative facilitation – technique and design – which are important for dealing with these challenges and increasing inclusion in school deliberation and in democratic deliberation more generally

L’Afrique d’Henri-René Lenormand ou la colonie, abîme des enfers

Avec le théâtre exotique de Henri-René Lenormand et en particulier ses pièces africaines, on touche à toute la complexité de la pensée anticoloniale face au colonialisme. L’idéologie anticoloniale qui sera celle que défendra Lenormand, n’est pas une idéologie en lutte contre la hiérarchie des races, bien au contraire. Il s’agit davantage d’un courant de pensée qui, dans l’entre-deux-guerres, va apporter la démonstration que la France ne parvient..

Effets de la modulation de la respiration dans la gestion de la douleur

Récemment, il a été proposé que le fait de respirer profondément à une fréquence d'environ 0,1 Hz, soit 6 respirations par minute (RPM), augmente la variabilité de la pression artérielle systolique, augmentant ainsi l'activité des barorécepteurs et la variabilité du rythme cardiaque (VRC). Le biofeedback cardiaque est une méthode qui permet d'identifier la fréquence respiratoire qui entraînera la VRC maximale pour un individu. D'autre part, de récentes études cliniques ont démontré que la respiration à 6 RPM et le biofeedback cardiaque sont efficaces pour réduire la douleur. La douleur aigüe cause plusieurs réponses physiologiques comme une augmentation du rythme respiratoire, du rythme cardiaque (RC) et de la pression artérielle (PA) via une augmentation de l'activité du système nerveux sympathique. Une augmentation de l'activité du système nerveux parasympathique (vagal) permet de rétablir l'homéostasie. Plus particulièrement, l'augmentation de la PA est rapidement tamponnée par les baroréflexes, mais en plus, l'activation des baroréflexes permet de réduire la douleur. Plusieurs différentes manières d'activer les baroréflexes ont été explorées dans le but de diminuer la douleur. Bien que la respiration lente et profonde ait été proposée comme une méthode efficace de stimuler les baroréflexes et pour réduire la douleur, aucune étude expérimentale n'a été réalisée afin de déterminer l'effet de la respiration sur la sensibilité à la douleur. L'objectif principal de cette étude est donc d'évaluer l'effet de la respiration à 6 RPM et du biofeedback cardiaque sur la douleur thermique ainsi que les effets cardiaques dans un contexte expérimental. MÉTHODOLOGIE : Nous avons mesuré le seuil de douleur et le seuil de tolérance de 20 volontaires sains durant 5 conditions différentes : niveau de base (respiration naturelle), 6 RPM, 16 RPM, distraction (jeu vidéo Tetris®) et biofeedback cardiaque. Nous avons mesuré le rythme respiratoire, la profondeur des respirations ainsi que la VRC à partir de l'électrocardiogramme (ECG). Nous avons analysé les effets de la respiration sur la douleur et sur des mesures temporelles et fréquentielles de la VRC. RÉSULTATS : Comparé au niveau de base, le seuil de douleur thermique était significativement plus élevé durant la respiration à 6 RPM (p=0.002), le biofeedback cardiaque (p<0.001) et la distraction (p=0.006), alors que le seuil de tolérance était significativement plus élevé durant la respiration à 6 RPM (p=0.003) et le biofeedback cardiaque (p<0.001). Comparé au niveau de base, seulement les conditions 6 RPM et biofeedback cardiaque ont eu un effet sur l'activité cardiaque. Ces conditions ont augmenté les mesures de l'activité vagale cardiaque (racine carrée de la moyenne des différences des intervalles RR successifs au carré ou RMSSD, p<0.005, amplitude de l'arythmie sinusale respiratoire p<0.001), ainsi que la puissance de la composante basse fréquence (p<0.001) de l'analyse fréquentielle. CONCLUSION : La respiration à 6 RPM et le biofeedback cardiaque ont un effet analgésique et augmentent l'activité vagale cardiaque. La respiration lente et profonde semble être responsable en grande partie de l'effet analgésique du biofeedback cardiaque. La distraction a aussi produit de l'analgésie, mais cet effet n'était pas accompagné de changement concomitant de l'activité vagale cardiaque. Ceci suggère que les mécanismes neurobiologiques qui permettent d'expliquer les effets analgésiques de la respiration lente et profonde et de la distraction sont probablement différents. Les implications cliniques ainsi que les mécanismes cardiorespiratoires et autonomiques responsables de la diminution de la sensibilité à la douleur avec la respiration lente et profonde sont discutés

Deliberative Facilitation in the Classroom: The Interplay of Facilitative Technique and Design to Make Space for Democracy

Widespread global interest and adoption of deliberative democracy approaches to reinvigorate citizenship and policymaking in an era of democratic crisis/decline has been mirrored by increasing interest in deliberation in schools, both as an approach to pedagogy and student empowerment and as a training ground for deliberative citizenship. In school deliberation, as in other settings, a key and sometimes neglected element of high-quality deliberation is facilitation. Facilitation can help to establish and maintain deliberative norms, assist participants to deliberate productively, and enable collective goals. By participating in facilitated deliberation, students can develop awareness, skills, and voice that empower them to engage with democracy, in school and beyond. This article draws on our experience as scholar/practitioners running a Deliberation in Schools program in Australia to explore challenges and strategies for deliberative facilitation. The challenges we discuss are power, inequality, diversity of expression and knowledge, and disagreement and these are discussed in the general context of inclusiveness. We highlight two facets of deliberative facilitation—technique and design—that are important for dealing with these challenges and increasing inclusion in school deliberation and in democratic deliberation more generally

Altered autonomic nervous system reactivity to pain in trigeminal neuralgia

BACKGROUND: In the last two decades, there has been increasing evidence to suggest that trigeminal neuralgia (TN) may be linked to a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The aim of the present study was to formally test this hypothesis by comparing the reactivity of the ANS to experimental pain in a population of TN patients and healthy controls. METHODS: Twelve patients diagnosed with classical TN and 12 healthy controls participated in the study. Cardiac activity was assessed while participants were instructed to rest and again during a cold pressor test (CPT). Heart rate variability analyses were performed off-line to obtain parasympathetic (high-frequency) and sympathetic (low-frequency) indices. RESULTS: At baseline, ANS measures did not differ between healthy controls and TN patients, and both groups showed a similar increase in heart rate during the CPT (all p-values > .05). However, TN patients showed a greater increase in cardiac sympathetic activity and a greater decrease in cardiac parasympathetic activity during CPT compared to healthy controls (all p-values < .05). Importantly, changes in sympathetic reactivity, from baseline to CPT, were negatively associated with the number of pain paroxysms experienced each day by TN patients in the preceding week (r = -.58, p < .05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that TN, like many other short-lasting, unilateral facial pain conditions, is linked to ANS alterations. Future studies are required to determine if the altered ANS response observed in TN patients is a cause or a consequence of TN pain

Deliberative Facilitation in the Classroom: The Interplay of Facilitative Technique and Design to Make Space for Democracy

Widespread global interest and adoption of deliberative democracy approaches to reinvigorate citi- zenship and policymaking in an era of democratic crisis/decline has been mirrored by increasing interest in deliberation in schools, both as an approach to pedagogy and student empowerment and as a training ground for deliberative citizenship. In school deliberation, as in other settings, a key and sometimes neglected element of high-quality deliberation is facilitation. Facilitation can help to establish and maintain deliberative norms, assist participants to deliberate productively, and enable collective goals. By participating in facilitated deliberation, students can develop awareness, skills, and voice that empower them to engage with democracy, in school and beyond. This article draws on our experience as scholar/practitioners running a Deliberation in Schools program in Australia to explore challenges and strategies for deliberative facilitation. The challenges we discuss are power, inequality, diversity of expression and knowledge, and disagreement and these are discussed in the general context of inclusiveness. We highlight two facets of deliberative facilitation—technique and design—that are important for dealing with these challenges and increasing inclusion in school delib- eration and in democratic deliberation more generally

The Marginalized Democracies of the World

This introductory article to Democratic Theory’s special issue on the marginalized democracies of the world begins by presenting the lexical method for understanding democracy. It is argued that the lexical method is better than the normative and analytical methods at finding democracies in the world. The argument then turns to demonstrating, mainly through computational research conducted within the Google Books catalog, that an empirically demonstrable imbalance exists between the democracies mentioned in the literature. The remainder of the argument is given to explaining the value of working to correct this imbalance, which comes in at least three guises: (1) studying marginalized democracies can increase our options for alternative democratic actions and democratic innovations; (2) it leads to a conservation and public outreach project, which is epitomized in an “encyclopedia of the democracies”; and (3) it advocates for a decolonization of democracies’ definitions and practices and decentering academic democratic theory