Governing sex: removing the right to take responsibility

The Commonwealth Intervention of 2007 in the Northern Territory largely missed its ostensible aim of protecting sexually abused children, argues this essay which examines the relevant social, cultural and historical factors based on specific ethnographic work. Abstract The exposure in 2006 of horrific cases of sexual violence that allegedly characterised Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, evoked responses dominated by a predictable moral panic. Thus the Commonwealth Intervention of 2007 largely missed its ostensible aim of protecting sexually abused children. This essay moves beyond a moralising analysis to consider relevant social, cultural and historical factors based on specific ethnographic work. First I present a sense of some profound historically established differences and common themes in traditional Aboriginal and mainstream law in relation to the regulation of sexuality. Then I draw on evidence that Aboriginal people embraced the notion of ‘two laws’, even as the new era created profound difficulties in relation to sexual norms. Their ‘right to take responsibility’ (Pearson 2000) was further undermined by ‘Interventions’ that unashamedly diminished the ability of NT Aborigines to govern their own communities. Finally, mainstream institutions that are deeply engaged with Aboriginal communities need to consider the ways they may be perpetuating entrenched difficulties

Couple and family therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: The objectives of this review will be to: assess the efficacy of couple and family therapies for adult PTSD, relative to 'no treatment' conditions, 'standard care', and structured or non‐specific individual psychological therapies; examine the clinical characteristics of studies that influence the relative efficacy of these therapies; and critically evaluate methodological features of studies that bias research findings

Who's Upsetting Who? Strangeness, Morality, Nostalgia, Pleasure

What is the relationship between negative sentiments towards different kinds of people and the actual difficulties posed by people with different habits and practices living close by one another? Such difficulties are a space of fear and silence because, in this multicultural postmodernworld, we are supposed to celebrate difference in all its manifestations. It is this orthodoxy I want to examine. Let me first note that difficult differences of social practices and preferences are experienced within cultural or racial groups, even within families, as those with teenaged children may be the first to admit. As an anthropologist I begin by taking up a cultural studies practice, turning the analytic eye onto ourselves. Where better to begin than at the dinner party, that quintessential ceremony of white middle-class urban social life, and as good a place as any to glimpse the role played by Aborigines in our tribe’s imagination

Bourke Our Yarns

These stories and ideas of Aboriginal people of Bourke, and a few gubbas (whitefellas) were recorded in 1984 and 1985 and again in 1998 and 1999. Leatta Ballangary and Kevin Knight in the 1980s, and John Mackay in 1998, and I, tape-record many people who were usually eager to share their experiences This is a small selection of what people said about their lives, each in their own style. They are presented as a history beginning from early memories of 19th century conditions

Trade-offs between feeding competition and predation risk in baboons

This study investigates the influence of feeding competition and predation risk on the behaviour and ecology of baboons. Four groups of chacma baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) were habituated and studied over 12 months between 1990-91 in the Pro-Namib desert region of Namibia. Each group differed in size and composition (with 1-6 adult males occupying groups of between 22-55 members), but their ranges overlapped extensively. Additional data were collected describing (1) food quality and availability and (2) biologically relevant measures of predation risk. The results suggest that contest competition for food or safety was minimal both within and between groups in this population. However, scramble competition for food did occur, despite high levels of food availability. Female reproductive state had little influence on feeding or anti-predator behaviour. Females and individuals in small groups were shown to be at the greatest risk of predation, and responded as predicted by exhibiting the highest levels of anti-predator behaviour. Habitat use reflected a trade-off between food availability and the reduction of both diurnal and nocturnal predation risk. Individual spatial position within groups was influenced by male reproductive strategies and predation risk, although social constraints might also have been present. Vigilance in males reflected reproductive strategies while in females vigilance was aimed at predator detection. Trade-offs between foraging and predation risk were suggested in the patterns of home range habitat composition, the use of habitat in the home range, the presence of scramble feeding competition, the choice of feeding site and the choice of diet. In addition, large groups reduced feeding competition at the expense of increased predation risk. Finally, points of special interest included the reduction of predation risk by both (1) the active use of "rest" time and (2) the defensive behaviour of male group members

Dual-luciferase assay comparison of twenty mouse genes' 3′UTRs to a conditional knockup flex-cassette

Upregulation of specific helpful proteins represents a possible method for preventing or treating human diseases. Endogenous upregulation (knockup) is the increase of a gene's expression only in cells in which it is already expressed, thus avoiding physiologically abnormal spatiotemporal patterning. A gene's three prime untranslated region (3′UTR) affects protein expression through stability regulation of RNA already transcribed, which suggests 3′UTR modification as a viable route for endogenous upregulation. Mammalian model organisms can be generated in order to test the effects of different 3′UTR modifications, but at great cost of time, effort, and money. If able to predict in advance with an in vitro assay whether an in vivo modification would cause a desirable or undesirable change, these costs could be substantially reduced. In this thesis project, an in vitro assay was used to compare the protein expression influence of twenty neurodegeneration-relevant mouse genes' 3′UTRs to that of a flip-excision cassette (flex-cassette) previously used for in vivo conditional knockup. The assay used was the Promega Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay, in which plasmids expressing Renilla and Firefly luciferase as reporter and internal control are co-transfected into in vitro cells, then each luciferase's expression measured with its respective substrate and a luminometer. Transfections were carried out in three-well replicates and on multiple days. The aims of the project were the evaluation of the assay's ability to predict in vivo results, the suggestion of 3′UTRs which could be upregulated in vivo by the conditional knockup flex-cassette, and the identification of any trends in 3′UTR-based protein expression influence according to gene function. A number of gene 3′UTRs were identified which were either candidates for flex-cassette upregulation or candidates for use in the flex-cassette to upregulate other genes. However, the flex-cassette's in vitro results were only partially consistent with its previous in vivo results. Specifically, the lox sites in the flex-cassette was observed to lower expression level to a degree not observed in vivo. Additionally, in the course of the project a number of possible workflow improvements were identified, for which suggestions have been made in the text. As such, this in vitro approach requires further study in order to determine suitability for prediction of in vivo 3′UTR behaviour