Coping in two cultures: an ecological study of mentally ill people and their families in rural South Africa

This study explores severe mental illness in a South African ru~al district, moving, as with a zoom lens, from the macroperspectives of (i) Xhosa culture, and (ii) biomedicine, to the lived experience of the individual. Its methodology, predominantly qualitative, employed anthropological and psychological procedures. The fieldwork (1988-1989)encompassed a three month stay in the village of Msobomvu. Patients continued to be tracked informally until June, 1995. The empirical research has three parts. In part one, the person with a mental illness was contextualized within Xhosa cosmology and social attitudes. The cognitive and social ecologies were tapped through the narratives of high school and university students at different stages of a Western-biased education. Social attitudes regarding mental illness, and confidence in treatment by traditional healers and the hospital, were also evaluated. Traditional attitudes and supernatural beliefs of illness causation persisted in spite of Eurocentric education, with a concurrent increase in the acceptance of Western-type causal explanations commensurate with continued education. Part two considered the the patients in relation to (i) the biomedical framework (the mental and local hospitals), and (ii) their readjustment to the community after hospitalization. Data came from patient charts, interviews with medical staff, and follow-up visits in the villages. Socio-political and economic issues were salient. Part three case-studied people identified by the village residents as having a mental illness. Resources for treatment - traditional healers, mobile clinic, and village health workers - were the focus. The traditional healing system, and biomedicine, were compared for effectiveness, through the course of illness events. While biomedicine was more effective in containing acute psychotic episodes than treatment by the traditional healer, lack of appropriate resources within the biomedical setting had disastrous results for patient compliance and long-term management of the illness, particularly in people with obvious symptoms of bipolar disorder. The mental hospital emerged as an agent of control. While Xhosa culture provided a more tolerant setting for people with a mental illness, the course of severe mental illness was by no means benign, despite research suggesting a more positive outcome for such conditions in the developing world

Clinómetros, instrumentos para la medición de alturas de forma práctica y activa, para estudiantes del nivel medio

La resolución de triángulos dentro de las aulas se desarrolla de forma memorística y secuencial a una serie de pasos establecidos por el docente. Lo cual conlleva a la mecanización de conceptos matemáticos, que de alguna forma evita y limita la funcionalidad de los mismos dentro de la cotidianidad del estudiante. Sin embargo, existe en el campo de la ingeniera, instrumentos que pueden ser aprovechados en contextos escolares del nivel medio. En este caso se profundizará en el uso del clinómetro, desde su construcción con elementos prácticos, hasta su utilización en la medición de edificios, demostrando la funcionalidad de objetos geométricos

Developing a Practice in Remote Sensing for Next-Generation Human Rights Researchers

Remote sensing is increasingly recognized as an important tool for documenting human rights abuses. When used alongside interviews, case studies, surveys, forensic science, and other well-established research methods in human rights and humanitarian practice, remotely sensed data can effectively geolocate and establish chronologies for mass graves, forced displacement, destruction of cultural heritage sites, and other violations. But as a highly technical field of science that relies on ever-changing technologies, remote sensing and geospatial analysis are not readily accessible for human rights and humanitarian practitioners. The community of practice grew out of innovative work by practitioners at NGOs and specialized inter-governmental such as UNITAR/UNOSAT. Now, with the increasing demand by human rights NGOs for geospatial evidence, there is an urgent need to expand the community of practitioners who have training in the appropriate and responsible use of geospatial technologies for human rights research and documentation. One piece of this will be opportunities for training new practitioners, such as a multi-disciplinary curriculum that prepares students across human rights, law, sciences, and engineering for work in this field. Places for those students to learn, such as university research centers focused on remote sensing and human rights, and experiential learning opportunities with NGOs also need to be created. These practitioners will then need places to do their work in NGOs, inter-governmental organizations, and development agencies. After a brief introduction to the current state of practice and a pilot initiative at the University of Dayton, most of the session will be a facilitated discussion among session participants. What would a career pathway as a geospatial analyst for human rights look like? What educational opportunities are needed to support those careers? What experiential learning opportunities are available with human rights and humanitarian organizations? What is the role of funders and donors in developing this community of practice

La cosmovision maya et le patriarcat : une interprétation critique

Dans cet article, l’auteure cherche à répondre aux questions suivantes : Le patriarcat a-t-il toujours été un système universel de domination? Les sociétés dites « non occidentales » sont-elles aussi des sociétés patriarcales? Que dit la pensée maya ancienne (la cosmovision maya) à propos des relations hommes-femmes? Quelles sont les relations de pouvoir qui mènent au patriarcat? Pour répondre, l’auteure centre d’abord son analyse sur un texte ancien nommé « Popol Wuj » en langue K’iche’, ce qui se traduit généralement par « Livre du conseil ». Ensuite, elle analyse sommairement la construction des structures relationnelles entre les femmes et les hommes mayas dans un contexte de colonisation. Analyser le Popol Wuj est un projet ambitieux qui demande beaucoup de temps. Pour cette raison, l’auteure ne cherche pas à parler de ce texte en lui-même, mais plutôt à faire un exercice d’interprétation sur ce qu’il dit à propos des relations entre les hommes et les femmes, entre le féminin et le masculin, afin de le mettre en rapport avec l’histoire subséquente qui débute par la colonisation.In this article, the author is seeking answers to the following questions : Was patriarchy always a global domination system? Are so-called « non-western » societies also patriarchal societies? What does the ancient Mayan system of thinking (Mayan cosmovision) says about men/women relationships? Which power relationships are leading to patriarchy? To answer those questions, the author focuses her analysis on an ancient text called « Popol Wuj » in K’iche’ language, usually translated by « The Council Book ». She then briefly examines the building of relationship structures between Mayan women and men within a context of colonisation. Analysing the Popol Wuj is an ambitious project that requires lots of time. Therefore, the author does not present the text in itself, but instead, offers an interpretation on what it says about men/women, feminine/masculine relationships, in order to link it to subsequent history, starting with colonisation.Con este artículo busco responder a las interrogantes ¿El patriarcado ha sido un sistema de dominio universal? ¿Las sociedades definidas como « no occidentales » también son patriarcales? ¿Qué nos dice el pensamiento maya antiguo (cosmovisión) sobre las relaciones hombres/mujeres? ¿Qué relaciones de poder dan lugar a un patriarcado? Iniciaré centrando mi análisis en un texto antiguo llamado « Popol Wuj » en idioma K’iche’, que traducido al castellano es « Libro del Consejo ». En un segundo momento, analizaré someramente la forma en que se van construyendo las relaciones entre mujeres y hombres mayas en un contexto de colonización. Analizar el Popol Wuj es ambicioso y requiere de mucho tiempo. Por esto no es mi intención hablar del Popol Wuj en sí mismo, sino hacer un ensayo de interpretación acotado, sobre como en este libro se entienden las interrelaciones entre hombres y mujeres, y entre lo femenino y lo masculino, para hacer una interconexión con la historia subsiguiente que inicia con la colonización