Carving out pathways : dear doctor gender and sexuality researcher

This chapter is about carving out a pathway in academia or related gender and sexuality (G&S) careers. A panel of academic experts on G&S—including Professor Emeriti and Associate Professors with highly successful careers—answer eight questions about career pathways in research and education. All experts have held or hold academic roles in research-only institutions and teaching faculty roles, professional research roles, related professional/corporate/government roles, and engaged in both theoretical and empirical studies. All questions were submitted by emerging and student researchers, and workers in sexuality and gender in education, from various countries around the world

The habitus and the critique of the present. A Wittgensteinian reading of Bourdieu’s social theory

I tackle some major criticisms addressed to Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of habitus by foregrounding its affinities with Ludwig Wittgenstein’s notion of rule-following. To this end, I first clarify the character of the habitus as a theoretical device, and then elucidate what features of Wittgenstein’s analysis Bourdieu found of interest from a methodological viewpoint. To vindicate this reading, I contend that Wittgenstein’s discussion of rule-following was meant to unearth the internal connection between rules and the performative activities whereby rules are brought into life. By portraying rules as tools that allow agents to stabilize and renegotiate practices, I illustrate the active role social agents play in the production of shared accounts of practices. I conclude by showing that, if viewed through this prism, the habitus proves to be meant to provide guidance on how social theory helps historicize and denaturalize the social world

Engaging patients with moderate to severe acquired brain injury in goal setting

Background/Aims: An exploratory study of a novel approach to using the Goal Engagement Scale to examine patients’, families’ and health professionals’ perceptions of patient engagement in goal setting. Methods: This mixed methods study was conducted from September 2013 to April 2014 in both inpatient trauma and rehabilitation units at an Australian health care service. Participants were 22triads (patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury or stroke, their family member(s) and a treating health professional) participating in routine goal setting interviews. Goal setting interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed, drawing upon an iterative process of qualitative data analysis, while the Goal Engagement Scale scores were analysed descriptively, drawing comparison between triad participant findings. Findings: Perception of patient’s level of engagement in goal setting differed between health professionals, patients and families. Health professionals’ views dominated the goal setting process. Goal setting interview data revealed four main themes, highlighting the importance of reflective listening skills to build a trusting relationship with patients and families to support engagement in goal setting. Conclusions: The findings of this exploratory study both affirm the suitability of future research into goal setting engagement and provide clinically useful strategies to support engagement of patients and families in goal setting. © 2016 MA Healthcare Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Carolyn Unsworth” is provided in this record*

The Metaphysics of Intersectionality Revisited*

‘Intersectionality’ is one of the rare pieces of academic jargon to make it out of the university and into the mainstream. The message is clear and well-known: your feminism had better be intersectional. But what exactly does this mean? This paper is partly an exercise in conceptual clarification, distinguishing at least six distinct types of claim found across the literature on intersectionality, and digging further into the most philosophically complex of these claims—namely the metaphysical and explanatory. It’s also partly a reply to Sara Bernstein, who argued recently that the best interpretation of the metaphysical claim is explanatory priority. We’ll argue that duly clarified, it’s far from obvious that feminism had better be intersectional. At the very least, it had better not be only intersectional