Sarita Flower

Tells the story of a family who welcomes a new family, into their town to seek a home of their own. As well as the story of a dog and a man. Includes images of the vegetable garden of the South Texas garden.https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/gulfcoastmag/1033/thumbnail.jp

People, Place and Time: How Structural Fieldwork Helps World-Systems Analysis

Some of the most insightful work in the political economy of the world-system area has been produced by researchers whose extensive fieldwork offers them deep familiarity with people and locales. Few other methods are as useful to understand the impacts of structural change on daily life and the ways agents resist, alter, and shape emerging structures. Yet such structural fieldwork is marginalized by the over-reliance of pedagogical materials on social constructionist, social psychological, or interactionist perspectives and also in world-systems research and writing by the privileging of long durée historical or quantitative cross-national methods. This paper introduces the concept of structural fieldwork to describe a qualitative field methodology in which the researcher is self-consciously guided by considerations emerging out of macro- sociological theories. We identify four advantages of structural fieldwork: the illumination of power’s multiple dimensions; examination of agency and its boundaries or limitations within broad political and economic structures; attention to nuances of change and durability, spatial and temporal specificities, and processes of change and durability; and challenging and extending social theory. These advantages are illustrated in select examples from existing literature and by discussion of the two author’s fieldwork-based research. The paper concludes that explicit attention to fieldwork may strengthen political economy and world-systems research and also de-marginalize political economy informed by structural fieldwork

People, Place, and Time: How Structural Fieldwork Helps World-Systems Analysis

Some of the most insightful work in the political economy of the world-system area has been produced by researchers whose extensive fieldwork offers them deep familiarity with people and locales. Few other methods are as useful to understand the impacts of structural change on daily life and the ways agents resist, alter, and shape emerging structures. Yet such structural fieldwork is marginalized by the over-reliance of pedagogical materials on social constructionist, social psychological, or interactionist perspectives and also in world-systems research and writing by the privileging of long durée historical or quantitative cross-national methods. This paper introduces the concept of structural fieldwork to describe a qualitative field methodology in which the researcher is self-consciously guided by considerations emerging out of macro- sociological theories. We identify four advantages of structural fieldwork: the illumination of power’s multiple dimensions; examination of agency and its boundaries or limitations within broad political and economic structures; attention to nuances of change and durability, spatial and temporal specificities, and processes of change and durability; and challenging and extending social theory. These advantages are illustrated in select examples from existing literature and by discussion of the two author’s fieldwork-based research. The paper concludes that explicit attention to fieldwork may strengthen political economy and world-systems research and also de-marginalize political economy informed by structural fieldwork

Reducing Incarceration in Philadelphia

Reducing incarceration is an important public health priority. There is now widespread recognition that criminal justice systems are a significant source of public health harm. They sometimes penalize individuals without improving community health, or create improvements that are offset by the considerable individual and communal harms associated with incarceration and with the collateral consequences of criminal convictions. Philadelphia has become a leader in implementing criminal justice reforms. In 2010, the District Attorney’s Office initiated changes to reduce overcharging. In the last seven years, the First Judicial District has created nine specialized diversion programs, with seven specifically aimed at addressing the underlying causes of criminal activity. These programs vary in design but share key features. All attempt to prevent future criminal activity by diverting offenders away from incarceration and into community supervision. Programs also provide access to appropriate social and health services, and utilize a more collaborative approach between prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and social services staff. This more efficient use of resources allows greater attention to more serious and violent crimes in Philadelphia.https://repository.upenn.edu/publichealth_databriefs/1000/thumbnail.jp

ALS Drug Development Guidances and Trial Guidelines: Consensus and Opportunities for Alignment

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) developed a draft guidance for drug development in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that was issued in February 2018. The FDA draft guidance considered the recommendations developed by the ALS community that incorporated the views of a large group of clinical investigators, industry representatives, advocacy groups, patients, and caregivers. This external input from the ALS community reviewed the current state of clinical research in ALS, made suggestions over a wide range of drug development topics, and served as an educational tool to provide the agency with additional inputs about ALS, the state of the science, and the community\u27s views on key topics. In parallel to this effort, there was an independent effort to revise and update the ALS Clinical Trial Guidelines. We discuss the areas of agreement of these 3 documents and the areas that provide opportunities to improve the efficiency of drug development in ALS. It is likely that further research into biomarkers, efficacy endpoints, and predictive algorithms will provide greater alignment among community stakeholders and increase clarity on drug development efforts going forward. Continued patient engagement and inclusion of patient experience data in every aspect of the drug development process will further facilitate the approval of new treatments

Supervised Injection Facilities

Injection drug use once accounted for half of the new HIV cases each year in Philadelphia. Today, it accounts for less than 6%. This achievement is the result, in large part, of increased access to sterile syringes through needle exchange at Prevention Point Philadelphia. But while tremendous strides have been made in reducing the HIV risk for people who inject drugs (PWID), the story with respect to skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) and overdose is grim. SSTIs are life-threatening, painful, and remain common among PWID. Rates of fatal overdose, meanwhile, have skyrocketed in recent years, resulting in 907 deaths in 2016 and over 1200 in 2017. Trends for injection-related HIV and injection-related infection and overdose have taken different trajectories because access to sterile injection materials only addresses a portion of the risk environment for injection drug use. Avoiding SSTIs is hard, even with a sterile syringe, when injecting in poorly lit, cold, dirty or otherwise unhygienic spaces. Reversing an overdose is possible with naloxone, but there has to be someone to administer it, and PWID often inject in secluded spaces. Some evidence also suggests that overdose is more likely when PWID inject hurriedly – from fear of assault or arrest – and without the opportunity to taste and control dosing.https://repository.upenn.edu/publichealth_databriefs/1002/thumbnail.jp