Book review: Representations of global poverty: Aid, development and international NGOs.

This article reviews the book: “Representations of global poverty: Aid, development and international NGOs” by N. Dogra

Identity, community and embodiment: Chopper’s tattoo tour

Heavy Metal fans have a unique style of dress, music and interaction via which a sub-cultural community is formed and maintained. This article explores how this community is embodied through tattoos and the display of cultural symbols associated with the shared identity of Metallers. We employ the concept of metonym as a means of exploring the bodyscape of a particular Metaller and his interactions with others. The concept of the bodyscape is used to theorise links between community and identity as enacted at sub-cultural events

Life in the shadow of the media

Media images pervading everyday life often reproduce inequitable social relations that adversely affect the lives of vulnerable people. This article explores the influence of media representations of homelessness as a source of characterizations that are used by homeless people when representing themselves. To do this, it draws on life narrative interviews, photographic exercises and phogo-based discussions with 12 single rough sleepers from London. It documents how participants both reproduce common media storylines foregrounding their differences from housed people and emphasizes aspects of their lives that do not feature in media portrayals, but which invoke their `normality'

Beyond ethics to morality: Choices and relationships in bicultural research settings

Knowledge of ourselves as cultural beings, of the values and beliefs of those with whom we work, and of the history of relations among those in our work settings are essential for community and applied social psychologists. In New Zealand, research by non-Maori involving Maori has often mirrored the harmful colonising practices of the nation’s wider history. In response, several frameworks have been developed setting out conditions and guidelines in which non-Maori might conduct research in Maori settings responsibly and usefully. Nevertheless, views differ on the ways, and extent to which, non-Maori might be involved. Most guidelines do not provide answers to ethical nuances that may arise. This article discusses the experiences of a non-Maori community psychologist engaging in research with Maori participants in a bicultural, but predominantly Maori, school-based community education setting. Insight is provided into how kaupapa Maori approaches were applied in research that was valuable to the community

Researching poverty to make a difference: The need for reciprocity and advocacy in community research

Growth in poverty throughout the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] hurts people. The Auckland City Mission Family100 project explores the everyday lives, frustrations and dilemmas faced by 100 families living in poverty in Auckland. This article reflects on poverty in New Zealand, associated welfare ‘reforms’, the consequences of recent change in exacerbating hardship, and our own efforts to advocate for the rights of beneficiaries. Specific attention is given to a workshop run by the research team with the judiciary, and what such activities foreground in terms of the relational nature of research, reciprocity and advocacy

Civic journalism meets civic social science: foregrounding social determinants in health coverage

Many of the intricacies of health feature regularly in news reports depicting, medical practices, specific diseases, breakthroughs in treatment, and lifestyle-orientated interventions. Despite social scientists also demonstrating the importance of economic prosperity, community cohesion, stress, material hardship and stigma for health, such social determinants are often absent from health news. The inclusion of social determinants of health in coverage is crucial for ensuring a vibrant public sphere for health. This article draws on the example of street homelessness as a pressing societal health concern in order to explore the potential of collaborations between civic-orientated journalists, social scientists and marginalized groups. Such collaborations are central to the production of a civic-oriented form of health journalism that extends and repoliticizes the present scope of news coverage

Representations of Homelessness in Four Canadian Newspapers: Regulation, Control, and Social Order

This article reports on a content analysis of homelessness representations in four Canadian newspapers: two city broadsheets, one city tabloid, and one national newspaper. Clear differences between the papers emerged showing that in general coverage of homelessness in Calgary was much more positive than coverage in Vancouver. It conveyed a stronger sense of crisis or urgency and a stronger sense of optimism that the problem should and can be solved. Experts dominate public discourse about homelessness, with people who experience homelessness themselves marginalized as speakers. Despite these differences, the four papers present a unified narrative of homelessness in which readers are exhorted to be sympathetic to the plight of homeless people while at the same time, \u27they\u27 are presented as needing to be controlled and regulated in order to maintain social order. This narrative has implications for citizenship and social inclusion of people who experience homelessness

Understandings and social practices of medications for Zimbabwean households in New Zealand

Medications are a central part of health care. How medications are understood and used by people in everyday life remains unclear. This study looks at understanding and social practices of medications in everyday life for Zimbabwean households in New Zealand. This project investigates understandings of medications and their use, taking account of all forms of medications, medical drugs, alternative medicines, traditional medicines and dietary supplements. Four Zimbabwean migrant families who all reside in Hamilton took part in this study. Data were collected using a variety of methods which included individual interviews with the families, household discussions, photographs, diaries, material objects, and media content to capture the complex and fluid nature of popular understandings and use of medications. This research provides insight into the cultural values and practices of these four families pertaining to how they acquired, used, shared, and stored indigenous and biomedical medications. Four key themes were identified: the preference of biomedical over traditional medications, storage, sharing and safety of medications; availability and affordability of medications; and the influence of the media in making decisions to purchase medications. Knowledge of how meanings are linked to the things people do with medications will inform strategies for ensuring that medication use is safe and effective

Zimbabwean medication use in New Zealand: The role of indigenous and allopathic substances

Over millennia, indigenous communities have developed distinct health systems and a range of medications. Many of these traditions have been disrupted, delegitimised and changed through processes of colonisation. Changes to medicative practices also occur for groups who move from their places of origin to new countries. This article explores understandings of medications and their storage and use among 4 Zimbabwean households in New Zealand. Our findings highlight some of the ways in which allopathic medications have become acculturated as familiar objects within the everyday lives and health-related practices of these households

Tōku tūrangawaewae: Culture, identity, and belonging for Māori homeless people

To be Māori is to have a tūrangawaewae (a place of strength and belonging, a place to stand). If so, is it conceivable that Māori are homeless in our own homeland? This presentation focuses on the experiences of two Māori homeless people who took part in a 3-year research project conducted in partnership with not-for-profit service agencies. Previous research into street homelessness has all but ignored indigenous histories, circumstances and worldviews. The situation in which indigenous people find themselves requires us to rethink how we understand homelessness and the development of culturally based roles and identities on the street and beyond