Suicide on the railways in Great Britain: a multi-disciplinary analysis

As part of wider efforts to reduce suicide on the railways, Network Rail commissioned a programme of research and consultation focusing on railway suicide messaging and communications. The aim of this work was to generate new multi-disciplinary insights and actionable intelligence for the rail industry. The secondary analysis of existing interview and survey data , taken alongside the analysis of online environments , previous ethnographic and anthropological work , and consultations with academic, rail industry and lived experience experts, has enabled us to generate a fairly full and clear picture of how people who are contemplating (or who have contemplated and attempted) suicide on the railways engage with and express the idea of railway suicide, and the types of associations made about that method / location. In short, by bringing together the findings from different studies, and looking for overlaps, common themes, as well as differences, we have been able to develop a good sense of the cultural scripts and discourses that together form ‘railway suicide’ as a knowable and available means of ending one’s life. More specifically, from these sources we have been able to draw out the factors that seemingly attract people to the method/location (quick, lethal, accessible, commonly used method), and also what dissuades them (impact on others - especially the driver, possibility of surviving with injuries, possibility of intervention, fear-inducing method). The logic, in terms of a messaging / communications strategy, would therefore be to challenge the ‘attractors’ (because many are misunderstandings or myths) and try to reinforce or amplify the ‘dissuaders’. There are complexities and difficulties to be considered, though, particularly around risks, possible unintended consequences, and the nuances needed to communicate to different audiences

Cultures of caste and rural development in the social network of a south Indian village

Cultures of caste in much of rural India have become entangled with institutions of rural development. In community-driven development, emphasis on “local resource persons” and “community spokespersons” has created new opportunities for brokerage and patronage within some villages, which interact with existing forms of authority and community afforded by caste identity and intra-caste headmanship. In this article, we study how these entangled cultures of caste and development translate into social network structures using data on friendship ties from a south Indian village. We find that although caste continues to be important in shaping community structures and leadership in the village’s network, its influence varies across different communities. This fluidity of caste’s influence on community network structures is argued to be the result of multiple distinct yet partially overlapping cultural-political forces, which include sharedness afforded by caste identity and new forms of difference and inequality effected through rural development

Brokering justice: global indigenous rights and struggles over hydropower in Nepal

This article explores the dynamics of brokerage at the intersection between the justice conceptions enshrined in global norms and the notions of justice asserted in specific socio-environmental struggles. Using the case of a small hydropower project in Nepal, we trace the attempts of an indigenous activist to enrol villagers in his campaign against the background of villagers’ everyday negotiations with the hydropower company. The study shows how global norms, such as indigenous peoples’ rights, may fail to gain traction on the ground or even become sources of injustice in particular contexts

Towards a new theory of practice for community health psychology

The article sets out the value of theorizing collective action from a social science perspective that engages with the messy actuality of practice. It argues that community health psychology relies on an abstract version of Paulo Freire’s earlier writing, the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which provides scholar-activists with a ‘map’ approach to collective action. The article revisits Freire’s later work, the Pedagogy of Hope, and argues for the importance of developing a ‘journey’ approach to collective action. Theories of practice are discussed for their value in theorizing such journeys, and in bringing maps (intentions) and journeys (actuality) closer together

Music-of-Light Stethoscope: A Demonstration of the Photoacoustic Effect

In this paper we present a system aimed at demonstrating the photoacoustic (PA) effect for educational purposes. PA imaging is a hybrid imaging modality that requires no contrast agent and has a great potential for spine and brain lesion characterisation, breast cancer and blood flow monitoring notably in the context of fetal surgery. It relies on combining light excitation with ultrasound reception. Our brief was to present and explain PA imaging in a public-friendly way suitable for a variety of ages and backgrounds. We developed a simple, accessible demonstration unit using readily available materials. We used a modulated light emitting diode (LED) torch and an electronic stethoscope. The output of a music player was used for light modulation and the chest piece of the stethoscope covered by a black tape was used as an absorbing target and an enclosed chamber. This demonstration unit was presented to the public at the Bloomsbury Festival On Light in October 2015. Our stall was visited by over 100 people of varying ages. Twenty families returned in-depth evaluation questionnaires, which show that our explanations of the photoacoustic effect were well understood. Their interest in biomedical engineering was increased

Can the Experience of Participatory Development Help Think Critically about ‘Patient and Public Involvement’ in UK Healthcare?

The expansion of spaces for ‘patient and public involvement’ (PPI) in health systems in the UK is a relatively recent phenomenon, and yet ‘participation’ as a principle for planned interventions in international development is well established as a field of practice and controversy. Development workers and scholars have passed through moments of enchantment and disenchantment with the idea that the true source of innovation, expertise and workable (and sustainable) solutions is to be found not in the professionals but in communities of experience. Making ‘local knowledge’ the basis of interventions has proved unexpectedly problematic. How could incommensurable forms of knowing, across steep gradients of power be bridged? This article describes a decade-long experiment in participatory development in a remote Adivasi (tribal) region of western India in order to suggest the relevance of this experience for the very different context of PPI in healthcare settings. In particular, it highlights some general points about knowledge practices at the interface, and the human tendency to adjust, mirror, mimic, loop and in other ways make the ‘patient-professional’ interface itself hard to navigate. The article suggests that self-reflective insight into these social processes is necessary for effective ‘engagement’ by professional and lay actors alike

Practicing Politics: technical project templates and political practice in a DFID country office

Development agencies including the UK Department for International Development (DFID) increasingly agree that if aid is to be effective, it should be politically smart and locally led. However, both the critical and the reformist literature have argued that development agencies persist with technical, template-driven programming: political analysis and practice have not been widely institutionalized. This study aims to identify why development representations are persistently technical in their form, and what blockages have existed for developing locally grounded and politically aware programmes. The article presents an ethnography of the process of developing the core elements of the governance portfolio in an (anonymized) DFID country office. Focusing on a key design workshop, the study is situated within a wider organizational ethnography. The persistently technical justifications for programmes are a result of the bureaucratic form itself, its accountability and approval processes. Political analyses represent countries in such a way that officials can prioritize selection from a repertoire of technical models. However, scepticism about the tractability of governance problems to such analyses and programming has led to an emerging understanding of politics that creates space within the bureaucratic form for politically aware practice. Politically aware programming should emphasize good operational practice over explicit analysis and should continue to emphasize technical models like the adaptive management models which create room for such practice