A Transatlantic ‘Field of Stars’: redrawing the borders of English literature in the late nineteenth century

This article examines a map of the English coast surrounding Romney Marsh in 1895, hand-drawn by Ford Madox Ford for his memoir, Return to Yesterday (1931). The map is read as a cultural reconstruction of the shifting terrain of fin-de-siècle literary reputation, representing late-Victorian English letters as a distinctly transatlantic realm. Ford’s illustration is analysed as an early incarnation of the celebrity ‘star map’: it positions authors in specific locations, while also tracing constellations of developing alliances, dividing the aesthetically minded foreigners from a defensive grouping of British institutional icons. Ford redraws the centre and the boundaries of English literature through his act of map-making, positioning his ‘alien’ literary celebrities – including transatlantic icons of the late nineteenth century, like Henry James, Stephen Crane and W.H. Hudson – along the Romney coast, a site associated with invasion, fluid boundaries, and shifting coastlines

Seeking Reproductive Justice in LA County: Sexual and Reproductive Health Access in LGBTQ+ Communities

The Los Angeles Coalition for Reproductive Justice is proud to release Seeking Reproductive Justice in LA County: Sexual and Reproductive Health Access in LGBTQ+ Communities. One of the first reports of its kind, the report assesses the current landscape of sexual and reproductive health care for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non-binary (LGBTQ+) individuals in Los Angeles (LA) County through 1-on-1 interviews with 23 advocates, organizers, and service providers who work within LGBTQ+ communities.The current Coronavirus pandemic has exposed many of the gaps and inequities in health care access for LGBTQ+ communities, communities of color, and other marginalized communities. This report, which was completed before the pandemic, shines a light on many of these service gaps in LA County, while also highlighting best practices and the genuine innovation of community-based organizations throughout the County. In addition, by applying a reproductive justice framework at every stage of the project, the report goes beyond issues of sex education, STIs, and other more "traditional" reproductive health issues, to reveal how issues of housing, economic equity, and other social determinants of health impact reproductive and sexual health care for LGBTQ+ individuals in LA

An examination of housing segregation in Malmö, Sweden: the roles and responsibilities of different actors in finding solutions.

Spatial segregation and unequal access to housing has been recognized as a problem in Sweden for the past several decades. The increasing influence of neoliberal policies on the Swedish housing market has made segregation and social disparities a challenging obstacle in the development of Malmö. This has characterized a shift in the traditional system of the Swedish welfare state. Through a qualitative examination of the realities of segregation in Malmö, a case study was conducted to highlight the roles and division of responsibility various actors have in finding solutions to segregation. Respondents were selected based on their position in the government, participation within the civil society, and their position as a resident of Malmö, and were asked to discuss the various roles each of these three categories of actors plays in solving segregation as well as the perceived level of responsibility each one holds. All of the respondents recognized the severity of segregation, and the consequences it has on the capabilities of those who are marginalized from the housing market. It was observed that the role different actors play in finding solutions depends on the responsibility each one has. The government holds a legal responsibility due to the structure of the welfare-state in Sweden, while the civil society takes a voluntary role based on social responsibility. The role of the individual becomes compromised due to the market-driven tendencies of the Swedish housing market, and the support they can receive from the government or the civil society depends on the form of marginalization they experience. Through these observations, it can be concluded that the role the government plays is fueled by financial capital and the civil society plays a role that is supported by social capital. Overall, increased cooperation and dialogue is needed amongst the actors so that more concrete and sustainable initiatives are made toward decreasing segregation in Malmö

Prepregnancy Body Mass Index, Gestational Weight Gain, and Child’s Asthma Development

The prevalence of childhood asthma, maternal prepregnancy obesity, and excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) have been on the rise in recent decades. This has brought attention to these topics and whether maternal weight related metrics affect the risk of asthma. Methodological challenges and data quality have led to mixed results presented in the literature. This dissertation aims to further investigate the association between prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and childhood asthma development (aim 1), evaluate potential mediating pathways between prepregnancy BMI and childhood asthma risk (aim 2), and explore the role of GWG on risk of childhood asthma (aim 3). We investigated these questions using electronic medical records from a large cohort of over 100,000 mother-child pairs enrolled in Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) who gave birth between 2005-2014.First, we estimated the risk of childhood asthma for increasing prepregnancy BMI among those followed up to ages 4, 6, and 8 years, defining asthma using a combination of diagnostic codes and controller medication dispensings, and including prepregnancy BMI obese subclasses. Second, we assessed potential intermediate factors between prepregnancy BMI and childhood asthma, namely GWG (delivery weight minus prepregnancy weight), gestational age, and the child’s own BMI. Third, we evaluated the association between GWG and childhood asthma while operationalizing GWG several different ways including total GWG (continuous and categories), observed GWG compared to Institutes of Medicine (IOM) recommended ranges of GWG, and trimester-specific GWG (total and rates); we also implemented the parametric g-formula to account for the time-varying nature of GWG and to control for time-varying confounding. In our first study, we found that higher prepregnancy BMI was modestly associated with increased childhood asthma risk, even after controlling for important confounding variables. Our second study showed that childhood obesity did have a modest mediating effect on the association between prepregnancy BMI and childhood asthma, but there was no evidence for gestational age or GWG as intermediate factors. In our third study, we observed a null association between GWG metrics and childhood asthma development, even when controlling for time-varying confounding. Collectively, these findings suggest evidence for a causal link between prepregnancy obesity and childhood asthma development, potentially partially mediated through the child’s own obesity. These findings did not show evidence for an effect of GWG on childhood asthma. Even though the studies presented in this dissertation are valuable additions to the existing literature, further investigation of potential mechanisms and preventative interventions is needed. Understanding of biological mechanisms and interventions would not only benefit pregnant women but would also have positive impacts on reducing childhood asthma risk