Spatialities of the Secular

This article analyses the debate about the Islamic headscarf in France and Turkey, with particular reference to the law passed in France in 2004. It aims to bring out the spatial dimension of the secular: first, by underlining how the issue of the veil collapses spatial scales, from the individual (female) body to global geopolitical tensions; second, by looking at the specific place granted to schools as the primary focus of the political rows; and third, by teasing out some of the implicit assumptions about the `location', in both France and Turkey, of the threat to secularism. It concludes that in France, at least, the debate had less to do with religion as such than with the place, both physical and metaphorical, granted to the Other in French society

Le paysan sur la grand'place : images du Zócalo de Mexico

Une première lecture du Zócalo consiste à le voir comme une mise en scène du pouvoir au cœur de la capitale mexicaine : flanqué à l'est par le Palacio Nacional, siège du gouvernement, au nord par la cathédrale, au sud par l’Hôtel de Ville, cet espace de dimensions monumentales est dominé par un immense drapeau national auprès duquel les passants prennent l'allure de fourmis. Illustration 1 – La place vue depuis l'ouest Auteur : Claire Hancok, avril 2006. Le Zócalo semble conçu comme une plac..

Entretien avec Claire Hancock

Cet entretien a été réalisé avec Claire Hancock, Professeure à l’Université Paris-Est Créteil et membre du LAB’URBA. Les travaux de Claire Hancock se situent dans le prolongement de courants géographiques postcoloniaux et féministes, avec pour thèmes centraux le genre et l’altérité, ainsi que les façons dont ils sont pensés et représentés spatialement. Pour Claire Hancock, le genre ne se pense pas tant comme une “catégorie d’analyse” que comme un système de relations de pouvoir, au même titre que la classe ou la race par exemple. Elle se réfère à la notion d’intersectionnalité pour désigner l’articulation complexe de ces différents rapports de pouvoir combinés les uns aux autres. Selon elle, tous ces rapports de pouvoir contribuent à la production de l’espace en même temps qu’ils sont produits et reproduits dans l’espace. Quand nous avons transmis à Claire Hancock notre questionnement sur la manière d’articuler Genre, Territoire et Santé, elle nous a révélé trouver l’articulation de ces trois termes à la fois complexe et délicate car présentant le risque de tomber dans des déterminismes simplistes. Pour éviter cet écueil, elle suggère de garder à l’esprit que ces trois notions sont des productions sociales et non des faits qu’on pourrait délimiter sans ambiguïté et de manière binaire (homme/femme, dedans/dehors, santé/maladie). Par l’intermédiaire de notions telles que celle du continuum ou encore de justice spatiale, Claire Hancock offre des pistes riches et engagées pour porter plus loin notre réflexion.This interview was conducted with Claire Hancock, Professor of geography at the University Paris-Est Creteil and member of LAB’URBA. Her research is in the continuation of postcolonial and feminist geographies and her main themes include gender and otherness, and the ways they are reflected and spatially represented. For Claire Hancock, gender should not be thought of as a category for analysis but rather as a system of power relations, as well as class or race. She introduces the concept of intersectionality to name the complex articulation between these different power relationships combined with one another. According to her, all of these power relationships contribute to the production of the space and, at the same time they are produced and reproduced within the space. For Claire Hancock, in order to address the gendered perspective of a research question, there are two levels. First, there is the level 0 that everyone can complete by introducing the feature man/woman in its data and see what findings come out. Through this, we often discover unexpected things, but we do not necessarily know to explain it. However, Claire Hancock asserts that we really start to address gender issues when we start to analyze and think about the factors that produce these differences between women and men. This requires to use inputs and perspectives from different fields including, social psychology, political sciences or economy. For her, a gendered approach is necessarily multidisciplinary and requires that the geographer steps out of its comfort zone. About our questioning on the way to bring together the notions of Gender, Space and Health, Claire Hancock admits that she finds this articulation both complex and sensitive as it presents the risk to fall into simplistic determinism. To tackle this problem, she suggests keeping in mind that these three notions are social productions and not facts that we can delineate distinctly and in a binary way (man/woman, inside/outside, health/disease). Through concepts such as “continuum” or “spatial justice”, Claire Hancock provides rich and committed points for further reflection

Géographies anglophones

L’ouvrage Géographies anglo-saxonnes. Tendances contemporaines, paru en 2001, ouvrait grand aux géographes français les portes des problématiques abordées par la recherche anglo-saxonne, dont certaines leur étaient en partie inconnues : la question du genre, celle des minorités, le postmodernisme. Vingt ans plus tard, le même collectif de géographes, composé de Claire Hancock, Christine Chivallon, Béatrice Collignon, Bernard Debarbieux, Isabelle Géneau de Lamarlière, Jean-François Staszak, fa..

Introduction : le genre, constructions spatiales et culturelles

Ce numéro spécial de Géographie et cultures se propose de croiser, à travers quelques articles, les problématiques de la géographie culturelle avec la question du genre. Si d’autres sciences sociales ont depuis quelques années largement exploré ce thème, il semblerait que les géographes français soient restés quelque peu en retrait alors que leurs collègues anglophones explorent ce champ depuis plusieurs décennies déjà. Une acclimatation de la géographie du genre en France est-elle possible ?..

Une géographie des espaces publics dans les pays intermédiaires

À la jonction de plusieurs enjeux fondamentaux pour les sociétés urbaines et leurs espaces, la thématique des espaces publics est en pleine expansion dans le domaine des études urbaines. Alors que le monde ne cesse de s'urbaniser, la ville semble s'éloigner de son idéal et de sa fonction de Cité : les processus de fragmentation et de ségrégation de l'espace urbain, les violences dont il est parfois le théâtre remettent en cause la mixité sociale, les rencontres imprévues, bref, l'urbanité telle qu'elle a été très largement analysée depuis Eugen Wirth et Max Weber. C'est dans ce cadre général que les chercheurs ont attiré l'attention sur l'espace public. Ces réflexions sont très largement interdisciplinaires puisque philosophie, sociologie et science politique y ont joué un rôle moteur. Complémentaire des précédentes, la démarche géographique permet de resituer les espaces en question dans un contexte urbain concret : loin d'être métaphorique, l'espace public des géographes est un lieu précis, avec des configurations spatiales particulières, une histoire, une appropriation par les différents groupes sociaux en présence, un mode d'intégration dans la ville. Cependant, les travaux de recherche se sont largement limités aux espaces publics des sociétés occidentales (Europe et Etats-Unis) pour y souligner des phénomènes de violence, de communautarisation, de privatisation. Nous proposons de compléter ce tableau par l'étude des espaces publics dans des pays dits " intermédiaires ", ni très riches, ni très pauvres, et ayant des niveaux de développement industriel et tertiaire non négligeable : le fonctionnement même des espaces publics et leur évolution divergent en partie de ce qui a été observé ailleurs. Les villes des pays intermédiaires et leur espaces publics sont le théâtre de tensions spécifiques : arrivée relativement récente de populations d'origine rurale, clivages culturels, sociaux, économiques voire " raciaux "... Nous choisirons également des pays hors de la sphère proprement occidentale pour confronter la thématique des espaces publics à des villes de tradition et de modèle différents. Quelle hybridation y a lieu entre modernité et tradition ?Quels changements sociaux, politiques et culturels y sont visibles ? Comment parler d'espaces publics à travers des aires culturelles aussi différentes

Working together to increase Australian children’s liking of vegetables: A position statement by the vegetable intake strategic alliance (VISA)

Children need to be repeatedly and consistently exposed to a variety of vegetables from an early age to achieve an increase in vegetable intake. A focus on enjoyment and learning to like eating vegetables at an early age is critical to forming favourable lifelong eating habits. Coordinated work is needed to ensure vegetables are available and promoted in a range of settings, using evidence-based initiatives, to create an environment that will support children’s acceptance of vegetables. This will help to facilitate increased intake, and ultimately realise the associated health benefits. The challenges and evidence base for a new approach are described

Measuring spirometry in a lung cancer screening cohort highlights possible underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Introduction: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is underdiagnosed, and measurement of spirometry alongside low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening for lung cancer is one strategy to increase earlier diagnosis of this disease. // Methods: Ever-smokers at high risk of lung cancer were invited to the Yorkshire Lung Screening Trial for a Lung Health Check (LHC) comprising LDCT screening, pre-bronchodilator spirometry and smoking cessation service. In this cross-sectional study we present data on participant demographics, respiratory symptoms, lung function, emphysema on imaging and both self-reported and primary care diagnoses of COPD. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified factors associated with possible underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis of COPD in this population, with airflow obstruction (AO) defined as FEV1/FVC ratio <0.70. // Results: Of 3,920 LHC attendees undergoing spirometry, 17% had undiagnosed AO with respiratory symptoms, representing potentially undiagnosed COPD. Compared to those with a primary care COPD code, this population had milder symptoms, better lung function, and were more likely to be current smokers (p≤0.001 for all comparisons). Of 836 attendees with a primary care COPD code who underwent spirometry, 19% did not have AO, potentially representing misdiagnosed COPD, although symptom burden was high. // Discussion: Spirometry offered alongside LDCT screening can potentially identify cases of undiagnosed and misdiagnosed COPD. Future research should assess the downstream impact of these findings to determine if any meaningful changes to treatment and outcomes occurs, and also to assess the impact on co-delivering spirometry on other parameters of LDCT screening performance such as participation and adherence. Additionally, work is needed to better understand the aetiology of respiratory symptoms in those with misdiagnosed COPD, to ensure this highly symptomatic group receive evidence-based interventions

EvoFIT composite face construction via practitioner interviewing and a witness-administered protocol

Police require reliable facial-composite systems to help identify, arrest and convict criminals. Recent developments, however, have allowed newer versions of the EvoFIT composite system to be made available for policing. The outcome is an online (cloud-based) version and a new system called Witness At Home, both using a simpler interface. Here, we formally compare these two versions to establish potential benefits to policing. Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, participants observed a target identity for 1 minute and returned 4 hours (Witness At Home) or 24 hours (EvoFIT Online) to construct a composite from memory. No significant difference in composite accuracy was found. In Experiment 2, participants constructed a composite, 24-hours after seeing a target identity, using either EvoFIT Online or Witness At Home. A significant increase in accurate identification was found for EvoFIT Online, with some utility for the self-administered procedure, together indicating benefit for these newer systems plus some areas for development

Costs and staffing resource requirements for adaptive clinical trials: quantitative and qualitative results from the Costing Adaptive Trials project.

BACKGROUND: Adaptive designs offer great promise in improving the efficiency and patient-benefit of clinical trials. An important barrier to further increased use is a lack of understanding about which additional resources are required to conduct a high-quality adaptive clinical trial, compared to a traditional fixed design. The Costing Adaptive Trials (CAT) project investigated which additional resources may be required to support adaptive trials. METHODS: We conducted a mock costing exercise amongst seven Clinical Trials Units (CTUs) in the UK. Five scenarios were developed, derived from funded clinical trials, where a non-adaptive version and an adaptive version were described. Each scenario represented a different type of adaptive design. CTU staff were asked to provide the costs and staff time they estimated would be needed to support the trial, categorised into specified areas (e.g. statistics, data management, trial management). This was calculated separately for the non-adaptive and adaptive version of the trial, allowing paired comparisons. Interviews with 10 CTU staff who had completed the costing exercise were conducted by qualitative researchers to explore reasons for similarities and differences. RESULTS: Estimated resources associated with conducting an adaptive trial were always (moderately) higher than for the non-adaptive equivalent. The median increase was between 2 and 4% for all scenarios, except for sample size re-estimation which was 26.5% (as the adaptive design could lead to a lengthened study period). The highest increase was for statistical staff, with lower increases for data management and trial management staff. The percentage increase in resources varied across different CTUs. The interviews identified possible explanations for differences, including (1) experience in adaptive trials, (2) the complexity of the non-adaptive and adaptive design, and (3) the extent of non-trial specific core infrastructure funding the CTU had. CONCLUSIONS: This work sheds light on additional resources required to adequately support a high-quality adaptive trial. The percentage increase in costs for supporting an adaptive trial was generally modest and should not be a barrier to adaptive designs being cost-effective to use in practice. Informed by the results of this research, guidance for investigators and funders will be developed on appropriately resourcing adaptive trials