Refusal – opening otherwise forms of research

An increasing interest towards researching other forms of knowledges is taking place, expanding the boundaries of knowledge to include forms that have been historically marginalised, negated, and neglected by the Western academy. Parallel to this, we have identified a rising critique of how voices marginalized by colonial modes of academic knowledge production are included, through a single-sided focus on pain and suffering (Tuck & Yang 2014). Yet there are less discussions around the process of research itself and what it entails. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to challenge the concept of ‘discovery’ and the unproblematic and inherent right of knowing granted to the Western academy, to argue for a kind of research that refuses. Interrogating instances of refusal in different contexts of Indigenous sovereignty and migration studies, this collective work creates a dialogue across different disciplines and reveals that refusal turns the gaze at colonial modalities of knowing. The empirical analysis of our work also demonstrates that refusal is a generative process that redirects the attention to ideas otherwise unacknowledged, thus making space for relationality, reciprocity, solidarity, community, and care

Covid-19 pandemin, berättelser från Socialhögskolan

En dag kommer Covid-19 pandemin att vara en del av vår historia, en del av vår individuella och kollektiva historia. Denna samhällskatastrof förändrade förutsättningarna för det sociala livet, däribland förutsättningarna för att bedriva undervisning på universitetet. I denna text är det studenternas röster som kommer fram. Så som alla andra högskoleutbildningar övergick Socialhögskolan till digital undervisning på distans i mars 2020. Inom de snäva ramar som virtuell undervisning ger försöker vi skapa rum för diskussion om hur pandemin påverkar såväl vardag som samhället i stort. Under hösten 2020, samtidigt som pandemins andra våg pågick i Sverige, fick studenterna i brevform reflektera över deras erfarenheter av pandemin. I breven vände sig studenten till en föreställd eller verklig vän eller till en farmor eller annan familjemedlem. Vi får ta del av deras familjeliv, den rädsla och ovisshet som präglar deras och andras vardag och deras kunskaper och strategier för att möta dessa svårigheter. Det nyanserade landskap som vi får ta del av i texterna fångar olika teman. Texterna lyfter funderingar över hur samhället organiseras, vilka prioriteringar som finns på den politiska agendan, vilka grupper som drabbas, och väcker även funderingar om hur denna pandemi kommer att påverka framtiden. Trots texternas personliga karaktär framstår dessa texter som ett fotografi över samhället under pandemin. Vi har läst genom ca 150 texter och gjort ett urval av 16 brev som fångar denna mångfald. Från början var inte vårt syfte att ge ut en publikation utan att skapa utrymme för att reflektera hur pandemin påverkar studenterna. De texter vi fick läsa vittnar om en mångfald av erfarenheter och kunskaper som går utöver vad en enskild individ erfar. De generella och specifika processer som fångades i dessa korta brev gav oss inblick i vilken rikedom finns i klassrummet. Och det är detta perspektiv på lärande som ger utrymme för olika erfarenheter som vi vill lyfta fram med denna publikation. Studenternas erfarenheter och kunskaper som framkommer i dessa brev kan ses som en inblick i de möjligheter och resurser som finns i våra klassrum

Refusal – opening otherwise forms of research

An increasing interest towards researching other forms of knowledges is taking place, expanding the boundaries of knowledge to include forms that have been historically marginalised, negated, and neglected by the Western academy. Parallel to this, we have identified a rising critique of how voices marginalized by colonial modes of academic knowledge production are included, through a single-sided focus on pain and suffering (Tuck & Yang 2014). Yet there are less discussions around the process of research itself and what it entails. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to challenge the concept of ‘discovery’ and the unproblematic and inherent right of knowing granted to the Western academy, to argue for a kind of research that refuses. Interrogating instances of refusal in different contexts of Indigenous sovereignty and migration studies, this collective work creates a dialogue across different disciplines and reveals that refusal turns the gaze at colonial modalities of knowing. The empirical analysis of our work also demonstrates that refusal is a generative process that redirects the attention to ideas otherwise unacknowledged, thus making space for relationality, reciprocity, solidarity, community, and care

Postural sway in volleyball players

The aim of this work was to analyze the postural sway of volleyball players in bipedal quiet stance. The center of pressure (CoP) was measured in 46 athletes and 42 non-athlete controls. Each subject was tested in 10 different conditions, 5 with their eyes open and 5 with their eyes closed. Volleyball players showed greater CoP ellipses, suggesting a different model of sensory integration in their postural stability. A multivariate approach to data analysis demonstrated that the postural sway of the two groups was different when the subjects kept their eyes open, but it was not with visual deprivation. This could partially be explained by the better ‘dynamic' visual acuity of athletes, since possible (‘static') refractive errors were corrected for both groups. Furthermore, we expected that national players, engaged in more intensive training programs, were more different from controls than regional ones, and that defensive players, whose role requires the quickest reaction times, were more different from controls than hitters. Our results confirmed these hypothesis. The protocol presented might be useful to assess the efficacy of intensive sport training programs and/or to select elite players with an aptitude for a specific playing positio

No Reliable Association between Runs of Homozygosity and Schizophrenia in a Well-Powered Replication Study

It is well known that inbreeding increases the risk of recessive monogenic diseases, but it is less certain whether it contributes to the etiology of complex diseases such as schizophrenia. One way to estimate the effects of inbreeding is to examine the association between disease diagnosis and genome-wide autozygosity estimated using runs of homozygosity (ROH) in genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism arrays. Using data for schizophrenia from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (n = 21,868), Keller et al. (2012) estimated that the odds of developing schizophrenia increased by approximately 17% for every additional percent of the genome that is autozygous (β = 16.1, CI(β) = [6.93, 25.7], Z = 3.44, p = 0.0006). Here we describe replication results from 22 independent schizophrenia case-control datasets from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (n = 39,830). Using the same ROH calling thresholds and procedures as Keller et al. (2012), we were unable to replicate the significant association between ROH burden and schizophrenia in the independent PGC phase II data, although the effect was in the predicted direction, and the combined (original + replication) dataset yielded an attenuated but significant relationship between Froh and schizophrenia (β = 4.86,CI(β) = [0.90,8.83],Z = 2.40,p = 0.02). Since Keller et al. (2012), several studies reported inconsistent association of ROH burden with complex traits, particularly in case-control data. These conflicting results might suggest that the effects of autozygosity are confounded by various factors, such as socioeconomic status, education, urbanicity, and religiosity, which may be associated with both real inbreeding and the outcome measures of interest

Barnets bästa ur ett intersektionellt perspektiv - en jämförande studie av socialtjänstlagen och lagen om mottagande av asylsökande

Sammanfattning I föreliggande undersökning granskas vilka likheter och skillnader som finns mellan hur socialtjänstlagen (SoL) och lagen om mottagande av asylsökande m.fl. (LMA) tar hänsyn till barnets bästa. Uppsatsen utgår från ett feministiskt intersektionellt perspektiv vilket är av stor vikt för val av frågeställning, syfte och diskussion. Vidare har uppsatsen en jämförande karaktär genom att respektive lags förarbeten, lagtext och rättstillämpning sätts i relation till varandra. Jämförelsen utgår från tre kriterier; dagligt bidrag (försörjningsstöd), särskilt bidrag (höjt försörjningsstöd) samt vilka skyldigheter som är förknippade med försörjningsstödet. Vidare görs även en mer övergripande jämförelse av respektive lags syfte, historia och grundläggande principer. Undersökningen visar att barn som söker asyl inte tillförsäkras en skälig levnadsstandard då det i propositionen till LMA anses rimligt att ge människor en lägre levnadsstandard än vad som enligt SoL tillkommer en person som är permanent boende i Sverige. En hypotetisk barnfamilj som söker asyl får 7000 kronor mindre i månanden än en hypotetisk familj som erhåller bistånd från socialtjänsten. Uppsatsen visar att de skillnader som finns i hur barnets bästa införlivats SoL och LMA leder till att barn som söker asyl diskrimineras. Skillnaderna och likheterna mellan hur SoL och LMA beaktar barnets bästa analyseras utifrån det feministiska intersektionella perspektivet. Undersökningen synliggör att både barn som får bistånd enligt SoL och barn som söker asyl tillhör underordnade grupper i samhället. Dock påvisar undersökningen att barn som söker asyl är utsatta för en formell diskriminering gentemot barn som får bistånd enligt SoL. Detta innebär att den svenska lagstiftningen inte lever upp till principen om barns lika värde, artikel 2 i FN:s barnkonvention. Slutsatsen blir således att ett litet steg mot ett mer likvärdigt samhälle vore att inkludera barn som söker asyl i SoL och på så sätt tillförsäkra dem en skälig levnadsstandard.Abstract The objective of this investigation is to review similarities and differences in how the best interest of the child is recognised in the Social Service Act (Socialtjänstlagen (SoL) and Refugee Protection Act (Lagen om mottagande av asylsökande m.fl. (LMA). The framework of the essay is based on a feministic intersectional perspective which is of significant importance to the questions at issue, objectives and discussions. In addition, the essay compares the legislative history, legal context and application of the respective law. This comparison is founded on three criteria, i.e. financial benefit (dagligt bidrag), special support (särskilt bidrag) and the liabilities associated with such support. Finally, the essay compares the general objectives, history and fundamental principles of the aforementioned laws. The result of the investigation indicates that children who apply for asylum are not guaranteed a reasonable standard of living as the bill relating to the Refugee Protection Act (LMA) suggests that it is acceptable for asylum seekers to have a lower standard of living than those who according to the Social Service Act (SoL) are permanent residents of Sweden. An imaginary asylum seeking family with children is given SEK 7,000 less a month than an imaginary family with children on financial benefit under the Social Service Act. The essay shows that the differences between the Social Service Act (SoL) and Refugee Protection Act (LMA) lead to discrimination of children seeking asylum. The differences and similarities between the Social Service Act (SoL) and Refugee Protection Act (LMA) have been analysed from a feministic intersectional perspective. The result of the analysis indicate that children receiving financial benefit under the Social Service Act (SoL) and asylum seeking children originate from subordinate groups in the society. However, it is also evident from the investigation that asylum seeking children are formally discriminated in relation to children receiving financial benefit under the Social Service Act (SoL). As a result, the Swedish law does not comply with Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which specifies that there should be no discrimination between children on the basis of the status of their parents. In conclusion, a small step towards an equal society would be to include asylum seeking children in the Social Service Act (SoL) and thus, guarantee them a reasonable standard of living