Gendered constructions of the nation: race, sex and class in ‘white mothers’ accounts of belonging

This thesis offers a detailed exploration of what it means to be living as a white mother of a ’mixed race’ child in England during the period 1930-2010. Using primary data, I piece together a story about a nation and the women who are seen to move beyond its boundaries through sexually and racially transgressive acts. I select seven official documents for analysis from public archives spanning the 1930-1950s and position these as representative of an official response to boundary incursion. Using those materials, I demonstrate the reassertion of state authority, as rules and social practices including social distancing and marginalization to secure boundaries. I examine how particular tropes of gender, sexuality, class and ethnicity, provided a rich harvest for discursive constructions of white mothering as degraded whiteness and/or Englishness. I then re-examine ‘crossings’ as gendered dimensions of movement in relation to a collective with implications for becoming, belonging and non belonging. This allows me reframe meanings and experiences of white mothering as the impact of border interaction. The research design was influenced by feminisms, an overarching body of work that adopts a gendered gaze whilst rendering different social divisions and sources of power visible. Using that framework, I examine the presence and participation of white mothers as construction sites and agents of construction in the making and marking of national boundaries (Anthias & Yuval Davies 1992). I use this logic to reason that white mothers remain anchored within the collective through legitimate and authentic means. White mothers continue to symbolise and signify national boundaries, but there is disagreement as to what those boundaries constitute and where they should be located. Indeed, using the narratives of thirty white British women, I catalogue the complex web of tender ties that sustain belongings. In intimate spaces, borders have not necessarily been crossed and boundaries have not necessarily collapsed but are conjoined in ways that have not been explored. My contribution to research in this field is to demonstrate how white mothering embodies elements of change and continuity that stretch and pull the nation’s boundaries in unexplored ways. I examine these ideas as intersecting social dimensions to reveal new identity possibilities and secure belongings. Likewise, I claim a particular vantage point for white mothers where location and perspective are shaped by their ability to straddle both positions, as well as occupy construction sites where distance has collapsed

An unusual bilateral variation of musculocutaneous nerve.

Musculocutaneous nerve arises from the lateral cord (C5,6,7) of brachial plexus. Communications between the branches of brachial plexus are not so common. During routine dissection, we observed bilateral variation in 60-year-old female cadaver. In the present case, median nerve represented as a musculocutaneous nerve which supplied biceps brachii and brachialis, further continued into forearm as lateral cutaneous nerve of forearm on the right arm. This branch did not pass through coracobrachialis muscle but the coracobrachialis was innervated by a branch from lateral cord of brachial plexus. We also observed an abnormal communicating branch between the musculocutaneous and median nerve on left side of the arm. These kinds of variations are important for surgeons while performing surgeries of axilla and upperlimb

TBC of the thoracic wall with fistulisation through the breast

A 53-year-old North African woman presented with a longstanding history of ulcerations of the right breast. Physical examination showed (Fig. 1 subfigure) an ulcer of 1.5 cm in the outer inferior quadrant, another smaller areolar ulcer and a discharging sinus tract in the inframammary sulcus. Apart from female genital mutilation, her past medical history was negative. Laboratory work up was essentially normal, culture of the ulcers were taken. Mammography showed infra-areolar skin retraction, associated with irregular, high density distortion of the breast tissue. Ultrasound (Fig. 1) revealed communicating sinus tracts coming from an intercostal mass with central necrosis. Mobile internal echoes were suggestive for abscess formation and a truecut biopsy was taken. An important granulomatous inflammatory pattern and fibrosis were found. Axillary lymphadenopathy was present

Onset of collective and cohesive motion

We study the onset of collective motion, with and without cohesion, of groups of noisy self-propelled particles interacting locally. We find that this phase transition, in two space dimensions, is always discontinuous, including for the minimal model of Vicsek et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 75},1226 (1995)] for which a non-trivial critical point was previously advocated. We also show that cohesion is always lost near onset, as a result of the interplay of density, velocity, and shape fluctuations.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Do South African universities provide the required training platforms for otolaryngology specialist training?

Background. Concern exists about the quality of specialist training platforms at South African universities and teaching hospitals.Method. We conducted an audit of the quality of training at South African otolaryngology (ENT) training institutions from the perspective of the registrars.Results. Some institutions were deficient in terms of supervision, theatre time, access to teaching aids and research tools, and range of surgery, and do not provide the required training platforms for ENT specialist training. Five out of 8 institutions have produced <2 publications in peer-reviewed journals over the past 5 years.Conclusions. The HPCSA fails to adequately police the quality of training in South Africa. Training programme shortcomings must urgently be addressed to ensure proper education and training of otolaryngologists

Hearing outcomes in children with meningitis at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa: A silent crisis

Background. Bacterial meningitis is one of the most common causes of hearing loss. Hearing loss develops within the first few days following the onset of meningitis, highlighting the importance of early audiology referrals. Post-meningitis hearing loss may lead to cochlear ossification, making traditional cochlear implantation impossible.Objectives. To determine the duration of time from meningitis diagnosis to audiology referral. A second objective was to determine the prevalence and severity of meningitis-related sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH), a paediatric tertiary hospital in Cape Town, South Africa (SA).Methods. A retrospective folder review of all children diagnosed with meningitis and referred for audiological evaluation was conducted over an 18-month period between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2016. Descriptive statistical methods were used for data analysis.Results. The total number of inpatients diagnosed with unspecified meningitis at RCWMCH between January 2015 and June 2016 was 345. The total number diagnosed with bacterial meningitis was 68. Only 16 children with meningitis (23.5%) were referred to the Department of Audiology at RCWMCH over the 18-month period. Twelve children had confirmed bacterial meningitis. All the children had up-to-date immunisations. The mean (standard deviation) time from diagnosis to audiology referral was 17 weeks (16.9; range 1 - 60). The overall prevalence of hearing loss was 42.8%. Four children (28.5%) were diagnosed with severe to profound SNHL.Conclusions. Less than a quarter of all children diagnosed with bacterial meningitis at RCWMCH over the 18-month study period were referred to audiology. Frequent delays in referrals for audiological assessment following meningitis were noted. This may indicate a lack of awareness on the part of doctors. Healthcare practitioners need to be made aware of the need for prompt audiological testing for children with meningitis. In SA, local guidelines for early diagnosis and monitoring of hearing in children who have had meningitis should be developed in order to improve hearing outcomes

The BCE Decision: Reflections on the Firm as a Contractual Organization

The authors discuss the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada to approve a plan of arrangement privatizing BCE Inc. over the objections of bondholders. Summarizing the arguments for shareholder primacy and debenture covenants delimiting contractual rights against boards and management, they argue that an expanded conception of relational contract theory is useful in analyzing the competing claims in the BCE deal and litigation. This approach requires that broader contextual factors are necessary to consider in the functioning of the corporation, especially by after-the-fact decision-makers

The BCE Decision: Reflections on the Firm as a Contractual Organization

The authors discuss the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada to approve a plan of arrangement privatizing BCE Inc. over the objections of bondholders. Summarizing the arguments for shareholder primacy and debenture covenants delimiting contractual rights against boards and management, they argue that an expanded conception of relational contract theory is useful in analyzing the competing claims in the BCE deal and litigation. This approach requires that broader contextual factors are necessary to consider in the functioning of the corporation, especially by after-the-fact decision-makers