Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism

How to Do Things With Words

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/201/4359/899.2.full.pdf

Phenomenology of perception.

Symposium Review: 25th Anniversary of Moral Boundaries by Joan Tronto

basic research and clinical data in an attempt to derive a cohesive model which explains the behavioral effects of the drug. Johnson is an experimental psychologist, and his work underlies many of the chapters which suggest that lithium decreases the behavioral response to novel external stimuli. He then utilizes this foundation to propose a cognitive model for lithium's anti-manic action, its inhibition of violent impulsivity, and its prophylactic effects in recurrent depression. Previous formulations which were clinically based, such as that of Mabel Blake Cohen and her associates, stressed the primacy of depression and noted the \"manic defense\" as an attempt to ward off intolerable depression. In direct contrast, Johnson views mania as the primary disturbance in bipolar disorder. He considers depression in bipolar disease as an over-zealous homeostatic inhibitory responsf to a maniaassociated cognitive overload. Consistent with this, he believes, lit lum exerts its anti-manic effect by decreasing cognitive processing in a manner analogous to his animal studies. Johnson also suggests that lithium exerts its prophylactic effect in recurrent depressions by treating subclinical mania. These concepts are supported by the work of Johnson's associate, Kukopulos, to whom the book is dedicated. The bulk of the research which describes the cognitive disturbance in mania is complex, however, and uncomfortably open to multiple interpretations. Recognized as a preliminary effort, Johnson's formulation may help to guide further research. Although Johnson clearly traces lithium actions through a broad range of subjects, his discussion of the neurophysiological aspects of this drug is notably spotty. In particular, Johnson ignores the work of Svensson, DeMontigny, Aghajanian, and others who suggest that serotonergic systems may play an important role in the antidepressant actions of lithium. As a result, he fails to discuss one of the most important current uses of lithium: as an agent used in conjunction with antidepressant medications to increase treatment response in medication-resistant forms of depression. Lithium augmentation of antidepressant medication also challenges the formulation presented by Johnson. This formulation suggests that lithium should have no therapeutic value in patients, such as those with endogenous depression, who already \"under-process\" cognitive information. The omission of lithium augmentation in depression is clearly unfortunate in this text. Overall, this volume demonstrates the benefits of a single-authored text. It it clearly organized and readable. The bibliography is also broad and useful. In this book, Johnson primarily addresses a research audience, and his model seems designed to stimulate thought rather than to improve clinical technique. In this capacity, his book will be of most interest to behavioral psychologists. Other books, focusing purely on clinical data, may be more useful to clinicians. Nevertheless, the clear organization, the large bibliography, and the thoughtful presentation may make this text a useful addition to a clinical library as well.

The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World.

Background Drawing on the work of the late French philosophers Deleuze and Guattari, the objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the evidence-based movement in the health sciences is outrageously exclusionary and dangerously normative with regards to scientific knowledge. As such, we assert that the evidence-based movement in health sciences constitutes a good example of microfascism at play in the contemporary scientific arena. Objective The philosophical work of Deleuze and Guattari proves to be useful in showing how health sciences are colonised (territorialised) by an all-encompassing scientific research paradigm ‐ that of post-positivism ‐ but also and foremost in showing the process by which a dominant ideology comes to exclude alternative forms of knowledge, therefore acting as a fascist structure. Conclusion The Cochrane Group, among others, has created a hierarchy that has been endorsed by many academic institutions, and that serves to (re)produce the exclusion of certain forms of research. Because ‘regimes of truth’ such as the evidence-based movement currently enjoy a privileged status, scholars have not only a scientific duty, but also an ethical obligation to deconstruct these regimes of power.

/pdf/deconstructing-the-evidence-based-discourse-in-health-493mfxlha9.pdf

Deconstructing the evidence-based discourse in health sciences: truth, power and fascism.

The recent construction of an ‘obesity epidemic’ has been fueled by epidemiologically-based studies recuperated by the media and suggesting the rapid acceleration of obesity rates in the Western world. Studies linking obesity to ill-health have also exploded with more recipes on how to wage ‘a war’ on obesity and dispose of ‘domestic terrorists.’ In this paper, we assert that the fabrication of ‘evidence’ in obesity research constitutes a good example of micro-fascism at play in the contemporary scientific arena. Favoring a particular ideology and excluding alternative forms of knowledge, obesity scientists have established a dominant ‘obesity discourse’ within which obese and ‘at-risk’ bodies are constructed as lazy and expensive bodies that should be submitted to disciplinary technologies (for example, surveillance), expert investigation and regulation. Using a poststructuralist approach, we examine the politics of evidence in obesity science and explore the connections between obesity discourses and the ways in which health and the body are discursively constructed by Canadian youth.

/pdf/the-politics-of-evidence-on-domestic-terrorists-obesity-2iyl0pueir.pdf

The politics of evidence on ‘domestic terrorists’: Obesity discourses and their effects

No exit? Have we arrived at an impasse in the health sciences? Has the regime of ‘evidence’, coupled with corporate models of accountability and ‘best-practices’, led to an inexorable decline in innovation, scholarship, and actual health care? Would it be fair to speak of a ‘methodological fundamentalism’ from which there is no escape? In this article, we make an argument about intellectual integrity and good faith. We take this risk knowing full well that we do so in a hostile political climate in the health sciences, positioning ourselves against those who quietly but assiduously control the very terms by which the public faithfully understands ‘integrity’ and ‘truth’. In doing so, we offer an honest critique of these definitions and of the systemic power that is reproduced and guarded by the gatekeepers of ‘Good Science’.

No exit? Intellectual integrity under the regime of 'evidence' and 'best-practices'.

This article is a critical methodological reflection on the use of interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) initiated in the context of a qualitative research project on the experience of seclusion in a psychiatric setting. It addresses an explicit gap in the IPA literature to explore the ways that Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology can extend the remit of IPA for noncognitivist qualitative research projects beyond the field of health psychology. In particular, the article develops Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of the lived-body, language, and embodied speech, with specific attention to the ethical implications of body and place. It concludes with a discussion on phenomenological reflexivity and prompts a reconsideration of phenomenological methods across a wide range of qualitative research projects concerned with subjectivity and ethical practice, including critical health studies, critical bioethics, and cultural studies that employ a qualitative empirical research design.

Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and the Ethics of Body and Place: Critical Methodological Reflections

Aim(s) Drawing on the work of Jean Baudrillard and Michel Foucault, the purpose of this article is to critique the evidence-based movement [and its derivatives – Nursing Best Practice Guidelines (NBPGs)] in vogue in all spheres of nursing.

Background  NBPGs and their correlate institutions, such as the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) and ‘spotlight’ hospitals, impede critical thinking on the part of nurses, and ultimately evacuate the social, political and ethical responsibilities that ought to distinguish the nursing profession.

Evaluation  We contend that the entire NBPG movement is based on the illusion of scientific truth and a promise of ethical care that cannot be delivered in reality. We took as a case study the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO), in the province of Ontario, Canada.

Key issues  NBPGs, along with the evidence-based movement upon which they are based, are a dangerous technology by which healthcare organizations seek to discipline, govern and regulate nursing work.

Conclusion(s)  Despite the remarkable institutional promotion of ‘ready-made’ and ‘ready-to-use’ guidelines, we demonstrate how the RNAO deploys BPGs as part of an ideological agenda that is scientifically, socially, politically and ethically unsound.

Implications for nursing management  Collaborations between health care organizations and professional organizations can become problematic when the latter dictate nursing conduct in such a way that critical thinking is impeded. We believe that nurse managers need to understand that the evidence-based movement is the target of well-deserved critiques. These critiques should also be considered before implementing so-called ‘Nursing Best Practice Guidelines’ in health care milieux.

https://modernrhetoric.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/nursing-bpgs.pdf

Stuart J. Murray

Papers

Deconstructing the evidence-based discourse in health sciences: truth, power and fascism.

The politics of evidence on ‘domestic terrorists’: Obesity discourses and their effects

No exit? Intellectual integrity under the regime of 'evidence' and 'best-practices'.

Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and the Ethics of Body and Place: Critical Methodological Reflections

Nursing Best Practice Guidelines: reflecting on the obscene rise of the void.