Life, death, and subjectivity : moral sources in bioethics

"This book presents an exploration of concepts central to health care practice. In exploring such concepts as Subjectivity, Life, Personhood, and Death in deep philosophical terms, the book aims to draw out the ethical demands that arise when we encounter these phenomena, and also the moral resources of health care workers for meeting those demands."--BOOK JACKET.

'Don't be a smart arse': Young workers, individualization, and an ethic of enterprise in Jamie's Kitchen

In Jamie’s Kitchen the high profile celebrity chef Jamie Oliver set out to transform a group of unemployed young Londoners into the enterprising, ideal worker of 21st century flexible capitalism. The paper will argue that this reality TV series provides a means to explore key features of new work regimes. We will analyse particular aspects of the increasingly powerful individualising and normalising processes shaping the lifeworlds of young workers in a globalising risk society. Processes that require those who wish to be positively identified as entrepreneurial to do particular sorts of work on themselves; or suffer the consequences.
Drawing on Foucault’s later work on the care of the self, and the  individualization theses of the reflexive modernization literature, we identify and analyse the forms of personhood that various institutions, organisations and individuals seek to encourage in young workers; and the ways in which institutionalised risk environments increasingly individualise the risks and uncertainties associated with labour market participation. The paper argues that our understandings of what it means to be a worker of the world, are being rearticulated around the idea that we are free to choose. And we must exercise this freedom – reap its rewards, carry its obligations – as individuals.

Postmodernism, Christianity and the Book of Revelation

This project set up a three-way conversation involving postmodernism, contemporary Christianity and the Book of Revelation. It identified specific aspects of a Christian worldview: the reality of the spirit world, the relevance of revelation as a source of truth, the priority of personhood and the centrality of the biblical story.

The entrepreneurial self and youth at-risk : exploring the horizons of identity in the 21st century

This paper argues that a particular form of selfhood has come to dominate the horizons of identity in the Western democracies at this time - I refer to this form of personhood as the entrepreneurial self. The paper argues that the figure (population) of ‘Youth at-risk’, in its negativity, illuminates the positivity that is the entrepreneurial Self. That is, the discourses that construct Youth at-risk reveal the truths about whom we should, as adults, become. The paper engages with Foucault’s theories of government, of (Neo)Liberalism as a problematisation of the practise of Liberal welfare government, and of the ways in which certain psychological discourses articulate with (Neo)Liberal views of enterprise to produce a view of the Self as the entrepreneurial Self.

Promoting "critical awareness" and critiquing "cultural competence" : towards disrupting received professional knowledges

There is a compelling argument that universities should be committed to advancing the Indigenous agenda. With respect to social work, as well as to nursing, psychology, and allied health, this commitment is often translated into a single goal: that graduates should be ‘‘culturally competent’’. While acknowledging that there can be tactical advantages in pursuing this goal the current paper develops a practical critique of the expectation that cultural competence is an unproblematic ‘‘add on’’ to professional education. Using a single case study as an example*how the subject ‘‘individual development’’ is transmitted as a monocultural and unproblematic formation*we argue that it is impossible to learn to work cross-culturally without developing a capacity for reflective self-scrutiny. Less likely to be a flag of convenience than ‘‘cultural competence’’, an allegiance to ‘‘critical awareness’’ prompts the interrogation of received knowledge, for example how human development and personhood is understood, as well stimulating an engagement in the lifelong process of reflecting on one’s own ideological and cultural location.

Indigenous blood and ethical regimes in the United States and Australia since the 1960s

Blood samples collected from members of indigenous communities in the mid-20th century by scientists interested in human variation remain frozen today in institutional repositories around the world. This article focuses on two such collections-one established and maintained in the United States and the other in Australia. Through historical and ethnographic analysis, we show how scientific knowledge about the human species and ethical knowledge about human experimentation are coproduced differently in each national context over time. Through a series of vignettes, we trace the attempts of scientists and indigenous people to assemble and reassemble blood samples, ethical regimes, human biological knowledge, and personhood. In including ourselves-a U.S. historian of science and an Australian anthropologist-in the narrative, we show how humanistic and social scientific analysis contributes to ongoing efforts to maintain indigenous samples. [indigenous, biospecimens, science, genomics, postcolonial, ethics, cryopreservation].

One more time : not just (with) words, but feelings. commentary on 'beyond belief'

How can psychological description orient to an experiential understanding inclusive of and sensitive to situated ontological variability? To do so requires development of theory capable of engaging people in the living of their lives reconciling notions of personhood within the prospective nature of psychosocial action.This commentary considers Cromby's argument and its capacity to realise theory of this kind.

Every day you learn something : learning for life? Neighbourhood houses, adult learning and transitions to higher education

This book comes from a research project titled ‘Lifelong Learning? Neighbourhood Houses, Adult Learning and Transitions to Higher Education’ (T Ollis, Starr, Ryan, Angwin, & Harrison, 2016). This research has examined adult learning in the context of Neighbourhood Houses in the regions of Geelong and South Western Victoria.The research was conducted in 2015 and 2016 and sought to examine the learning experiences of adult learners who participate in the education programs of Neighbourhood Houses. The focus was on second chance learners and their transition pathways to higher education such as TAFE and University. A second group of learners were identified during the research process – later life learners. These learners were engaging with Neighbourhood Houses for personal interest learning and social and community connection. This small book provides a snapshot of the stories of learners who were involved in this research. It tells the lived stories of the participants, which is important as learning and education are connected with the ongoing development of ourselves as human beings. Learning is essential to our personhood and impacts on adults in terms of their welfare, health and prosperity over a lifetime. Many of the learners’ stories outlined in this book reveal checkered histories of education. Some have experienced learning difficulties, others have experienced family trauma that prevented them from finishing secondary schooling. Some of the stories describe issues related to reskilling or retraining in later life, responding to industry changes and work in the Greater Geelong and South West regions. Others were pursuing recreation and social connection and came to the Neighbourhood Houses to learn crafts, writing, photography and computer literacy skills. In almost all accounts of learning in this book, individuals had experienced less social isolation by being connected to others in the unique social environment of Neighbourhood houses.

Being well : educated

Our remit for producing this chapter suggested a confluence between critical education theory and social constructionist approaches. Quite an invitation given the prospective trajectories involved! As both of us share backgrounds as practitioners (educational/school psychologists), we decided to draw the parameter for discussion around an aspect of education surprisingly seen in some circles as contentious or controversial in present day practice: the idea of being well in education. International education policy and practice is replete with political and community action geared to the promotion of wellbeing (in the UK e.g., Every Child Matters [DES, 2004]). This circumstance is not peculiar to the sociopolitical arena of education as the notion of supporting and maintaining a healthy and productive populace is today central to activities taking place across government sectors (e.g. social/community services, employment, housing, sport and recreation, etc.; Wellbeing in Four Policy Areas [New Economics Foundation, 2014]). And yet, concerns over the ways in which such activity have been delivered are mounting. Common amongst these protests are collective apprehensions around potential deleterious effects of one-size-fits-all methodologies and clinical models of personhood.