Gendering and racialising self-determination: Indigenous women and patriarchal whiteness

Indigenous peoples have the right of self-determination, in accordance with international law by virtue of which tehy may freely determine their political status and institutions and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. an integral part of this is the right to autonomy and self-government. The essential feature of racism is not hostility or misperception, but rather the defense [sic] of a system from which advantage is derived on the basis of race. The manner in which the defense [sic] is articulated - either as hostility or subtlety - is not nearly as important as the fact that it insures the continuation of a privileged relationship.

'Mutiny on the Bounty': The genetic history of Norfolk Island reveals extreme gender-biased admixture

Background The Pacific Oceania region was one of the last regions of the world to be settled via human migration. Here we outline a settlement of this region that has given rise to a uniquely admixed population. The current Norfolk Island population has arisen from a small number of founders with mixed Caucasian and Polynesian ancestry, descendants of a famous historical event. The ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ has been told in history books, songs and the big screen, but recently this story can be portrayed through comprehensive molecular genetics. Written history details betrayal and murder leading to the founding of Pitcairn Island by European mutineers and the Polynesian women who left Tahiti with them. Investigation of detailed genealogical records supports historical accounts. Findings Using genetics, we show distinct maternal Polynesian mitochondrial lineages in the present day population, as well as a European centric Y-chromosome phylogeny. These results comprehensively characterise the unique gender-biased admixture of this genetic isolate and further support the historical records relating to Norfolk Island. Conclusions Our results significantly refine previous population genetic studies investigating Polynesian versus Caucasian diversity in the Norfolk Island population and add information that is beneficial to future disease and gene mapping studies.

Venous thromboembolism during pregnancy and the impact of thrombophilia in pregnancy complications

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the greatest single cause of maternal mortality in pregnant women in developed countries. Pregnancy is a hypercoagulable state and brings about an enhanced risk of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in otherwise healthy women. Traditionally, unfractionated heparin (UFH) has been used for treatment of DVT during pregnancy. We showed in our observational study that low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is as effective and safe as UFH in the treatment of DVT during pregnancy. Although DVT during pregnancy is often massive, increasing the risk of developing long-term consequences, namely post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS), only 11% of all patients had confirmed PTS 3 4 years after DVT. In our studies the prevalence of PTS was not dependent on treatment (UFH vs LMWH). Low molecular weight heparin is more easily administered, few laboratory controls are required and the hospital stay is shorter, factors that lower the costs of treatment. Cervical insufficiency is defined as repeated very preterm delivery during the second or early third trimester. Infection is a well-known risk factor of preterm delivery. We found overpresentation of thrombophilic mutations (FV Leiden, prothrombin G20210A)among 42 patients with cervical insufficiency compared with controls (OR 6.7, CI 2.7 18.4). Thus, thrombophilia might be a risk factor of cervical insufficiency possibly explained by interaction of coagulation and inflammation processes. The presence of antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies increases the risk for recurrent miscarriage (RM). Annexins are proteins which all bind to anionic phospholipids (PLs) preventing clotting on vascular phospholipid surfaces. Plasma concentrations of circulating annexin IV and V were investigated in 77 pregnancies at the beginning of pregnancy among women with a history of RM, and in connection to their aPL antibody status. Control group consisted unselected pregnant patients (n=25) without history of adverse pregnancy outcome. Plasma levels of annexin V were significantly higher at the beginning (≤5th week) of pregnancy in women with aPL antibodies compared with those without aPL antibodies (P=0.03). Levels of circulating annexin V were also higher at the 6th (P= 0.01) and 8th week of pregnancy in subjects with aPL antibodies (P=0.01). Results support the hypothesis that aPL could displace annexin from anionic phospholipid surfaces of syncytiotrophoblasts (STBs) and may exert procoagulant activities on the surfaces of STBs Recurrent miscarriage (RM) has been suggested to be caused by mutations in genes coding for various coagulation factors resulting in thrombophilia. In the last study of my thesis were investigated the prevalence of thrombomodulin (TM) and endothelial protein C receptor polymorphism EPCR among 40 couples and six women suffering RM. This study showed that mutations in the TM or EPCR genes are not a major cause of RM in Finnish patients.

Genistein and 17β-estradiol fatty acid esters in blood and adipose tissue and the structure-related antioxidant activity of estrogens on lipoproteins

Soy-derived phytoestrogen genistein and 17β-estradiol (E2), the principal endogenous estrogen in women, are also potent antioxidants protecting LDL and HDL lipoproteins against oxidation. This protection is enhanced by esterification with fatty acids, resulting in lipophilic molecules that accumulate in lipoproteins or fatty tissues. The aims were to investigate, whether genistein becomes esterified with fatty acids in human plasma accumulating in lipoproteins, and to develop a method for their quantitation; to study the antioxidant activity of different natural and synthetic estrogens in LDL and HDL; and to determine the E2 esters in visceral and subcutaneous fat in late pregnancy and in pre- and postmenopause. Human plasma was incubated with [3H]genistein and its esters were analyzed from lipoprotein fractions. Time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TR-FIA) was used to quantitate genistein esters in monkey plasma after subcutaneous and oral administration. The E2 esters in women s serum and adipose tissue were also quantitated using TR-FIA. The antioxidant activity of estrogen derivatives (n=43) on LDL and HDL was assessed by monitoring the copper induced formation of conjugated dienes. Human plasma was shown to produce lipoprotein-bound genistein fatty acid esters, providing a possible explanation for the previously reported increased oxidation resistance of LDL particles during intake of soybean phytoestrogens. Genistein esters were introduced into blood by subcutaneous administration. The antioxidant effect of estrogens on lipoproteins is highly structure-dependent. LDL and HDL were protected against oxidation by many unesterified, yet lipophilic derivatives. The strongest antioxidants had an unsubstituted A-ring phenolic hydroxyl group with one or two adjacent methoxy groups. E2 ester levels were high during late pregnancy. The median concentration of E2 esters in pregnancy serum was 0.42 nmol/l (n=13) and in pre- (n=8) and postmenopause (n=6) 0.07 and 0.06 nmol/l, respectively. In pregnancy visceral fat the concentration of E2 esters was 4.24 nmol/l and in pre- and postmenopause 0.82 and 0.74 nmol/l. The results from subcutaneous fat were similar. In serum and fat during pregnancy, E2 esters constituted about 0.5 and 10% of the free E2. In non-pregnant women most of the E2 in fat was esterified (the ester/free ratio 150 - 490%). In postmenopause, E2 levels in fat highly exceeded those in serum, the majority being esterified. The pathways for fatty acid esterification of steroid hormones are found in organisms ranging from invertebrates to vertebrates. The evolutionary preservation and relative abundance of E2 esters, especially in fat tissue, suggest a biological function, most likely in providing a readily available source of E2. The body s own estrogen reservoir could be used as a source of E2 by pharmacologically regulating the E2 esterification or hydrolysis.

The Relational Self, the Social Bond and the Dynamics of Personal Relationships : A Sociological Analysis

This study analyses personal relationships linking research to sociological theory on the questions of the social bond and on the self as social. From the viewpoint of disruptive life events and experiences, such as loss, divorce and illness, it aims at understanding how selves are bound to their significant others as those specific people ‘close or otherwise important’ to them. Who form the configurations of significant others? How do different bonds respond in disruptions and how do relational processes unfold? How is the embeddedness of selves manifested in the processes of bonding, on the one hand, and in the relational formation of the self, on the other? The bonds are analyzed from an anti-categorical viewpoint based on personal citations of significance as opposed to given relationship categories, such as ‘family’ or ‘friendship’ – the two kinds of relationships that in fact are most frequently significant. The study draws from analysis of the personal narratives of 37 Finnish women and men (in all 80 interviews) and their entire configurations of those specific people who they cite as ‘close or otherwise important’. The analysis stresses the subjective experiences, while also investigating the actualized relational processes and configurations of all personal relationships with certain relationship histories embedded in micro-level structures. The research is based on four empirical sub-studies of personal relationships and a summary discussing the questions of the self and social bond. Discussion draws from G. H. Mead, C. Cooley, N. Elias, T. Scheff, G. Simmel and the contributors of ‘relational sociology’. Sub-studies analyse bonds to others from the viewpoint of biographical disruption and re-configuration of significant others, estranged family bonds, peer support and the formation of the most intimate relationships into exclusive and inclusive configurations. All analyses examine the dialectics of the social and the personal, asking how different structuring mechanisms and personal experiences and negotiations together contribute to the unfolding of the bonds. The summary elaborates personal relationships as social bonds embedded in wider webs of interdependent people and social settings that are laden with cultural expectations. Regarding the question of the relational self, the study proposes both bonding and individuality as significant. They are seen as interdependent phases of the relationality of the self. Bonding anchors the self to its significant relationships, in which individuality is manifested, for example, in contrasting and differentiating dynamics, but also in active attempts to connect with others. Individuality is not a fixed quality of the self, but a fluid and interdependent phase of the relational self. More specifically, it appears in three formats in the flux of relational processes: as a sense of unique self (via cultivation of subjective experiences), as agency and as (a search for) relative autonomy. The study includes an epilogue addressing the ambivalence between the social expectation of individuality in society and the bonded reality of selves.

Efficacy of family mediation and the role of family violence: Study protocol

Background Family law reforms in Australia require separated parents in dispute to attempt mandatory family dispute resolution (FDR) in community-based family services before court attendance. However, there are concerns about such services when clients present with a history of high conflict and family violence. This study protocol describes a longitudinal study of couples presenting for family mediation services. The study aims to describe the profile of family mediation clients, including type of family violence, and determine the impact of violence profiles on FDR processes and outcomes, such as the type and durability of shared parenting arrangements and clients’ satisfaction with mediated agreements. Methods A mixed method, naturalistic longitudinal design is used. The sampling frame is clients presenting at nine family mediation centres across metropolitan, outer suburban, and regional/rural sites in Victoria, Australia. Data are collected at pre-test, completion of mediation, and six months later. Self-administered surveys are administered at the three time points, and a telephone interview at the final post-test. The key study variable is family violence. Key outcome measures are changes in the type and level of acrimony and violent behaviours, the relationship between violence and mediated agreements, the durability of agreements over six months, and client satisfaction with mediation. Discussion Family violence is a major risk to the physical and mental health of women and children. This study will inform debates about the role of family violence and how to manage it in the family mediation context. It will also inform decision-making about mediation practices by better understanding how mediation impacts on parenting agreements, and the implications for children, especially in the context of family violence.

'Someone to welcome you home' : Infertility, medicines and the Sukuma-Nyamwezi

This study Someone to Welcome you home: Infertility, medicines and the Sukuma-Nyamwezi , looks into the change in the cosmological ideology of the Sukuma-Nyamwezi of Tanzania and into the consequences of this change as expressed through cultural practices connected to female infertility. This analysis is based on 15 months of fieldwork in Isaka, in the Shinyanga area. In this area the birth rate is high and at the same time infertility is a problem for individual women. The attitudes connected to fertility and the attempts to control fertility provide a window onto social and cultural changes in the area. Even though the practices connected to fertility seem to be individualized the problem of individual women - the discourse surrounding fertility is concerned with higher cosmological levels. The traditional cosmology emphasized the centrality of the chief as the source of well-being. He was responsible for rain and the fertility of the land and, thus, for the well-being of the whole society. The holistic cosmology was hierarchical and the ritual practices connected to chiefship which dealt with the whole of the society were recursively applied at the lower levels of hierarchy, in the relationships between individuals. As on consequence of changes in the political system, the chiefship was legally abolished in the early years of Independence. However, the holistic ideology, which was the basis of the chiefship, did not disappear and instead acquired new forms. It is argued that in African societies the common efflorence of diviner-healers and witchcraft can be a consequence of the change in the relationship between the social reality and the cosmological ideology. In the Africanist research the increase in the numbers of diviner-healers and witchcraft is usually seen as a consequence of individualism and modernization. In this research, however, it is seen as an altered form of holism, as a consequence of which the hierarchical relations between women and men have changed. Because of this, the present-day practices connected to reproduction pay special attention to the control of women s sexuality.

Women and Marital Breakdown in South India : Reconstructing Homes, Bonds and Persons

Women and Marital Breakdown in South India: Reconstructing Homes, Bonds and Persons is an ethnographic analysis of the situation of divorced and separated women and their families in the South Indian city of Bangalore. The study is based on 16 months of anthropological fieldwork, i.e., participant observation and life history interviews among 50 divorced and separated women from different socio-religious backgrounds in their homes, in the women s organisations and in the Family Court. The study follows the divorced and separated women from their natal homes to their affinal homes through homelessness and legal battles to their reconstructed natal, affinal or single homes in order to find out what it means to be a person within hierarchical gender and kinship relations in South India. Marital breakdown impacts on kin relations and discloses the existing gender relations and power structure through its consequences. It makes the transformability of relational personhood as well as the transformability of relational society and culture visible. Although the study reveals the painful history of women s ill-treatment in marriage, family and kinship systems, it also demonstrates the women s rejection of the domination; and shows their ability to re-negotiate and promote changes not only to their own positions but to the whole hierarchical system as well. The study explores the divorced and separated women s manifold dilemmas, complicated legal battles, and endless arrangements when they have to struggle with the very practical problems of supporting themselves financially, finding and making a new home for themselves, and re-arranging relationships with their kin and friends. As marital breakdown fundamentally transforms the women s relational field, it forces them to recreate substitutive relations in a flexible way and, simultaneously, to re-construct themselves and their lives without a ready or positive cultural or behavioural template. This process reveals the agency of the divorced and separated women as well as shedding light on issues of gender and the cultural construction of the person in South India. This topical study explores the previously neglected subject of marital breakdown in India and shows the new meaning of kinship in South India.

Social factors at work and the health of employees

Masennus, ahdistuneisuus, alkoholiriippuvuus ja alkoholin väärinkäyttö sekä unihäiriöt ovat yleisiä ongelmia työssä käyvän väestön keskuudessa. Nämä sairaudet ja oireet aiheuttavat huomattavia kuluja myös yhteiskunnalle. Sosiaalisen tuen ja työilmapiirin yhteyttä työssä käyvien (n = 3 347–3 430) terveyteen tutkittiin Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitoksen Terveys 2000 -aineistossa. Sosiaalista tukea työssä mitattiin JCQ-kyselyllä (Job Content Questionnaire) ja yksityiselämän sosiaalista tukea SSQ-kyselyllä (Social Support Questionnaire). Työilmapiiriä mitattiin kyselyllä, joka on osa Terve työyhteisö -kyselyä. Mielenterveyshäiriöiden diagnoosit perustuivat CIDI-haastatteluun (Composite International Diagnostic Interview). Tiedot lääkärin määräämistä masennus- ja unilääkkeistä poimittiin Kelan lääkerekisteristä ja tiedot työkyvyttömyyseläkkeistä Eläketurvakeskuksen ja Kelan rekistereistä. Ilmapiirin kokemisessa ei ollut merkitsevää eroa sukupuolten välillä. Sen sijaan naiset kokivat saavansa sosiaalista tukea enemmän sekä työssä että yksityiselämässä. Vähäinen sosiaalinen tuki sekä työssä että yksityiselämässä oli yhteydessä masennukseen, ahdistuneisuushäiriöihin ja moniin uniongelmiin. Huono työilmapiiri oli yhteydessä sekä masennukseen että ahdistuneisuushäiriöihin. Vähäinen tuki sekä esimiehiltä että työtovereilta oli yhteydessä myöhempään masennuslääkkeiden käyttöön. Huono työilmapiiri ennusti myös masennuslääkkeiden käyttöä. Vähäinen sosiaalinen tuki esimieheltä näytti lisäävän työkyvyttömyyseläkkeen todennäköisyyttä. Työhyvinvointiin täytyy kiinnittää huomiota, koska vähäinen sosiaalinen tuki ja huono työilmapiiri ovat yhteydessä mielenterveysongelmiin ja lisäävät työkyvyn menettämisen riskiä. – Englanninkielinen julkaisu. Suomenkielinen yhteenveto s. 89–90.

Crosstalk between the sympathetic nervous system, inflammation and coagulation in gestational diabetes; a therapeutic approach in postmenopausal hypertension

The occurrence of gestational diabetes (GDM) during pregnancy is a powerful sign of a risk of later type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The physiological basis for this disease progression is not yet fully understood, but increasing evidence exists on interplay of insulin resistance, subclinical inflammation, and more recently, on unbalance of the autonomic nervous system. Since the delay in development of T2D and CVD after GDM ranges from years to decades, better understanding of the pathophysiology of GDM could give us new tools for primary prevention. The present study was aimed at investigating the role of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in GDM and its associations with insulin and a variety of inflammatory cytokines and coagulation and fibrinolysis markers. This thesis covers two separate study lines. Firstly, we investigated 41 women with GDM and 22 healthy pregnant and 14 non-pregnant controls during the night in hospital. Blood samples were drawn at 24:00, 4:00 and 7:00 h to determine the concentrations of plasma glucose, insulin, noradrenaline (NA) and adrenomedullin, markers of subclinical inflammation, coagulation and fibrinolysis variables and platelet function. Overnight holter ECG recording was performed for analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Secondly, we studied 87 overweight hypertensive women with natural menopause. They were randomised to use a central sympatholytic agent, moxonidine (0.3mg twice daily), the β-blocking agent atenolol (50 mg once daily+blacebo once daily) for 8 weeks. Inflammatory markers and adiponectin were analysed at the beginning and after 8 weeks. Activation of the SNS (increase in NA, decreased HRV) was seen in pregnant vs. non-pregnant women, but no difference existed between GDM and normal pregnancy. However, modulation (internal rhythm) of HRV was attenuated in GDM. Insulin and inflammatory cytokine levels were comparable in all pregnant women but nocturnal variation of concentrations of C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A and insulin were reduced in GDM. Levels of coagulation factor VIII were lower in GDM compared with normal pregnancy, whereas no other differences were seen in coagulation and fibrinolysis markers. No significant associations were seen between NA and the studied parameters. In the study of postmenopausal women, moxonidine treatment was associated with favourable changes in the inflammatory profile, seen as a decrease in TNFα concentrations (increase in atenolol group) and preservation of adiponectin levels (decrease in atenolol group). In conclusion, our results did not support our hypotheses of increased SNS activity in GDM or a marked association between NA and inflammatory and coagulation markers. Reduced biological variation of HRV, insulin and inflammatory cytokines suggests disturbance of autonomic and hormonal regulatory mechanisms in GDM. This is a novel finding. Further understanding of the regulatory mechanisms could allow earlier detection of risk women and the possibility of prevention. In addition, our results support consideration of the SNS as one of the therapeutic targets in the battle against metabolic diseases, including T2D and CVD.

Precarious Pregnancies : Alcohol, drugs and the regulation of risks

Since the 1970s alcohol and drug use by pregnant women has become a target of political, professional and personal concern. The present study focuses on prenatal substance use and the regulation of risks by examining different kinds of societal responses to prenatal alcohol and drug use. The study analyses face-to-face encounters between professionals and service users at a specialised maternity clinic for pregnant women with substance abuse problems, medical and political discourses on the compulsory treatment of pregnant women as a means of FAS prevention and official recommendations on alcohol intake during pregnancy. Moreover, the study addresses the women s perspective by asking how women who have used illicit drugs during pregnancy perceive and rank the dangers linked to drug use. The study consists of five empirical sub-studies and a summary article. Sub-study I was written in collaboration with Dorte Hecksher and Sub-study IV with Riikka Perälä. Theoretically the study builds on the one hand, on the socio-cultural approach to the selection and perception of risks and on the other on governmentality studies which focus on the use of power in contemporary Western societies. The study is based on an ethnographic approach and makes use of the principles of multi-sited ethnography. The empirical sub-studies are based on three different types of qualitative data: ethnographic field notes from a maternity clinic from a period of 7 months, documentary material (medical journals, political documents, health education materials, government reports) and 3) interviews from maternity clinics with clients and members of staff. The study demonstrates that the logic of the regulation of prenatal alcohol use in Finland is characterised by the rise of the foetus , a process in which the urgency of protecting the foetus has gradually gained a more prominent role in the discourses on alcohol-related foetal damage. An increasing unwillingness to accept any kinds of risks when foetal health is at stake is manifested in the public debate on the compulsory treatment of pregnant women with alcohol problems and in the health authorities decision to advise pregnant women to refrain from alcohol use during pregnancy (Sub-studies I and II). Secondly, the study suggests that maternity care professionals have an ambivalent role in their mundane encounters with their pregnant clients: on the one hand professionals focus on the well-being of the foetus, but on the other, they need to take into account the women s needs and agency. The professionals daily encounters with their clients are thus characterised by hybridisation: the simultaneous use of technologies of domination and technologies of agency (Sub-studies III and IV). Finally, the study draws attention to the women s understanding of the risks of illicit drug during pregnancy, and shows that the women s understanding of risk differs from the bio-medical view. The study suggests that when drug-using pregnant women seek professional help they can feel that their moral worth is threatened by professionals negative attitudes which can make service-use challenging.