Penal Colonies

Prostitution has been closely associated with the transportation of women convicts to British penal colonies. Convict labor was used to found a number of British colonies including Barbados, Jamaica, Maryland, Virginia, Singapore, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Western Australia. Between 1607 and 1939, Britain transported approximately 400,000 convicts, 162,000 of whom came to Australia and about 50,000 to North America. Significant numbers of women were among those transported to the Australian and North American colonies, although their numbers were relatively small in comparison to male convicts. Transportation was typically reserved for the most recalcitrant of female offenders. Most women transported came from working-class populations, resided in metropolitan centers, and were single at the time of their offense. Although few of these women were actually sentenced for activities associated with prostitution, large numbers had a history of involvement with prostitution. Transportation was considered to offer prostitutes a chance at redemption, with colonial commentators drawing contrasts between the Old World and its vice-ridden sensuality and the colonies, which offered opportunities for redemption through religious devotion and hard work. Many women transported to the Australian colonies were described by officials as being "on the town" at their time of apprehension and were collectively considered to be "damned whores, possessed of neither virtue nor honesty". Recently, historians have argued that these assessments were emblematic of middle-class prejudices toward the open and aggressive sexuality of working-class women. The number of convict women involved in prostitution may have been higher than recorded crimes, typically involving "larceny", suggest. A number of women were charged with theft from men who had paid them (or, in some instances, refused to pay them) for sex. Historians have estimated that one in five convict women were part-time or full-time prostitutes before transportation. Many continued in prostitution after transportation, with prostitution becoming an important element in the social and economic life of the Australian colonies, where, between 1788-1830, men outnumbered women six to one. Officially, prostitution was tolerated to dissuade men from vice. For women, prostitution presented a means of securing physical protection and accommodation at a time when general amenities and employment opportunities were restricted.

The rise and fall of Rentboy.com

Earlier this week, the New York Police Department in partnership with Homeland Security arrested seven people and seized a number of documents pertaining to the website Rentboy.com. Although the website purports to help men connect for companionship only, authorities allege that it has been used to “facilitate the promotion, management, establishment, and carrying on of an unlawful activity, namely an enterprise involving prostitution”. Unlike Australia, which started the decriminalisation of sex work as early as 1979, sex work is illegal across all of the USA, save a few counties in Nevada where it is subject to heavy regulation. The raid on Rentboy.com raises important questions about sex work, including its visibility, consumer demand for such services, and the ongoing marginalisation of those who buy and sell sexual services...

Wikipedia: Access and participation in an open encyclopaedia

This thesis explores how people and technologies work together to coordinate and shape participation through a case study of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. The research found participation is shaped by different understandings of openness, where it is constructed as either a libertarian ideal where "anyone" is free to edit the encyclopaedia, or as an inclusive concept that enables "everyone" to participate in the platform. The findings therefore problematise the idea of single user community, and serve to highlight the different and sometimes competing approaches actors employ to enable and constrain participation in Wikipedia.

Human trafficking heroes and villains: Representing the problem in anti-trafficking awareness campaigns

Since the declaration by the United Nations that awareness raising should be a key part of efforts to combat human trafficking, government and non-government organisations have produced numerous public awareness campaigns designed to capture the public’s attention and sympathy. These campaigns represent the ‘problem’ of trafficking in specific ways, creating heroes and villains by placing the blame for trafficking on some, while obscuring the responsibility of others. This paper adopts Carol Bacchi’s ‘What is the problem represented to be?’ framework for examining the politicisation of problem representation in 18 anti-trafficking awareness campaigns. It is argued that these campaigns construct a narrow understanding of the problem through the depiction of ‘ideal offenders’. In particular, a strong focus on the demand for commercial sex as causative of human trafficking serves to obscure the problematic role of consumerism in a wide range of industries, and perpetuates an understanding of trafficking that fails to draw a necessary distinction between the demand for labour, and the demand for ‘exploitable’ labour. This problem representation also obscures the role governments in destination countries may play in causing trafficking through imposing restrictive migration regimes that render migrants vulnerable to traffickers.

Medication errors in residential aged care facilities: A distributed cognition analysis of the information exchange process

Background Medication safety is a pressing concern for residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Retrospective studies in RACF settings identify inadequate communication between RACFs, doctors, hospitals and community pharmacies as the major cause of medication errors. Existing literature offers limited insight about the gaps in the existing information exchange process that may lead to medication errors. The aim of this research was to explicate the cognitive distribution that underlies RACF medication ordering and delivery to identify gaps in medication-related information exchange which lead to medication errors in RACFs. Methods The study was undertaken in three RACFs in Sydney, Australia. Data were generated through ethnographic field work over a period of five months (May–September 2011). Triangulated analysis of data primarily focused on examining the transformation and exchange of information between different media across the process. Results The findings of this study highlight the extensive scope and intense nature of information exchange in RACF medication ordering and delivery. Rather than attributing error to individual care providers, the explication of distributed cognition processes enabled the identification of gaps in three information exchange dimensions which potentially contribute to the occurrence of medication errors namely: (1) design of medication charts which complicates order processing and record keeping (2) lack of coordination mechanisms between participants which results in misalignment of local practices (3) reliance on restricted communication bandwidth channels mainly telephone and fax which complicates the information processing requirements. The study demonstrates how the identification of these gaps enhances understanding of medication errors in RACFs. Conclusions Application of the theoretical lens of distributed cognition can assist in enhancing our understanding of medication errors in RACFs through identification of gaps in information exchange. Understanding the dynamics of the cognitive process can inform the design of interventions to manage errors and improve residents’ safety.

Women bashing: An urban Aboriginal perspective

ABORIGINAL people in urbanised Australia experience violence on a daily basis. This violence ranges from the psychological (the covert hostility of the corner shop, the denial of the Aboriginality of fair-skinned or urban Blacks) through to the physical brutality of the criminal justice system. For Aboriginal women and children this daily violence is not only public but also has a private, B1ack-on-B1ack dimension. The Aboriginal home may be some refuge from the slights of white Australia but this is cold comfort to women for whom being 'flogged up' by their partners is so ordinary an event as to be unremarkable.

SAMUDRA Report, No. 52, April 2009

Report: COFI Session-Securing small-scale fisheries; Statement-Contributing Significantly; Somalia: Pirate Fishing -Pirates or Saviours of the Coast?; Marine Protected Areas-Managing to Benefit; Mexico: Marine Reserves--Caught Up in Change; MPAs-Importance of Social Capital; MSC Ecolabels-Work Together for Community-based Fisheries; Netherlands: Inland Fisheries -A Management Fantasy?;Small Indigenous Species -Small is Nutritional; ICSF Resources- Information Updates

Riscos no trabalho do Agente Comunitário de Saúde na perspectiva da saúde do trabalhador

Este estudo tem como objetivo identificar e discutir condições e riscos no trabalho dos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde que atuam em uma Área Programática da cidade do Rio de Janeiro. O referencial teórico foi o da saúde do trabalhador, e as normativas relativas à formação do ACS e de seu processo de profissionalização. O estudo foi realizado em equipes que atuam em duas comunidades, por meio de um estudo de observação sistemática, não-participante, utilizando um roteiro prévio com conteúdo de riscos ocupacionais. Os dados foram coletados a partir do acompanhamento de 23 ACS que realizaram 74 visitas domiciliares nos meses de março a junho de 2008, e organizados sob a forma de um diário de campo descritivo. A organização e análise basearam-se na abordagem qualitativa da análise de conteúdo. Os resultados são apresentados e discutidos segundo a seguinte organização: i) atividades realizadas pelos ACS; ii) comparação entre atividades prescritas e atividades reais e iii) principais riscos identificados e suas possíveis repercussões na saúde do ACS. Nas considerações finais, são discutidas as implicações para o SUS e para a enfermagem, que tem supervisionado os ACS, e a importância de se aprofundar, por meio de estudos posteriores, as situações e condições de trabalho desenvolvido na Atenção Básica.

A roda das Donas: a mulher negra no candomblé

O presente estudo teve como objetivo geral apresentar a vivência e a experiência das mulheres negras do candomblé, no intuito de promover uma pesquisa que contemplasse a cultura, as questões do gênero feminino e a negritude no Brasil. Para tanto, trouxemos para o interior desta pesquisa o cotidiano de um grupo de mulheres que vivenciam uma determinada religiosidade e que por ela (re) significam seus papéis sociais inspiradas pelos mitos femininos da cultura iorubá. Valendo ainda destacar que temos também como objetivos contextualizar historicamente as condições políticas, sociais e educacionais das mulheres negras brasileiras; apresentar as principais características dos ritos do candomblé e seus espaços de poder e da participação feminina neste espaço analisando a influencia dos estereótipos impostos as mulheres negras. Consideramos que a família, a escola, o mercado de trabalho e a comunidade religiosa contribuíram para a (re) construção de minha identidade pessoal e profissional, servi como o sujeito deste estudo na condição de mulher negra e pertencente ao candomblé. O estudo autobiográfico foi utilizado de maneira a tencionar o registro pessoal que está relacionado à condição subjetiva de fazer (re) memorar os fatos do passado, refletidos no presente/futuro. Relaciono a memória como um significativo exercício cujo caráter reflete nas lembranças das mulheres negras, um caminho extenso de superação de obstáculos e desafios enfrentados.

A avaliação da atenção básica e o trabalho dos agentes comunitários de saúde: implantação do PMAQ-AB na região do Médio Paraíba Fluminense

Este estudo tem por objeto a implantação do Programa Nacional de Melhoria do Acesso e da Qualidade da Atenção Básica (PMAQ-AB) na região do Médio Paraíba fluminense sob o olhar dos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde e dos gestores da Atenção Básica. A indagação norteadora desta pesquisa foi: em que medida o Programa Nacional de Melhoria do Acesso e da Qualidade da Atenção Básica (PMAQ-AB) capta a importância do trabalho dos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde? Partindo do pressuposto que o desenvolvimento do PMAQ não se dá, no concreto, de forma linear nem livre de tensões, e que o trabalho do ACS, por seu caráter de mediação, é um campo privilegiado para análise sobre essas tensões. O objetivo geral do estudo é analisar a implantação do Programa Nacional de Melhoria do Acesso e da Qualidade da Atenção Básica (PMAQ-AB) nos municípios da região do Médio Paraíba do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, tomando como eixo de análise o processo de trabalho dos agentes comunitários de saúde. O estudo apresenta uma abordagem quantitativa e qualitativa, através de questionários, entrevistas e grupos focais e o método de análise dos dados qualitativos foi de base interpretativa com apoio do referencial da Hermenêutica-Dialética. O campo da pesquisa foi a região do Médio Paraíba fluminense. Os resultados evidenciam que na opinião dos gestores, o PMAQ aparece como uma estratégia norteadora do processo de trabalho das equipes, que possibilita o resgate de alguns princípios da ESF, já os ACS apontam que o seu primeiro contato com o PMAQ foi fundamentado na pactuação do cumprimento de metas que resultariam no pagamento de um incentivo financeiro. Percebemos que não existe uma crítica quanto a implantação do PMAQ, nem por parte da gestão, muito menos por parte das equipes. Não encontramos nos relatos dos gestores nenhuma menção ao trabalho do ACS, sua participação e importância em todas as fases do PMAQ. Os gestores consideram que o PMAQ promoveu uma mudança positiva na forma de organização do trabalho dos ACS. Os ACS não perceberam mudanças em sua rotina a partir da implantação do PMAQ, exceto pela questão da sobrecarga de trabalho. Conclui-se que o PMAQ-AB não capta a potencialidade e o trabalho dos ACS. A participação do ACS nas fases do PMAQ é identificada somente no aspecto instrumental, ou seja, dele ser um produtor, um registrador de informações.Para os gestores o PMAQ surge como algo que abre um horizonte positivo, de maior envolvimento e retomada de alguns processos pelas EAB, mas não é assim, de fato, que a questão chega até os ACS e, por consequência, nem para as equipes.

Gender and health: a social movement’s agenda for Big Pharma.

Social movements have an important new campaigning and organizing competence in new information communication technologies. These technologies also enable the members of social movements to readily research the accuracy of information: knowledge becomes globalized and readily accessible. In relation to Big Pharma, women’s social movements and social movements of the medicated intersect, and there is now a substantial challenge to Big Pharma both within developed and developing countries from the terrain of gender and health. This paper documents those challenges and looks towards their consequences in the future both in respect of Big Pharma but also in terms of 'academic' research

Ludwig Feuerbach's Critique of Religion and the End of Moral Philosophy

Williams, H. (2006). Ludwig Feuerbach's Critique of Religion and the End of Moral Philosophy. In Moggach, D. (Ed.), The New Hegelians: Politics and Philosophy in the Hegelian School (pp.50-66). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Introduction; Part I. Eduard Gans: 1. Eduard Gans on poverty and on the constitutional debate; 2. Ludwig Feuerbach's Critique of Religion and the end of moral philosophy; Part II. Ludwig Feuerbach: 3. The symbolic dimension and the politics of Left Hegelianism; Part III. Bruno Bauer: 4. Exclusiveness and political universalism in Bruno Bauer; 5. Republican rigorism and emancipation in Bruno Bauer; Part IV. Edgar Bauer: 6. Edgar Bauer and The Origins of the Theory of Terrorism; Max Stirner 7. Ein Menschenleben: Hegel and Stirner; 8. 'The State and I': Max Stirner's anarchism; Friedrich Engels: 9. Engels and the invention of the catastrophist conception of the industrial revolution; Karl Marx: 10. The basis of the state in the Marx of 1842; 11. Marx and Feuerbachian essence: returning to the question of 'Human Essence' in historical materialism; 12. Freedom and the 'Realm of Necessity'; Concluding with Hegel :13. Work, language and community: a response to Hegel's critics. RAE2008

Making Sadza with Deaf Zimbabwean Women: A Missiological Reorientation of Practical Theological Method toward Self-Theologizing Agency among Subaltern Communities

Missiological calls for self-theologizing among faith communities present the field of practical theology with a challenge to develop methodological approaches that address the complexities of cross-cultural, practical theological research. Although a variety of approaches can be considered critical correlative practical theology, existing methods are often built on assumptions that limit their use in subaltern contexts. This study seeks to address these concerns by analyzing existing theological methodologies with sustained attention to a community of Deaf Zimbabwean women struggling to develop their own agency in relation to child rearing practices. This dilemma serves as an entry point to an examination of the limitations of existing methodologies and a constructive, interdisciplinary theological exploration. The use of theological modeling methodology employs my experience of learning to cook sadza, a staple dish of Zimbabwe, as a guide for analyzing and reorienting practical theological methodology. The study explores a variety of theological approaches from practical theology, mission oriented theologians, theology among Deaf communities, and African women’s theology in relationship to the challenges presented by subaltern communities such as Deaf Zimbabwean women. Analysis reveals that although there is much to commend in these existing methodologies, questions about who does the critical correlation, whose interests are guiding the study, and consideration for the cross-cultural and power dynamics between researchers and faith communities remain problematic for developing self-theologizing agency. Rather than frame a comprehensive methodology, this study proposes three attitudes and guideposts to reorient practical theological researchers who wish to engender self-theologizing agency in subaltern communities. The creativity of enacted theology, the humility of using checks and balances in research methods, and the grace of finding strategies to build bridges of commonality and community offer ways to reorient practical theological methodologies toward the development of self-theologizing agency among subaltern people. This study concludes with discussion of how these guideposts can not only benefit particular work with a community of Deaf Zimbabwean women, but also provide research and theological reflection in other subaltern contexts.

Recasting 'Black Venus' in the new African Diaspora

This article explores the ways in which transnational feminist analysis can be deployed to reconfigure new gendered and racialized cartographies of the African Diaspora in Europe. First, I position contemporary film representations of trafficked Nigerian sex workers in Italy in dialogical relation to 19th century discourses of black sexuality - in particular, Sharpley-Whiting's (1999) reinscribed 'Black Venus Master Narrative' - and assess historical and geographical (dis)continuities in their modes of signification. Second, by linking endemic factors feeding the supply of Nigerian women for the purposes of (in)voluntary participation in the Italian sex industry, such as the localized feminization of poverty and regionally specific perceptions of sex work as a temporary economic strategy, I engage with broader feminist debates on victimization and agency in global sex work and migration literatures. In doing so, this dialectical think piece highlights the gendered complexities of new African diasporic formations and the ways in which their growth is facilitated by broader illegal networks that shape and are shaped by vicissitudes in glocalized economies. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.