bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Foucauldian analysis of power relations in an action research study
Authors: Dillon Michael
Published: April 2014

This article utilizes Foucault’s views of power to analyze the role of power in an action research dissertation titled “Grassroots Community Leaders as a Community of Practice: Utilizing Learning and Enduring Disruptive Change” (Dillon, 2014). The action research project involved the alumni of a neighborhood leadership program, details of which are provided to set the context. The article argues that both the researcher and stakeholders are influenced by power relations, and actions during research are intertwined with power. In addition to research related outcomes of the action research process are new power relations and/or the reinforcement of existing power relations. Utilizing a Foucauldian lens to analyze power relations revealed that researcher actions were primarily influenced by underlying power relations related to the university that sponsored the dissertation project. The goal of this analysis was to explore power relations in the study, and what that means for the various stakeholders and for promoting quality action research. This analysis provides valuable insight with respect to power relations in action research.
A meeting with ‘I-Thou’: Exploring the intersection between mental health recovery and art making through a co-operative inquiry
Authors: Van Lith Theresa
Published: April 2014

Recovery as a social justice framework addresses how people who experience mental illness can increase being active agents to assist in improving their quality of life. Similarly, co-operative inquiry challenges the power imbalances that exist among marginalized and vulnerable groups by seeking to create relevant platforms for equality. The intention of this current study was to explore the relationship between art making and the mental health recovery process. This article describes a multi-faceted approach to action research by using the concept of the bricoleur to piece together co-operative inquiry and art-based research with the mental health recovery values. In particular, a relational layer of knowing was brought forward through the making of art-based intersubjective responses of the data collected. By integrating the knowledge gained from this first-second-person relational knowing with the findings from participant interviews, the overall the trustworthiness of the study was enhanced. For this type of co-operative inquiry, trustworthiness was determined by whether engagement in the study led to the development of relationships built on mutual respect and how a shared understanding enabled further validation of the participants' experiences.
MoneyRoundball? The Drafting of International Players by National Basketball Association Teams
Authors: Motomura Akira
Published: April 2014

National Basketball Association (NBA) teams have drafted international players regularly since 1996. Did NBA teams value international prospects accurately relative to U.S. players? Regressions of NBA performance reveal that international players drafted through 2001 tended to outperform expectations adjusted for draft positions. Teams subsequently drafted more international players, but first-round picks tended to underperform, implying that teams overreacted in adjusting their valuations of international prospects. Teams have not moved smoothly toward optimal evaluation of international players relative to U.S.-trained players.
A Cross-Cultural Study Investigating Body Features Associated With Male Adolescents’ Body Dissatisfaction in Australia, China, and Malaysia
Authors: Mellor David , Hucker Alice , Waterhouse Monique , binti Mamat Norul Hidayah , Xu Xiaoyan , Cochrane Jamie , McCabe Marita , Ricciardelli Lina
Published: April 2014

This study investigated how dissatisfaction with particular aspects of the body was associated with overall body dissatisfaction among male adolescents in Western and Asian cultures. One hundred and six Malaysian Malays, 55 Malaysian Chinese, 195 Chinese from China, and 45 non-Asian Australians aged 12 to 19 years completed a questionnaire assessing dissatisfaction with their overall body and dissatisfaction with varying aspects of their body. Dissatisfaction with the face, height, and hair was positively correlated with overall body dissatisfaction among Malaysian Malays after body mass index, age and dissatisfaction with body areas typically included in measures (weight/shape, upper, middle, and lower body, and muscles) had been controlled for. Dissatisfaction with the face was positively correlated with overall body dissatisfaction among Malaysian Chinese. These findings demonstrate the differences in body focus for males from different cultures and the importance of using assessment measures that address all possible areas of body focus.
Risk and Protective Factors for Three Major Mental Health Problems Among Latino American Men Nationwide
Authors: Ai Amy L. , Pappas Cara , Simonsen Elena
Published: April 2014

The present study investigated psychosocial predictors for major depressive disorder (MDD), general anxiety disorder (GAD), and suicidal ideation (SI) of Latino American men identified in the first national mental health epidemiological survey of Latinos. Three separate sets of logistic regression analyses were performed for 1,127 Latinos, following preplanned two steps (Model 1—Known Demographic and Acculturation Predictors as controls, Model 2—Psychosocial Risk and Protective Factors). Results show that Negative Interactions with family members significantly predicted the likelihood of both MDD and SI, while SI was also associated with Discrimination. Acculturation Stress was associated with that of GAD (alongside more Income, Education of 12 years, and Years in the United States for less than 11 years). Other potential protective factors (social support, racial/ethnic identity, religious involvement) were not influential. The differential predictors for mental health issues among Latino men imply that assessment and intervention for them may need certain gender-specific foci in order to improve mental health disparities in this population.
Hysteretic moisture properties of porous materials: Part II. Condensation potentials
Authors: Funk Max
Published: April 2014

In this article, the condensation potential for a multiphase moisture sorption system is investigated. The moisture content of a porous material can be imagined as system state, moving through the hill-and-valley landscape of the potential. The condensation potential is determined in linear approximation from the general formula of Part I. Then, the potential is calculated in a unified manner for a broad range of physical moisture sorption mechanisms described in the literature: Van der Waals, capillary condensation, surface sorption, micropore sorption and chemisorption (diffusion–reaction). Non-hysteretic and hysteretic cases are considered. The condensation potentials are illustrated with examples.
Characterization of diabetes risk factors in patients prescribed chronic statin therapy
Authors: King William M. , Saseen Joseph J. , Anderson Sarah L.
Published: April 2014

Objective:

Determine the incidence of major diabetes risk factors over time in patients prescribed chronic statin therapy.

Methods:

Retrospective observational chart review of adult patients without diabetes in primary care who initiated statin therapy between 2005 and 2010. Presence of diabetes risk factors were determined 1 year prior to statin initiation and continued up to a maximum of 7 years. Diabetes risk factors included impaired fasting glucose, body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m2, hemoglobin A1c >6% and metabolic syndrome. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the incidence of diabetes risk factors over time.

Results:

A total of 98 patients met study criteria; mean age was 57 ± 13 years, 43% were men and 71% self-identified as Caucasian/white. Mean baseline values were A1c of 5.97%, fasting glucose of 104 mg/dl and BMI of 28 kg/m2. There were zero diabetes risk factors over time in 54% ± 7% of patients. The incidence over time of 1 risk factor was 25 ± 9%, 2 risk factors was 17 ± 5% and 3 risk factors was 3 ± 2%. A total of 12 patients were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes during the course of the study period.

Conclusion:

The incidence of diabetes risk factors did not change over time in an ambulatory adult population prescribed chronic statin therapy. Larger population studies assessing the incidence of and change in diabetes risk factors in patients on chronic statin therapy may help assess the association between statin therapy and presence of such risk factors.
The McDonaldization of Nigerian Universities
Authors: Dumbili Emeka W.
Published: April 2014

This article examines the extent to which the deregulation of Nigerian higher education (HE) has facilitated the McDonaldization of the universities. University education in Nigeria commenced in 1948 with the establishment of the University College, Ibadan. After independence in 1960, subsequent governments expanded the number of universities, a policy based on a lack of quality manpower in leadership positions created by the exit of British officials and the need to grant access to an increasing number of prospective students. In the 1970s, the number of universities increased accompanied by a decline in infrastructure, funding, and working conditions. This resulted in several strikes and an exodus of academics to other countries. Instead of tackling the problems, the federal government shifted responsibilities by approving private ownership of universities in 1999 and by establishing the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in 2001. Against this backdrop, this article critically analyzes how some of these reforms facilitated the McDonaldization of Nigerian universities. The article reveals how this has resulted in an overloading of responsibilities on the faculty, erosion of academic autonomy, a prioritization of quantity over quality of publications, and an assumption of “customer” status by students. The article uses evidence from McDonaldized HE in Western countries to discuss the implications of these developments and suggests some remedial measures.
Educational Outcomes at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Authors: Simms Kathryn
Published: April 2014

This study assessed variability in Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ (HBCUs) educational outcomes. Analyses were conducted on two nationally representative databases via hierarchical linear and nonlinear modeling. Intraclass correlation coefficients for HBCUs were compared with those of (a) a random sample—theorized to have no systematic similarity in educational outcomes to HBCUs and (b) a sample of other Predominately Black Institutions (PBIs). Findings indicate that HBCUs’ educational outcomes were generally more cohesive than those of the random sample, and this cohesiveness followed a different pattern than the cohesiveness of outcomes at other PBIs. On the whole, then, this study suggests that educational outcomes at HBCUs are cohesive and distinct from other institutional groups.
Physiologic hypoxia promotes maintenance of CML stem cells despite effective BCR-ABL1 inhibition
Authors: Ng King Pan , Manjeri Aditi , Lee Kian Leong , Huang Weijie , Tan Soo Yong , Chuah Charles T. H. , Poellinger Lorenz , Ong S. Tiong
Published: April 2014

Key Points

Hypoxia mediates TKI resistance. Hypoxia enhances CML stem cell maintenance.
Socioeconomic disparities in mortality after diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the modern treatment era
Authors: Tao Li , Foran James M. , Clarke Christina A. , Gomez Scarlett L. , Keegan Theresa H. M.
Published: April 2014

Key Points

Patients living in low SES neighborhoods had worse survival after DLBCL. Disparity was most striking in younger (non-Medicare) patients and after the introduction of rituximab.
Eradication of bone marrow minimal residual disease may prompt early treatment discontinuation in CLL
Authors: Strati Paolo , Keating Michael J. , O'Brien Susan M. , Burger Jan , Ferrajoli Alessandra , Jain Nitin , Tambaro Francesco Paolo , Estrov Zeev , Jorgensen Jeffrey , Challagundla Pramoda , Faderl Stefan H. , Wierda William G.
Published: April 2014

Key Points

MRD eradication is a desirable end point in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Early MRD eradication may prompt treatment discontinuation.
Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes in Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas
Authors: Graus Francesc , Ariño Helena , Dalmau Josep
Published: April 2014

Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNSs) rarely associate with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and non-HLs (NHLs). Except for paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) in HL and dermato/ polymyositis in both HL and NHL, other PNSs are uncommon and have only been reported as isolated case reports or short series. There are several important differences in PNSs when occurring in association with HL and NHL compared with those associated with solid tumors. First, some PNSs such as sensory neuronopathy or Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome rarely occur in lymphomas, whereas others, such as granulomatous angiitis, are only described in HL. Second, onconeural antibodies are absent in most PNSs associated with lymphomas with the exceptions of Tr (δ/notch-like epidermal growth factor-related receptor) in PCD and mGluR5 in limbic encephalitis (LE). The antigens recognized by these antibodies are not expressed in lymphoma cells, suggesting the tumor itself does not trigger the PNS. Third, unlike patients with solid tumors in patients with lymphoma, the PNSs often develops at advanced stages of the disease. Furthermore, the type and frequency of PNSs are different between HL and NHL; whereas LE and PCD occur almost exclusively in patients with HL, sensorimotor neuropathies and dermatomyositis are more frequent in NHL.
chaoptin, prominin, eyes shut and crumbs form a genetic network controlling the apical compartment of Drosophila photoreceptor cells
Authors: Gurudev Nagananda , Yuan Michaela , Knust Elisabeth
Published: April 2014

The apical surface of epithelial cells is often highly specialised to fulfil cell type-specific functions. Many epithelial cells expand their apical surface by forming microvilli, actin-based, finger-like membrane protrusions. The apical surface of Drosophila photoreceptor cells (PRCs) forms tightly packed microvilli, which are organised into the photosensitive rhabdomeres. As previously shown, the GPI-anchored adhesion protein Chaoptin is required for the stability of the microvilli, whereas the transmembrane protein Crumbs is essential for proper rhabdomere morphogenesis. Here we show that chaoptin synergises with crumbs to ensure optimal rhabdomere width. In addition, reduction of crumbs ameliorates morphogenetic defects observed in PRCs mutant for prominin and eyes shut, known antagonists of chaoptin. These results suggest that these four genes provide a balance of adhesion and anti-adhesion to maintain microvilli development and maintenance. Similar to crumbs mutant PRCs, PRCs devoid of prominin or eyes shut undergo light-dependent retinal degeneration. Given the observation that human orthologues of crumbs, prominin and eyes shut result in progressive retinal degeneration and blindness, the Drosophila eye is ideally suited to unravel the genetic and cellular mechanisms that ensure morphogenesis of PRCs and their maintenance under light-mediated stress.
Opposing microtubule motors control motility, morphology and cargo segregation during ER-to-Golgi transport
Authors: Brown Anna K. , Hunt Sylvie D. , Stephens David J.
Published: April 2014

We recently demonstrated that dynein and kinesin motors drive multiple aspects of endosomal function in mammalian cells. These functions include driving motility, maintaining morphology (notably through providing longitudinal tension to support vesicle fission), and driving cargo sorting. Microtubule motors drive bidirectional motility during traffic between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi. Here, we have examined the role of microtubule motors in transport carrier motility, morphology, and domain organization during ER-to-Golgi transport. We show that, consistent with our findings for endosomal dynamics, microtubule motor function during ER-to-Golgi transport of secretory cargo is required for motility, morphology, and cargo sorting within vesicular tubular carriers en route to the Golgi. Our data are consistent with previous findings that defined roles for dynein-1, kinesin-1 (KIF5B) and kinesin-2 in this trafficking step. Our high resolution tracking data identify some intriguing aspects. Depletion of kinesin-1 reduces the number of motile structures seen, which is in line with other findings relating to the role of kinesin-1 in ER export. However, those transport carriers that were produced had a much greater run length suggesting that this motor can act as a brake on anterograde motility. Kinesin-2 depletion did not significantly reduce the number of motile transport carriers but did cause a similar increase in run length. These data suggest that kinesins act as negative regulators of ER-to-Golgi transport. Depletion of dynein not only reduced the number of motile carriers formed but also caused tubulation of carriers similar to that seen for sorting nexin-coated early endosomes. Our data indicated that the previously observed anterograde–retrograde polarity of transport carriers in transit to the Golgi from the ER is maintained by microtubule motor function.
Dynamic GLUT4 sorting through a syntaxin-6 compartment in muscle cells is derailed by insulin resistance-causing ceramide
Authors: Foley Kevin P. , Klip Amira
Published: April 2014

GLUT4 constitutively recycles between the plasma membrane and intracellular depots. Insulin shifts this dynamic equilibrium towards the plasma membrane by recruiting GLUT4 to the plasma membrane from insulin-responsive vesicles. Muscle is the primary site for dietary glucose deposition; however, how GLUT4 sorts into insulin-responsive vesicles, and if and how insulin resistance affects this process, is unknown. In L6 myoblasts stably expressing myc-tagged GLUT4, we analyzed the intracellular itinerary of GLUT4 as it internalizes from the cell surface and examined if such sorting is perturbed by C2-ceramide, a lipid metabolite causing insulin resistance. Surface-labeled GLUT4myc that internalized for 30 min accumulated in a Syntaxin-6 (Stx6)- and Stx16-positive perinuclear sub-compartment devoid of furin or internalized transferrin, and displayed insulin-responsive re-exocytosis. C2-ceramide dispersed the Stx6-positive sub-compartment and prevented insulin-responsive re-exocytosis of internalized GLUT4myc, even under conditions not affecting insulin-stimulated signaling towards Akt. Microtubule disruption with nocodazole prevented pre-internalized GLUT4myc from reaching the Stx6-positive perinuclear sub-compartment and from undergoing insulin-responsive exocytosis. Removing nocodazole allowed both parameters to recover, suggesting that the Stx6-positive perinuclear sub-compartment was required for GLUT4 insulin-responsiveness. Accordingly, Stx6 knockdown inhibited by ∼50% the ability of internalized GLUT4myc to undergo insulin-responsive re-exocytosis without altering its overall perinuclear accumulation. We propose that Stx6 defines the insulin-responsive compartment in muscle cells. Our data are consistent with a model where ceramide could cause insulin resistance by altering intracellular GLUT4 sorting.
Non-specificity of Pitstop 2 in clathrin-mediated endocytosis
Authors: Willox Anna K. , Sahraoui Yasmina M. E. , Royle Stephen J.
Published: April 2014

Small molecule inhibitors of clathrin-mediated endocytosis are highly desired for the dissection of membrane trafficking pathways in the lab and for potential use as anti-infectives in the clinic. One inhibition strategy is to prevent clathrin from contacting adaptor proteins so that clathrin-mediated endocytosis cannot occur. “Pitstop” compounds have been developed that block only one of the four functional interaction sites on the N-terminal domain of clathrin heavy chain. Despite this limitation, Pitstop 2 causes profound inhibition of clathrin-mediated endocytosis. In this study, we probed for non-specific activity of Pitstop 2 by examining its action in cells expressing clathrin heavy chain harbouring mutations in the N-terminal domain interaction sites. We conclude that the inhibition observed with this compound is due to non-specificity, i.e. it causes inhibition away from its proposed mode of action. We recommend that these compounds be used with caution in cells and that they should not be used to conclude anything of the function of clathrin's N-terminal domain.
Mechanism of action of flippase Drs2p in modulating GTP hydrolysis of Arl1p
Authors: Hsu Jia-Wei , Chen Zzu-Jung , Liu Ya-Wen , Lee Fang-Jen S.
Published: April 2014

Small GTPase ADP-ribosylation factors are key regulators of membrane trafficking and their activities are determined by guanine nucleotide-binding status. Arl1p, an ARF-like protein, is responsible for multiple trafficking pathways at the Golgi. The GTP-hydrolysis of Arl1p is stimulated by its GTPase-activating protein Gcs1p, and binding with its effector Imh1p protects Arl1p from premature inactivation. However, the mechanism involved in the timing of Arl1p inactivation is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that another Arl1p effector, lipid flippase Drs2p, is required for Gcs1p-stimulated inactivation of Arl1p. Drs2p is known to be activated by Arl1p and is involved in vesicle formation through its ability to create membrane asymmetry. We found that the flippase activity of Drs2p is required for proper membrane targeting of Gcs1p in vivo. Through modification of the membrane environment, Drs2p promotes the affinity of Gcs1p for the Golgi where it binds to active Arl1p. Together, Imh1p and Drs2p modulate the activity of Gcs1p by timing its interaction with Arl1p, hence providing feedback regulation of Arl1p activity.
A computational model of lysosome-ER Ca2+ microdomains
Authors: Penny Christopher J. , Kilpatrick Bethan S. , Han Jung Min , Sneyd James , Patel Sandip
Published: April 2014

Acidic organelles form an important intracellular Ca2+ pool that can drive global Ca2+ signals through coupling with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ stores. Recently identified lysosome-ER membrane contact sites may allow formation of Ca2+ microdomains, though their size renders observation of Ca2+ dynamics impractical. We generated a computational model of lysosome-ER coupling that incorporated a previous model of the IP3 receptor as the ER Ca2+ “amplifier” and lysosomal leaks as the Ca2+ “trigger”. The model qualitatively described global Ca2+ responses to the lysosomotropic agent GPN, which caused a controlled but substantial depletion of small solutes from the lysosome. Adapting this model to physiological lysosomal leaks induced by the Ca2+ mobilising messenger NAADP demonstrated that lysosome-ER microdomains are capable of driving global Ca2+ oscillations. Interestingly, our simulations suggest that microdomain Ca2+ need not be higher than the cytosol for responses to occur thus matching the relatively high affinity of IP3 receptors for Ca2+. The relative distribution and overall density of the lysosomal leaks dictated whether microdomains triggered or modulated global signals. Our data provide a computational framework for probing lysosome-ER Ca2+ dynamics.
The RNA-binding protein Rumpelstiltskin antagonizes gypsy chromatin insulator function in a tissue-specific manner
Authors: King Matthew R. , Matzat Leah H. , Dale Ryan K. , Lim Su Jun , Lei Elissa P.
Published: April 2014

Chromatin insulators are DNA-protein complexes situated throughout the genome that are proposed to contribute to higher order organization and demarcation into distinct transcriptional domains. Mounting evidence in different species implicates RNA and RNA-binding proteins as regulators of chromatin insulator activities. Here we identify the Drosophila hnRNP M homolog Rumpelstiltskin (Rump) as an antagonist of gypsy chromatin insulator enhancer-blocking and barrier activities. Despite ubiquitous expression of Rump, decreasing Rump levels leads to improvement of barrier activity only in tissues outside of the central nervous system (CNS). Furthermore, rump mutants restore insulator body localization in an insulator mutant background only in non-CNS tissues. Rump associates physically with core gypsy insulator proteins, and ChIP-Seq analysis of Rump demonstrates extensive colocalization with a subset of insulator sites across the genome. The genome-wide binding profile and tissue-specificity of Rump contrast with that of Shep, a recently identified RNA-binding protein that antagonizes gypsy insulator activity primarily in the CNS. Our findings indicate parallel roles for RNA-binding proteins in mediating tissue-specific regulation of chromatin insulator activity.
Neoliberalism and social work in South Africa
Authors: Sewpaul Vishanthie
Published: April 2014

This article deals with the consequences of neoliberalism for social work education and practice, and proposes alternatives based on radical theories and on lessons from the Arab spring and the international Occupy Movement. While grass roots involvement and development are important, the enormous consequences of neoliberalism means that single small-scale community-based initiatives are, in themselves, insufficient to challenge the power of corporate capital, centralised authoritarian governments and the international financial institutions. The problems of local communities in contemporary society are almost always located beyond their borders. Effecting change will therefore depend on our ability to mobilise people on large scales, to build alliances and bridges across similarities and differences, to network across borders, and on joining and supporting global social movements that work toward greater social justice, deepened democracies, solidarity and respect for human dignity.
Courageous ethnographers or agents of the state: challenges for social work
Authors: Briskman Linda
Published: April 2014

Tensions arise for social workers when confronted with wicked policies, particularly in paving their way through dual loyalty issues and risk paradigms. By merging radical, critical and human rights perspectives and drawing on their practice ethnography, social workers can become confident advocates in challenging dominant discourses and contributing to social change. In this article, illustrative case studies are provided in the fields of social work with Indigenous peoples, asylum seekers, people living in poverty and children. Although focusing specifically on the Australian context, the article provides leads for political engagement and moral courage.
Greek social work and the never-ending crisis of the welfare state
Authors: Ioakimidis Vasilios , Teloni Dimitra-Dora
Published: April 2014

Amid the unprecedented financial crisis in Greece, which began unfolding in 2010, a major radical reform of the welfare state was implemented. This reform was presented, by both mainstream academics and politicians, as a ‘painful yet necessary’ step due to the broader extraordinary sociopolitical circumstances that can only be compared to a ‘state of emergency’. In this article we argue that, despite the dominant rhetoric about the urgency of these policies, they should be seen as a continuation and further acceleration of previous neoliberal changes in the welfare state. While showing the continuity of the structural reforms, we place particular emphasis on the devastating impact these have had on both social services and service users. In doing so, we use the experiences of frontline social workers who have been at the epicentre of the ongoing reforms, directly witnessing their catastrophic impact. In the light of these overwhelming experiences, Greek social workers have started challenging the orthodoxies of ‘traditional’ social work and engaged with an exploration of alternative forms of social work theory and practice (reconceptualisation).
The ethical-political project of social work in Brazil
Authors: Behring Elaine Rossetti
Published: April 2014

This article sets out to characterise the ethical-political project behind social workers in Brazil, a practical-critical profession strategy that has been developing since the late 1970s, coinciding with the return to democracy in the country. I will offer a brief assessment of the current situation after two decades of neoliberalism and conservatism across the world, and which in Brazil was expressed in the counter-reform of the state in the 1990s and in policies that remain in place to this day. I will try to show the impact, difficulties and challenges posed by these policies for social workers, since the choices that the profession has made in the course of its recent history could not be immune to the conservative tide and found very concrete expression in the resistance to the hegemonic ideas.
The two souls of social work: exploring the roots of ‘popular social work’
Authors: Jones Chris , Lavalette Michael
Published: April 2014

This article looks at the hidden history of ‘popular social work’. It suggests that suspicion of state-directed social welfare and social work has a long history, that state-directed welfare is rarely unconditional and non-stigmatising, but that these values are enshrined and embedded within popular social work, which is often rooted in social movement activity. The article argues that we need to see social work as a much more contested activity, shaped by politics and that we need to rediscover the history of popular social work, which has been ignored within most professional histories.
Beyond the dichotomies of cultural and political relativism: arguing the case for a social justice based ‘global social work’ definition
Authors: Ioakimidis Vasilios
Published: April 2014

The Social Work World Congress in Melbourne in 2014 will discuss a new internationally agreed definition of social work. The present definition, passed by the International Federation of Social Work in 2000 and the International Association of Schools of Social Work in 2001, is being reviewed because of its strong commitment to social justice. In this article I argue that this commitment is vital and that, furthermore, it has enabled practitioners to act in ways that are ethical and supportive of marginalised and oppressed groups in the face of assault from political parties, media and the state.

The debate over a new international definition of social work reveals the conflictual and contested nature of social work – as a practice that is necessarily ‘political’ within oppressive and class-divided societies. A failure to acknowledge this has, in the past, led some social work organisations and practitioners to act in ways that are oppressive and supportive of existing power relations at the expense of poor and marginalised people. The debate about the international definition of social work, therefore, is vital for our understanding of the nature and role of social work in the present world.
Reconciling radicalism, relationship and role: priorities for social work with adults in England
Authors: Lymbery Mark
Published: April 2014

The shift towards personalisation combined with budgetary cuts has challenged social work with adults in England and contributed to its marginalisation. Despite the apparent fit between the policy’s requirements and social work’s essential characteristics, the profession has had little role in its implementation. This article argues that there are numerous steps that social work can take to clarify its importance. First, exploring the radicalism of social work can confirm the fit between its core elements and the requirements of personalisation, particularly those that call for a transformation in the nature of society. Second, the relationship between the social worker and the service user can help to provide a focus for the exercise of radical practice possibilities. Third, considering the social worker’s role allows us to question the extent to which they will be employed in positions that enable them to act according to the principles of radicalism and relational practice.
On the risks of commitment with critical social work: a Uruguayan approach
Authors: Faraone Alicia
Published: April 2014

This article seeks to unveil the risks associated with the practice of critical social work, and to highlight the necessity to strengthen the bonds of solidarity between social workers as a way of contributing to the protection of those who choose to take this path. The reflections it contains come from a specific background: that of critical social workers who had to face the experience of state terrorism. The article presents an analysis of some of the most outstanding characteristics of the critical movement in social work in Uruguay. It describes some of its most remarkable features and the forms that praxis has taken. It explores the ways in which state terrorism has affected critical social workers as a collective group. Finally, it reflects on the consequences of this experience for critical social work in Uruguay.
Radical social work in the frontline: a survival toolkit for the UK
Authors: Turbett Colin
Published: April 2014

In recent times there has been attention in the literature to translating the radical social work critiques (Ferguson, 2007; Ferguson and Woodward, 2009; Lavalette, 2011) into a meaningful form for the actual real-life practice of social work in everyday frontline settings (Carey and Foster, 2011; Rogowski, 2013; Turbett, 2014: forthcoming). This article focuses on one aspect of this: how to create an environment in the workplace in which practice that challenges mainstream orthodoxy can be undertaken safely. There are important issues relating to this theme that concern space and discretion, and how the concept of the ‘streetwise bureaucrat’ as developed by Lipsky (1980) should be applied to contemporary social work settings: these are described elsewhere (Evans and Harris, 2004; Turbett, 2014: forthcoming). This article is aimed at practitioners and students involved in ‘everyday’ settings, typically local authority teams who deliver mainstream services determined by statute.
Claiming immigrant cultural citizenship: applying postcolonial theories to social work practice with immigrants
Authors: Kang Hye-Kyung
Published: April 2014

This paper presents immigrant cultural citizenship as a conceptual frame for applying postcolonial theories to social work practice with immigrants, using a case study based on the author’s practice as a social worker at a community-based social service agency in the US. Postcolonial theories may help social workers to critique marginalising discourses that often reduce the immigrant experience to acculturation, to critically reflect on their role in reproducing or contesting such constructions, and to imagine creative and empowering interventions. The case of Mrs Moon, an Asian immigrant elderly client with depressive symptoms, illustrates an application of postcolonial theoretical framework to social work practice that generated a critical and contextual assessment and multi-level interventions (including individual treatment, community linkage and advocacy, and participation in collective political action), which made a transformative impact on the client and the social worker. The paper concludes with implications for postcolonial social work practice in the current climate of austerity and restrictive immigration measures.
‘The children not counted’: reports on the deaths of children in the Republic of Ireland
Authors: Garrett Paul Michael
Published: April 2014

In 2010 it became apparent that no reliable data were available on the deaths of children in contact with social workers in the Republic of Ireland. As a result of this lacuna, in 2011–12, the Independent Child Death Review Group (ICDRG) and the National Review Panel (NRP) published official reports tabulating and partly describing these deaths. A close reading of the reports indicates that practitioner involvement is frequently enmeshed in factors associated with neoliberal imperatives connected to unfilled vacancies, related staffing problems and the rationing and curtailment of services. Following the appearance of the reports, an emerging ‘change agenda’, partly influenced by New Labour in the UK, has sought to chart a way forward. Nevertheless, given that the state remains committed to a more embracing programme of intensive neoliberalisation, efforts seeking ‘reform’ are likely to fail.
Critical social work in child protection/safeguarding: challenges and (fewer) opportunities
Authors: Rogowski Steve
Published: April 2014

Social work in the UK is under ever more pressure to do the bidding of the government of the day, whether this is under New Labour with its targets and checklists, or the current Conservativeled coalition government’s authoritarian response to put ‘troublesome’ families on the straight and narrow by getting them back into work. Managerialism, and resulting bureaucracy and proceduralism, ever more dominates as managers control what practitioners do and how. All too often the focus is on rationing and risk assessment/management, the result being that minimal help and support from social workers are available to children and families. This article focuses on social work in relation to child protection/safeguarding – the ‘heavy end’ of practice. It acknowledges the difficulties in practising critically (and indeed radically) in current managerial circumstances. However, it argues that all is not lost, and that some critical possibilities remain. Furthermore, such practice is necessary as otherwise the way is left open for supporters of the status quo rather than those aiming for an emancipatory practice aimed at equality and justice for all.
‘Life is about choices, but external factors often affect outcomes’: social work students’ reasoning about the origins of social problems
Authors: Kirk Guy , Duschinsky Robbie
Published: April 2014

It has been suggested that the emerging generation of social workers tend to be motivated primarily by a perception of the individual as the locus of ‘social problems’, ignoring the structural factors that shape and constrain the conditions of agency. Questionnaire research with 150 students on an undergraduate Social Work degree programme in the north-east of England investigated student perceptions of the origins and causes of social problems. It was found that student discourse appeared to operate within a context shaped by neoliberal assumptions regarding the nature and causes of social problems. Within that frame, however, students contested the idea that social problems are simply a result of poor individual choices and recognised the impact of inequalities on opportunities and outcomes. Findings showed that students’ awareness of these issues increased as they moved through the social work programme. This provides grounds for optimism about the potential of social work education to nurture the development of a more radical discourse for social work practice among social work students.
The roots of human destructiveness
Authors: Sagall Sabby
Published: April 2014

This article explores human destructiveness, specifically modern genocide - the wish or intention to exterminate an entire people. It looks at how psychoanalytic contributions to the understanding of subjectivity and aggression can be integrated into a Marxist class analysis. I emphasise the contributions of the Frankfurt School, particularly Erich Fromm, and Wilhelm Reich, to our understanding of individual and class consciousness, and of the roots of destructiveness. Arguably, the ‘irrational’ genocides in modern society – ‘irrational’ in the sense that they are against the perpetrators’ interests – stem from the way capitalist alienation and commodification intersect with economic and political crises. Genocide can thus be understood as the destructiveness of social classes or communities – largely middle-class groups – that have suffered major historical defeats. The resulting denial of their human needs, and ensuing feelings of isolation and powerlessness, have led them to project onto outgroups the impotent rage, hatred and destructiveness engendered by these defeats.
Transgressive edge play and Srpski Film/A Serbian Film
Authors: Kimber Shaun
Published: April 2014

Using Srpski Film/A Serbian Film (Spasojevic, 2010) as a case study this article examines transgressive edge play within contemporary horror film. The article starts by outlining two main assumptions: that transgression within horror cinema is customary rather than the exception; and that it is productive to study horror films holistically as a set of social and industrial practices, as an aesthetic object and as a social and cultural experience. The article then presents four overlapping contentions in relation to the complex ways in which A Serbian Film has engaged in transgressive edge play, in terms of its production contexts, aesthetics and narrative, and also the modes through which regulators, audiences and critics have responded to that boundary testing. An argument is developed, which contends that A Serbian Film, depending upon context and audience, has tested, infringed and also reinforced a gamut of thresholds in relation to what is contemporaneously tolerable within horror films.
Review
Authors: Sanna Antonio
Published: April 2014

Studies in Terror: Landmarks of Horror Cinema, Jonathan Rigby (2011) Cambridge: Signum Books, 320 pp., ISBN-13: 9780956653444, £19.99
Victorian science and spiritualism in The Legend of Hell House
Authors: Leeder Murray
Published: April 2014

This article explores how The Legend of Hell House (1973), the cinematic adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel Hell House ([1971] 1999), updates debates and struggles between scientists and spiritualists in the Victorian period, reworking many key themes and even individual personages. It shows that the film exposes the links between understandings of the scientific and the supernatural that underlie their superficial opposition. It also discusses how The Legend of Hell House self-reflexively comments upon the ‘supernaturalization’ of modern media technology and especially the ‘supernatural’ characteristics ascribed to cinema in its first years.
Val Lewton and the Grand-Guignol: Mademoiselle Fifi and horror canonicity
Authors: DeGiglio-Bellemare Mario
Published: April 2014

This article explores a film produced by Val Lewton that is not usually included within his horror canon, Mademoiselle Fifi (Wise, 1944), as embodying important elements of the tradition of the Grand-Guignol theatre. The Grand-Guignol was the infamous Paris theatre (1897–1962) popularly associated with excessive onstage blood-letting, vitriol burns and dismemberment. I argue that the Grand-Guignol and Lewton’s film have much more in common than is often considered by scholars of the horror genre. Because of the film’s explicitness with respect to its politics and use of violence, even under the Production Code, Mademoiselle Fifi challenges the myth of Lewton, as a man of the shadows, of restraint and the indirect. I argue that the terms ‘Lewtonesque’ and ‘grand-guignolesque’ are not mutually exclusive, dislodging the reductive dichotomy (terror/horror) about the Lewton canon and the horror genre more broadly. Moreover, I consider the Grand-Guignol stage in ways that move beyond its popular misrepresentation as solely a place of excessive bloodletting by retrieving such techniques as ‘signposting’ and the ‘moment of violence’, usually associated with the experience of hidden terror, not only visible horror. This article locates Val Lewton’s work within a more complex set of intertextual convergences in order to broaden narrow understandings of horror canonicity.
The legend of disorder: The living dead, disorder and autoimmunity in Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend
Authors: Cohen Simchi
Published: April 2014

This article positions Richard Matheson’s 1954 vampire novel I Am Legend in the context of a zombie lineage, closing the widely discussed gap between the vampire and the zombie in order to address the way in which Matheson’s vampires not only literally inspire the emergence of the modern zombie but moreover highlight the model of infection that came to define the zombie. By tracing binaries in Matheson’s novel – order/disorder, immunity/autoimmunity – this article considers how Matheson’s vampires reveal the implicitly violent order in the zombie’s disorderly infection. I Am Legend’s model of infection – its zombieness –underscores the relationship between the plague and the order it induces, as well as the self-negating violence inherent in that order. As they extend the lineage from vampire to zombie, the living dead here draw attention to the underlying theme of contagion that runs throughout the zombie narrative. This article therefore locates Matheson’s work not only in a pop-cultural domain but in a larger theoretical discussion of biopolitics and autoimmunity (via Michel Foucault, Roberto Esposito, and Jacques Derrida) in order to argue that the very state of living dead disorder emerges as a positive state in its relationship to the category of the autoimmune, and that I Am Legend rescripts the categories of ‘disorder’ and ‘living dead’ from post-apocalyptic to redemptive.
Frenetic aesthetics: Observational horror and spectatorship
Authors: Raimondo Matthew J.
Published: April 2014

This article examines a contemporary subgenre of horror cinema that appropriates the aesthetics of observational documentary. In these films the camera exists in the diegesis; the camera is usually controlled by a character and is meant to move in a way that plausibly represents how this person would handle it if the situation were real. The term ‘observational horror’ is given to the subgenre as an alternative to ‘mockumentary’, which is a style of film that stands in contrast to it. The article focuses on the unique nature of viewing experience these films promote. It argues that spectators are confronted with instability, a paradox in regards to what is promised by these films, what and how this is delivered, and how and why this makes them feel and react in particular ways. The article includes close readings of The Blair Witch Project, [REC], Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity.
Contemporary South African horror: On meat, neo-liberalism and the postcolonial politics of a global form
Authors: Duncan Rebecca
Published: April 2014

Following the postapartheid encounter with neo-liberal economics, South African cultural production has begun to register the influence of global, popular forms borne into the country on the tide of multinational capital. Horror is one such commercial mode the manifestation of which, in contemporary South Africa, is thus bound up with processes of economic globalization. Its deployment in the country is also, however, committed to unveiling the brutalities and dehumanizations underpinning the neo-liberal operation of global capital. In these texts, economic deprivation and exploitation are made to resonate with the country’s history of racial oppression, and are given brutal form as evocations of the person become meat. The circumscribed position in which such narratives situate themselves – their critique of the processes which sustain them – is the focus of this article’s final stages: I suggest we read South Africa’s horror, not as complicit in some invalidating way, but as an experimental exploration of modes and voices in a postapartheid culture unrestrained by polarizing ethical demands to oppose the racist state. South African horror arises, then, in a context where the binary is losing purchase as a model for dissent, and this observation, I venture, may have implications not simply for the postapartheid production of such narratives, but for wider manifestations of the genre too.