title: The value of statistical life and cost–benefit evaluations of landmine clearance in Cambodia

authors: Cameron, Michael Patrick

subjects: economics

abstract: Development agencies spend approximately US$ 400 million per year on landmine clearance. Yet many cost–benefit evaluations suggest that landmine clearance is socially wasteful because costs appear to far outweigh social benefits. This paper presents new estimates of the benefits of clearing landmines based on a contingent valuation survey in two provinces in rural Cambodia where we asked respondents questions that elicit their trade-offs between money and the risk of death from landmine accidents. The estimated Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) is US$ 0.4 million. In contrast, most previous studies of landmine clearance use foregone income or average GDP per capita, which has a lifetime value of only US$ 2,000 in Cambodia. Humanitarian landmine clearance emerges as a more attractive rural development policy when appropriate estimates of the VSL are used.

text: The value of statistical life and cost–benefit evaluations of landmine clearance in Cambodia Development agencies spend approximately US$ 400 million per year on landmine clearance. Yet many cost–benefit evaluations suggest that landmine clearance is socially wasteful because costs appear to far outweigh social benefits. This paper presents new estimates of the benefits of clearing landmines based on a contingent valuation survey in two provinces in rural Cambodia where we asked respondents questions that elicit their trade-offs between money and the risk of death from landmine accidents. The estimated Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) is US$ 0.4 million. In contrast, most previous studies of landmine clearance use foregone income or average GDP per capita, which has a lifetime value of only US$ 2,000 in Cambodia. Humanitarian landmine clearance emerges as a more attractive rural development policy when appropriate estimates of the VSL are used.

year: 2010

title: Journeys and battles: Spatial and gendered discourses of obsessive-compulsive disorder

authors: Campbell, Rebecca

subjects: mental health

abstract: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a (mental) health condition that, despite its highly spatial characteristics and high prevalence, has been largely overlooked by human geographers. This thesis seeks to help rectify this oversight by examining the ways in which OCD is gendered, especially in relation to the metaphors used to describe the condition. A conceptual model for a “radical body politics” provides the theoretical framework for this research. Semi-structured interviews, critical reading of stories published by and about people with OCD, and autobiography are used in order to investigate the ways in which men and women utilise discourse in order to represent and make sense of their experiences with OCD. I argue that the ways in which men and women choose to represent through discourse their experiences of OCD have profound implications for their sense of self. Two over-arching discourses are discussed: that of the journey and that of the battle. The more feminised discourse of a journey suggests that the experience of women with OCD is a cathartic pathway of self-realisation with the end-goal of recovery. The more masculinised discourse of battle positions OCD as being both Other to the self and a struggle within the self. Both discourses invoke spatial imagery and have profound implications for how individuals with OCD experience and manage the condition. I also suggest some possible avenues for further geographic research into OCD.

text: Journeys and battles: Spatial and gendered discourses of obsessive-compulsive disorder Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a (mental) health condition that, despite its highly spatial characteristics and high prevalence, has been largely overlooked by human geographers. This thesis seeks to help rectify this oversight by examining the ways in which OCD is gendered, especially in relation to the metaphors used to describe the condition. A conceptual model for a “radical body politics” provides the theoretical framework for this research. Semi-structured interviews, critical reading of stories published by and about people with OCD, and autobiography are used in order to investigate the ways in which men and women utilise discourse in order to represent and make sense of their experiences with OCD. I argue that the ways in which men and women choose to represent through discourse their experiences of OCD have profound implications for their sense of self. Two over-arching discourses are discussed: that of the journey and that of the battle. The more feminised discourse of a journey suggests that the experience of women with OCD is a cathartic pathway of self-realisation with the end-goal of recovery. The more masculinised discourse of battle positions OCD as being both Other to the self and a struggle within the self. Both discourses invoke spatial imagery and have profound implications for how individuals with OCD experience and manage the condition. I also suggest some possible avenues for further geographic research into OCD.

year: 2011

title: Culturally relevant assessment: Kaupapa Māori assessment in early childhood education

authors: Rameka, Lesley Kay

abstract: This chant according to Maori tradition is part of the dedication used at the birth of Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga, the demigod, ancestor superhero of the Pacific. It was also sometimes used to welcome visitors on to marae, linking the visitors with the spiritual world and powers of the Maori gods, Tūmatauenga, Rongomatane and Tane Mahuta and to Hawaiki, the spiritual Maori homeland. It also provides a model of the universe that dates back thousands of years (Shirres, 1997); a model made up of two intimately connected worlds: the spiritual and the material. These worlds are closely linked with activities in the everyday material world coming under the influence of and interpenetrated by spiritual powers (Reilly, 2004a; Shirres, 1997). Consequently people are connected with the universe, with the world of spiritual powers, the world of the gods.

text: Culturally relevant assessment: Kaupapa Māori assessment in early childhood education This chant according to Maori tradition is part of the dedication used at the birth of Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga, the demigod, ancestor superhero of the Pacific. It was also sometimes used to welcome visitors on to marae, linking the visitors with the spiritual world and powers of the Maori gods, Tūmatauenga, Rongomatane and Tane Mahuta and to Hawaiki, the spiritual Maori homeland. It also provides a model of the universe that dates back thousands of years (Shirres, 1997); a model made up of two intimately connected worlds: the spiritual and the material. These worlds are closely linked with activities in the everyday material world coming under the influence of and interpenetrated by spiritual powers (Reilly, 2004a; Shirres, 1997). Consequently people are connected with the universe, with the world of spiritual powers, the world of the gods.

year: 2013