title: Erased: Representations of women's bodies in chronic invisible pain

authors: May, Melody Julianne

subjects: Chronic pain

abstract: Stories of pain stretch metaphors and similes. They infuse verbs into the narrative—it stabs, it burns, it aches—in a desperate attempt to describe what the pain is doing in the body. There is a critical need for accurate communication, either to family and friends, or more importantly, to healthcare professionals. Yet often this crucial connection fails. Honesty about chronic illness and related invisible disability is repeatedly met with confusion, dismissal, or even disdain. So where is the problem? Where is the disconnection occurring? Elaine Scarry argues that pain’s personal and life-destroying nature is nearly impossible to communicate, because its very existence within the body destroys the language needed to express it. This is true. Often pain dismantles our whole world.  We are left only with a guttural scream or the expletive. However, Joanna Bourke argues, ‘people in pain are often highly creative in expressing their suffering’.  We use all the words we need to clearly communicate. This word communicate is important. It has three elements: a sufferer, a witness, and a gap between them. A strange distortion often occurs within this gap; it is polluted with static. While I will be considering the difficulty sometimes experienced in expressing the reality of pain in our bodies, much of this thesis interrogates the gap. 
My research focuses on women in chronic pain because women are four times more likely to have a chronic illness and seven times more likely to have their symptoms misdiagnosed or dismissed as emotional and therefore unreal. This bias is pervasive and needs interrogation. Storytellers are uniquely positioned to provide a voice for the voiceless while simultaneously challenging what is considered normal or ideal. I am concerned with the ideals that create expectations about what “healthy” and “ill” mean and even what it means to be a “normal” woman. These expectations all converge on the body and the lived experience of the chronically ill woman, labelling her at best a failure and at worst a liar. 
The questions I am asking, then, are: How can we communicate chronic pain? How can we help others to listen to what we are communicating? What needs to change within our cultural belief systems in order to understand women with chronic pain? What within our social structures is excluding these women? How is this isolation compounding the suffering of women in chronic pain? And, finally, how can storytelling help address these issues?
My research is specifically focused on contemporary narratives of chronic pain. This is because I am interested in representations that reflect current attitudes and social structures. I examine these texts not only for evidence of authentic representation of the lived experience of pain but also for ways in which the suffering of these women can be alleviated. While I cannot cure chronic illness, I can offer insight into the constructed cultural beliefs that can be dismantled to make a more inclusive world. I believe art has the power to do this, and I believe we need more authentic stories to represent women suffering from chronic illness. 
However, stories of chronic pain and disability are often chaotic. Unlike the familiar cure-or-death endings of traditional disease narratives, these stories have no resolution, and audiences often reject them. When research participants are told a chaotic story of pain and disability, they rewrite it, so desperate is their need to erase the suffering. They long for a hero who overcomes all adversity. This means that illness stories often set impossible standards, isolating women in pain even further.
Therefore, my research includes a creative component. I have written a novel that embeds the chaos of chronic pain within a quest narrative, to anchor readers to familiar structure, and yet offers an authentic voice for those who need representation. There are two separate narratives. The first belongs to Amanda, who has been summoned by the universe (or her cell-phone, she isn’t sure) to find Kelly Wisely and wish her a happy birthday. The second belongs to Kelly Wisely herself, whose pain has thrown her narrative and her life into chaos—her narrative no longer obeys time, nor can it hold any real structure. Her life is in fragments.

text: Erased: Representations of women's bodies in chronic invisible pain Stories of pain stretch metaphors and similes. They infuse verbs into the narrative—it stabs, it burns, it aches—in a desperate attempt to describe what the pain is doing in the body. There is a critical need for accurate communication, either to family and friends, or more importantly, to healthcare professionals. Yet often this crucial connection fails. Honesty about chronic illness and related invisible disability is repeatedly met with confusion, dismissal, or even disdain. So where is the problem? Where is the disconnection occurring? Elaine Scarry argues that pain’s personal and life-destroying nature is nearly impossible to communicate, because its very existence within the body destroys the language needed to express it. This is true. Often pain dismantles our whole world.  We are left only with a guttural scream or the expletive. However, Joanna Bourke argues, ‘people in pain are often highly creative in expressing their suffering’.  We use all the words we need to clearly communicate. This word communicate is important. It has three elements: a sufferer, a witness, and a gap between them. A strange distortion often occurs within this gap; it is polluted with static. While I will be considering the difficulty sometimes experienced in expressing the reality of pain in our bodies, much of this thesis interrogates the gap. 
My research focuses on women in chronic pain because women are four times more likely to have a chronic illness and seven times more likely to have their symptoms misdiagnosed or dismissed as emotional and therefore unreal. This bias is pervasive and needs interrogation. Storytellers are uniquely positioned to provide a voice for the voiceless while simultaneously challenging what is considered normal or ideal. I am concerned with the ideals that create expectations about what “healthy” and “ill” mean and even what it means to be a “normal” woman. These expectations all converge on the body and the lived experience of the chronically ill woman, labelling her at best a failure and at worst a liar. 
The questions I am asking, then, are: How can we communicate chronic pain? How can we help others to listen to what we are communicating? What needs to change within our cultural belief systems in order to understand women with chronic pain? What within our social structures is excluding these women? How is this isolation compounding the suffering of women in chronic pain? And, finally, how can storytelling help address these issues?
My research is specifically focused on contemporary narratives of chronic pain. This is because I am interested in representations that reflect current attitudes and social structures. I examine these texts not only for evidence of authentic representation of the lived experience of pain but also for ways in which the suffering of these women can be alleviated. While I cannot cure chronic illness, I can offer insight into the constructed cultural beliefs that can be dismantled to make a more inclusive world. I believe art has the power to do this, and I believe we need more authentic stories to represent women suffering from chronic illness. 
However, stories of chronic pain and disability are often chaotic. Unlike the familiar cure-or-death endings of traditional disease narratives, these stories have no resolution, and audiences often reject them. When research participants are told a chaotic story of pain and disability, they rewrite it, so desperate is their need to erase the suffering. They long for a hero who overcomes all adversity. This means that illness stories often set impossible standards, isolating women in pain even further.
Therefore, my research includes a creative component. I have written a novel that embeds the chaos of chronic pain within a quest narrative, to anchor readers to familiar structure, and yet offers an authentic voice for those who need representation. There are two separate narratives. The first belongs to Amanda, who has been summoned by the universe (or her cell-phone, she isn’t sure) to find Kelly Wisely and wish her a happy birthday. The second belongs to Kelly Wisely herself, whose pain has thrown her narrative and her life into chaos—her narrative no longer obeys time, nor can it hold any real structure. Her life is in fragments.

year: 2022

title: Measuring the temperature response of soil respiration from two distinct carbon pools in soil.

authors: Robinson, Jasmine May

subjects: Soil respiration

abstract: As soils contain a large store of terrestrial carbon, understanding the dynamics and stability of this important carbon reserve and how it may change with regards to future changes in temperature is of global interest. It is primarily understood that carbon exists in different pools within soil, but there is considerable debate around the number, size and contents of these pools. Despite this debate, when modelling carbon cycling, it can be erroneously assumed that the decomposition of carbon pools will behave the in the same way with regards to temperature and varying management practices. 

The first objective of this research was to develop and test a new protocol allowing the measurement of the temperature response of two distinct carbon pools in soil. A Horotiu silt loam was mixed with a ¹³C labelled rye-grass clover litter, and incubated for 5 and 20 hours at 30 discrete temperatures (~2 – 50 °C). Resulting CO₂ was separated into litter and soil organic carbon (SOC) sourced respiration rates using a mixing model, and then fit with macromolecular rate theory (MMRT). Litter-derived respiration had a lower temperature optimum (Tₒₚₜ) than SOC-derived respiration. It was suggested that decomposition of highly available labile litter is rate-limited by enzyme kinetics, which displays a clear temperature optimum. In contrast, decomposition of stable SOC is more limited by desorption processes and diffusion of carbon to microbes, prior to decomposition, and so exhibits Arrhenius behaviour as temperature increases. 

The second objective was to use the developed protocol to measure temperature response of respiration was measured for ¹³C-labelled new photosynthate carbon inputs and bulk SOC, partitioned from soils labelled under seasonal irrigated and dryland conditions. Additionally, mass litter inputs of both root and shoot material were incubated with unlabelled soil. Root and shoot litter inputs showed a similar response to temperature with a well-defined MMRT-like response (Tₒₚₜ of 45  °C and 38 °C respectively). In contrast to this, respiration from new photosynthate carbon and SOC had the same Arrhenius-like temperature response (Tₒₚₜ of 50 °C for dryland and 62 °C for irrigated soils). It was suggested that the new carbon inputs deposited through roots were rapidly incorporated into the soil and thus had a similar availability and temperature response as SOC. Consequently, carbon inputs through roots appear to be more stabilised than litter inputs (as either root or above ground fragments). Respiration from dryland soils had lower a Topt than respiration from irrigated soils, which diminished with the application of autumnal rainfall, most likely due to an increase in short-term turnover of carbon under irrigation. 

In a similar experiment, soils were labelled under constant conditions prior to the imposition of seasonal irrigation or dryland treatments. Again, there was no difference between the temperature response of new photosynthate carbon and SOC. Increases in short term carbon cycling caused greater respiration under irrigation compared to dryland soils. However, this increased respiration did not contribute to a noticeable change in temperature response. 

Overall this research demonstrated a reliable protocol for measuring the temperature response of two distinct carbon pools in soil. This approach can be used to examine the stability of new carbon inputs from different sources to soil. Future research using the developed methodology with different forms of 13C labelled carbon will expand knowledge on the temperature response of distinctive pools of carbon in soil, allowing continued improvement on carbon cycling modelling.

text: Measuring the temperature response of soil respiration from two distinct carbon pools in soil. As soils contain a large store of terrestrial carbon, understanding the dynamics and stability of this important carbon reserve and how it may change with regards to future changes in temperature is of global interest. It is primarily understood that carbon exists in different pools within soil, but there is considerable debate around the number, size and contents of these pools. Despite this debate, when modelling carbon cycling, it can be erroneously assumed that the decomposition of carbon pools will behave the in the same way with regards to temperature and varying management practices. 

The first objective of this research was to develop and test a new protocol allowing the measurement of the temperature response of two distinct carbon pools in soil. A Horotiu silt loam was mixed with a ¹³C labelled rye-grass clover litter, and incubated for 5 and 20 hours at 30 discrete temperatures (~2 – 50 °C). Resulting CO₂ was separated into litter and soil organic carbon (SOC) sourced respiration rates using a mixing model, and then fit with macromolecular rate theory (MMRT). Litter-derived respiration had a lower temperature optimum (Tₒₚₜ) than SOC-derived respiration. It was suggested that decomposition of highly available labile litter is rate-limited by enzyme kinetics, which displays a clear temperature optimum. In contrast, decomposition of stable SOC is more limited by desorption processes and diffusion of carbon to microbes, prior to decomposition, and so exhibits Arrhenius behaviour as temperature increases. 

The second objective was to use the developed protocol to measure temperature response of respiration was measured for ¹³C-labelled new photosynthate carbon inputs and bulk SOC, partitioned from soils labelled under seasonal irrigated and dryland conditions. Additionally, mass litter inputs of both root and shoot material were incubated with unlabelled soil. Root and shoot litter inputs showed a similar response to temperature with a well-defined MMRT-like response (Tₒₚₜ of 45  °C and 38 °C respectively). In contrast to this, respiration from new photosynthate carbon and SOC had the same Arrhenius-like temperature response (Tₒₚₜ of 50 °C for dryland and 62 °C for irrigated soils). It was suggested that the new carbon inputs deposited through roots were rapidly incorporated into the soil and thus had a similar availability and temperature response as SOC. Consequently, carbon inputs through roots appear to be more stabilised than litter inputs (as either root or above ground fragments). Respiration from dryland soils had lower a Topt than respiration from irrigated soils, which diminished with the application of autumnal rainfall, most likely due to an increase in short-term turnover of carbon under irrigation. 

In a similar experiment, soils were labelled under constant conditions prior to the imposition of seasonal irrigation or dryland treatments. Again, there was no difference between the temperature response of new photosynthate carbon and SOC. Increases in short term carbon cycling caused greater respiration under irrigation compared to dryland soils. However, this increased respiration did not contribute to a noticeable change in temperature response. 

Overall this research demonstrated a reliable protocol for measuring the temperature response of two distinct carbon pools in soil. This approach can be used to examine the stability of new carbon inputs from different sources to soil. Future research using the developed methodology with different forms of 13C labelled carbon will expand knowledge on the temperature response of distinctive pools of carbon in soil, allowing continued improvement on carbon cycling modelling.

year: 2020

title: Whakapiki Wairua: Co-designing and implementing a Māori mindfulness mental health intervention in a Wharekura.

authors: McDonald, Marama

abstract: This article explores the process of co-designing a mātauranga-Māori-informed mindfulness intervention with rangatahi in a wharekura and examines the effects on wellbeing. Mahitahi co-design methodology underpinned the design, implementation and evaluation of the intervention, and quantitative psychological tests measured improvements in wellbeing and dispositional mindfulness. Findings showed positive indications for a decrease in levels of psychological distress, improvements in Māori quality of life domains, and higher levels of dispositional mindfulness. The effective mātaurangaMāori-informed wellbeing components of the intervention were he āhuru mōwai, mahi a ngā tīpuna, ngā kaitiaki, te taiao, whanaungatanga, and hohou te rongo. Future application of the intervention in mainstream schools and communities is needed to assess the efficacy of the intervention for rangatahi in other environments, the sustainability of mindfulness practice for rangatahi, and the long-term effects on wellbeing.

text: Whakapiki Wairua: Co-designing and implementing a Māori mindfulness mental health intervention in a Wharekura. This article explores the process of co-designing a mātauranga-Māori-informed mindfulness intervention with rangatahi in a wharekura and examines the effects on wellbeing. Mahitahi co-design methodology underpinned the design, implementation and evaluation of the intervention, and quantitative psychological tests measured improvements in wellbeing and dispositional mindfulness. Findings showed positive indications for a decrease in levels of psychological distress, improvements in Māori quality of life domains, and higher levels of dispositional mindfulness. The effective mātaurangaMāori-informed wellbeing components of the intervention were he āhuru mōwai, mahi a ngā tīpuna, ngā kaitiaki, te taiao, whanaungatanga, and hohou te rongo. Future application of the intervention in mainstream schools and communities is needed to assess the efficacy of the intervention for rangatahi in other environments, the sustainability of mindfulness practice for rangatahi, and the long-term effects on wellbeing.

year: 2021