title: Moving beyond psychocentric perspectives of suicide: Towards an ecological and social justice understanding

authors: Foley, Shaun

subjects: Suicide

abstract: Suicide is a fundamentally political and deep moral concern within Aotearoa, New Zealand. The act of suicide is best understood as a complex phenomenon occurring within multiple biological, psychological, philosophical, moral, sociocultural, historical, anthropological and economic dimensions. While suicide is a complex phenomenon, the issue of suicide within an Anglocentric context such as Aotearoa is mainly understood from an individualistic, psychocentric conceptualisation that favours biological, medical, and psychological factors. This master’s thesis explored an alternative framework that aimed to go beyond an individualised, psychocentric perspective through using the social determinants of health and an ecological understanding of suicide. The theoretical framework for this research is informed by humanistic and community psychologies, narrative and phenomenology. The study involved an interpretative phenomenological analysis of six autobiographies written by authors who had survived a previous suicide attempt. First, thorough notes were taken through three readings of each book to supplement the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach of the six autobiographical works. The second part of analysis used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory to extend the themes that were gathered from the interpretative phenomenological analysis and connect them to broader societal structures and social inequalities. The analysis is spread across three chapters. Chapter four discusses Brian’s rationality for suicide. His understanding of suicide challenges the mainstream understandings of suicide, which attribute suicide to being an act of irrationality and madness. Chapter five takes a look across all of authors’ accounts to see how societal inequalities and neoliberalism are intertwined with the complex and long process that can lead a person towards attempting suicide. Chapter six further discusses the authors’ accounts in relation to how social inequalities and social hierarchies foster violence and suicide. Chapter seven closes the thesis with a discussion of the analysis and how a theoretical framework from community psychology provides an understanding of suicide from a broader viewpoint. The discussion considers possible ways of reconceptualising suicide and advocates for an upstream approach to suicide prevention.

text: Moving beyond psychocentric perspectives of suicide: Towards an ecological and social justice understanding Suicide is a fundamentally political and deep moral concern within Aotearoa, New Zealand. The act of suicide is best understood as a complex phenomenon occurring within multiple biological, psychological, philosophical, moral, sociocultural, historical, anthropological and economic dimensions. While suicide is a complex phenomenon, the issue of suicide within an Anglocentric context such as Aotearoa is mainly understood from an individualistic, psychocentric conceptualisation that favours biological, medical, and psychological factors. This master’s thesis explored an alternative framework that aimed to go beyond an individualised, psychocentric perspective through using the social determinants of health and an ecological understanding of suicide. The theoretical framework for this research is informed by humanistic and community psychologies, narrative and phenomenology. The study involved an interpretative phenomenological analysis of six autobiographies written by authors who had survived a previous suicide attempt. First, thorough notes were taken through three readings of each book to supplement the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach of the six autobiographical works. The second part of analysis used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory to extend the themes that were gathered from the interpretative phenomenological analysis and connect them to broader societal structures and social inequalities. The analysis is spread across three chapters. Chapter four discusses Brian’s rationality for suicide. His understanding of suicide challenges the mainstream understandings of suicide, which attribute suicide to being an act of irrationality and madness. Chapter five takes a look across all of authors’ accounts to see how societal inequalities and neoliberalism are intertwined with the complex and long process that can lead a person towards attempting suicide. Chapter six further discusses the authors’ accounts in relation to how social inequalities and social hierarchies foster violence and suicide. Chapter seven closes the thesis with a discussion of the analysis and how a theoretical framework from community psychology provides an understanding of suicide from a broader viewpoint. The discussion considers possible ways of reconceptualising suicide and advocates for an upstream approach to suicide prevention.

year: 2021

title: How topography-dependent are topographic effects? Complementary numerical modeling of centrifuge experiments

authors: Jeong, Seokho

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Topographic effects, the modification of seismic shaking by irregular topographies compared to flat ground, have been extensively studied. Very few studies, however, have investigated the effects of the stratigraphy and nonlinear response of the underlying geology on topographic amplification. Furthermore, most experimental studies have been performed in the field, where it is often difficult to establish an ideal flat-ground reference station, as well as to characterize the soil properties and their spatial variability in sufficient detail. Dafni [1] recently tested the seismic response of step-like slopes in a series of centrifuge experiments, where the incident motion, reference station and material properties were characterized in detail. In this study, we investigated the influence of the container boundary on topographic effects observed in the centrifuge experiments by performing numerical simulations with and without the container boundary. Our analysis suggested that the rigid-body rocking motion of the centrifuge container likely increased the experimental topographic spectral ratios, contributing to the discrepancy between the simulated and observed spectral ratios. We also found that although the laminar box lateral boundaries caused spurious reflections, they didn’t qualitatively affect the ground surface amplification pattern compared to numerical predictions of the same configuration without boundaries. At the same time, and most importantly, however, we found that the baseplate –by trapping waves scattered and distracted by the slope– amplified the ground motion at the crest up to one order of magnitude compared to numerical predictions of the response in absence of the baseplate. Our results show that topographic effects can be significantly affected by the underlying soil stratigraphy; and allude to the potentially significant role of this phenomenon in elevating seismic risk in regions with strong topographic relief. The findings of this study also suggest that future studies will benefit from clear understanding and careful considerations of capabilities and limitations of different investigation methods and that the numerical modelling and the lab testing (or the field testing) methods should complement each other.

text: How topography-dependent are topographic effects? Complementary numerical modeling of centrifuge experiments Topographic effects, the modification of seismic shaking by irregular topographies compared to flat ground, have been extensively studied. Very few studies, however, have investigated the effects of the stratigraphy and nonlinear response of the underlying geology on topographic amplification. Furthermore, most experimental studies have been performed in the field, where it is often difficult to establish an ideal flat-ground reference station, as well as to characterize the soil properties and their spatial variability in sufficient detail. Dafni [1] recently tested the seismic response of step-like slopes in a series of centrifuge experiments, where the incident motion, reference station and material properties were characterized in detail. In this study, we investigated the influence of the container boundary on topographic effects observed in the centrifuge experiments by performing numerical simulations with and without the container boundary. Our analysis suggested that the rigid-body rocking motion of the centrifuge container likely increased the experimental topographic spectral ratios, contributing to the discrepancy between the simulated and observed spectral ratios. We also found that although the laminar box lateral boundaries caused spurious reflections, they didn’t qualitatively affect the ground surface amplification pattern compared to numerical predictions of the same configuration without boundaries. At the same time, and most importantly, however, we found that the baseplate –by trapping waves scattered and distracted by the slope– amplified the ground motion at the crest up to one order of magnitude compared to numerical predictions of the response in absence of the baseplate. Our results show that topographic effects can be significantly affected by the underlying soil stratigraphy; and allude to the potentially significant role of this phenomenon in elevating seismic risk in regions with strong topographic relief. The findings of this study also suggest that future studies will benefit from clear understanding and careful considerations of capabilities and limitations of different investigation methods and that the numerical modelling and the lab testing (or the field testing) methods should complement each other.

year: 2019

title: Hoea Te Waka ki Uta: Critical Kaupapa Māori Research and Mormon Studies Moving Forward

authors: Simon, Hemopereki

abstract: The following is a reflective commentary on the place of Critical Indigenous Studies, with a focus on Kaupapa Māori Research, within Mormon Studies. Specifically, the piece explores the following questions: What does Kaupapa Māori Research look like when engaging in Mormon Studies? What positionality needs to be taken by Kaupapa Māori researchers and Critical Indigenous scholars when engaging in Mormon Studies? What are the main areas Critical Indigenous scholars and Kaupapa Māori scholars should engage when tackling issues around Mormonism? These questions are important in light of the growing importance of the cultural renaissance in Te Ao Māori and the rise of Kaupapa Māori Research.

text: Hoea Te Waka ki Uta: Critical Kaupapa Māori Research and Mormon Studies Moving Forward The following is a reflective commentary on the place of Critical Indigenous Studies, with a focus on Kaupapa Māori Research, within Mormon Studies. Specifically, the piece explores the following questions: What does Kaupapa Māori Research look like when engaging in Mormon Studies? What positionality needs to be taken by Kaupapa Māori researchers and Critical Indigenous scholars when engaging in Mormon Studies? What are the main areas Critical Indigenous scholars and Kaupapa Māori scholars should engage when tackling issues around Mormonism? These questions are important in light of the growing importance of the cultural renaissance in Te Ao Māori and the rise of Kaupapa Māori Research.

year: 2021