Contemporary Considerations: Online Only (1)
Epigenetics and Energy Medicine: Thinking and Practicing Alternative Health Care as Radical Science in the Era of Corporate Biomedicine View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Christian Gundermann
Feminist science scholars have argued that we should demystify Science (capital S) in our quests of reinventing sciences (lower case). These arguments radicalize their potential in this (post?) pandemic world of intensified corporate pharmaco-power (Preciado) and rigid academic disciplinarity as ground of all truth claims. This paper summarizes a recent ethnography about the operation of a Western Massachusetts energy medicine practitioner who serves approximately 600 active patients whose ailments run the gamut from seasonal allergies to Crohn’s Disease and terminal cancer. Incorporating aspects from several established “alternative” medical systems, this practitioner developed his own diagnostic system and treatment modalities that aim to modify genetic expression. My claim is ultimately that he practices “precision medicine,” a term that recently emerged as a highly innovative direction within mainstream epigenetic research. Three major conceptual frames underpin my reflections: (1) what, in a context where medical research is a multi-billion dollar business, does it mean to conduct research and practice innovation in treatment based on an energy-medicine medium which holds no corporate interest; (2) what is energy medicine and how does it interact —epistemologically, ethically, practically— with a medical standard of care based on biochemistry as its sole horizon of truth; (3) methodologically how can I, as a qualitative and “involved” researcher, claim to be producing knowledge in the context of double blindness as gold standard for medical research? Is there a way of reclaiming science as an embodied and partial knowledge project beyond the poles of blindness and all-seeingness (Haraway)?
Social Sciences and Client Violence: Introduction of a Conceptual Model View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Luce Pretorius, Alida Herbst
Studies on the workplace protection of social service professionals- such as social workers, show that this group is at high risk of being subjected to client violence during their careers. The research formed part of a larger study investigating client violence among South African social workers. The objective of this specific study was to explore experiences of client violence among South African social workers. The researchers used a purposive sample to identify participants for semi-structured qualitative interviews and data were analysed by implementing Tesch’s approach of thematic analysis. The primary themes that emerged focused on aspects such as the normalization of client violence, identifying precursors to violence, defining elements in the process and the aftermath of client violence. These themes and related sub-themes were used to construct a conceptual model to better understand the client violence phenomenon. Despite the fact that this study was focused on social workers in South Africa, results could be useful for interdisciplinary studies in international social science research.
Circular Fashion Experience in Digital Media Arts View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hazal Bayar, Ali Matay
This project is structured as a collaborative work with Textile and Fashion Design and Cinema and Digital Media Departments for Digital Media Studio class, through the combinations of different digital media practices. These works set out to create an experience to reflect upon aesthetic understanding of sustainable and circular fashion. An immersive environment will be created through process the of digital filmmaking. Using the concept of circular fashion experience, we aim a movement within the physical space by using interactive documentary, video art installations, projection mapping, virtual reality film experience, augmented reality, and altered screenings. Outcomes of the studio will be presented through supporting videos and photographs, in order to clarify the convergence of fashion and digital media arts. This course is a rare demonstration of digitalization of tangible fashion products.
Infowars and Disinformation as a Threat to National Security and Social Relations on the Example of Russian-Ukrainian War View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marta Polaczek Bigaj
The problem of disinformation and propaganda is not a new phenomenon, but the Russian-Ukrainian war brings it closer to us in a slightly new version. The use of cybertechnics is an important element of the ongoing war. The flow of information, and in the case of the Russian citizens, the lack of information or misinformation in some other pro-Russian countries, has a huge impact on the social attitude of citizens of different states. The analysis of examples of the usage of various tools for creating false information messages shows that the application of appropriate narratives is an important factor in hybrid war. The aim of the author is to show the threats posed by the use of these techniques for international security and how it influences the changing social relations.
Transcending Content, Concepts and Curriculum : The Art and Science of Teaching Social Workers to Engage Anti-Black Racism View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Olufunke Oba
Social work educators must go beyond course content, concepts, and theories. Considering the ever-evolving social milieu globally, training social work students for practice requires future social workers to engage diversity and anti-Black racism. The scholarship of teaching and learning social work involves consciousness raising, plural epistemologies, cultures, and worldviews. Social workers must be broadminded to engage all races, social class, cultures, and identities. Similarly, educators are required to engage diverse learners, represented in the classroom. Thus, social work teaching is not just education, it is an art as well as a social science. The art of relationship building and sharing power to co-create the learning experience as well as the science of understanding, honouring, and harnessing the social and cultural capital of learners has the potential to produce globally conscious social workers who engage service users without doing them harm. This paper framed by critical/feminist and Afrocentric lens draws on studies with social work students to reflect on the process of designing and using a new anti-Black racism course to demystify Blackness for social work students in one Canadian university. Innovative methods including arts-based activities and Afrocentric sharing circles were used to explore the rationale for the course design, the uptake and insights gained through the process. The study makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge on the scholarship of teaching and learning social work.
