Category: Article

The Hidden Dimensions of Human–Wildlife Conflict: Health Impacts, Opportunity and Transaction Costs

By Maan Barua, Shonil A. Bhagwat, and Sushrut Jadhav 

The impact of conservation policies on human wellbeing is critical to the integration of poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation. In many low-income countries, human–wildlife conflict adversely affects wellbeing of communities that closely interface with wildlife. Approaches to framing and mitigating conflict emphasize its visible costs. Hidden impacts, i.e. costs that are uncompensated, temporally delayed, or psychosocial in nature, remain poorly addressed. This paper examines the hidden impacts of human–wildlife conflict in low-income countries. It presents an account of the known and potential hidden impacts, investigating their effects on rural communities. Hidden impacts of human–wildlife conflict include diminished psychosocial wellbeing, disruption of livelihoods and food insecurity. Considerable opportunity costs are incurred through crop and livestock guarding. When seeking compensation for damage, bureaucratic inadequacies result in added transaction costs. Even though communities may be tolerant of wildlife, the hidden impacts of conflict jeopardize various components of global wellbeing. The paper concludes by identifying gaps in knowledge and outlining areas for future research that better address hidden dimensions of human–wildlife conflict.

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Patient’s Perspectives on Hospitalisation: Experiences from a Cancer Ward in Kenya

By Benson A. Mulemi

This paper explores how adult cancer in-patients feel about and make sense of their condition and therapy. Data was collected through observation and informal conversations with patients and hospital staff, over a period of 12 months, on a cancer ward in a teaching hospital in Kenya. Mulemi held in-depth conversations on multiple occasions with 42 patients. Most of them expected to recover quite fully, despite having postponed seeking medical help, and delays in referral. Long periods of suffering, prolonged diagnosis and treatment, and socio-economic difficulties shape the patients’ perspectives on hospitalisation. The low position of patients in the social and medical hierarchy, and inadequate hospital resources, hamper their capacity to negotiate their care. The needs of the cancer patients can better be met when their experiences during hospitalisation are understood. This can foster co-operation between patients and hospital staff to facilitate coping with chronic illness. The patients’ views highlight both material and non-material needs in cancer management in a developing country.

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Covid-19 Crisis and Long-Term Transformations: Alternatives From India

By Ashish Kothari

In this article, Kothari analyzes the Indian government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, reflects on how communities live with each other through such crises, and what these social reactions reveal about the future. In doing so, Kothari reveals the power of localization and direct democracy via self-governance, uplifting agroecological approaches and strengthening healthcare systems.

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Humoural Concepts of Mental Illness in India

By Sushrut Jadhav

Based on interviews with patients at three allopathic psychiatric clinics in Bombay, Bangalore and Varanasi to elicit indigenous explanations of illness and patterns of prior help seeking, the paper discusses popular humoral theories of mental disorder. Even though most laypersons are unfamiliar with the content of the classical treatises of Ayurveda, the humoral traditions which they represent influence current perceptions. Case vignettes clarify the nature of the relationship between cultural, familial and personal factors that influence the experience of illness.

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The Political Stakes of Cancer Epistemics

By Shagufta Bhangu, Violeta Argudo-Portal, Luiz Alves Araújo Neto, Thandeka Cochrane, Masha Denisova, Nickolas Surawy-Stepney.

The authors demonstrate a transnationally situated dialogue as a method to bring ethnographic and historical research in Brazil, East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), India, Russia and Spain into conversation to show three cancer epistemics sites (research, detection, and care access) where the politics of cancer epistemics are at play. First, in the field of research, they show how certain ways of knowing, and certain questions about and interests in cancer, are privileged over others. Using examples from Spain and East Africa, they highlight how a shift towards microbiological and high-technology research has outpriced many more locally grounded research agendas, ignoring questions of industrial and capital accountability in cancer aetiology. Second, they look at ways of making cancer visible, how knowledge is mobilised in cancer detection and screening, where and for whom. The authors discuss the increased individualisation of risk which is reframing cancer surveillance and therapeutic agendas. Using examples from India, Spain and Brazil, the authors demonstrate how the epistemics of cancer detection generate discourses of blame and responsibility at the individual level and accentuate existing inequities whilst simultaneously absorbing patients and their families into complex networks of surveillance. Lastly, they examine how the epistemics of cancer implicate the very possibilities of accessing cancer care, shaping care pathways and possibilities for patients. With ethnographic examples from India, Russia and Brazil, the authors demonstrate how an orientation towards the individual shifts attention away from the commercialisation of healthcare and dominance of logics of profit in therapeutics.

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Developing an agenda for the decolonization of global health

By David McCoy, Anuj Kapilashrami, Ramya Kumar, Emma Rhule , Rajat Khosla

Colonialism, which involves the systemic domination of lands, markets, peoples, assets, cultures or political institutions to exploit, misappropriate and extract wealth and resources, affects health in many ways. In recent years, interest has grown in the decolonization of global health with a focus on correcting power imbalances between high-income and low-income countries and on challenging ideas and values of some wealthy countries that shape the practice of global health. The authors argue that decolonization of global health must also address the relationship between global health actors and contemporary forms of colonialism, in particular the current forms of corporate and financialized colonialism that operate through globalized systems of wealth extraction and profiteering. They present a three-part agenda for action that can be taken to decolonize global health. The first part relates to the power asymmetries that exist between global health actors from high-income and historically privileged countries and their counterparts in low-income and marginalized settings. The second part concerns the colonization of the structures and systems of global health governance itself. The third part addresses how colonialism occurs through the global health system. Addressing all forms of colonialism calls for a political and economic anticolonialism as well as social decolonization aimed at ensuring greater national, racial, cultural and knowledge diversity within the structures of global health.

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Eugenics in Australia and New Zealand: Laboratories of Racial Science

By Stephen Garton

Australians and New Zealanders were active participants in international dialogues and movements seeking to promote the propagation of the fit and prevent the multiplication of the inferior. This article deals with the reasons for failure of eugenics to have the influence its proponents hoped and its failure in achieving its aims. It also discusses eugenic ideas and policies as scientific, useful, and essential to the repertoire of policies that governments and reformers should pursue to promote social progress. It presents reasons for little success of eugenicists in Australia and New Zealand in enforcing even segregation. It discusses the conventional areas of eugenic concern namely, segregation, sterilization, marriage advice, maternal and infant welfare. It examines particular policies in detail, and more importantly shifts the focus from the discourses contesting to shape policy to the outcomes of those contests.

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On writing Soviet History of Central Asia: frameworks, challenges, prospects

By Botakoz Kassymbekova and Aminat Chokobaeva

The article reviews major frameworks for re-evaluating Soviet Central Asian history in anglophone scholarship after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It tackles recent popular concepts such as ‘modernity’, ‘development’ and ‘modernization’ for analysing the Soviet past in the region. It questions the analytical value of the terms as well as their ability to capture the complexity of social, political and economic changes that Central Asia underwent in the course of seven decades between the October Revolution and the dissolution of the USSR. The article furthermore provides an overview of novel themes and approaches in the field and suggests themes for further research.

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Digital Commentary Activities to Manage Mental Health and Identities Among Young South African Women and Girls (13-24) Living With(Out) HIV: Content and Thematic Analysis with Sociological Frameworks

By SunHa Ahn

This study, grounded in sociological principles, aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how young South African women and girls (YSAWGs) around HIV or sexual health or sexual activities, which are not easy to openly discuss in South African societies, use digital space in terms of their mental health or emotional management. This study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and explored YSAWG’s utilisation of Springster, a digital platform encompassing the digital commentary activities of socially marginalised voices, data collection spanned four months, yielding 135 stories. Through content analysis, the study quantified the frequency of repetitive words in these comments and identified main themes. These digital phenomena emerged as alternative substituting for the paucity of public school or (mental) health services, as well as the deficits of in-person intimate relational support, especially, among those who are struggling to seek non-judgemental peers or mutual relationships to navigate their emotional challenges in their life journey of HIV, sexual practices, and relevant health issues. This implies the need for educationally interactive processes in YSAWGs’ mental health, which have been epistemologically neglected since the apartheid period. Given the social and digital divided environments in South Africa, this demonstrates digital health practices’ potential for managing sexual health or practices for young women. However, there are mitigating risks to them, lessening the benefits, which means the urgent necessity of systematic interventions.

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Decolonizing play: Rediscovering and revitalizing traditional play practices in post-colonial context

By Euis Kurniati and Sadick Akida Mwariko

This study examines the decolonization of play through the rediscovery and revitalization of traditional play practices in the post-colonial era. Through a comprehensive literature review, the research examines the historical suppression of indigenous play forms and their contemporary resurgence. The research highlights the cultural significance of these traditional practices, emphasizing their role in identity formation and social cohesion. Findings suggest that traditional play practices are integral to cultural heritage and offer substantial benefits when integrated into modern education, particularly in early childhood education frameworks. This study advocates for a paradigm shift towards a culturally responsive pedagogy that respects and incorporates indigenous knowledge. To achieve effective decolonization, educators, policymakers, and communities must collaborate in developing educational frameworks that honor and integrate diverse cultural traditions. This approach will not only preserve cultural heritage but also enhance educational equity and inclusivity. The revitalization of traditional play practices represents a significant step towards a more culturally aware and equitable educational environment, contributing to a richer and more inclusive early childhood education experience.

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