Book review: "After Ethnos" iv

After Ethnos

The nurse literature has drawn attention to transcultural nursing and ethnography in nursing theory and practice. There are books, conferences, societies, journals - papers, dedicated posts and a history derived from Madeleine Leininger's model. While tempted, I'm not about to go off-topic, suffice to emphasize the initial point about nurses being 'anthropologists' and the conceptual scope of Hodges' model.

Rees provides reassurance in this respect. As mentioned, be it lines, contours (p.41), theory, practice or concepts all play a part in avenues to disrupt, break away, escape. 

 Within this (for me) movement and moment are equivalent - leading to surprise, discovery, recognition, observation ...

"Put in a formula, the idea is to render visible ruptures and mutations of established conceptions of the human (an analysis of movement) by way of bringing into view how instances in the here and now derail and defy the normative conceptions of the human (or other things, really) that are silently transported by the analytical concepts on which anthropology thus far has relied (in terms of movement).

The form such analysis of movement / in terms of movement would take is what I refer to as exposure: the exposure of oneself, of one's analytical categories, of the established conceptions of the human that are built into these categories, in one's fieldwork/research. The task would consist in immersing oneself into scenes of everyday life in order to let the chance events that make up fieldwork/research give rise to an unanticipated, unforeseen difference." p.41

"... I mean a discovery of a space/a realm, the dynamic of which - its speed, its velocity, its logic of composition - is no longer reducible to this conceptual history, that escapes it." p.42.

I'm sorry to interpret this text in terms of Hodges' model, but I noted; "h2cm as a carrier for the 'human'". Perhaps this book can prove as pivotal and thought provoking for you?

From a health perspective I see irony in Rees's talk of new concepts and their emergence. (The book is about finding this opportunity and if not creating the opportunity?) In healthcare at present we seem to be suffering 'conceptual churn' as terminology (concepts) is called into question. Perhaps this is facet of (academic?) and the everyday life to which Rees refers. This is why and how Hodges' model can help assure 'carriage' and person-centredness that is experiential (clinically and ethnography?).

Yes, the center of Hodges' model can be a scary place too. Research in the 'open' (p.51). I'd like to think some people may find this blog and my 'take' of Hodges' model somewhat abstract if not theory-laden (I do make things more complicated than necessary). I know I need data, data, data in order to propose Hodges' model as evidence-based (with a theoretical underpinning). Rees differentiates (somewhat) between theory and theoretical and admits due to the mission to a certain disregard - disrespect for theory (p.52). This is music to the four (five -- spiritual) domains: Foucault (1972) - the echo, 'theory as a prison.'. The paradox - 'after ethnos' as a theory - is recognised too.

Rees signposted to specificity within anthropology and books on bees, insects, and cheese. This reminded me of the extracts I had heard of Sheldrake's 'Entangled Life' on fungi (roots, biomass volumes Vs human-made). I noted 'compound' but added 'compound fracture'. Philosophers may enjoy the discussion on epistemology with emphasis upon ontology. Health and medicine figures here too: public health, Pasteur, microbes, malaria (evidence back in time: the bones often have it?). Ethnoi also; what is the unit of analysis in Hodges' model (single concept, conceptual space, threshold concept, pattern, schema ...?

Rees quotes Descola (2013, xx) that includes:

"Anthropology is faced with a daunting challenge: either to disappear as an exhausted form of humanism or else to transform itself by rethinking its domain and its tools in such a way as to include in its object far more than the anthropos: ..."

 On page 65, "Latour is exemplary here. ... the distinction between nature and culture has, insofar as it runs diagonal to how the world is, ..."

Very diagonal:

 individual 

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

modernity (individualism...?)	nature
culture	modernity (capitalism...?)

The present to follow Latour early in the book, is reference to Michel Serres (p.85). This really warmed me. Ensembles - assemblages are clearly structures, forms to add as units of analysis in Hodges' model..

Despite my initial rock onto the back-foot, there is so much I can still draw upon here (bio-politics). Chapters 4 and 5 deserve re-reading. This is a brilliant book. Clear typology, comprehensive index. Prescient too, even though pre-COVID: with SARS and reference to avian and swine flu.

I hope to return to the notes at some point in the future.

Thank you again to Duke University Press for the review copy.

 

Book review: "After Ethnos" i 

Book review: "After Ethnos" ii 

 

Book review: "After Ethnos" iii

 

After Ethnos - acknowledgements 

 

Controlling the deluge: data, information, knowledge

"The longueil and the traversier, these are the names of the two cables that, wound on four winches called the papillonnage, tied our dredger, right and left, to the shores of Garonne. For seen from a plane, the four steel cables, the first two of which, in front, opposed the current while the two at the stern stabilized the pontoon, must have formed the edges of a transparent butterfly covering the width of the river with its spread wings." pp.11-12.

Serres, M. (2012). Biogea. Minneapolis: Univocal Publications.

Notes (ii) from Paipa Conference: Q & A

Q. What is the appeal and relevance of Michel Serres to the Health Care Domains Model [h2cm]?
c/o Fred Manrique / UPTC 

(As per the paper - Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons. 2008)

A. I cannot remember how I came across this French philosopher (Bruno Latour?), but in 2004 I started to read some of his translated texts. Serres' work is not easy to read, but rewards perseverance. Thus enthused I wrote (in my spare time) and eventually submitted a paper to a prestigious nursing journal. This was rejected - twice. Using the feedback I was able to produce the paper that found publication in the informatics field. This is listed in the W2tQ bibliography. Serres' ideas were remarkable in how they spoke to me and reflected in many ways the conceptual framework of h2cm. I need to read more of Michel Serres' work. Ideas of particular appeal include his use of several tropes:

• Harlequin: the uninvited guest (disease, illness?), mischief (health taken-for-grantedness), chaos (the unpredictable);
• blanc: in my presentation I included a blank slide. There it represents every new person, new page - no judgements, positive regard. A page for lifelong learners and being able to self-reflect.
• Hermes: the Greek God, the messenger - information and Serres' early study of information science. The 'underworld' - nursing and medicine - are not for everyone. The importance of ports as a means of information and cultural exchange - today economies see themselves as information ports and the rise of information portals.
• Serres states (as do other commentators) that the Internet will provide opportunities for new scholars, outside of established academic institutions.
• borders, boundaries - the middle: in life we often have to ask do we continue and cross the middle?
• The Planet: Serres is concerned for how we treat the planet. The health care domains can also be utilised to explore the physical and psychological impacts of climate change and the need to attend to human ecology. We are rocking the boat - Earth is our boat.
• ... plus many others - fluid, dynamics, life - rivers - choices, narratives, Home, Angels, statues.

Finally, within "... S E R R E S ..." you will also find H2CM!  

Please see the bibliography for the paper.

Additional links:

Michel Serres on this blog.

http://michelserres.blogspot.com/

More Q and A to follow plus photos and slides. Photo source (PJ, Copenhagen shop window, 2010).

The art and science of Serresian spin

To Michel Serres:
- the middle is a point of reflection, a point at which questions - the question - must be asked. In fulfilling the purposes of the health career model:

• bridging the theory - practice gap;
• facilitating holistic practice;
• supporting (personal and group) reflection;
• enabling curriculum development;

- the model's four domains are constantly (re-)visited in turn. Motion is constant. Conception - birth provides that initial impetus. Health status. Life - momentum. Centered on the person the movement is usually self-correcting, seeking balance. Health care. Questions and answers whether whole or in part follow, leaving a trail of care delivered and care planned. A record.

There is definite synergy between our use of the health career model, the dynamic quality and quantity of health and social care and Serres' description of the spinning top:

"The behaviour of the cone or the top is worth analysing. Throw this toy and describe, as Plato did, what happens. It is in movement, this is certain, yet it is stable. It even rests on its point or its pole, the more so as its movement is rapid. All children know this. But its rest is still more paradoxical. The top may move about, by translation, without ever losing its stability. To repeat, it can do so as long as it turns very quickly.


Even better, its axis may lean, take on an inclination, without putting the movement of the whole in too much danger. It may again rock, by nutation, oscillating around a mean location. This very ancient and quite childish machine is marvellously instructive.

First of all, it combines and the movements known and thinkable at the time: rotation, translation, fall, leaning and swaying. An integral model, additive, overcharged, yet simple. Second, and above all, it conjoins in a simple one-off experiment phenomena judged or presumed to be contradictory. It is in movement and rest, it turns and yet does not move, it rocks and is stable. The simplicity of a complexity, first and foremost, an additive machine; a synthesis of contradictions, beyond anything else. Now it may serve as a little model of the world, for a naive simple and local orrery. It quivers, at rest, it moves forward, turning, like the heavens, like the stars." p.28-29.

Michel Serres, (2000) The Birth of Physics, Return of the Model, Turba, Turbo. Clinamen Press.


Image source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spinvox-or-someone-like-it-keeps-spinning/

earth, wind, fire, water AND the birth of physics

To begin - the health career model is concerned with space, structures and knowledge (care domains) built around two axes, plus the 'subjects' and 'activities' of health.

How we define and (so) divide space and accord that space salience amid changing contexts is critical to theory, practice and management and the models we subsequently derive:

... The dichotomy does not cut, it defines, it surrounds the closure of a limit, it delineates a boundary. Within the space thus enclosed like meets like. Or rather, conversely, the specific convergance [convenance] or identity, the assembly of the analogous, delimits zones in the disorder which are distinguished from each other. The earth is separated from the waters, air divides from fire. ... p.28.

Michel Serres, (2000) The Birth of Physics, Return of the Model, Turba, Turbo. Clinamen Press.

water	earth
air	fire

Memo to America's Right

Please do not treat the UK's NHS as a
political football and yes I mean 'football'
(there's enough of that o'er here without
you sticking your ten cents worth in!).

Do not underestimate the -
knowledge, skills, creativity and dedication -
of NHS staff, or how it is perceived, valued and loved by the People.

Yes, the NHS is not without its faults (it is also true we are not all Angels), but amid the signs of wear, the aged splinters -

we do not forget the middle,
the constant called change,
or the challenges that beckon in the 21st century.

Image source: Allproducts.com

Additional links:

BBC News Bloggers debate British healthcare

New York Times 2008 Paying Patients Test British Health Care System

Nursing - a model with 'glocal' aspirations

Reading through Dan Pink's book again I came across this ....

The rise of Empathy has even begun to color parental advice. In a recent survey of of Australian information technology managers, 90 percent said they would not recommend that their own children pursue careers in the L(ogic)-Directed field of software engineering. What would they recommend their children do instead? "I'd rather my kids opt for nursing as a profession," said Joseph Michaels, who works for a telecommunications company in Sydney. "It has both global and local demand." p.165.

And wherever nurses travel so too must the reflective tools they employ.

In the paper on Hodges' model and Michel Serres I wrote the following:

The scholastic 3Rs alone are no longer sufficient to equip youngsters for current and future challenges. Wither health literacy without digital, information and visual literacy (accessibility issues acknowledged)? Carroll and Rosson (2007) recognise the moral imperative of participative design. If technology has the capacity to change, people must be involved in that change. Are governments granted the electorate they deserve? The ability to appreciate what lies between analysis and synthesis is the 21st century touchstone. In being educated to care for others, self, and the planet there is a need for a generic model that can be taught globally, across curricula, cultures, and ethnic divides. Janus-like we must combine the local and global, achieving glocal perspectives (Erikson, 2001, chap.19).

Daniel H. Pink (2006) A whole new mind, How to thrive in the new conceptual age, Cyan, p. 165.

Eriksen, T.H. (2001). Small Places, Large Issues, Pluto Press.

Michel Serres on W2tQ

Michel Serres: A blog

Colour my quadrants - theme my domains

Quite a while ago a basic colour scheme emerged for the care domains - quadrants of Hodges' model. It may be useful to explain why these particular colours were adopted.


INTER-INTRAPERSONAL: [mental health, psychology, psychological therapies, philosophy, creativity, theology ...] It is often said that green is a colour that calms people, it is and must remain a constant in our lives and hence in our world. Green reminds us of nature and who we are. There should always be a place for green wherever and whenever we live, for every individual one of us, whether residing in a metropolis, village or wandering across the land, or with no land. We must hope that green (and the blue) will always be.

SCIENCES: [anatomy, physiology, physics, biochemistry, neurology, systems, process ...] Blue is a mystical and spiritual colour. It suggests the metaphysical. It is our ET-ernal umbrella that points the way to the most external other that which is outside and beyond ourselves and our comprehension. Whether it is day, night or the inbetween with the terminator passing overhead it is there - clear sky or rain. It reminds us if you look, listen and feel our frailty, the true position of our laws, preoccupations and the passage of time that we cannot understand. But still we reach out.

POLITICAL: [policy studies, law, democracy, standards, development, activism, governance, citizenry ...] Black and white was adopted here as politics is often portrayed and practiced as being polarised. It is nice (economical of effort) when decisions are literally cast in black and white terms - true or false, yes or no; however, in politics things are never clear cut (especially when claiming expenses). This is another reason for 'black and white'. Not so much for the colours as the pattern they can pose. As posted previously Michel Serres cast Harlequin as a trope for mischief maker (and more) - something we all see in politics - especially at the moment.

SOCIOLOGY: [sociology, patients & carers, the seven ages, collaborative computing, anthropology, history ...] While a warning in nature and many cultures, red was assumed for its warmth. The gathering around the flame of the community, the flame of the hearth. Vibrant. Full of life. This is red. Love, passion and courage you will find here.
Red still stands. No, runs - as a warning. The flame can become a source of chaos in the hands of the mob, when families, peoples and nations fight each other. Red is the ember that is hatred, but red the creative, innovative spark can and will win through. From darkness : To light ...

In the near future I will write more about the positional relationships between the care (knowledge) domains.

Where the heck am I (and where are you on Hodges' model)?

A combination of nursing experience and informatics knowledge and skills have meant that for a long time I have been able to sit on the fence and listen appreciatively to two sides of an ongoing saga. I am sure the ending will be a happy one, if not for the reason that there is no such thing as a 'finished' (nursing) information system. There is however a need for targets, deadlines, plans for a series of software releases and all the activities that accompany 'IT' projects. In short - project management. There is then a constant need for people to sit on the fence.

While the ability to sit on the fence may be something of an advantageous position, there are times when it becomes a source of anxiety and dissonance. Off the fence as a nurse without an informatics role (without i-portfolio), you feel left out of things. Literally chomping at the bit to contribute to the developments taking place - elsewhere.

Also off the fence, but alternately wearing the informatics shoes you have a sense that those soft, fuzzy caring, psychobabble skills are slowly yet inexorably melting away. How credible can you be if you have not 'nursed', that is - seen a client, managed your case load for 1, 2 or 3 years? Whatever your field, you can lose your touch.

Reading Michel Serres and his use of Harlequin as a trope really caught my imagination and breath (as lots of things do). Here's some background to Harlequin (and Hermes):

Two figures, then, inform Serres's oeuvre: Hermes and the Harlequin. Hermes the traveller and the medium allows for the movement in and between diverse regions of social life. The Harlequin is a multicolored clown standing in the place of the chaos of life. Two regions of particular interest to the voyager in knowledge are those of the natural sciences and the humanities. Should science really be opened up to poetry and art, or is this simply an idiosyncrasy on Serres's part? Is this his gimmick? The answer is that Serres firmly believes that the very viability and vitality of science depends on the degree to which it is open to its poetical other. Science only moves on if it receives an infusion of something out of the blue, something unpredictable and miraculous. The poetic impulse is the life-blood of natural science, not its nemesis. Poetry is the way of the voyager open to the unexpected and always prepared to make unexpected links between places and things. The form that these links take is of course influenced by technological developments; information technology transforms the senses, for example. Source: Dr.Vicente Forés López

This short quote hopefully illustrates the attraction of Serres to me as I study Hodges' model and informatics. Discovering Serres really creased me up. I say creased because that is where I am, trapped between two worlds. Stuck in that line between HUMANISTIC and MECHANISTIC realms. If I run the gauntlet there, the only other avenue open to me is that afforded by the INDIVIDUAL and GROUP axis.

Now I'm clearly not the only one able to sit on the fence and take in the views and perspectives of two frequently disparate worlds. On informatics secondment and at events such as HC2008 (HC2009) as a nurse - informatician (?) you have to see lost opportunities looking at the speaker line-up and number of nurses present and enabled to take the messages home.

As a fact of life change will happen.

How much better though is change borne of
dialogue and engagement?

Like Harlequin those of us with clinical AND informatics insights must mix things up. There is a need to constantly enquire, challenge, influence and direct at times. A need also to pass the baton and let others experience the dual perspectives from the fence (and the splinters too).
Image sources: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene
and http://www.qosmiq.com/cdiadrone/ghis/pfolio/characters/index.htm
 

Book: Social Information Technology: Connecting Society and Cultural Issues

Social Information Technology:
Connecting Society and Cultural Issues

Edited By:
Terry Kidd, Univ. of Texas Health Science Center, USA;
Irene Chen , Univ. of Houston Downtown, USA

Description:

An interdisciplinary field, technology and culture, or social informatics, is part of a larger body of socio-economic, socio-psychological, and cultural research that examines the ways in which technology and groups within society are shaped by social forces within organizations, politics, economics, and culture. Given the popularity and increased usage of technology, it is imperative that educators, trainers, consultants, administrators, researchers, and professors monitor the current trends and issues relating to social side of technology in order to meet the needs and challenges of tomorrow.

Social Information Technology: Connecting Society and Cultural Issues provides educators, trainers, consultants, administrators, researchers, and professors with a fundamental research source for definitions, antecedents, and consequences of social informatics and the cultural aspect of technology. This groundbreaking research work also addresses the major cultural/societal issues in social informatics technology and society such as the Digital Divide, the government and technology law, information security and privacy, cyber ethics, technology ethics, and the future of social informatics and technology, as well as concepts from technology in developing countries.

Jones, P. (2008) Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons, IN Kidd, T., Chen, I. (Eds.) Social Information Technology Connecting Society and Cultural Issues, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 7, pp. 96-109.

Serres-Hodges model chapter proof & Oamos

I've received the proof for the book chapter to appear in:

Social Information Technology: Connecting Society and Cultural Issues
edited by Dr. Kidd and Dr. Chen

Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains
and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons

Abstract

This chapter explores the extent to which selected writings of French philosopher Michel Serres and a health care model created by Brian Hodges in the UK can augment and inform the development of social informatics. The volume of Serres’ output contrasts markedly with work devoted to Hodges’ Health Career - Care Domains - Model. Since the concept of health is universal culturally, and informatics disciplines are emerging fields of practice characterised by indistinct boundaries in terms of theory, policy, and practice, various ethnographic and cultural associations will be made. Placing Hodges’ model and Serres' work together is not intended to suggest direct equivalence, other than the common themes this author intends to bring to the attention of the social informatics community. Central to this is the notion of holistic bandwidth, utilising Hodges’ model as a tool to develop and disseminate sociotechnical perspectives.

-<>-

This has been a long road, but it is smashing to see your text nearly there as 'chapter 7'.

Jones, P. (2008) Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons, IN Kidd, T., Chen, I. (Eds.) Social Information Technology Connecting Society and Cultural Issues, Idea Group Publishing, Inc. Chap. 7, pp. 96-109.

To close here is a new media search engine:

http://www.oamos.com/

To all 'average scholars'...

Michel Serres:

"Intelligence is not about knowing axiomatically how to reason... The French 16th Century philosopher Montaigne already had dismissed the concept of a 'well-stuffed head'. The advent of the printing press made the memorization of Ulysses' travels and of folk tales - the support of knowledge at that time - redundant. Montaigne saw no longer use in memorizing a library that was potentially infinite. But does not the Internet ask for a 'well-endowed head'? Won't the best surfer be a 'Jack of all trades'? The fastest surfer is not going to be your typical Ivy-league super-titled philosopher: That guy's head will be simply too loaded to sort it out on the Net. So, there will be fresh opportunities for those who were viewed by society as laggards. It is a clean start with equal opportunities for all."

Source:
Join-Lambert, L., Klein, P., & Serres, M. (1997). Interview. Superhighways for All: Knowledge’s Redemption. Revue Quart Monde. http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9810/msg00137.html

"Where are we?" Take Two, Three, F.... (witheringcare?)

In Five Senses, Serres does not overtly discuss mortality, loss, depletion and omission (Connor, 1999). Management consultants advise that to succeed ‘think outside the box’, but the population pyramid is casting an ever larger shadow, highlighting an ageing population and the box is frequently found full and yet empty? Plaques disconnect, disable the memory; the critical biological box no longer registers and connects. The noise that counts, the background bioelectrical hum is disrupted or absent. Memories once ready to roll downhill, surfing the wave of potential are inaccessible, if marshalled at all. Wither the neural crossroads; the informatique mote in Hermes’ eye?

Our older people, those not yet ephemeral have become peripheral, their personal space an adjunct to furniture. New quantities in life, beg questions of quality, especially quality of care and what it means to care. The concept of self, person-hood is a prime distinguishing factor in terms of describing the attitudes of cultures and communities to older adults and memory loss. In the developed nations the debate continues: is this the price of a long life, or a way of life? In a search for the locus of informatics: the sign on this door reads deep informatics. Listen carefully, as inside the seniors are cared for at home (touched*) remotely courtesy of telecare solutions. The values here of course extend from inappropriate use of informatics to lack of access to such services (Barlow et al., 2006). ...




*For Serres touch is the interface.




We must ensure remote care is not a total substitute for face-to-face interaction.

Barlow, J., Bayer, S., Curry, R. (2006). Implementing Complex Innovations in Fluid Multi-Stakeholder Environments: Experiences of ‘Telecare’, Technovation, 26, 3, pp.396-406.

Connor, S. (1999). Michel Serres’ Five Senses.
Retrieved May 19, 2007, from http://stevenconnor.com/5senses.html

From submitted chapter: Exploring Serres’ Atlas, Hodges’ Knowledge Domains and the Fusion of Informatics and Cultural Horizons - forthcoming...

P.S. Sorry about the two posts today - trying to figure some things out...

Serres - Hodges Paper

Amid the festive yuletide I am completing the Michel Serres-Hodges paper for possible publication next year as a book chapter. (The web version is now rather out-of-date, but highlights the direction of travel.) Almost finished @ 6,999 words - although it's scary the things you (still - argh!) keep finding to revise, delete and add, plus some last minute and yet much appreciated comments that highlight the things authors miss completely. So, when is a paper 'finished'?

Well finished this one will be, as the deadline is the 31st December. Plus I must move on... I plan to e-mail the text tomorrow and then fingers x'd! If the paper is accepted it would be a great start to 2007.

My return to clinical practice one day per week has been postponed until March, but more on that another time. Speaking of which - I feel another post coming on as everyone's out buying boxes...

All the best for the Season and the New Year!