Level Headed Questions about Identity

individual

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

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

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

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group

Individual - Person IDENTITY  Personality Character Traits   Spiritual identity   Religious identity brain in a vat  thought experiment    SPIRIT level	'LEVEL HEAD'
Social identity (cohesion) Collective & Cultural identity   Role & Family identity   Relational identity Languages media(-ted) identities	Local / Regional identity National identity: North-South :: West-East divide Organisational / Inst. identity Political   GLOBAL NORTH:SOUTH

The Legend of St Edmund and the Wolf

Source: 'The Bay Horse' local pub and Coffee House.

Previously: 'identity' : 'philosophy' : 'alcohol' : 'South' : 'language'

A time for reflection S-N solstice :: equinox

Analemma image: Anthony Ayiomamitis

Ever since we first took note of the passing Seasons, and what is left of them today, we have marvelled and come to recognise the extremes of the calendar in the sky.

For humanity in the North and the South. 

The emergence of culture, societies, and civilization has been  dependent upon the calendar - whether recorded in customs and rites, giant blocks of stone, papyrus, or binary code.

As the solstice fast approaches - Sunday, 21 December 2025 15:03-4 - and the Sun touches its lowest, southernmost point, I think of (former) family and friends 'way down' south, and the distance between the hemispheres, represented in the analemma. Of course then there is the solstitial experience of humanity in the south as the sun crests the highest point in their sky.

It must be amazing to see the nightsky from the far south(?). 

How might we explain this culturally, with the benefit of foresight? This apparent celestial 'opposition' of Earth's path around the Sun, is reflected N-S in who bears the impact of climate change and the need attend to planetary health.

But, then look at the equinox, the north and south are seemingly united? 

Is there a baton passed in March and September?

Perhaps, this can be a celebration of global health, for both hemispheres. With a simultaneous 'nod' to planetary health and the search for social and climate justice.
 

What Complex Threads We Weave

Yuki Kihara: Darwin in Paradise Camp - The Whitworth, Manchester

3 October 2025 – 1 March 2026

'A visually stunning exhibition centring Indigenous, queer worlds by Japanese-Sāmoan artist Yuki Kihara.

The Whitworth is proud to present Yuki Kihara’s acclaimed installation Paradise Camp (2022), first presented at the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion in the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, and a new video work, Darwin Drag (2025).

Kihara delves into art histories and archives to unpick the effects of colonialism on the peoples and ecologies of the Pacific. Her visually compelling projects centre and empower the Fa’afafine and Fa’atama in Sāmoa, traditional yet marginalised third gender communities to which the artist belongs. In this exhibition, Kihara focuses on two celebrated Western figures – French modernist artist Paul Gauguin and evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) – who each shaped Western understandings of the Pacific.

Paradise Camp responds to famous paintings of Tahiti and its people by French modernist artist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903). Through archival research, Kihara links Gauguin’s paintings to colonial photographs taken in Sāmoa. Described by Kihara as an act of 'upcycling', she recreates Gauguin’s compositions in a series of 12 resplendent high definition photographs, shot on location in Upolu Island. Collaborating with Fa’afafine models and production crew, Kihara repurposes these cultural artefacts to speak to, and from, queer Indigenous worlds in a profound gesture of reclamation.'

My source:

Josh Lustig. Yuki Kihara, Gallery, FT Magazine, November 22, 2025, #1152. pp.12-13.

The 2025 peace laureate

The 2025 peace laureate

'The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 to Maria Corina Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

In the past year, Ms Machado has been forced to live in hiding. Despite serious threats against her life she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions of people. She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy.'

Individual

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      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC =========================  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

María Corina
Machado	Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach

Are concepts of adolescence from the Global North appropriate for Africa? A debate

'The proponents for the motion argued that adolescence is indeed a distinct developmental phase when puberty is achieved and the neurocognitive development that occurs shapes behaviours that impact health outcomes. This occurs universally, is marked by cultural rites, and recognised in legal frameworks and therefore geographical distinctions in understanding are unnecessary.'

'The opponents argued that adolescence is more than a biological or legally recognised transition to adulthood: instead, concepts, including that of adolescence, are shaped by beliefs, values and expectations founded within a cultural milieu. The concept is dissonant to Africa as it prioritises individualism over communalism, and attributes gender and social roles as accepted in the Global North.'

'Thus, many interventions targeted at adolescents in Africa have remained ineffective. The notion that the concept of adolescence, which originated in the Global North but is universally applied, is a consequence of colonialism giving less value to the lived realities and understandings of peoples from the Global South.

For achieving both epistemic justice and effective health policy and programmes in global health, acknowledgement and centralisation of context are critical. However, in a more interlinked and open world, there is a massive potential for cross-learning and collaboration across geographies to develop a concerted approach to improve the health of adolescents and for a more equitable global health practice.

However, adolescence is also a social entity shaped by beliefs and values within different cultural contexts. A move away from universal, often western-defined concepts of adolescence, to centring the distinct sociocultural factors that shape adolescence in different societies will enable more effective policies and programming.' (Summary box) 

INDIVIDUAL

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   INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES              

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

 SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

GROUP

debate (argumentation) mental space, mindset my beliefs values expectations ENCULTURATION Not just NORTH - SOUTH  but WEST - EAST philosophy of mind belief systems "I DID IT MY WAY" individualism

[Hodges' model] 'Health career' - 'life chances'  2018 - scientific symposium Mwanza, Tanzania 'Adolescence is widely defined as a distinct phase in the life-course during which an individual completes their biological development and transitions from childhood to adulthood.' Appropriate for Africa - health interventions and global health policy that are shaped by such concepts can be universally applicable and relevant? geographical distinctions physical place, space, locale biology - neurocognitive - puberty

communalism universal - cultural rites adolescence - global north culture but applied universally 'adolescence is also a social entity shaped by beliefs and values within different cultural contexts' ETHNOLOGY - SOCIO-CULTURAL Gender - social roles The rise of POPULAR CULTURE: Arts - music, film, drama, literature ... media, technology "WE DO IT OUR WAY"?! "Comme d'habitude"

legal - policy Is there a universal conceptual model to critique*: UNIVERSALITY 'GLOBAL HEALTH' UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE HEALTH FOR ALL HEALTH INFORMATION FOR ALL 'COLLECTIVE EMPATHY' EQUITY - EQUALITY ...? In policy can you ignore LONG-LAT? epistemic justice  effective health policy programmes in global health - aimed at adolescents acknowledgement centralisation of context  glocal/global - WHO - national/local

Many thanks to the authors:

Nothando Ngwenya, Chido Dziva Chikwari, Janet Seeley, Rashida Abbas Ferrand - Are concepts of adolescence from the Global North appropriate for Africa? A debate: BMJ Global Health 2023;8:e012614. https://gh.bmj.com/content/8/12/e012614

My source:
https://x.com/chidodc/status/1735564926423277571?s=20

Reminded of 'My Way' :: 'American Graffiti'

*I have long wondered what models of care, models of nursing, nursing and care theories may be found in Africa, across Europe, Asia, South America, Native North America, Australasia and Oceania?  

Is Hodges' model truly global and universal - is it (can a model of care be) culturally neutral? Perhaps, this is another conference debate, or might constitute a special journal issue?

From: The Communication Initiative (The CI)

With many thanks to Kier and 'The CI' Community ...

 

Dear Peter Jones,

Warm greetings from The Communication Initiative (The CI) - https://www.comminit.com

Thanks so much for contacting us on November 25th to submit/share your work. I am writing to let you know that we have added a summary of "Hodges' Model: The Sustainable Development Goals and Public Health - Universal Health Coverage Demands a Universal Framework" to The CI website. Please do me the favour of reviewing the summary here - https://www.comminit.com/global/content/hodges-model-sustainable-development-goals-and-public-health-universal-health-coverage-d - and sending along any feedback you may have. I will be glad to make the necessary changes promptly.

For more information on our editorial objectives and the principles that guide our posting of information, please see: https://www.comminit.com/global/content/editorial-policy-ci-global

In the future, this summary may be featured in our e-newsletters, including The Drum Beat and Drum Beat Clicks. If you wish to subscribe to these mailings so you can see when your work is featured and read about other relevant programmes and resources, simply log into your registration page: https://www.comminit.com/global/content/peter-jones-hodges-model

We plan to spread the word about this summary via social media and would appreciate it if you might do the same.

Kind regards,
Kier

Kier Olsen DeVries, MA
Senior Editor, The Communication Initiative
Editor, The Drum Beat
kdevries AT comminit.com
https://www.comminit.com
Facebook: The Communication Initiative Network
https://www.facebook.com/The-Communication-Initiative-Network-344005148956579/
https://twitter.com/warrencomminit

PJ - The paper in question (is listed in the bibliography - please see the blog's sidebar):

Jones P, Wirnitzer K. Hodges’ model: the Sustainable Development Goals and public health – universal health coverage demands a universal framework. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2022;0:e000254. doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000254

Three Norths <----> Souths too...?

Map norths converge on Dorset village in historic first (BBC News)

Ordnance Survey said the historic triple alignment made landfall in Langton Matravers near Swanage on Wednesday

"A small village has made map reading history and become the first place where true, magnetic and grid north have met at a single point.

According to the Ordnance Survey (OS) the historic triple alignment made landfall in Langton Matravers, near Swanage in Dorset, on Wednesday.

It will stay converged for three and a half years as it travels through the UK.

OS spokesman Mark Greaves said it was not related to climate change.

Records held by the OS, Britain's national mapping service, date back to the 1930s but Mr Greaves said this was the 'first time ever in British mapping history' the three norths had aligned.

'Magnetic north has a habit of wandering around, but this is unusual, it's not been in this orientation for hundreds of years,' he added" 

Continued...

Map image: http://www.itraveluk.co.uk/maps/england/4876/dorset/langton-matravers.html 

Previously: 'compass' & 'SOUTH'

Invitation: Int. Congress on Evidence-based Parenting Support 2023

Hello HIFA Forums and CHIFA,

Neil Pakenham-Walsh (based in the UK neil.pakenham-walsh AT ghi-net.org) suggested I contact you about a call for abstracts for the inaugural International Congress on Evidence-based Parenting Support 2023

https://www.i-ceps.pafra.org/

The online event will be held on 6-8 June 2023 and will address the theme: Promoting wellbeing and health globally through effective parenting support. We would very much welcome your organisations’ insights on child health and how parenting support can benefit families and children. We are calling for abstracts from members of your organisations.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

The Congress will connect academics, policymakers, practitioners, consumers and service providers with international leaders in parenting. Keynote speakers have already been announced. It aims to bring the evidence-based parenting support community together. An innovative program of online events will reach for global impact that will benefit parents and families around the world now and in the next generation.

Abstract submissions are open. We welcome your contribution by 18 November 2022.

This is a fantastic opportunity to share your research, policy and practice expertise in parenting, family intervention and parenting support with a global audience. Participants will be part of a global collective action to improve access for all parents to high-quality evidence-based parenting support.

We invite you to submit an abstract that addresses any of the sub-themes that reflect your expertise of the research, practice areas or public policy focus of your organisation:

Read more https://i-ceps.pafra.org/submission

Please feel free to share with your colleagues. And if appropriate, perhaps you can also share the invitation in your organisational newsletter or group email.

And we also welcome you to follow us on our social pages to keep up to date with the latest announcements:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PAFRA_Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ICEPS2023 LinkedIn: ICEPS2023

We sincerely hope to hear from you, and do feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

Regards, Maria Battaglia

Communications Officer Institute of Child Protection Studies Australian Catholic University 

P: + 61 3 9230 8732 E: Maria.Battaglia AT acu.edu.au Website: https://www.i-ceps.pafra.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/PAFRA_Official #ICEPS2023 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ICEPS2023 LinkedIn: ICEPS2023

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which I live and work in Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

My source: https://hifa.org/

Endurance: Trapped in the ice (and other thoughts ..?)

"'What the ice gets, the ice keeps,'^*

The Agulhas II frozen as fast — and in the same spot — as Endurance was in 1915

GETTY IMAGES

... said Ernest Shackleton of his ship Endurance as he saw it lost to the Antarctic. History came eerily close to repeating itself on Monday when the Endurance 22 expedition, which is searching for Shackleton's lost ship, became stuck in the Weddell Sea. The mission ran into trouble overnight when the SA Agulhas II, a South African icebreaker, became trapped and the temperature plummeted to minus 10C. The historian Dan Snow, who is on the expedition, said it happened on the spot where Shackleton's ship was last seen in 1915.

Unlike Endurance, which sank after months stuck in the ice, modern technology allowed Agulhas II to escape in hours. Its crane held a container full of aviation fuel over the side and swung it back and forth to wriggle the ship free.

It is late summer in Antarctica and winter is coming, meaning the team's time is limited. 'In a few weeks, it all starts freezing up,' said Mensun Bound, the director of exploration. 'In a few days we have to get our tails out of here.'" p.23.

<>

When person-centred, integrated, and holistic care is the mission; care that takes into account physical and mental health, demands additional degrees of freedom to assure success. If we get stuck, by a blank page, or too much information then swinging the axes into thought plus the dichotomies inherent in the health career model, can come to our rescue and facilitate creativity and progress.

     Self - NORTH - Person

|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

EAST - HUMANISTIC -----------------------------------  MECHANISTIC - WEST^{^}    

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

Community - SOUTH - Population   

 

Previously:

'compass'

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=compass

'line [of sight]'

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=line+of+sight

'south'

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=south

My sources:

Image: The Times.

22 February 2022, BBC Radio 4, PM, 1743 Dan Snow interviewed by Evan Davis, Antarctica expedition to discover Endurance.

Plus: Blackburn, J. Shackleton quest stuck in ice that sank Endurance, The Times, 23 February, 2022, p.23. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/endurance-22-nearly-meets-same-fate-as-shackleton-ship-after-becoming-trapped-in-ice-wxmjbtxbk

^* Is climate change going to subvert many timeless quotations?
^{^} 'Proper' east and west in relation to Hodges' model [discuss]?

South Sudan Medical Journal - #1 2022

Dear colleagues,

The first issue of the South Sudan Medical Journal for 2022 is on our website here and the contents are listed below.

In it, you will find articles covering seats for disabled people using pit latrines in Uganda, Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Ethiopia, extra-pulmonary TB in South Sudan, case reports on the double uterus, ossifying fibroma of the mandible, and our second Back-to-Basics paper on fever.

See also the Appeal for the Al Sabah Children’s Hospital Resource Centre.

Please share this issue with your social networks; encourage colleagues to join our mailing list and to submit manuscripts to southsudanmedicaljournal AT gmail.com.

South Sudan Medical Journal

We thank everyone who contributes to SSMJ including our editors and, especially, our anonymous peer reviewers. Let us know if you are willing to review or edit articles.

Visit our website to get covid-19 updates for South Sudan and to see our new Guidelines for preparing tables for SSMJ manuscripts.

You can follow us on Twitter@SSMedJournal and our Facebook Group, and find previous SSMJ articles on our website and at  African Journals Online (AJOL) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)


EDITORIAL

• The unmet need of pit latrine use by disabled people: a practical solution Eluzai Hakim

RESEARCH ARTICLES

• Determinant factors of immediate outcomes of Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Gondar, Ethiopia Yousif Abdalla Alzubair, Yohannes Hailu and Koku Sisay Tamirat
• One year’s experience of extra-pulmonary TB in a county/regional hospital in South Sudan Gadic Kot Apiu, Lina Sala, Rosario Iannetti, and J. Clarke McIntosh

MAIN ARTICLES

• Sanitation resources for disabled individuals in Uganda Harrison Schmachtenberger, Mei-Li Hey, and Mikaya LD Lumori
• Portable pit latrine seats to increase sanitation for disabled individuals in Lira, Uganda Mei-Li Hey, Harrison Schmachtenberger, and Mikaya LD Lumori

CASE REPORTS

• Double uterus in young women delivered by Caesarean Section: five cases from South Sudan and Ethiopia Jok Thikuiy Gang, Garang Dakjur Lueth and Onwar Otien Jwodh
• Giant ossifying fibroma of the mandible Ernesto Carmona Fernández

SUMMARY

• Back-to-basics: Fever is a syndrome and not just pyrexia Lucien Wasingya- Kasereka and John Kellett

SHORT ITEMS

• Gordon Memorial College Trust Fund (GMCTF) Applicants 2022/2023
• Snakebite cases on the rise as antivenom runs out in Warrap
• Al Sabah Children’s Hospital Resource Centre Appeal

BACK COVER

• The graphs showing South Sudan daily confirmed and cumulative COVID-19 deaths as of January 29, 2022

Kind regards,

The SSMJ team
Email: southsudanmedicaljournal AT gmail.com

n.b. I have reduced the number of links from the original email. PJ

Grid Corrections at a Crossroads

Photographer Gerco de Ruijter's project explores the places where the highway system goes astray, thanks to the challenges of imposing a rectilinear grid onto the spherical surface of the planet https://t.co/xGxTzA5ECi pic.twitter.com/JtdasVsgfJ

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 8, 2018

or Grid Care Corrections at a Crossroads?

GERCO DE RUIJTER

My source:
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/961542009193402368

The need for a hybrid propagator

In the Northern hemisphere now is the time to be out there planting seeds. Here in the NW of England Spring is just around the corner (the first turn of the year). If you have a greenhouse you can start early. If you have a propagator you can start even sooner and possibly experiment with more exotic flora.

Plants are a known quantity in terms of their needs: temperature, soil, sun, wind, frost, position. ... You just need to add the green fingers to make it work: plus the weather!


It really is magic sowing the sweet peas and seeing the display and smelling the scent in summer.

When it comes to health and social care though we need a special propagator: a true hybrid. Just consider the needs:

physical emotional assessment outcomes quality reflection safety personal social history finance consent intervention person-centered carer demographics information education self-care value for money personalisation dignity respect care collaboration engagement values involvement risk ...

Image source: A Feynman Propagator - Wikipedia

Additional link: The Garden Song

What Complex Threads We Weave

Two thoughts spring to mind when I look at h2cm's axes - INDIVIDUAL-GROUP and HUMANISTIC-MECHANISTIC. I wonder where they end and what does where mean exactly?

These questions prompted the combination of the model's axes and the care domains into a 5th domain: the spiritual. Could there be another view of this? Is it sensible to consider that a care concept lies at certain point on the individual axis for example? How does this relate to the mechanistic axis? Maybe this asks too much of what is a model to simplify complexity? Do these axes run-off forever? Do they join up at infinity?

When we think of 'where' we tend to think in concrete (literally) terms. But where are you on this image?

Although this marvellous picture of the analemma helps extend our (physical) notions of where, this photo has its limits in that it captures the view from a certain latitude (a specific context). There are others. Our Earth bound sense of place takes on S-N-E-W, but if we travel far enough ....?

The mobius strip is an object of delight.

Perhaps unknowingly we are all topologists...

Happy equinox! WherEVER you are.

(Holistic care 2 will follow - time wise having to rely on draft post bank)
Analemma image credit: Anthony Ayiomamitis