BU Research Blog | Sociology & Social Policy

Category / Sociology & Social Policy

7 December 2016

History and Biography in the Sociology of Welfare: The importance of student fieldwork

Fusion, student research Jonathan Parker

Sociology, as an emerging discipline, developed within the crucible of historical studies of changing lives, transforming events and a search for alternative ways to understand history. We see this in the works of such illustrious progenitors of sociology as Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim and Weber but it has itself been marginalised, even hidden, as social, political and historical events have unfurled and a turn to biography has displaced the historical. Furthermore, historical sociology has taken something of a battering since John H Goldthorpe decried its relevance towards the end of the last century. However, it is perhaps this railing against the historical which has lent itself to a resurgence through such key figures as Barrington Moore, Charles Tilly, Theda Skocpol and Shmuel Eisenstadt amongst others. But what of its place within contemporary undergraduate sociological education?

In an attempt to introduce today’s BU undergraduates to the important interdisciplinary fusion of the social, the biographical and the historical we have developed an innovative exploration of the histories of social welfare that students take in their second year of full time study. This involves the broad study of social and political welfare initiatives through to the Poor Law, its reform and the implementation of the Welfare State, retrenchment and contemporary attacks on welfare and those who claim benefits. So what? You may say. This is similar to most programmes of study charting welfare policy. However, two specific aspects mark out this module. The first is the assessment, reported elsewhere, which requires groups to explore the experiences of characters in specific historical periods through the construction of a narrative. This allows students to enter into the social and political worlds of individuals in need of social welfare and support.

The second innovative aspect relates to the continuing strands running through our explorations – we take Richard Lachmann’s approach to historical sociology to understand how the present, and future, is contingent on the past. Throughout the course, we examine seemingly inconsequential events leading to change, and why ‘transformative’ events, such as the introduction of the British Welfare State in 1948, occur when they do. Moreover, we embed this learning in a hands-on fieldtrip to the historic market town of Sherborne. Though a visit to the historic St Johns’ (two of them) almshouses, the architecturally stunning abbey, students are exposed to the religious beginnings of charity and alms, the turn to the Parish and the body politic in dispensing poor relief and an appreciation of the overt discrimination between deserving and undeserving. Indeed, they experience that the ‘poor are always with us’ and also they are stratified in society by those with power. As one student stated:

The trip … showed us how throughout history policies have changed, yet some have remained the same as 600 years ago. It made us appreciate and value history more. We learned how the welfare state changed with time to adjust to the environment and the social conditions (war, economic state, health condition of people etc).

The students undertaking this trip have experienced the importance of an historical sociological approach to social welfare policy and application marrying this with the contemporary focus on biography and merging analytic thought, and an appreciation of the affective. This was particularly evident in discussion of the contemporary foodbank provision which religious and lay people undertake to offset some of the hardships experienced by those requiring benefits today:

I also found it interesting how the food bank is run. I think it is so lovely that the people of Sherborne deliver the food bags to the people who cannot come to collect them. I have never heard of anywhere else that does this before and think it shows just how close a community can be and that we should all work together to help each other.

This takes historical sociology into a contemporary arena in which the biographical is included, and offers the students a chance to bring in the personal and to reflect on experiences whilst acknowledging the historical and the structural:

I was really surprised to find out that there are people still living in the alms houses today! I was not expecting that. I found it really interesting how there are still so many similarities to how it was ran when it began to how it is ran now. Before the trip my understanding was that to live in the alms houses wouldn’t have been a nice experience but from the trip I was able to understand that it was actually built with the intention to help people and that is exactly what it did and still does today. I made connections with the histories of social policy and welfare when I understood that the people who came to live in the alms houses were the ‘deserving poor’.

Jonathan Parker (Department of Social Sciences and Social Work), Nezhat Habib and Bonnie Brown (students on BA Sociology and Social Policy programme)

Sherborne Abbey

1 December 2016

Shelley Frankenstein Festival at BU

Student Engagement, Women's Academic Network Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Shelley Frankenstein Festival at BU

“Fear not that I shall be the instrument of future mischief’ ~

Feminism, Frankenstein and the Future

On the 7^th November, the Women’s Academic Network in conjunction with the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences held 2 international, public research seminars at BU. These were widely promoted by Bournemouth Borough Council and the Shelley Theatre as the main intellectual course in a fanciful November feast of Shelley-Frankenstein Festival events across Bournemouth and Boscombe, marking the bicentenary of the marriage of Mary Shelley née Godwin (author of Frankenstein) and the great Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

The important connection of the town to the legacy of members of this famous family is not well recognised regionally – and yet they were of monumental significance in terms of both culture and politics. Mary Wollstonecraft, the courageous and prophetic Georgian feminist and author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women, was both the mother of the younger Mary, and was married to the radical political philosopher, William Godwin. The family, including Mary and Percy’s son and daughter-in-law, are buried locally at the magnificent Grade I listed, St Peter’s Town Parish Church, where the tomb includes, befittingly, Shelley’s heart.

At the first session ‘Wollstonecraft’s legacy: feminism for then and now! With an introduction to Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’, panellists included feminist historian Dr Charlotte Gordon of Boston University USA, who has received international plaudits on her wonderful book Romantic Outlaws, which is based on the lives of the Marys, mother and daughter. The stalwart, national campaigner for a commemorative statue of Mary Wollstonecraft, Roberta Wedge, introduced the session with a most informative talk on the great feminist’s life and achievements. Christine Aziz, feminist writer and playwright on Mary Shelley, and Professor Candida Yates from the Faculty of Media & Communication completed this superb quartet of speakers, ably chaired by Dr Heather Savigny.

Sandwiched by a buffet lunch and a film showing of Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Mary

Shelley’s Frankenstein’, the second seminar followed, chaired by Professor Jonathan Parker on ‘Ethics, prosthetics and cosmeticisation: Troubling Dr Frankenstein in the 21st Century’. The highly relevant topic of cosmetic, prosthetic, genetic, and life-enhancing surgery/medicine was discussed by panellists with audience participation. Panellists included Dr Peri Bradley (editor of Food, Media and Contemporary Culture The Edible Image, Professor Iain MacRury (author of The Inner World of Doctor Who: psychoanalytic reflections in time and space), Revd Dr Ian Terry (Team Rector of St Peter’s Town Parish Church), and WAN co-convenor and feminist thinker and event organiser, Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree.

The reviews of this event have been excellent and bodes well for BU’s future participation in forthcoming Bournemouth-wide Shelley-Frankenstein Festivals via WAN and other scholarly initiatives. The aims of the Festival are thus to create a significant international footprint for cultural tourism in Bournemouth, to strengthen our international academic links with academics and writers who continue to be inspired by the extraordinary achievements of this family, and finally, last but not least, to extend and expand the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences’ ‘town & gown’ community engagement work in collaboration with cross-Faculty friends and community partners.

Finally Sara and Jonathan would like to extend many thanks to Professor Sam Porter, Head of Dept for Sociology & Social Work in HSS who opened the event and ably demonstrated the nimble eloquence that can only come from kissing the Blarney Stone.

Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

9 November 2016

Islam and Social Work: Culturally sensitive practice in a diverse world

Fusion, Women's Academic Network Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

The complexities of multiculturalism as a social ontology and as a political discourse have taken a rapid and alarming turn to the right in a political moment of increasing social turbulence on issues that revolve around national identity, ethnicity and religion. It is therefore timely, if regrettably so, that the second edition of Islam and Social Work makes its debut this month.

The first volume went to press in 2008, in my first year at BU, and my co-authors and I were overwhelmed when the book was showered with positive reviews. Regarded as not only the best, but the sole European text on this conspicuously important topic, it was also viewed as having no counterpart in the Global North (where the subject of social work and minority ethnic groups has been a dominant theme in the social work literature for decades). Since then it has been regularly cited and I been privileged to have anonymously reviewed dozens of papers on Islamic interpretations of social work practice. I have learned that Western social work is no longer the epicentre of practice – there are other worlds out there. I feel that this earlier book was, if nothing else, pivotal to opening the door much wider to be able to hear from our Muslim social work colleagues around the world, whose practice can challenge the restrictive, bureaucratised and therefore often inhuman professional processes in the UK

Strangely, however, over the years, despite the world having changed so very much since in terms of the shifting geo-political axes of power, the rise and fall of despotic regimes, the call for accountability of Western leaders implicated in invasion of Gulf nations, the Arab Spring, global terrorism, Al-Qaeda and later the monstrous birth of imploding Daesh – no one has produced a text to supersede the old first edition. And so, reader, we, Fatima Husain, Basia Spalek and I decided to produce the 2^ndedition, which has been fully revised and updated, rewritten virtually from scratch, and I believe we have produced a book that is specific in detail, expansive in scope and completely international in outlook.

We hope that this will be a text that is the first port of call for all social work students across the globe who are interested in learning more about competent and sensitive practice with Muslim service user and client groups across the lifespan, as well as discovering the many beauties and wise profundities that are embedded, but often overlooked, in the youngest of the Abrahamic religions, Islam.

Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Professor of Social & Cultural Diversity

5 November 2016

Helping Nepal to establish its midwifery profession

international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The international journal Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare (Elsevier publication) published the online first version of our latest maternity-care research paper on Nepal [1]. This paper is part of the successfully completed PhD research project of Malin Bogren (first author). The paper uses a qualitative approach based on the framework of Complex Adaptive Systems. Malin conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 key people representing eight different organisations (actors) promoting the development of the midwifery profession in Nepal. The move of midwifery from an occupation to a profession in Nepal is a challenging process. The study indicates the importance of understanding the motivations of, and barriers perceived by, actors that can promote or obstruct the establishment of the midwifery profession. It also points to the importance of informing the wider public about the role and responsibility of an autonomous midwifery profession.

The paper adds to our previous work around midwifery in Nepal [2-3].

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

Bogren, M.U., Berg, M., Edgren, L., van Teijlingen, E., Wigert, H. (forthcoming) Shaping the midwifery profession in Nepal – Uncovering actors’ connections using a Complex Adaptive Systems framework. published online: October 4, 2016
Bogren M, van Teijlingen E., Berg M. (2013) Where midwives are not yet recognized: A feasibility study of professional midwives in Nepal, Midwifery 29(10): 1103-1109.
Bogren, M.U., Bajracharya, K., Berg, M., Erlandsson, K., Ireland, J., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2013) Nepal needs midwifery, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (JMMIHS) 1(2): 41-44.

27 October 2016

InsideBU – Out Now

Student Engagement, student research Sally Gates

The latest issue of InsideBU, the magazine for BU staff and students, is out now.

This issue brings the concept of Fusion to life through a range of features and articles including:

Celebrating undergraduate research through hosting the prestigious British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) next year
National research into the scale and impact of financial scamming in the UK, headed by BU’s National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice
The research stories behind the Fusion mural on Talbot Campus.

Hard copies are available across both campuses and you can also read it online – simply click the arrows on the bottom right of the screen to expand it to a full page size.

If you use a screen-reader, Word and PDF versions are also available. The current issue – and all back issues – can also now be found on the Staff Intranet, under ‘Find’ on the bottom right of the homepage.

Please email insidebu@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like hard copies sent directly to you.

We appreciate all feedback and suggestions for future issues. If you have a story for the next issue of InsideBU, email insidebu@bournemouth.ac.uk.

25 October 2016

Visitors from Nepal at FHSS

Centre for Excellence in Learning, international, open access, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

As part of FHSS’s sustained research in Nepal Dr. Sujan Marahatta and Mr. Jiwan Sharma from Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences (MMIHS) came to the UK to discuss further future collaborations. The Nepali visitors met with our Dean Prof. Steve Tee and Dr. Malcolm McIver FHSS’s Associate Dean for Global Engagement as well with Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Pramod Regmi and BU PhD student Mr. Jib Acharya.

BU academics have been collaborating with MMIHS for over seven years. Currently, we have three projects in Nepal with MMIHS: one funded by the Centre for Excellence in Learning on introducing CPD (Continuous Professional Development) in nursing in Nepal and coordinated by Dr. Catherine Angell; and project designed by Dr. Regmi on transgender issues in Nepal which is funded by FHSS monies, and study on returned trafficked women in Nepal which has received a small small amount of money from both FHSS and Liverpool John Moores University. Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen, in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH), has been a Visiting Professor at Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences for nine years so it is a long-standing working relationship. MMIHS publishes its own journal the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences which is part of Nepal Journals Online (NepJOL) and Open Access. Apart from Prof. van Teijlingen, CMMPH Prof. Hundley, Dr. Regmi, or our BU media colleague Dr. Luce (Faculty of Media & Communication) and various members of FHSS’s Visiting Faculty have published in this journal.

FHSS and MMIHS are now working towards a more formal academic relationship.

23 October 2016

BU Sociology graduate invited speaker at the World Youth Buddhist Symposium

international, Student Engagement, student research Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

Alexandra Jarrett is a former BU student who is graduating this year from the BA (Hons) Sociology & Anthropology programme in HSS. Prior to taking up her MA studies at the highly prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Alex was invited to the beautiful northern Thai city of Chiang Mai to present aspects of her final-year dissertation on Buddhist death rituals and beliefs.
Alex’s contribution was very warmly welcomed beyond our hopes and expectations. As her supervisor I was delighted to hear her accounts of how this experience deepened her understanding of her chosen area of interest: the anthropology of relgioun and spiritual belief systems, which she started exploring moredeeply in the Soc+ unit ‘Seekers, Believers & Iconoclasts: Sociology of Thought’. Participation in the Symposium also elevated Alex’s awareness of how much bright, energetic and keen UK students have to offer on the world stage at a dismal time when Britain seems to be wilfully stepping away from the limelight and heading out of the backdoor. Enough of the doleful thoughts – over now to Alex:
‘This summer, I was delighted to be asked to deliver a guest speech at the World Youth Buddhist Symposium in Thailand. The theme of the symposium was “The way of Peace” and I delivered a talk entitled “consumerism and the false self”. When I arrived at the university in Chiang Mai, I was overwhelmed by the setting of the symposium. The ceiling was lit up by giant lanterns and the front of the stage full of flowers. I was very impressed with the organisation of and the pride that was taken in holding this symposium.
The first day of the symposium was magnificent – the opening show began with traditional Thai dances and a flag ceremony (where I was chosen to represent Britain). Each day of the symposium began with the introduction of the honourable guests, which included Khenpo Sydogye (a famous Tibetan teacher). Over the course of four days, I learnt about different religious perspectives towards peace and how this should be achieved worldwide. As well as this, I took part in meditation and a life release ceremony involving releasing fish into the lake whilst singing and chanting mantras.

My speech was ten minutes long and discussed the influence of consumerism, social media and technology on achieving peace. I discussed the idea of how wealth can often contribute towards selfishness and how technology creates an idea of a false self where consumers become obsessed with projecting a certain image of themselves online. As well as delivering this speech, I was asked to perform a song on the final day of the symposium during the closing ceremony.
My experience at this symposium was amazing and I learnt a lot about Buddhism and different religious perspectives towards peace. The symposium was predominantly run by the Chinese so I also learnt a lot about the Chinese culture and their pride in running an organised, impressive conference.’
The entire Soc+ team is very proud of Alex and her achievements, which were featured in the BU news. We hope she will stay in touch and return to BU one day to address junior Sociology+ students as one of our most excellent and inspiring alumnae. Well done Alex!

Alexandra Jarrett and Sara Ashencaen Crabtree

20 October 2016

BU THET Nepal project presented at RCM conference

conferences, international, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Our THET (Tropical Health & Education Trust) funded project which trains community health worker such as Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) on mental health issues related to pregnancy was presented at the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) conference today by FHSS Visiting Faculty Jillian Ireland (photo). Jillian is also a community midwife at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Mental health is poorly covered in the training of health care providers in Nepal. This all the more worrying as it is also culturally a difficult sensitive topic to discuss. This makes it difficult for front-line health workers, especially generalists or non-mental health specialists, to start a discussion about mental health issues with pregnant women, new mothers and their wider families.

Our THET partnership includes the Department of Health, Physical & Population Education at Nepal’s oldest and largest university Tribhuvan University’s (TU), Bournemouth University and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). This project is funded under the Health Partnership Scheme (HPS). HPS funds to carry out training and capacity-building projects in low-income countries, such as Nepal. HPS itself is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and managed by THET (Tropical Health and Education Trust).

The partnership working has resulted in several publications on mental health and maternity care in Nepal. [1-3]

References:

Simkhada, B., Sharma, G., Pradhan, S., van Teijlingen, E., Ireland, J., Simkhada, P., Devkota, B. & the THET team. (2016) Needs assessment of mental health training for Auxiliary Nurse Midwives: a cross-sectional survey, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 2(1): 20-26. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/15793/12738
van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Devkota, B., Fanning, P., Ireland, J., Simkhada, B., Sherchan, L., Silwal, R.C., Pradhan, S., Maharjan, S.K., Maharjan, R.K. (2015) Mental health issues in pregnant women in Nepal. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(3): 499-501. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/13607/11007
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen E., Winter, R.C., Fanning, C., Dhungel, A., Marahatta S.B. (2015) Why are so many Nepali women killing themselves? A review of key issues Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 1(4): 43-49. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/12001

18 October 2016

EU award for PhD student Preeti Mahato

international, PG research, Publishing, student research Edwin van Teijlingen

FHSS PhD student Preeti Mahato in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) has been awarded a funded place on the COST Action Training School BEYOND BIRTH COHORTS: from study design to data management. This training school will run from 23-15 November in Spain.

COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a unique platform where European researchers can jointly develop their ideas and initiatives across all scientific disciplines through trans-European networking of nationally funded research. Preeti pal has been awarded the sum of 500 euro to cover the cost of attending the Training School and travel and accommodation costs. Preeti’s PhD project is on maternity care provision in Nepal. Preeti’s research focuses on the quality and equity of service available at birthing centres. In Nepal, birthing centres act as first contact point for the women seeking maternity services especially the basic obstetric care. She is supervised by Dr. Catherine Angell, Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and BU Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University).

Preeti has already published the first PhD paper ‘Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities’ in the Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) [1], whilst another was published in the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology [2]. Furthermore, a more general health and development paper was published this year in Health Prospect [3].

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 17-30.
Mahato, P.K., Regmi, P.R., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C., Sathian, B. (2015) Birthing centre infrastructure in Nepal post 2015 earthquake. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 5(4): 518-519. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/14260/1157
Regmi, P., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sharma, S., Mahato, P. (2016) Sustainable Development Goals: relevance to maternal & child health in Nepal. Health Prospect 15(1):9-10. healthprospect.org/archives/15/1/3.pdf

13 October 2016

FHSS Dr. Vanessa Heaslip awarded Florence Nightingale Travel Scholarship

Awarded & submitted bids, international Edwin van Teijlingen

Dr. Vanessa Heaslip in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences (FHSS) has been awarded a Florence Nightingale Travel Scholarship. She will be using this prestigious award to travel to New Zealand and various locations in the United Kingdom. She is hoping to learn from New Zealand, which is decades ahead in tackling these issues, to establish, adapt and develop principles for implementation in the UK. Vanessa’s study funded by the Florence Nightingale Foudation is called: “Towards addressing health inequalities of marginalised communities; using Gypsy Roma Travellers (GRT) as the model.”

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

10 October 2016

Festival of Social Science: widening participation and photography

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Student Engagement, student research Alex Wardrop

“I want to take a break… stop autopiloting … everything that you do makes you feel”

Student, 10/10/2016

In My Voice, My Story, we explore what it means to be a non-traditional student at university through the participatory photographic and story technique, photovoice. This technique sees students become the researchers of their own lives through taking photos and telling their stories.

The photovoice method is a participatory approach used to inform policymakers, so that meaningful policy changes can be shaped the lived experiences of the communities the policies are intended to serve.

We focus on students from non-traditional backgrounds because we know how the lived experiences of these students are often marginalised by institutions and that this impacts upon their attainment and degree outcomes. Learning together in this way is a central tenet to our programme of Fair Access Research.

This research contributes to new, more participatory, ways of doing and thinking about widening participation which is a core tenet to BU’s Fair Access Research project.

Students Who Bounce Back, led by Dr Jacqueline Priego

We invite you all to a workshop where we will listen to the students’ voices, learn from the students’ stories, gain insights into different research methods and work together to develop practical responses to what we see and hear.

Monday 7^th November 2016 10:00 -13:00 in the Fusion Building, F105

Book a place here!

You will gain insights into the power of arts-based social participatory research methods for eliciting deep stories and re-represented for social action. Having engaged with storytelling, participants will discuss ways in which the students’ lived experiences could shape policy changes and interventions to better enable students to belong.

Feel free to share this invitation with your colleagues or networks.

For more information about this project or BU’s innovative Fair Access Research, email the Principal Investigators, Dr Vanessa Heaslip (vheaslip@bournemouth.ac.uk) and Dr Clive Hunt (chunt@bournemouth.ac.uk).

29 September 2016

New inter-interdisciplinary media & health paper

international, open access, Publishing, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

The week saw the publication of multi-disciplinary paper ‘Media, Health & Health Promotion in Nepal’, co-written by Faculty of Media & Communication academic Dr. Ann Luce, Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen and Bournemouth University (BU) Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (who is based at Liverpool John Moores University) [1]. The paper appeared in the latest issue of the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences, an Open Access journal which is part of the Journals Online Project.

The paper paper ‘Media, Health & Health Promotion in Nepal’ offers insight into the media and health promotion in Nepal as well as advice to health promoters, health policy-makers and practitioners about collaborating with the media to get health messsage out to people across the country. The paper is freely available online, which was an important feature in our decision to publish in the Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences as this reduced the cost barrier for underpaid health workers and underfunded project to accessing information. We have also written a short piece about the topic (and the paper) on the site: Media & Midwifery

BU has a long history of conducting health research in Nepal [see for example 2-9] and it has a growing number of publications in the inter-disciplianry field where health and media overlap [10-18].

References:

van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Luce, A., Hundley, V. (2016) Media, Health and Health Promotion in Nepal, Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 2(1): 70-75. http://www.nepjol.info/index.php/JMMIHS/article/view/15799/12744
Milne, L., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Ireland, J. (2015) Staff perspectives of barriers to women accessing birthing services in Nepal: A qualitative study BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 15:142 biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/15/142
Acharya, J., van Teijlingen E., Murphy, J., Hind, M. (2015) Study of nutritional problems in preschool aged children in Kaski District in Nepal, Journal of Multidisciplinary Research in Healthcare 1(2): 97-118. http://dspace.chitkara.edu.in/jspui/bitstream/1/560/1/12007_JMRH_Acharya.pdf
Subedi, Y.P., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E. (2016) Where is Nepal in the Demographic Transition within the wider context of the Nutrition Transition? Open Journal of Social Sciences 4: 155-166. http://file.scirp.org/pdf/JSS_2016052310320947.pdf
Mahato, P., van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P., Angell, C. (2016) Birthing centres in Nepal: Recent developments, obstacles and opportunities, Journal of Asian Midwives 3(1): 18-30. http://ecommons.aku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=jam
Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Angell, C., Simkhada, P. (2016) Dirty and 40 days in the wilderness: Eliciting childbirth and postnatal cultural practices and beliefs in Nepal BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 147 https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-0938-4
Sharma, S., van Teijlingen, E., Belizán, J.M., Hundley, V., Simkhada, P., Sicuri, E. (2016) Measuring What Works: An impact evaluation of women’s groups on maternal health uptake in rural Nepal, PLOS One 11(5): e0155144 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0155144
Simkhada, B., van Teijlingen E., Simkhada, P., Porter, AM, Wasti, S.P. (2014) Why do costs act as a barrier in maternity care for some, but not all women? A qualitative study in rural Nepal, International Journal of Social Economics 41(8): 705-713.
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Devkota, B., Pathak, RS, Sathian, B. (2014) Accessing research literature: A mixed-method study of academics in Higher Education Institutions in Nepal, Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 4(4): 405-14. nepjol.info/index.php/NJE/article/view/11375
Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2012) Media use for Health Promotion: Communicating Childhood Immunisation Messages to Parents. Journal of Health Promotion 4(1): 1-9.
Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2013) Childhood Immunisation in Nepal: Parents’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour & implications for Health Policy. Health Science Journal 7(4):370-383
Devkota, S., Maharjan, H.M., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Media and Health. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 169-184.
Hundley, V., Luce, A., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Do midwives need to be more media savvy? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 25(1):5-10.
Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2012) Media use for Health Promotion: Communicating Childhood Immunisation Messages to Parents. Journal of Health Promotion 4(1): 1-9.
Devkota, S., Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Rai, L.D. (2013) Childhood Immunisation in Nepal: Parents’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour & implications for Health Policy. Health Science Journal 7(4):370-383
Devkota, S., Maharjan, H.M., van Teijlingen, E. (2015) Media and Health. In: Wasti, S.P., Simkhada, P.P. & van Teijlingen, E. (Eds.) The Dynamics of Health in Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: Social Science Baha & Himal Books: 169-184.
Luce, A., Cash, M., Hundley, V., Cheyne, H., van Teijlingen, E., Angell, C., (2016) “Is it realistic?” the portrayal of pregnancy and childbirth in the media BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth 16: 40 http://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-016-0827-x
Hundley, V., Duff, E., Dewberry, J., Luce, A. and van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Fear in childbirth: are the media responsible? MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 24(4): 444-447.

19 September 2016

My Voice, My Story: Festival of Social Science

Centre for Excellence in Learning, Public engagement Alex Wardrop

I cannot tell the truth about anything unless I confess

being a student, growing and learning something new every day.

The more I learn, the clearer my view of the world becomes

– Sonia Sanchez

During November 2016, BU will be hosting the ESRC Festival of Social Science. This is part of a a national celebration of the social sciences that open up sites of sharing and critical reflection through debates, conferences, workshops, interactive seminars, film screenings, virtual exhibitions and much more.

Our programme of Fair Access Research draws on innovative insights and research approaches from the social sciences in order to understand and make a difference for students who are underrepresented in or marginalized by higher education.

For the Festival we will be working with a group of students to support them to share their stories through photography, group reflection and creative retelling. In telling individual stories we hope to elucidate collective responses to the very real challenges of being a student at this current moment.

You are invited to a workshop on Monday 7th November between 10:00-13:00 exploring what it means to become and be a student in the 21st century.

The workshop will be a space where students’ voices and stories are heard, listened to and reflected on. This project is rooted in the idea that the most effective research and policies are those shaped by the voices of the communities intended to be reached. The stories and exhibition will creative the space for us all to learn together to make higher education more accessible, engaging and equitable for all.

If you want to listen, reflect and help make a difference book here. Please share with colleagues and networks.

Between now and November go to Poole House to see the exhibition our colleague Dr Jacqueline Priego has curated that documents the lives and experiences student carers.

For more information about BU’s Fair Access Research, email the Principal Investigators, Dr Vanessa Heaslip (vheaslip@bournemouth.ac.uk) and Dr Clive Hunt (chunt@bournemouth.ac.uk).

To book a place at the workshop, follow this link.

15 September 2016

New sociology book by Prof Ann Brooks

Publishing, Women's Academic Network Edwin van Teijlingen

Genealogies of Emotions, Intimacies, and Desire: Theories of Changes in Emotional Regimes from Medieval Society to Late Modernity (Hardback) book cover

Congratulations to Prof. Ann Brooks in FHSS on the publication of her latest book Genealogies of Emotions, Intimacies and Desire: Theories of Changes in Emotional Regimes from Medieval Society to Late Modernity. The book has a Foreword by David Konstan (NYU) and it is published by Routledge.

14 September 2016

FHSS seminar Prof McKie

Publishing, REF Subjects, Research assessment, Women's Academic Network, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Prof. Linda McKie who is professor of Sociology at Durham University gave an excellent paper today in FHSS on Revitalising Spatial and Temporal Frameworks in the Analysis of Unpaid Care and Paid Work. Her paper highlighted that published data have documented the persistence of the gender pay gap for all women with evidence of a deepening gap following maternity leave. These data generated numerous analyses on segregation and discrimination in education and working life and the many ways in which unpaid care for children, family members and elders remains a dominant factor in everyday gendered inequalities. Often little comment was made on women’s crucial role in reproducing generations many of whom will fund future pensions and services through their taxation. These intergenerational reciprocities are generally ignored in favour of the immediate time considerations for employers, workers and families with the need to generate profit, or income and resources for household or business survival.

In her seminar Prof. McKie revisited the analytical frameworks of ‘caringscapes’ and ‘carescapes’. In earlier work, it was asserted that both offer analytical potential to enhance analyses of the temporal and spatial dynamics of caring and working over the lifecourse in different places. Caring, critical to human flourishing and evident in many aspects of women’s lives, is captured in ‘caringscapes’. The framework of ‘carescapes’ explores the relationship between policies and services as determined by employers, the state and capital. Both frameworks are informed by feminist theorising and spatial and temporal perspectives on identifying and analysing how women perceive, engage with, and reflect on, the demands and pleasures of combining informal caring and paid work.

Yesterday Prof. McKie led a well-attended workshop for FHSS staff on preparing for the REF. She offered insight into various REF processes as well advise on strategic planning and the importance of networking. Prof. McKie has been a sub-panel member of the Research Excellence Framework 2014 (REF) Sub-panel 23: Sociology for the period 2010-2014.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

12 September 2016

FHSS PhD student Jib Acharya presented at University of Chester

international, PG research, student research, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Mr. Jib Acharya presented at The Nutrition Society Student Conference in Chester last week. He presented from his PhD work Healthy eating among mothers in Nepal: A qualitative exploration, which is supervised by Dr. Jane Murphy, Dr. Martin Hind and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen. His thesis found that mothers in Nepal misunderstand the role of healthy eating to combat nutritional problems in their children. Often their beliefs and attitudes can result in the improper feeding of young children which can lead to several complications, particularly in pre-school-aged children. There is a growing quantitative research on nutrition in Nepal but very little qualitative research. Therefore, as part of his mixed-methods study Jib explored food knowledge, beliefs and attitudes, and behaviour of mothers related to feeding preschool aged children and their perceptions of key barriers to healthier eating.

Using seven focus groups with four pharmacists, seven policy-makers, eleven health workers, five spiritual healers, seven Auxiliary Nurse midwives, seven mothers participating in a mothers’ group, and nine social workers. A thematic approach was performed for data analysis. Relevant quotes are presented. His qualitative thematic analysis revealed the following themes: poverty, education level, strong cultural beliefs, family size, household income, time and a growing preference for fast food. This particular presentation at the University of Chester highlighted the themes related to culture and societal behaviour.

Well done!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

9 September 2016

Public Health England Physical Activity Tool

Lisa Andrews

Public Health England has launched a Physical Activity Tool which brings together data at the local level for the whole of England on physical activity, including walking and cycling, as well as data on related risk factors and conditions such as obesity and diabetes. The tool also presents trend data and enables easy comparison of local authority data, allowing users to compare regional neighbours and local authorities with similar characteristics. The tool aims to help promote physical activity, develop understanding, and support benchmarking, commissioning and service improvement.

The data is grouped into three domains:

Key indicators – a summary overview of physical activity including a number of key outcomes from the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF).
Related conditions – such as cancers, diabetes, obesity, hypertension and depression. Regular physical activity can reduce the risk of these.
Supporting information – population demographics, life expectancy and deprivation.

In addition PHE has also published a data spreadsheet: Physical activity levels among adults in England 2015, available on the PHE Obesity website. It presents physical activity measures (inactive, low activity, some activity and active) and key demographics from the Active People Survey at national, regional, upper and lower tier local authority and County Sports Partnership level.

5 September 2016

Women Academics Centre Stage in Presidential Roles in Major International Professional Bodies and Conference Organisation

conferences, Fusion, international, Research themes Lisa Andrews

Women Academics Centre Stage in Presidential Roles in Major International Professional Bodies and Conference Organisation

3^rd International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology

10-14 July2016, University of Vienna, Austria

Professor Ann Brooks

Bournemouth University

This year’s Third ISA was held at the University of Vienna and shortly after Brexit, so I braced myself to face a barrage of jokes and recriminations about the UK vote. Well there was some gentle humour in the plenaries but the response was mainly one of pity. The conference was based in the opulence of the University of Vienna… . With its historical and contemporary position in relation to both European and global sociology this conference attracted 4,000 sociologists from across the globe. I usually find the ISA a somewhat unwieldy conference compared to the BSA and ASA but Research Committtee (RC) 32 Women in Society, has a wonderfully inclusive feel and gave coherence to the entire conference for me (see below). Increasingly some of the best conferences have women centre stage, including the ASA 2015 Conference in Chicago, with the then ASA President, Paula England, and the current ASA President and Chair of the 2016 Program Committee, Ruth Milkman (CUNY –Graduate Centre). The ASA Conference was held in Seattle in August 2016. The current ISA President is Margaret Abraham (Hofstra University, USA) who together with a team at the University of Vienna delivered a conference which did not disappoint.

A series of important and thoughtful plenaries addressed the global dimensions of the conference with the University of Vienna organising team providing an interesting European dimension addressing the Brexit issue. A generally favourable balance was achieved between global and European dimensions. The Opening Plenary featured a number of academics from the University of Vienna and they were clearly delighted at attracting over 5,000 sociologists to this impressive university as the conference base. The Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Vienna, Ulrike Felt, provided an uplifting and impressive summary of the social sciences at the University Vienna and I can see the number of applicants for positions there escalating as a result. It was also great to see governmental support for the social sciences, with Barbara Weitgruber, Director General, Austrian Ministry of Science delivering a very positive statement in support of the social sciences. Margaret Abraham’s ISA Presidential Address, found here:

http://www.isa-sociology.org/forum-2016/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW44_sW4Jmc

was an important statement in equity and intersectionality and made an important contribution to this lively opening Plenary. Margaret is also an important contributor to the ASA Conference, particularly in terms of the International aspects of both conferences.

While the conference lacked the celebrity appeal of the ASA, it certainly did not lack in the seriousness of the debates. One of the most interesting debates came from the closing plenary chaired by Marcus Schultz (New School for Social Research, New York), with Asef Bayat (University of Illinois) ‘Imagining a Post-Islamist Democracy’, Akosua Adomako Ampofo (University of Ghana) ‘Black Lives Matter and the Status of the African World’, Todd Gatlin (Columbia) ‘What Kind of a World Can Weather Climate Change?’ and Alain Touraine (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales, France), as discussant.

Research Committee (RC) 32 Women in Society

The size of the conference meant that affiliation to specific programs proved a favoured response. I am a member of RC32 Women in Society and the program was widely regarded as one of the best at the conference. The Program Coordinators for RC32, Akosua Adomako Ampofo and Josephine Beoku-Betts (Florida Atlantic) had worked to organise an extensive range of panels and roundtables including: ‘Human Trafficking: The Labour and Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children’; ‘Twenty Years after Beijing: A Cross-National Approach to Feminist Movements and the Implementation of the Platform for Action’; ‘Global Sociology and Feminist Perspectives on Care, Care Work and the Struggle for a Careful World’; ‘Knowledge Production: Feminist Perspectives in the 21^st Century’; ‘Gender, Law and the Courts: Local and Global Struggles Against Violence’; ‘ Intersectionalities of Power in Research: Strategies for Action and Justice’; ‘Gender, Culture and Technologies in the Knowledge Economy’; ‘Muslim Women’s Struggles for a Better World through Promoting Gender Equality’; and ‘The Cities We Want: Using Visionary Methodologies to Create Feminist Alternatives to Urban Planning’. My paper was in the ‘Precarity and Gender in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization’ and I focused on relational precarity as highlighted in the work of Lauren Berlant entitled: ‘Gender, Precarity and Sexuality: The Intersection of Gender, Ethnicity, Sexuality and Class in Relational Precarity in Neoliberal Society–the Influence of Lauren Berlant’. .

The double badging of sessions with RC32 with other RCs was a really valuable dimension of the conference, this was particularly the case for the RC02 Economy and Society led by the Program Coordinator, Heidi Gottfried, which included some excellent sessions including: ‘Gender Regimes or Gendered Institutions’ organised by Sylvia Walby. A particularly interesting session was the ‘Author Meets Critics: Crisis by Sylvia Walby’. Chaired by Heidi Gottfried and with discussants Stephanie Woehl (Vienna) and Christopher Chase-Dunn (California-Riverside). This proved to be one of the most coherent and intense social and political analyses including the focus on the EU and had anticipated Brexit. Sylvia’s response to criticism was powerful and wide-ranging and pointed to the next political crisis being in the EU not the UK. She also calls for a ‘regendering of the political project’.

This was a really fascinating conference, serious in its debates and commemorating the work and loss of John Urry.

Professor Ann Brooks

August 2016

Category / Sociology & Social Policy

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