Spectrum (E-Journal)
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Sappho is Worth More Than A Discussion of Her Sexuality: A Historiographical Analysis
Get PDFPrevious scholarship has overanalyzed Sappho’s object preference more than her male counterparts. By examining the historiographical analyses of Sappho, as well as the progression of ideas throughout these analyses, we can easily see what past scholars have focused on, Sappho’s sexuality, and the inherent biases they have brought to the table. Sappho is worth more than her sexuality; it is important to study Sappho’s work within her social and cultural context in order to examine how her poetry was received in her own time as well as how her writing may reflect the values of her society. The methodology we use when we approach Sappho must be altered. Rather than debating Sappho’s sexuality based on modern biases, it is important to examine the language used within her poems to understand Sappho in her own context. The goal of this article is not to analyze a different aspect of Sappho. Rather, it aims to review past literary studies to show how there has been a problematic focus on Sappho’s sexuality, and that there is more knowledge to glean regarding antiquity if such focus is set aside
International students and their accessibility to on-campus healthcare services
Get PDFBackground: There is limited information on international students’ experiences and access to the Canadian healthcare system at the University of Alberta.
Objective: The main objective of this research project is to characterize the experiences of international students navigating on-campus healthcare resources at the University of Alberta from multiple perspectives (e.g., international students, healthcare providers, student advisors) and determine factors that influence it, including knowledge, attitudes, and perceived barriers.
Methods: This exploratory, descriptive study employed a mixed-method approach to produce qualitative and quantitative data. Through snowball sampling, starting with targeted contacts from the International Student Centre (ISC), interviews were held using a semi-structured interview guide. Interview data was explored using thematic analysis. A 44-item survey was developed to measure the University of Alberta specific experiences including: help-seeking preferences, perceived cultural barriers, and attitudes towards using on-campus health resources. A descriptive analysis was used to characterize the data.
Results: Results draw from nine interviews with international students, on-campus healthcare providers, and ISC advisors in addition to 59 survey responses from international students. The study determined three categories associated with international students: the Gatekeeper healthcare system, insurance imperatives, and the unique challenges with medications. Quantitative findings support the categories. For example, more than 50% of students were not knowledgeable about the Canadian healthcare system.
Conclusions: Explaining the values and the structure of Canada’s healthcare system is a crucial step in ensuring international students’ access to healthcare services, as well as reconciling their expectations and realities of publicly funded healthcare of Canada. The University of Alberta should support initiatives that better help international students to explore the Canadian healthcare system.
Support: University of Alberta Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI) and Social Sustainability Research Award
Self-regulation as a Mediator of Mindfulness and Physical Activity: A Narrative Review
Get PDFMindfulness is gaining increased attention as a means of increasing physical activity (PA) participation. Given that only 15.4% of adult Canadians currently meet the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines (Colley et al., 2011), it is imperative to find ways to increase PA among adults. One way to do this is to promote self-regulation skills as self-regulation is among the top predictors of PA participation (Teixeira et al., 2015). The purpose of this narrative review was to further understand the role of self-regulation as a potential mechanism by which mindfulness may be related to PA participation. Initially, 160 papers were identified by title for this review. After reading abstracts, 37 papers were identified as possibly relating to the topic of interest. Following full readings, 26 papers were included in the final review. Likely due to the novelty of this topic, there is limited research on the mechanisms by which mindfulness may be related to physical activity. Review of the literature suggests that self-regulation appears to be a promising mechanism by which mindfulness could improve physical activity participation (Shapiro et al., 2006; Samdal et al., 2017), as self-regulation has been shown to play an important role in behaviour change, however, other alternative mechanisms include improved self-efficacy, as well as improved satisfaction (Neace et al., 2020; Tsafou et al., 2016). The authors conclude that more research on the mechanisms of mindfulness on PA, specifically self-regulation as a mechanism, could foster more knowledgeable intervention practices, and consequently improve mindfulness-based interventions efficacy
Implementing Community-Engaged Participatory Research Methods in a Study of Cree Women’s Wellness: Describing Recruitment Processes and Outcomes
Get PDFBackground: In 2017, the Sohkitehew Group was funded to undertake research to identify wellness strategies adopted by mature women as they age in the rural Cree community of Maskwacis, Alberta. We describe our recruitment processes and outcomes for events from July 2017 to June 2018, the first phase of this research.
Methodology: Data gathered from minutes of 36 Sohkitehew Working Group and two Elders Advisory Committee meetings were used to identify recruitment strategies, event characteristics and recruitment outcomes for two large community events and three Sharing Circles.
Results:1. Recruitment strategies: Strategies were similar for community events and Sharing Circles: event posters were displayed throughout Maskwacis, and advertisements were broadcast by Hawk Radio and appeared in Band newsletters.2. Event Characteristics: Settings included a large community gymnasium for large events, and smaller community venues in different Bands for Sharing Circles. Traditional/cultural protocols were addressed by smudging meeting spaces, inviting community Elders to attend all events, and saying prayers. Healthy lunches were provided.3. Event attendance: The two larger community events attracted 96, and 37 participants, respectively. Sharing Circle attendance ranged from 8 to 23 participants.
Conclusion: Recruitment strategies succeeded for the Sohkitehew events in Maskwacis. Prior trusting and respectful relationships with the community established over several years provided a firm basis for this research. Successful recruitment efforts required time, planning, flexibility, and careful attention to culture and tradition to meet objectives to attract participants. Similar strategies may be successful in other rural Indigenous communities if tailored for the specific needs and expectations of individual communities
La réflexivité autocritique : : Un outil pédagogique dans le cadre d’un engagement personnel et professionnel dans le contexte de la réconciliation
Get PDFThe purpose of this article is to share a student’s critical reflexivity process in an effort to overcome the insecurity confronted by the expectations of Indigenous-Settler reconciliation. The critical self-reflexivity we present is an essential practice to unlearn colonialism with the aim to foster critical thinking as a move towards a reconciliatory approach to education. Paulette Regan’s (2014) provoking research speaks to insecurity as a barrier to moving forward. Inspired by teachings of relational accountability and an Indigenous education course taught by an Indigenous female scholar, critical self-reflexivity is one of the pedagogical approaches to surpass insecurity and engage in reconciliation in more meaningful ways. Based on this experience, critical social justice pedagogies inspire Settlers to begin the process of acknowledging their privilege, power, perspective and the ways in which dominant knowledge production perpetuates inequities, injustice and marginalization. This article contributes to critical pedagogy in practice as demonstrated by a student’s critical reflection.L\u27objectif de cet article est de partager le parcours d\u27une étudiante [ ] engagée dans la pratique de la réflexivité critique afin de surmonter l\u27insécurité face à la réconciliation. La réflexivité critique est une pratique importante dans ce processus dans le but de désapprendre le colonialisme. La recherche provocatrice de Paulette Regan (2014) parle de l\u27insécurité comme d’un obstacle qui empêche le progrès vers la réconciliation. Inspirée par la responsabilité personnelle et un cours d\u27éducation autochtone donné par une professeur autochtone [ ], la réflexivité autocritique est une des approches pédagogiques qui permet de dépasser l\u27insécurité et de s\u27engager dans la réconciliation de manière plus significative. Sur la base de cette expérience, la justice sociale critique inspire les colonisateurs à entamer le processus de reconnaissance de leurs privilèges, de leur pouvoir, de leur perspective et de la production de savoir dominante qui perpétue l’iniquité, l’injustice et la marginalisation. Cet article contribue à dégager des éléments pratiques de la pédagogie critique démontré par la réflexion d’une étudiante.
Make-Believe Spelunking: The Influence of Fiction on Ethical Development in Outline and Gilead
Get PDFTo what extent, and in what ways, is it possible for works of fiction to influence their readers’ ethical development? In this essay, I explore different answers to this descriptive question in philosophy and literary studies. I dub a view shared by Iris Murdoch and Martha Nussbaum as the attention account: that great works of fiction can influence their reader’s ethical development by compelling them to cultivate ethically charged attention. I then evaluate Joshua Landy’s criticism of this account and his alternative, which I dub the clarification account: that works of fiction can influence their reader’s ethical development by helping them clarify their core ethical commitments. I argue that neither the attention account nor the invitation account describes the one and only way in which works of fiction can influence their readers’ ethical development. I then ask a normative question: what ways in which works of fiction can influence our ethical development should we embrace? Drawing on Kendall Walton’s make-believe model of fictional experience, I develop an account of a third way in which works of fiction can influence their readers’ ethical development, which I call the invitation account: works of fiction can influence their readers’ ethical development by inviting them to unseat and positively revise their ethical commitments. I make the case for the invitation account by using it to analyze two contemporary novels, Rachel Cusk’s Outline and Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead. I argue that the process described by the invitation account—that is, the way of invitation—is one we should embrace
Terahertz radiation may not alter rat basophilic leukemia cell membrane permeability to propidium iodide
No full textTerahertz radiation (THz) technology is fast-growing, with applications in sensing, security, monitoring and pharmaceutical industries. Since it is non-invasive, THz has been used as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in medicine but its specific effects on biological systems is still largely under-studied. THz has been used to image tissues and cells mainly because it allows for identification of morphological features without the need for fluorescent or radioactive labels, but the potential effects of high intensities of THz radiation are currently not well understood. One of the hypotheses that has been proposed for possible effects of THz on living cells, is that it disrupts the cell membrane and induces increased permeability. To test this hypothesis we exposed a rat basophilic leukemia cell line (RBL-2H3) to non-thermal intense THz radiation (duration, dose, etc) and observed the internalization of propidium iodide, a fluorescent intercalating agent that binds to DNA. We did not observe any changes in RBL-2H3 fluorescence following exposure to these intense THz pulses suggesting that exposure of RBL-2H3 to THz radiation may not increase their membrane permeability. These experiments were preliminary and further optimization and analysis is required before we can make definitive conclusions. However, our preliminary observations have set a baseline of RBL-2H3 internalization of propidium iodide, show that it is possible to expose RBL-2H3 cells to THz radiation using our configuration, and set the stage for future experiments
“Cops, the harbingers of the enemy”: Discussing the Relevance of Fanon’s Literatures of Combat in N.K. Jemisin’s “The City Born Great.”
Get PDFFrantz Fanon’s rebound book Wretched of the Earth discusses his theories and understandings of decolonization, specifically the role of art and culture and how it is affected by a colonizer. In this essay, I analyze whether his theories can be applied to N.K. Jemisin’s short story “The City Born Great,” from her collection of short stories How Long ’Til Black Future Month?, which considers the diaspora, not the colonized nations that Fanon considers in his own writings. Through her reflection of the realities of a people, and her portrayal of an “awakener” of the people, I conclude that although Jemisin does write literature of combat, a term coined by Fanon to include anti-colonial writing and art, she does so in a way that uniquely reflects the African-American diaspora that “The City Born Great” considers and reflects
The Trade
Get PDFThis poem explores Canadian history, specifically Indigenous relations with North American colonizers. Originally a Native Studies 201 Winter 2020 creative assignment, this poem describes the advent and settling of European colonizers. The Trade discusses these events from a uniquely personal immigrant perspective and attempts to detail them. Finally, the poem explores the relevance of this history to the author’s own personal history and future experiences by looking back at history for an important quest: looking forward. Hopefully, this poem will inspire readers to reflect on their own identities in relationship to the past as well
Informed Cannabis Policies on Canadian Campuses: Toward the Protection of Youth and Young Adults
Get PDFIntroduction: The legalization of cannabis across Canada in October 2018 introduced issues including regulation at different levels, public and individual education, and discussions about cannabis product safety. We aimed to discuss ineffective and effective cannabis use policy on campuses and associated public areas, given the known short-term and long-term effects pertaining to its neurologic, pulmonary, and purported medicinal effects. Cannabis interferes with many of the body’s basic and executive (higher-level) functions. It is also associated with long-term harmful effects when chronically used. The purpose of this paper is to review and further discuss the responsibility local governments and educational institutions have for creating policies and regulations around cannabis use, particularly within post-secondary institutions, and for implementing educational strategies to promote public knowledge of cannabis.
Methods: Peer-reviewed articles published in the last 10 years were searched for through the MEDLINE database. In addition, national and local health-related websites discussing cannabis policies were reviewed and collated. Expert opinions were also sought out to provide further information and resources.
Results: 31 peer-reviewed articles and 12 professional websites were retrieved and reviewed. Correspondences with individual experts aware of and involved with campus cannabis policies also provided relevant resources and data used in this document.
Conclusion: Smoke-free campus policies create the best health outcomes for the campus population. As well, creating effective and properly regulated policies and prioritizing public education is pertinent especially on universities where the population demographic is relatively young