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The Shifting Fortunes of Corporate Psychedelia
No full textThis article traces the shifting fortunes of for-profit psychedelic medicine through two phases: a boom from 2016 to late 2021, followed by a bust that continued through late 2024. It argues that the forces driving this cycle are best understood through the concept of capitalization, which links present valuations to investor expectations about future earnings. Engaging the capital-as-power framework, the article situates psychedelic companies within the broader biopharmaceutical sector, showing how the volatility of drug development is intensified by the unruliness of these substances as capitalized assets. This unruliness stems from a range of factors, including murky intellectual property claims, unpredictable and intense subjective experiences, and lingering cultural stigma. During the boom, firms attracted significant interest from venture capital and other investors by promising revolutionary breakthroughs in mental health treatment. As expectations rose, so did valuations. But disappointing results from clinical trials, regulatory setbacks, and deepening doubts about the ability to control and standardize psychedelic therapies led to sharp declines in investor confidence. Analyzing financial performance alongside investor narratives, the article underscores the tensions involved in subjecting these unruly substances to the logic of capitalist power
Welfare Pluralism and a Policy Window in Refugee Policies: The Emergence and Proliferation of Community Sponsorship in Europe, 2013–2023
No full textThis article is published under a Creative Commons CC-BY license.The last decade in Europe has been marked by unprecedented refugee crises. In the face of existing ineffective and insufficient refugee reception and integration systems, and the tension between more unfavourable general attitudes and restrictive refugee policies on the one hand, and calls for more humanitarian and engaged approaches simultaneously articulated in some segments in receiving societies on the other hand, the need for new tools has become even more acute. States and international institutions are looking for new measures and solutions pressured by civil society actors. Among different approaches, those related to community sponsorship (CS) developed in Canada since the 1970s have become particularly important, which reflects an emerging trend towards more welfare pluralism in receiving and supporting refugees. Drawing on the citizen hosting movement, these initiatives utilise and generate civil society engagement and can increase societies’ acceptance of refugees’ admission and support. This paper outlines the development of CS programmes in Europe. Three waves of development of these programmes can be observed following the refugee crisis associated with the Arab Spring in the mid-2010s, the takeover of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine after 24 February 2022. We will explain where such programmes are established (and where they are not) and what factors influence this, including the role of policy windows, policy transfer, policy entrepreneurs, social policy models implemented in the countries in question, and political parties. The theoretical underpinning of the study is the multiple streams theory combined with the policy transfer theory and historical institutionalism.
Note: This article is part of a collection on "Community Sponsorship and Complementary Pathways: global refugee resettlement movements driven by local actors."This research within the framework of the project “Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects of Community Sponsorship – Multidisciplinary, Multimethod and Multiperspective Analysis” (COPOCS) was funded in whole by the National Science Centre Poland – Grant No. 2021/41/B/HS5/04071 (PI - Aleksandra Grzymała-Kazłowska)
Empowering Communities: MFRC’s Role in Food Sovereignty
No full textThis paper examines how community-led food initiatives in Malvern, a neighbourhood in Scarborough, Toronto, respond to structural barriers through the framework of food sovereignty. The central research questions guiding this study are “how do community-based initiatives, like MFRC, address food insecurity and promote food sovereignty, and what kinds of impact do they have within their communities?” Using a qualitative participatory action research (PAR) approach, the study draws on interviews with MFRC staff and participants to explore how their programs challenge dominant food security and charity-based models.
The analysis includes a historical and spatial examination of Scarborough’s postwar urban development. It considers how the 1946 Ontario Planning Act, Metro Toronto’s hierarchical governance model and concession-block infrastructure planning produced fragmented, automobile-dependent suburban neighbourhoods, leaving areas like Malvern with limited walkable access to essential services, including affordable food.
While both state and market frameworks often view food as a secondary issue, the work of MFRC shows that grassroots organizations affirm food as central to community well-being, identity and autonomy. This study contributes to the ongoing conversation on food justice by reframing food not as supplemental, but as central to social and spatial justice in marginalized urban regions
Martha Graham Between the Pipes: Exploring the use of Graham technique as supple-mental training for hockey goalies
No full textA commonality observed in ice hockey goalies is the frequency of overuse hip and groin injuries (Wörner et al., 2019). A 2019 study reported that 69% of all elite Swedish ice hockey goalies in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League, Swedish Hockey League, and Hockey Allsvenskan experienced hip and groin issues in a single season (Wörner et al. 2019). The butterfly technique is suspected to be a primary cause for these injuries in goalies due to the repetitive, extreme range of motion demands using internal rotation of the hip joints (Harrington et al., 2024; Whiteside et al., 2015; Worner et al., 2021). To combat overuse hip and groin injuries, two recommendations are combination training of both agonist and antagonist muscle groups in alternation (Baker & Newton, 2005; Materko et al., 2024; Robbins et al., 2010), and the development of underused muscles in the torso and around the pelvis (DeBlaiser et al., 2019; Leppänen et al., 2024; Sharma, 2015; Short et al., 2021; Whittaker et al., 2015). This could be achieved by Martha Graham modern dance technique training, which is centred around the use of core muscle strength and active flexibility using external rotation of the hip joints (Giguere, 2014). For my Master’s thesis with York University, I am positioning a supplemental training program based on the Martha Graham modern dance technique to prevent overuse hip and groin injuries in hockey goalies. In this study, I will use existing published research to evaluate the current methods of hockey goalie training, how the Martha Graham technique pertaining to the needs of goalies could prevent overuse hip and groin injuries, and propose exercises to do so
Chasing Flames: Racial Capitalism in Fire Ecology Research and Praxis
No full textThis dissertation explores fire ecology and its applications in settler colonial environments. It introduces the framework of pyrosociality to understand fire’s role in ecosystems, guided by an analysis of racial capitalism. Fire ecology has traditionally been framed within positivist scientific methodologies that separate human and natural worlds, yet this framing fails to account for the historical, cultural, and relational dynamics of fire. Rooted in colonial histories, these scientific paradigms often overlook the entangled relationships between fire, ecosystems, and the social, political, and economic systems that shape them. By situating fire within the context of racial capitalism - a system of racialized and capitalist exploitation of both human and more-than-human worlds, this dissertation challenges the dominant frameworks of fire science and introduces a new analytic that integrates fire’s ecological and social dimensions.
This dissertation draws from science and technology studies (STS), environmental humanities, anthropology, Black studies, and decolonial scholarship. Through ethnographic fieldwork at a fire ecology laboratory in northern California, discourse analysis, and a review of grey literature and archival sources, the dissertation argues that fire ecology, as a scientific discipline, continues to perpetuate colonial and capitalist logics that shape environmental governance. These logics are deeply embedded in the ways fire regimes are studied and managed, particularly within the context of settler colonialism and the racialized politics of environmental governance.
A central contribution of this dissertation is the use and the expansion of the framework of pyrosociality, a theoretical approach that positions fire as part of multispecies, more-than-human networks, in order to appraise the conditions in which fire ecology emerged as a discipline. This framework shifts the focus from fire as a destructive, isolated event to an ongoing, relational process that is intertwined with human and ecological communities. By framing fire as a companion reaction, the dissertation challenges the reductionist, mechanistic approaches of fire ecology and highlights the social, cultural, and ecological dimensions of fire. This perspective illuminates how fire is both shaped by and shapes the complex dynamics of racial capitalism, colonialism, and environmental governance.
Drawing on case studies from California, the Amazon, and Greece, the dissertation explores how fire regimes in these regions reflect different facets of racial capitalism and colonial histories. In particular, it examines how fire is managed in ways that reinforce the separation between “wild” and “domestic” spaces - an ideological division that underpins both fire ecology and colonial land management practices. This critique extends to the concept of the wildland-urban interface (WUI), revealing how it both challenges and reinforces colonial and capitalist frameworks by obscuring the historical and racialized dynamics of land ownership and environmental management.
Additionally, the dissertation makes a significant methodological contribution by integrating arts-based approaches alongside established frameworks of research within the STS. By incorporating embodied and sensory knowledge into the study of fire, the research offers new ways of understanding fire’s socioecological impacts and emphasizes the importance of relational knowledges in confronting the complex challenges of climate change and ecological crises.
Ultimately, this dissertation argues that fire ecology, when viewed through the lens of pyrosociality and racial capitalism, offers a powerful site for rethinking the relationships between humans, ecosystems, and the more-than-human world, and the epistemological foundations of the natural sciences themselves. By reimagining fire as a relational force rather than a natural or social problem to be controlled, this work opens up new possibilities for imagining coexistence with ecosystem fires that are more attuned to the complexities of colonial history, racial justice, and the dynamics of ecological pasts and possible futures
Book Review: Patel, Leigh. Decolonizing Educational Research: From Ownership to Answerability. Routledge, 2016, 120 pp.
No full textLeigh Patel’s work on decolonizing educational spaces provides a glimpse into an important transcendental motif in decolonial studies: that decolonization must be visible in the structure of being as such. I argue in this book review that the specific ontological picture provided, what I call a “Decolonial Deleuzean” view, implies a one-and-many relationship characterizable by what one scholar has called a “vegetal” ontology, the human social coordinate system in the metaphor of “the plant that is not one.” I argue further that this view fails to provide a believable picture of specifically human decolonial belonging in its ontological register by claiming that the plant metaphor provides an inappropriate one-and-many relationship to actual human spaces. “Decolonial Deleuzean” education therefore reintroduces the very exclusivity criterion it is designed to eliminate. I provide, finally, a psychoanalytical correction, one which is compatible with the decolonial project, but strictly speaking, not the Deleuzean one
Myogenic Protein Interactions in Rhabdomyosarcoma
No full textRhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a pediatric soft tissue sarcoma, is characterized by impaired myogenic differentiation and uncontrolled proliferation, often driven by dysregulated transcriptional and signaling networks. In this thesis, we unveil the first comprehensive protein interactomes of MEF2A and β-catenin—two pivotal regulators of skeletal myogenesis and oncogenesis—within RMS subtypes using nanobody-mediated affinity purification coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Strikingly, despite reduced MEF2A expression in RMS cells, RD cells paradoxically exhibited elevated transcriptional activity, implicating compensatory post- translational modifications or unique cofactor interactions. In contrast, β-catenin activity was nearly abolished in the aggressive RH30 subtype, suggesting Wnt pathway evasion and reliance on alternative oncogenic circuits.
Interactome mapping revealed subtype-specific regulatory landscapes: RD-derived MEF2A associated with splicing and transcriptional machinery, while RH30 networks were dominated by chromatin remodelers and epigenetic regulators. β-catenin’s interaction profile likewise diverged, linking to tumor-suppressive pathways in RD cells but shifting toward mitotic and nuclear export regulators in RH30. Enrichment analyses identified novel protein hubs—such as TRIM32, HDAC1, XPO1, and RACK1—that modulate gene expression, RNA metabolism, and cell cycle control, and may represent uncharted therapeutic nodes
Destination Accessibility of Higher Educational Institutions from Scarborough
No full textThe ability to access destinations such as educational institutions through public transportation can greatly benefit an individual in many aspects of life. Commuter students can face mobility issues when attending an urban university, issues that are not limited to mobility but also affect students’ academic success. This study presents an investigation of the destination accessibility of higher educational institutions in Toronto from Scarborough. The research emphasizes lived experiences collected through semi-structured interviews with post-secondary students who attend York University, Toronto Metropolitan University or the University of Toronto. Student experiences were analyzed to answer the research question: How does existing public transit affect Scarborough residents’ access to university education? The research found that mobility in Scarborough encouraged commuter students to manage their time in order to balance academics, commuting, and other responsibilities such as part-time jobs. The study revealed students’ appreciation for public transportation’s ability to get them to campus, but also captured their challenges surrounding the commute itself, which made being a student or attending campus difficult. Issues such as delays, busy transit, safety concerns, poor student mobility programs and a lack of information regarding transit schedules can also affect students’ academic success. The research also put forward three recommendations that can help improve students’ destination accessibility in the short and long term. The study is relevant as good access to higher education can be associated with increased income and improved life satisfaction, but poor destination accessibility can hinder one’s access to opportunities. The study is especially relevant in the context of Scarborough for two reasons. First, several transportation projects for the area have been cancelled. Second, statistics show that the area has a lower percentage of residents who have achieved a post-secondary education degree compared to most of Toronto
Climate Change, Human Rights, and Adaptive Mobility
No full textThis Open Access book is published under a CC-BY-NC-ND license.The potential for climate change to cause vast human movement is a major global issue. Dominant approaches to climate-related migration take mobility as the starting point, exploring legal frameworks that tend to provide protection for migrants only after they move and overlooking measures that could help avoid forced movement in the first place. In contrast, "Climate Change, Human Rights, and Adaptive Mobility" provides a new conceptual and legal approach to human mobility in the context of climate change, one that seeks to compel and shape more proactive, anticipatory action. The book anchors its arguments in the international climate change regime, turning to obligations on adaptation found in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. These obligations, though understudied and underutilized, have the potential to be a powerful legal tool. The book therefore seeks to lend them concrete legal meaning. It draws on international climate change and human rights law to weave together doctrinal analysis that considers treaty interpretation, regime interaction, and principles of environmental law with case studies in Bangladesh, the Pacific Islands, and the Sahel. At its core, the book argues that adaptation obligations require states to take measures to address foreseeable risks and ensure human rights. It further argues that developed countries that have contributed most to climate change have legal duties to support others in adapting to its effects, adding a collective dimension to the problem of climate change and mobility
The Influence of Audiovisual Media Technologies in Evangelical Churches: Views From a Post-COVID Threshold in Three Churches in Lima, Peru
No full textThis dissertation analyses how audiovisual media shape religious practice in three evangelical churches in Lima, Peru. While evangelical engagement with media predates the pandemic, the shift to online services during COVID-19 intensified, modified and consolidated a range of media uses in which these churches were already proficient. Using ethnographic methods including participant observation and semi-structured interviews, I explore how screens and audiovisual devices structure worship in both spatial and temporal terms.
Though often perceived by churchgoers as neutral tools for transmitting God's message, these technologies play a more active role: setting the emotional tone, reinforcing the church’s style, creating expectation, among others. My study focuses on in-person services, highlighting how media practices, especially those involving screens, support a sensory, screen-mediated form of religious engagement that extends beyond the boundaries of the physical space of the church.
Building on theories of space, mediatization and mediation, I argue that screens enable churches to transform otherwise neutral spaces into dynamic, malleable worship environments. With regards to the temporal dimension, services adopt the pacing and emotional cues of television, especially through livestreaming and post-pandemic production routines. Drawing on Harold Innis, I show how these churches use space-binding media to structure rhythms of participation and extend their presence beyond physical gatherings. Finally, I consider the way screen-based biblical texts fit within the service, underscoring the relationship between words and images. I propose that while projecting images onto screens aids communal reading, other forms of screen-based reading fragment the Bible into movable units.
I conclude that focusing on the use of audiovisual media technologies—as key elements in the structuring of space, time and the practice of reading—allows us to understand how these three evangelical churches extended their presence beyond physical gatherings during the pandemic. These new ways of reaching audiences, now fully embraced by the communities I studied, have produced notable transformations in the form and the experience of the service. They are perceived to have been instrumental in the continued growth of some evangelical churches, though I also note that church leaders struggle to fully come to terms with the possibility of media transforming environments. The use of media technologies has also arguably forced a reconsideration of definitions of pastoral authority, community and participation. If religion has always implied mediation, I conclude that the forms introduced by the media practices I studied push the boundaries of what counts as belonging, authority and presence in the service.