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"Like a drug": A mixed-methods anthropological interrogation of swaddling.
Get PDFSwaddling is a global infant-care practice in which a piece of material is wrapped firmly around an infant’s body, thought to pacify the infant. This thesis aimed to understand the practice of swaddling from a holistic perspective with a view to addressing several knowledge deficits.
Methods
Responding to calls for a more holistic approach to the study of infant sleep (McKenna, Ball et al. 2007), the thesis conducted an integrated anthropological interrogation encompassing evolutionary, historical, ethnographic, and biosocial perspectives. The thesis was composed of five components: 1. four-part synthesis of the swaddling-related literature. 2. systematic review of video-based methodology in infant sleep research. 3. lab-based study investigating the impact of swaddling upon infant physiologic and behavioural states. 4. Development and evaluation of novel method of calibrating swaddle tightness. 5. survey of health professionals’ swaddling-related knowledge and opinions.
Results
Firstly, the literature review positioned swaddling as a universal practice implemented in culturally specific ways. It revealed that infant needs and parental responses are dynamic and interdependent. Next, the systematic review provided in-depth evidence highlighting video as a significant resource for infant sleep researchers albeit with methodological ‘trade-offs’ in validity. The findings of the lab project indicated that naïve breastfed infants’ respond to swaddling in a way that deviates from that previously seen in formula fed subjects. Namely, the naïve breastfed infants did not demonstrate alterations in sleep length when swaddled but experienced an extension of active sleep. Outcomes of the swaddle tightness project indicated the device had a high degree of reliability under experimental conditions. Finally, respondents to the survey thought newborns most appropriate for swaddling, with significant preference given towards non-routine swaddling and the ‘hands out’ configuration.
Conclusion
The thesis unveiled a range of ethical, methodological, and ontological tensions, and highlighted gaps in knowledge pertaining to swaddling
GENDERED EMBODIMENT, STABILITY AND CHANGE: WOMEN’S WEIGHTLIFTING AS A TOOL FOR RECOVERY FROM EATING DISORDERS
Get PDFThis thesis explores the everyday embodied experiences of women who use amateur weightlifting as a vehicle for recovery from eating disorders. Within online spaces and on social media, women frequently share their experiences of using weightlifting to overcome issues relating to disordered eating, body image, and mental health. In particular, women with a history of eating disorders credit weightlifting to be integral to their recovery journey. However, there is a dearth of research on women’s experiences with exercise during eating disorder recovery and no research that identifies weightlifting as beneficial to this process. To the contrary, discursive links are drawn between the practices of self-surveillance exercised by both eating disorder sufferers and weightlifters alike. In this regard, engagement with weightlifting during eating disorder recovery may signal the transferal of pathology from one set of behaviours to another. That is, from disordered eating to rigid and self-regulatory exercise routines. This thesis examines how women subjectively navigate and make sense of this pathologisation.
The data for this research comes from longitudinal semi-structured interviews and photo elicitation with 19 women, living in the United Kingdom, who engaged in weightlifting during their eating disorder recovery. In addition, to build up a holistic picture and to explore how this phenomenon also ‘takes place’ online, I conducted a netnography of the overlapping subcultures of female weightlifting and eating disorder recovery on Instagram. Women’s standpoint theory and interpretative phenomenological analysis are combined to form the underpinning theoretical and analytical tools used to engage with these three rich data sets. Moreover, throughout I draw on an eclectic range of disciplinary perspectives, in order to bring together multiple fields of research and develop novel theoretical frameworks.
In the findings, I argue that women’s experiences using weightlifting as a tool for recovery from eating disorders manifests in an embodied sense of multiplicity. In this sense, understandings of the body that are often viewed as ontologically distinct (muscularity/thinness/fatness) hang-together at once in the lived experience of a single individual.
I argue that women, particularly those who have previously struggled with an eating disorder, are too readily positioned as vulnerable to media and representation. To theoretically combat these ideas regarding women’s assumed passivity, I develop the concept of ‘digital pruning’ to account for women’s agency in relation to new media.
I contend that weightlifting offers women in recovery from eating disorders a new framework for approaching eating and exercise. Specifically, weightlifting’s norms and values legitimate occupying a larger body, which gives women in recovery permission to eat and gain-weight in a way that is both culturally sanctioned and health-promoting.
Finally, I explore identity transformation as a specific tenet of recovery from eating disorders. I argue that, on social media, recovery identities are characterised by personal empowerment, resilience, and independence. While offline, quieter and less culturally glorified aspects of recovery (such as relationships of care) are central to women’s accounts of developing a new sense of self as they transition away from an eating disorder identity.
In summary, this thesis is an examination of the ways in which women strategically navigate pathology in relation to their bodies, social media, food/exercise practices, and identity. I argue that women develop a set of ‘DIY’ recovery practices that allow them to consciously channel and draw on their negative experiences with eating disorders, to develop new ways of living that serve their overall wellbeing. Weightlifting is integral to this process, as it provides women transitioning out of this difficult phase in their lives with new ways of relating to their bodies and of being in the world. I situate this phenomenon within a neoliberal socio-political climate in which individuals are required to take personal responsibility for their mental health and wellbeing, despite living within conditions which are not conducive to recovery
The origin of bedrock mega-grooves in glaciated terrain
Get PDFBedrock mega-grooves (BMGs) are large-scale bedrock corrugations reported from glaciated terrain across the world. They are remarkably straight, and closely parallel with ice-flow direction. BMGs are thought to have formed subglacially, but no consensus exists regarding their typical dimensions, formation or glaciological significance. This thesis aims to improve understanding of BMGs, focussing on their initiation and evolution, and on their relationship to bedrock geology, other subglacial landforms and ice-flow characteristics. The approach is both theoretical, through the compilation of an initial literature review and conceptualisation of several models of BMG initiation, and analytical, involving statistical analysis of morphometric data derived both from a global dataset. The data used in this study has been acquired through remote sensing as well as via fieldwork at selected locations.
Remote sensing measurements show that BMGs have lengths of 224–2269 m, widths of 21–210 m, depths of 2–15 m, elongation ratios of 5:1 to 42:1, and the spacing between adjacent individuals is 35-315 m (n = 1242 and ranges represent the 10th-90th percentiles). The variability in frequency distribution of BMG metrics between the sampled sites is likely due to variability in site geological characteristics, and to differences in palaeoglaciological history. However, all BMGs plot as a single landform population with a unimodal distribution and overlapping value ranges for all metrics, implying that they represent one landform type. BMGs and mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGLs) are similar in shape, but BMGs are on average approximately 4× shorter, 3.5× narrower, 3.5× more closely spaced and 2× deeper than MSGLs. These differences, alongside the essentially different processes inferred to be driving their evolution, support the conclusion that BMGs and MSGLs represent different types of landforms, rather than sitting on a continuum. Despite being sometimes situated in fast-flow onset zones within ice-stream landsystems, it is apparent that BMGs are unlikely to represent a diagnostic landform for ice-streaming. It is more likely that BMGs are a velocity–duration product, which can form beneath slow-flowing ice over long durations or more rapidly in ice-streaming settings. BMG initiation is hypothesised to have occurred either under the control of pre-existing structural features in the bedrock geology or through the agency of large erodents present in pre-Quaternary regolith. Future research could profitably focus on landform dating, modelling experiments, acquisition of empirical evidence to validate hypotheses of BMG initiation, and geophysical methods to explore on-going BMG formation in modern glacial environments
From Exile to Exile: Repatriation, Resettlement and the Contemplative Experience of English Benedictine Nuns in England 1795–1838
Get PDFThis thesis argues that English Benedictine women viewed repatriation from the Continent to England in 1795, not as a homecoming, but as a second exile. It examines five English Benedictine convents – founded in exile on the Continent in the seventeenth century and forced to seek refuge in England in the 1790s – through the lens of transition and resettlement. Arguing that the French Revolution was a pivotal event in the deconstruction and reconstruction of English Catholic religious life, it explores how these nuns negotiated their journey from survival to re-foundation, through the experience of rupture, loss and conflicted loyalties. The thesis focuses on the re-establishment of these female contemplative communities in England and explores tensions, continuities and adaptations in the nuns’ daily, spiritual, devotional and reading lives. It challenges perceptions of the nuns as conservators of traditional Benedictine practice and highlights their previously unappreciated contribution to women’s education, Protestant-Catholic relations and refugee narratives. Until now, there has been little scholarly exploration of the monastic female experience in England in the early years of the nineteenth century. This thesis fills in the forty-year gap in the historiography of women religious which lies between studies of early modern English convents in their Continental exile and those concentrating on apostolic orders later in the century. It reveals the period to be a bridge between the two, essential to understanding both the emergence of the apostolics and the re-flowering of the monastics in the fabled ‘second spring’ of English Catholicism. While emphasising the importance of the role of the contemplatives in English religious history, it demonstrates that for the Benedictine nuns, this period was far from a triumphant homecoming. It was in fact a second exile
Listening to Rivers: Using sound to monitor rivers
Get PDFFrom a babbling brook to a thunderous torrent, a rivers' soundscape can be described by many onomatopoeic words. Using sound produced sub-aerially by a river to calculate its stage is an entirely novel idea, designed to be used in an environment that is seldom monitored, headwater catchments. In these environments it is difficult to use traditional methods of automatic stage gauging, such as pressure transducers and ultrasonic depth monitors. I propose a cost-effective, simple to install sound monitor which can be simply placed beside a river that is making a noise. I develop a method of how to take the tempest that is river sound and filter it to a usable component using data collected from around the North East of England during Storm Ciara and Dennis, 2020. Understanding where river sound is generated from and the mechanisms behind it are key to developing sound monitoring which is why I use an experiment at a white water course to investigate the link between sound and river topography. Using an artificial channel and obstacles I investigate the link between obstacle height and configuration on the production of sound. To use river sound as a proxy for river stage, there has to be a process of how to setup and calibrate sound. I present a method of how one may go about setting up a sound monitor and the usage it may have in water resource management. Finally, I apply the method of sound filtering, river placement, and calibration at a catchment scale to determine its validity in river monitoring. Although novel, using sound to monitor a rivers' stage is practical and deployable
THE DREAM OF A ZERO WASTE SOCIETY: EXPLORING THE PRACTICES AND BEHAVIOURS OF WASTE GENERATION IN GREATER MEXICO CITY
Get PDFThis research aims to re-conceptualise consumption and waste generation through a broader set of theoretical questions and analytical methodologies to establish a more holistic theoretical framework for comprehending the global South's "waste crisis." This thesis is primarily based on the following question: "why do we dispose of things?". By
focusing on practices and behaviours of consumption and disposal by citizens of GMC, this thesis seeks to unpack the networks, symbols, skills, and meanings of these practices.
This moves the conceptualisation of waste generation away from being conceived as an irremediable consequence of population growth or as primary responsibility on the
consumers' shoulders. Therefore, this thesis proposes that consumers are embedded in a "throwaway environment" that pushes them toward unsustainable practices. However, this does not mean that the consumers have a "throwaway culture"; consumers might be "carriers" of practices, but they are still active participants.
By unravelling the multiple layers of framing that aggregate into the consumption and disposal of citizens in GMC, we shall see how GMC society's historical, social, and political framework serves as dispositions that guide an individual to act. This study focuses on modifying the narrative of considering consumers as careless, lazy, or
consumption-driven. It also sheds light on how ignoring these behaviours and practices will only bring temporary and reactionary solutions when dealing with waste.
This dissertation also offers an analytical framework that explores how consumers' elements interrelate and are synergetic. By re-conceptualising consumption and waste
generation, I propose not focusing on the insidious moral narrative of whether consumption and disposal are acceptable and to what degree. Instead, we should concentrate on a policy strategy that will help reduce the flow of materials. As a result, we might be able to curve a waste crisis by accepting shared responsibility (mostly borne by governments and businesses
The Mineral Image: Contemporary Art and Digital Technology
Get PDFMinerals are fundamental components of digital technology, but the conceptual ramifications of this have not been explored in depth. Digital technology is mythological. It is perceived as being immaterial, ahistorical, clean and existing outside of geography. But the opposite is true. The mythology of the digital extends to the images that surface on screens. For artists working in the early twenty-first century, material pre-histories of digital technology have become important sources through which to rethink digital mythologies. The focus of this project was to investigate the crystal as an object of the natural history of digital technology.
The Liquid Crystal Display exhibition (2018–19) centred this research. The exhibition gathered a corpus of crystal-tech artworks, enabling first-hand object analysis. Through the artworks, the exhibition linked the mineral as a highly visible and symbolic cultural object with digital technology. Critical responses to the project revealed the reception of digital technology as mineral, digital images as gems, and digital devices as crystalline. A retrospective review of the exhibition formed the basis of an auto-ethnographic research process.
Further case studies examined the crystal as a symbol of digital technology in the work of contemporary artists. Selected projects included Jonathan Kemp, Martin Howse and Ryan Jordan’s The Crystal World Project and Thomas Hirschhorn’s Crystals of Resistance; Suzanne Treister’s alchemical and crystalline diagrams in Rare Earth Elements and HEXEN 2.0; and Trevor Paglen’s ethnographical work uncovering the diamond as a symbol of the US military industrial complex. The crystal emerged here as a vibrant signifier of diffractive, (new) materialist philosophy informed by an ecological, post-human imagination. Crystals connect digital technology to pre-Enlightenment, pre-science, non-modern, non-Western, archaic and spiritual histories. This thesis concluded by recognising the need for an expanded, non-Western perspective on the crystal to foreground decolonising approaches to digital technology
Searching for novel enzymes from microbial dark matter
Get PDFThe vast majority of inhabited environments on Earth are dominated by uncultivated microbes, described as ‘microbial dark matter’. Metagenomic analyses of various ecological niches have unearthed an abundance of genomes from unculturable organisms that have evaded polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based and cultivation-dependent isolation efforts. Many such organisms fall within a recently uncovered expanse of the bacterial domain, known as the Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR), which is thought to harbour a third of all biodiversity within the tree of life. The genomes present within this mysterious microbial world present a major source of uncharted genetic diversity and are untapped sources of molecular tools for biological research, encoding swathes of novel proteins with innovation potential.
The Virus-X consortium endeavoured to probe the sequence diversity of extreme environments through metagenomics and identify commercially valuable enzymes. From the pool of over 50 million genes discovered during the Virus-X project, 18 from the CPR and five from a newly discovered giant phage dubbed the Ubervirus were selected as targets of particular interest. From 23 cloned targets, 18 proteins were successfully expressed in trials, leading to large-scale soluble expression of 12 and successful purification of 10 proteins. 9 of these targets were characterised through analytical size exclusion chromatography, mass spectrometry, and thermal shift analysis. Promising crystallisation conditions have been identified for four targets, leading to novel X-ray crystal structures for two CPR enzymes.
The structure of a DNA processing enzyme, CPR-DprA, is reported to a resolution of 2.10 Å (R/Rfree 0.20/0.23), showing a core domain formed from an extended Rossmann fold. Also presented are three crystal structures of a hypothetical protein, CPR-C4, to a maximum resolution of 2.25 Å (R/Rfree 0.18/0.23). Through remarkable structural homology to human vasohibin proteins, CPR-C4 was characterised as a cysteine protease utilising a noncanonical cysteine-histidine-leucine(carbonyl) catalytic triad, with protease activity confirmed using fluorescence-based assays. The structural and functional similarities between CPR-C4 and the human vasohibins point to an evolutionary relationship undetectable at the sequence level, which is addressed through phylogenetic analysis. The production and characterisation of a DnaK/ClpB bi-chaperone system from the CPR, with tangible biotechnology applications, is also reported, including preliminary cryo-electron microscopy analysis of the hexameric CPR-ClpB disaggregase.
Along with laying the groundwork for future commercialisation, the investigation of these CPR proteins takes strides towards addressing the substantial gaps in our knowledge of this little understood, yet pervasive, branch of the tree of life
Editing the lyric self: Petrarch’s use of vernacular and classical models in the final phases of constructing the Rerum vulgarium fragmenta
Get PDFThis thesis explores the intellectual concerns underpinning the final phases of Petrarch’s construction of the Rerum vulgarium fragmenta (Rvf). In building and editing the closure of his lyric sequence, Petrarch sought to counterbalance competing concerns in the presentation of his idealised self-portrait to the public and to posterity. Critics have hitherto primarily suggested that Petrarch’s interventions in the sequencing of poems results in the presence of an intensified religious tone to the closure of the Rvf, as Petrarch explored whether his love of Laura might be reconciled with his desire for salvation. However, this thesis argues that in the final stages of revising the sequence, Petrarch was just as concerned with imitating the model of the classical lyric poetry collection: through the revisions to the sequencing of the final 31 poems of the Vat. Lat. 3195, the classicising element to the narrative and structure of the closure of the Rvf emerges more strongly. These competing religious and classicising concerns feed into the desire to curate an idealised autobiographical narrative, seeking to stabilise the io lirico and reconstitute the fragmented literary self. In the final years of his life, driven by his ever-growing preoccupation with the passage of time and his own mortality, Petrarch sought to create an unprecedented vernacular achievement in the Rvf. This is despite his apparent criticism of the vernacular language, which, as this thesis suggests, could be made more palatable through the imitation of the classical lyric collection. In heightening this sense of Latinity in the Rvf in the closing moments of its complex evolution, he shows that he was searching for a perfected literary achievement which could rival that of the ancients and surpass his vernacular contemporaries
Experiencing multilingual identities and interculturality through learning and socialising in languages: The ecologies of two “language cafés”
Get PDFThis study investigates two “language cafés” (LCs), i.e., public events which provide an informal learning space for (foreign) language socialisation. Underpinned by social constructionism, an ecological approach to language research, and ethnographically-inspired methods of data collection, the study sheds light on the co-construction of the LCs as meaningful sites for languaging and language socialisation, and explores their affordances for experiencing and performing one’s multilingual identities and interculturality. Adopting a reflexive stance, the researcher participated in the LCs as a language learner drawing on her multilingual repertoire and subjectivities, thus contributing to researching multilingually praxis by demonstrating the affordances of translanguaging as methodology. Data were collected through participant-observation, audio-recording of naturally-occurring conversations in the LCs, semi-structured interviews and focus groups, participants’ written reflections, and a researcher’s reflective journal.
The findings show that participants co-constructed the LCs to seek out alternative and decentred ways of dwelling in their languages by making them part of their everyday lives and leisure activities, regardless of proximity to “target language” countries. The pleasure of languaging and the value of LCs as an intellectual and social hobby often outweighed the instrumental value of these events for the development of language skills. Further, the LCs mobilised participants’ multilingual identities and their sense of multilingual social selves which prompted them to draw on their previous language socialisation experiences. Finally, the LCs offered a safe space to engage in multiperspectivity and learn about each other’s worldviews, as well as to connect with like-minded, cosmopolitan, multilingual speakers.
This doctoral thesis contributes to the field of language learning beyond the classroom by focusing on how languages are lived intersubjectively, rather than merely learned or acquired. This is consistent with a poststructuralist view of language and intercultural learning as experiencing new ways of being in the world, and much more than the development of skills
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