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Cataloguing Minerals, Part Two: Re-imagining Mineral Catalogue Descriptions to Address Colonial Legacies
Full text linkMinerals are uniquely tied to colonialism, labour, and environment; however, those relationships have traditionally not been described in mineral catalogues – an omission that limits curators’ ability to account for mineral histories. This paper re-imagines mineral cataloguing practices to restore historical, cultural, and environmental contexts that were stripped away. We describe the roles of citations; linked data; provenience and provenance histories; non-standardized and ‘unapproved’ nomenclatures; positionality; and the need to label archival silences. We examine the risks and practical limitations that arise in attempting to turn this colonial tool against itself. In discussing these issues, we contribute to ongoing dialogues about rendering museum databases and the science of geology more inclusive
Development of a Ni-Catalyzed Enantioselective Intramolecular Mizoroki- Heck Reaction for the Synthesis of Phenanthridinone Derivatives
Full text linkThe Birch reduction-alkylation coupled to the desymmetrizing Mizoroki-Heck reaction is a novel synthetic tool to form potentially bioactive phenanthridinone analogs from inexpensive and easily available starting materials. This work describes a rare example of the direct replacement of palladium for nickel in our previously reported enantioselective intramolecular Heck reaction. A Ni-catalyzed enantioselective intramolecular Mizoroki-Heck reaction has been developed to transform symmetrical 1,4- cyclohexadienes with attached aryl halides to phenanthridinone analogs containing quaternary stereocenters. Moreover, this approach provides direct access to six-member ring heterocyclic systems bearing all-carbon quaternary stereocenters, which have been much more challenging to form enantioselectively with nickel-catalyzed Heck reactions. The first part of this project describes important advances in reaction optimization enabling control of unwanted proto-dehalogenation and alkene reduction side products. The second section focuses on the development of enantioselective strategy with a newly synthesized chiral iQuinox-type bidentate ligand. In the third section, we describe efforts to explore the substrate scope and to subsequently transform the 1,3-diene Heck products into molecules with potentially greater therapeutic relevance. In the last project chapter, mechanistic investigations and a computational study of the key 1,2-migratory insertion step shed light on the catalytic cycle and the basis for the enantioselectivity. Altogether, this work presents a very attractive alternative to the palladium-catalyzed process and should facilitate the application of Ni catalysis to traditional Heck transformations
“Enacting something I didn’t believe in”: Clinician Experiences of Dissonance Related to Power and Oppression in Community Mental Health
Full text linkSystems of Community Mental Health (CMH) care often operate as apparatuses of oppression and social control over marginalized groups. Rooted in colonialism and racial capitalism, these systems have a history of causing harm in particular to Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) (Metzl, 2009; Wade, 1993; Szasz, 2009). Pressured to comply within neoliberal practice environments, clinicians are limited in their ability to resist enacting oppression, and experience dissonance—a state of tension arising from psychologically inconsistent cognitions (Harmon-Jones & Mills, 2019)—as they find themselves caught between anti-oppressive practice ideals, and what is required of them by their agencies. In this qualitative study, I conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 13 current and former CMH clinicians, who were asked to reflect on their experiences of and responses to dissonance around power and oppression in these practice settings. I used content analysis to examine how white clinicians experience and respond to dissonance related to power and oppression in critical moments of the clinical encounter, exploring the ways that dissonance motivates acquiescence vs. resistance in these moments. My analysis revealed the ways that clinicians experienced powerless dissonance in areas where they don’t have choice, and discretionary dissonance in areas where they do. Building on Dominelli’s (1999) work, I found that in some moments, clinicians succumb to powerlessness, leading to acquiescent accommodation of oppressive agendas. In other moments, clinicians harnessed discretionary power, for strategic accommodation to find maximal space for their clients, or explicit resistance to push back against harmful practices. The role of clinicians’ emotional experiences and elf-concept as it relates to their racial and professional identities in the drive to reduce dissonance are explored through a critical conceptual framework centered on critical whiteness theory (Applebaum, 2010; Frankenberg, 1993; Hook, 2011; Sullivan, 2014). I conclude that dissonance can be generative if clinicians are able to sit with it in moments where it cannot be reduced. These findings suggest the importance of clinicians participating in practice communities that center anti-oppressive aims and provide tools that help them lean into the discomfort of dissonance in their practice
Structuring Extra-Classroom Pedagogical Partnership to Support Truth Telling for Equity and Inclusion: Recommendations for Practice
Full text linkEquity and inclusion efforts are undermined by individual and institutional inattention to the lived experiences of an increasingly diverse college student population. Extra-classroom, student–faculty/staff pedagogical partnerships can foster truth telling about and the development of practices that support diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice. In this practice brief, we offer recommendations for (1) developing pedagogical partnership projects and programs, (2) dedicating regular meetings to supporting student partners in sharing the truths of their lived experiences, (3) scaffolding faculty and staff partners’ listening to and acting on the truths student partners tell, and (4) sharing truths more widely
