Asking as Giving: Apostolic Prayers and the Aesthetics of Well-Being in Botswana

2011 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Klaits
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Moral Consideration ◽  
Ultimate Source ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Comparative Inquiry ◽  
The Voice

AbstractDrawing on an ethnographic description of hymns, prayers, and requests for material goods among Apostolic Christians in Botswana, this article considers how styles of asking bring aspects of the person to the attention of divine and human others. Apostolic believers regard personal well-being under circumstances of vulnerability as hinging in part on styles of prayer and asking, which entail forms of both self-assertion and engagement with the personhood of others. Experiences of vulnerability compel Apostolics’ awareness of how partible aspects of their persons, including the voice, move among them so as ideally to build up well-being. Thus prayers to God as the ultimate source of well-being frame persons in aesthetic terms so that they may be well apprehended by divine and human others. In light of Mauss’s theory of the gift, the article considers how verbal requests can foster well-being by conveying aspects of the person to divine and human hearers in ways that assert personal standing while sustaining moral consideration. An avenue is presented for comparative inquiry into the ways in which asking opens spaces of agency and obligation in religious and humanitarian discourses.

Africa - Israel - Africa Return-migration experiences of African labour migrants

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galia Sabar
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Return Migration ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Economic Assets ◽  
Migration Experiences ◽  
Return Process

This paper analyses homecoming experiences of African labour migrants who lived in Israel and returned home. Using qualitative research methodologies, I discerned what factors - material and non-material - determine the relative success of the return process. Focusing on these factors’ effects, I offer a new understanding of labour migrants’ homecoming experiences: those who are “content,” “readjusting,” or “lost. Following Ulrich Beck's (2006) analysis of cosmopolitanism, I suggest that these categories portray significant new life spaces that are neither what they left nor what they came from, and are dynamic, fragile, and constantly changing. In some cases the influence of economic assets on the returned migrants’ homecoming experience was indeed crucial, in many other cases the challenges of reconnecting oneself with home, family, and existing social norms and customs was much more influential on their homecoming experience including on their sense of well-being. Furthermore, some of the non-material goods such as individualization, personal responsibility, and long-term planning proved useful, others such as trust, particularly in relation to family, were detrimental.

Contemporary Female Gurus, their Movements and Followers

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-99
Author(s):  
Samta P Pandya
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Religious Movement ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Healing Touch ◽  
Perceived Efficacy ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Positive Experiences ◽  
Mental Well Being

Based on a random sample of 543 followers of a new religious movement called Mata Amritanandamayi Mission in India, this paper argues that these followers derived their sense of well-being through the gift of embrace by its iconic teacher Mata Amritanandamayi or Amma also known worldwide as the ‘hugging saint’. Followers are recipients of her embrace which is looked at predominantly as a healing touch as well as an expression of maternal love and proximity to the divine. I have studied the ways followers get associated with the movement and the roles they play, the images they have of Amma and their experiences and perceived efficacy of her embrace. The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being scale has been used to measure well-being. The efficacy of the embrace creates a habitus of Amma’s followers who have various positive experiences through the association. Simultaneously it also generates a collective memory and exclusive cultural identities for Amma followers.

S179 – Voice Self-evaluation after Treatment for T1 Glottic Cancer

2008 ◽  
Vol 139 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. P136-P136
Author(s):  
Faustino Nunez ◽  
Maria Jesus Caminero ◽  
Jose-Luis Llorente-Pendas ◽  
Carlos Suarez-Nieto
Keyword(s):  
Laser Surgery ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Voice Handicap Index ◽  
Glottic Cancer ◽  
Glottic Carcinoma ◽  
Subjective Analysis ◽  
Maximum Phonation Time ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
The Voice

Objectives 1) To present the objective and subjective analysis of voice quality following treatment of an early epidermoid glottic carcinoma. 2) Results from the objective evaluation of the voice, along with the self-evaluation of voice quality quantified using the Voice Handicap Index of a group of patients treated with endoscopic laser surgery, are compared with patients treated with radiotherapy. Methods We performed an objective voice evaluation, as well as a physical, emotional, and functional well-being assessment of 19 patients treated with laser surgery and 18 patients treated with radiotherapy. The data obtained was gathered in the statistical database SPSS 12.0. The statistical analysis used was the “Student t test” in order to compare averages and the Chi-squared test for comparing proportions. The statistical differences were considered significant when p was lower than 0.05. Results Voice quality is affected both by surgery and radiotherapy. Voice parameters only show differences in the maximum phonation time between both treatments (p < 0,005). Patients Self-Perception Analysis (Voice Handicap Index) Upon completing the comparison between the two groups, the statistical difference is significant, in favor of the radiotherapy patients in functional and emotional ratings, as well as the global scores (p < 0,005). No significant differences were found in the physical scales. Conclusions There is a reduced impact in patient's perception of voice quality after radiotherapy, despite no significant differences in vocal quality between radiotherapy and laser cordectomy.

CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION OF ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING DEVICES AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF BANGKOKIANS

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (05) ◽  
pp. 1371-1395
Author(s):  
CHANTAL HERBERHOLZ ◽  
NATTAYA PRAPAIPANICH
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Conspicuous Consumption ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Online Social Networking ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Consumption Theory

Empirical evidence of the conspicuous consumption theory is limited and ambiguous. It has been shown, however, that the consumption of life experiences makes people happier than the consumption of material goods. Yet, these studies typically conduct dichotomous comparisons and do not distinguish between conspicuous and inconspicuous consumption. Conspicuous and inconspicuous online social networking devices (OSND) are experiential goods and as such fall between life experiences and material goods. The objective of this paper, thus, is to examine the relationship between conspicuous consumption of OSND and subjective well-being, which is proxied by happiness and mental health. Cross-sectional data ([Formula: see text]) were collected in 2015 using probability sampling. The ordered logistic regression results reveal that conspicuous consumption of OSND is negatively related with happiness and mental health in all regressions as hypothesized, while the coefficient on inconspicuous consumption of OSND is positive. Also, the number of virtual friends is negatively associated with happiness. Among the control variables, it is noteworthy that respondents with high blood pressure, used to capture physical health, have lower happiness and mental health, while respondents with higher education and high own monthly income exhibit higher happiness and mental health. Respondents, whose personality can best be characterized as “agreeable”, have lower happiness and mental health which is in line with the old saying that “nice guys finish last”.

scholarly journals Biological Measures of the Standard of Living

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H Steckel
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Socioeconomic Differences ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Long Term Trends

When economists investigate long-term trends and socioeconomic differences in the standard of living or quality of life, they have traditionally focused on monetary measures such as gross domestic product—which has occupied center stage for over 50 years. In recent decades, however, scholars have increasingly recognized the limitations of monetary measures while seeking useful alternatives. This essay examines the unique and valuable contributions of four biological measures—life expectancy, morbidity, stature, and certain features of skeletal remains—to understand levels and changes in human well-being. People desire far more than material goods and in fact they are quite willing to trade or give up material things in return for better physical or psychological health. For most people, health is so important to their quality of life that it is useful to refer to the “biological standard of living.” Biological measures may be especially valuable for historical studies and for other research circumstances where monetary measures are thin or lacking. A concluding section ruminates on the future evolution of biological approaches in measuring happiness.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs and its relationship with psychological health and materialism

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Saunders ◽  
Don Munro ◽  
Miles Bore
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Anger Expression ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Need Satisfaction ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Basic Need Satisfaction ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Material Goods ◽  
Basic Need

AbstractMaslow's (1954) theory of a hierarchy of human needs has generated little research, perhaps because of the lack of specific, concrete operationalisation of concepts such as ‘psychological well-being’ and basic need satisfaction. The Need Satisfaction Inventory (NSI: Lester, 1990) was developed to measure basic need satisfaction and 157 undergraduate subjects completed both it and the Beck Depression (BDI) and Anxiety Inventories (BAI), as well as Spielberger's (1986) Anger-Expression questionnaire (AX). The latter three questionnaires represent an operationalisation of Spielberger, Ritterband, Sydeman, Reheiserdc Unger's (1995) notion that emotions act as indicators of psychological well-being. The hypothesis that scores on the NSI would be significantly correlated with the BDI, BAI, and AX was supported. Ss also completed the Richins and Dawson (1992) materialism index, and it was hypothesised that if hoarding material goods does in fact represent compensatory neurotic behaviour, then materialism would also be negatively correlated with the NSI. The hypothesis was confirmed, providing further evidence for Maslow's (1970) theory that basic need satisfaction is associated with psychological health. However, in the absence of norms for the NSI, there was no conclusive evidence to suggest that basic needs reside in a consistent, and strict global hierarchy.

Personal Information Ethics

2011 ◽  
pp. 513-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabah S. Al-Fedaghi
Keyword(s):  
Personal Information ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Information Ethics ◽  
Moral Consideration ◽  
Moral Concern ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Concept Of Information

Beginning with information ethics that is based on the machine-independent concept of information recognized to have an intrinsic moral value, personal information ethics (PIE) goes further by conferring moral value on personal information itself. PIE gives moral consideration to the well-being of any personal information based on the moral concern for the welfare of its proprietor.

The Voice of Florence Nightingale on Advocacy

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Selanders ◽  
Patrick Crane
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Florence Nightingale ◽  
Professional Goals ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
Patient Health ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Voice

Modern nursing is complex, ever changing, and multi focused. Since the time of Florence Nightingale, however, the goal of nursing has remained unchanged, namely to provide a safe and caring environment that promotes patient health and well being. Effective use of an interpersonal tool, such as advocacy, enhances the care-giving environment. Nightingale used advocacy early and often in the development of modern nursing. By reading her many letters and publications that have survived, it is possible to identify her professional goals and techniques. Specifically, Nightingale valued egalitarian human rights and developed leadership principles and practices that provide useful advocacy techniques for nurses practicing in the 21st century. In this article we will review the accomplishments of Florence Nightingale, discuss advocacy in nursing and show how Nightingale used advocacy through promoting both egalitarian human rights and leadership activities. We will conclude by exploring how Nightingale’s advocacy is as relevant for the 21st century as it was for the 19th century.

Spatial and Relational Representations of Economic Well-being and the Kahumana Farm Hub, Waiʻanae, Hawaiʻi

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-68
Author(s):  
Christy Mello ◽  
Saleh Azizi ◽  
Shea-Lah Kama
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Socioeconomic Disparity ◽  
Organic Farms ◽  
Reciprocal Relationships ◽  
Gift Economy ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Indigenous Wisdom ◽  
Economic Well Being

Seeking to identify solutions for improving growers' economic well-being by supporting ʻāina (land)-based practices, ethnographic research explored economic opportunity possibilities through Kahumana Organic Farms' Farm Hub (KFH), located in Waiʻanae on Hawaiʻi's island of Oʻahu. Major described findings include identified assets on ideas for improving economic well-being (e.g., a gift economy), barriers faced by growers, policy considerations for KFH and the region, as well as proposed solutions that have broader implications for sustainable land use practices. Designed to highlight agricultural abundance in Waiʻanae, rather than focus on existing socioeconomic disparity, our interdisciplinary and community-led project fused Western-based methodology with the Hawaiian methodological framework of Māʻawe Pono. Discussion addresses how, in doing so, we created reciprocal relationships and prioritized the production of deliverables to directly benefit community. It further explores how growers' utilization of the gift economy and Indigenous wisdom is instrumental for achieving well-being in terms of culture, physical health, economics, and the environment. As a part of a larger collaborative effort entitled ʻImi Naʻauao: Hawaiian Knowing and Well-being, this article also details the mapping subproject integrated into this larger effort and related to the KFH research.

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