Objectivity Discourse, the Protestant Secular, and the Decolonization of Religious Studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 376-415
Author(s):  
Travis Warren Cooper

Abstract This article documents a complex genealogy of objectivity discourse that has shaped the study of religion in the modern academy. Analyzing data derived from a 2015 survey administered to Big 10, Research 1, and Ivy League religious studies institutions in the United States, the study posits a provisional taxonomy of neutrality language. The debates about positionality and self-disclosure in religion classrooms, as explored in the taxonomy, is evidence of the pervasive epistemic framework of the “Protestant secular.” The article proposes that religious studies, as a hybrid discipline, may address the status of the academy as an agent of the secular state by acknowledging its complicity in regimes of power and engaging in the rigorously critical, robustly ethnographic, and concertedly reflexive study of its own institutions and practices. Rather than removing objectivity discourse from religious studies, the article concludes by arguing for retaining a modified form of objectivist realism as a productive, decolonized ideal.

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 459-475
Author(s):  
Roman Nir

In 1976 the Polish Episcopate made a decision to regulate the status of Polish priests who left for the USA in 1956-1976. In Warsaw, thr work was manages by the Episcopal Secretariat, and in the USA, the coordinating office in Orchard Lake Schools, headed by Rev. Msgr. Alexander Cendrowski. Bishop Wesoły and Rubin from Rome cooperated with the center. On behalf of the  American Episcopate, the Secretary General, Archbishop Bernardin, and the head of the Emigration and Tourism Commission Bishop Gracida cooperated. In the years 1956-1976, 356 priests and religious left Poland from 48 dioceses and 14 religious orders, including 165 priests and 186 religious. October 15, 1977 the status of priests was as follows: incardinated priests 52, religious 56; 16 in the incardination process, 17 emeritus, 7 returned to Poland, 33 had problems with incardination, 56 worked as a guest. The worked the most; 42 in Detroit, 41 in Chicago, 20 in Gary, 18 in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, 15 Buffalo, less than 10 in 18 dioceses It was impossibile to establish the status of the other priests they were suspended, sent to the secular state and entered into marriage. After 1978 Polish bishops made individual decisions and, in general, they lifted their suspensions and allowed them to work in the USA.


1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Dana

This paper describes the status of multicultural assessment training, research, and practice in the United States. Racism, politicization of issues, and demands for equity in assessment of psychopathology and personality description have created a climate of controversy. Some sources of bias provide an introduction to major assessment issues including service delivery, moderator variables, modifications of standard tests, development of culture-specific tests, personality theory and cultural/racial identity description, cultural formulations for psychiatric diagnosis, and use of findings, particularly in therapeutic assessment. An assessment-intervention model summarizes this paper and suggests dimensions that compel practitioners to ask questions meriting research attention and providing avenues for developments of culturally competent practice.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172110205
Author(s):  
Giulia Mariani ◽  
Tània Verge

Building on historical and discursive institutionalism, this article examines the agent-based dynamics of gradual institutional change. Specifically, using marriage equality in the United States as a case study, we examine how actors’ ideational work enabled them to make use of the political and discursive opportunities afforded by multiple venues to legitimize the process of institutional change to take off sequentially through layering, displacement, and conversion. We also pay special attention to how the discursive strategies deployed by LGBT advocates, religious-conservative organizations and other private actors created new opportunities to influence policy debates and tip the scales to their preferred policy outcome. The sequential perspective adopted in this study allows problematizing traditional conceptualizations of which actors support or contest the status quo, as enduring oppositional dynamics lead them to perform both roles in subsequent phases of the institutional change process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harini Sarva ◽  
Gustavo A. Patino ◽  
Mehmood Rashid ◽  
James W. M. Owens ◽  
Matthew S. Robbins ◽  
...  

AbstractThe need for subspecialty-trained neurologists is growing in parallel with increasing disease burden. However, despite the immense burden of neurological diseases, like headache and neurodegenerative disorders, recruitment into these subspecialties remains insufficient in the United States. In this manuscript, a group of educators from the American Academy of Neurology’s A.B. Baker Section on Neurological Education sought to review and discuss the current landscape of neurology fellowships in the United States, the factors driving fellowship recruitment and the educational barriers. Moreover, suggestions to potentially improve recruitment for under-selected fellowships, which can contribute towards an alignment between neurological education and neurological needs, and future educational scenarios are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1626-1651
Author(s):  
John E Lens M.EERI ◽  
Mandar M Dewoolkar ◽  
Eric M Hernandez M.EERI

This article describes the approach, methods, and findings of a quantitative analysis of the seismic vulnerability in low-to-moderate seismic hazard regions of the Central and Eastern United States for system-wide assessment of typical multiple span bridges built in the 1950s through the 1960s. There is no national database on the status of seismic vulnerability of bridges, and thus no means to estimate the system-wide damage and retrofit costs for bridges. The study involved 380 nonlinear analyses using actual time-history records matched to four representative low-to-medium hazard target spectra corresponding with peak ground accelerations from approximately 0.06 to 0.3 g. Ground motions were obtained from soft and stiff site seismic classification locations and applied to models of four typical multiple-girder with concrete bent bridges. Multiple-girder bridges are the largest single category, comprising 55% of all multiple span bridges in the United States. Aging and deterioration effects were accounted for using reduced cross-sections representing fully spalled conditions and compared with pristine condition results. The research results indicate that there is an overall low likelihood of significant seismic damage to these typical bridges in such regions, with the caveat that certain bridge features such as more extensive deterioration, large skews, and varied bent heights require bridge-specific analysis. The analysis also excludes potential damage resulting from liquefaction, flow-spreading, or abutment slumping due to weak foundation or abutment soils.


2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (07) ◽  
pp. 410-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Van Vliet

The members of the profession of audiology often express concern that the services and products that have been developed to provide benefit to the hearing impaired are not sought after or delivered to the majority of those diagnosed with hearing loss. A critical look at the status quo of hearing care delivery in the United States is needed to verify this assumption and to develop strategies to improve the situation. A key concern is the lack of a comprehensive high-quality scientific database upon which to build continuous improvements in the effectiveness of the services and products that are provided to the hearing impaired.


2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 2664-2670
Author(s):  
GENE G. HUNDER ◽  
LEROY GRIFFING

Philip S. Hench, MD, the first Mayo Clinic rheumatologist, came to Mayo Clinic in 1921. Because of his efforts in patient care, education, and research, and those of his colleagues, Mayo Clinic has been considered the first academic rheumatology center established in the United States. An early, popular lecture he gave to the internal medicine residents was an important and unique part of the rheumatology education program and was entitled “Axiomatic Generalizations Useful in the Diagnosis of Rheumatic Diseases.” We review the axioms in light of the status of rheumatology in the 1920s and 1930s when they were written, and assess their relevance today, 70 to 80 years later.


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