Modern Ashtanga Yoga

2019 ◽  
pp. 68-85
Author(s):  
Candy Gunther Brown
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Underserved Communities ◽  
Symbolic Gestures ◽  
Ashtanga Yoga ◽  
Teacher Credentialing ◽  
The U.S ◽  
School Curricula

Chapter 4 chronicles the development of modern Ashtanga yoga by the Indian Hindu Shri Krishna Pattabhi Jois (1915–2009) for the purpose of becoming “one with God.” Ashtanga pursues its spiritual goal through physical postures, āsanas, opening with Sūrya Namaskāra (Sun Salutations), defined by Jois as “prayer to the sun god,” and closing with Padmāsana (Lotus) and Savāsana (Rest/Corpse), to facilitate meditation and enlightenment. Postures incorporate symbolic gestures, añjali mudra (prayer) and jñāna mudra (wisdom), not only to express but also to instill devotion. Ashtanga exemplifies an experiential model of religion in which practitioners envision physical practices as transforming beliefs and achieving spiritual goals. Ashtanga arrived in the U.S. in 1975 in Encinitas, California, and attracted wealthy devotees, among them Sonia Jones, who created Jois Yoga and the Jois Foundation (K. P. Jois USA Foundation) in 2011. The Foundation’s “mission” is to bring the “philosophy, teachings and values of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois to “youths in underserved communities” and “support changes in public policy” to make yoga and meditation “essential,” even “compulsory,” in teacher credentialing and school curricula. The chapter argues that teaching Ashtanga yoga in public schools raises constitutional questions because Ashtanga exhibits the Malnak-Meyers indicia of religion.

Secular Schools? Religious Practices in New York and Viginia Public Schools Since World War II

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-388
Author(s):  
Bruce J. Dierenfield
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Church And State ◽  
World War ◽  
State Relations ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The U.S

Scholars examining the controversy over church-state relations in the modern era have concentrated almost exclusively on its constitutional aspects. This is to be expected since the U.S. Supreme Court has handed down epic decisions that have drawn an increasingly sharper picture of the First Amendment's guideline concerning the government's involvement in religion. The Court did, in fact, lead the way in establishing or reestablishing the doctrine called “separation of church and state.” But the Court touched off a furious debate within the states that has intermittently yet persistently influenced public policy since the early 1960s. It is time that scholars examine more closely the participants outside of the Court.

Choice Matters

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Moore ◽  
John A. Quelch ◽  
Emily Boudreau
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Healthcare Provider ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Consumer Choice ◽  
Marketing Management ◽  
Appropriate Use ◽  
System P ◽  
The U.S

Choice Matters: How Healthcare Consumers Make Decisions (and Why Clinicians and Managers Should Care) is a timely and thoughtful exploration of the controversial role of consumers in the U.S. healthcare system. In most markets today, consumers have more options and autonomy than ever before. Empowered consumers easily shop around for products and services that better meet their needs, and they widely share their reviews on social media to inform and influence other consumers. Businesses have responded with better experiences and prices to compete for consumers’ business. Though healthcare has lagged behind other industries in this respect, there is a rising tide of interest in consumer choice and empowerment in healthcare markets. However, most healthcare provider organizations, individual doctors, and health insurers are unprepared to consider patients as consumers. The authors draw upon the fields of medicine, marketing, management, psychology, and public policy as they take a substantive, in-depth look at consumer choice and point out its appropriate use, as well as its limitations. This book addresses perplexing issues, such as how healthcare differs from other consumer-driven markets, how consumers make healthcare decisions, and how increased consumer choice in healthcare can not only aid and empower American consumers but also improve the overall healthcare system.

scholarly journals Agenda-setting and Public Policy in Private Foundations

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Kate Williamson ◽  
Belinda Luke
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Public Communication ◽  
Philanthropic Foundations ◽  
Policy Influence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private Foundations ◽  
Social Causes ◽  
The U.S

AbstractThis paper examines advocacy, agenda-setting and the public policy focus of private philanthropic foundations in Australia. While concerns have been raised regarding advocacy and public policy influence of foundations in countries such as the U.S., less is understood on this issue in other contexts. Interviews were conducted with 11 managers and trustees of 10 Private Ancillary Funds (PAFs) in late 2014. Analysis of publicly available data on the participating PAFs was then undertaken comparing PAF information available at the time of the interviews with that available approximately five years later, to consider any changes in the public communication of their agendas. Findings reveal PAFs’ agendas were largely consistent with public policy but may vary in the approaches to address social causes. Further, a preference for privacy indicates the PAF sector may be characterised as ‘quiet philanthropy’ rather than having a visible public presence. As such, PAFs’ advocacy focused on promoting philanthropy, rather than altering or influencing public policy. Our main contention is that the conceptions of advocacy in structured philanthropy are dominated by the obvious, the outliers and the noisy. Our contribution to the philanthropic literature is a more nuanced and broader discussion of how advocacy and agenda-setting occurs and is understood in the mainstream.

Did you call in Mexican? The racial politics of Jay Leno immigrant jokes

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
OTTO SANTA ANA
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Racial Politics ◽  
Discursive Practice ◽  
Social Boundaries ◽  
Immigrant Rights ◽  
Political Comedy ◽  
Late Night ◽  
Television Audience ◽  
The U.S

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes a set of anti-immigrant jokes with which Jay Leno entertained his national television audience in 2006, when the U.S. public was focused on unprecedented demonstrations urging justice for immigrants. Leno adroitly mocks immigrants and their cause to give his audience emotional release by distancing them from immigrants. It is argued that political comedy can be an insidious discursive practice that reduces its audience’s critical judgment as it signifies social boundaries. It should be carefully scrutinized because, with a few laughs, Leno can steer sentiment about public policy and instantiate divisiveness for an audience of 6 million who, in the words of Leno’s official website, “are drifting off to dreamland.” (Humor, political comedy, late-night television, immigrant rights marches)*

Moving beyond Brown: Race and Education After Parents v. Seattle School District No. 1

2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamel K. Donnor
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School District ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Community Schools ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Educational Advancement ◽  
Quality Learning ◽  
The U.S

Background By a 5–4 margin, the U.S. Supreme Court in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 declared that voluntary public school integration programs were unconstitutional. Citing the prospective harm that students and their families might incur from being denied admission to the high school of their choice, the Supreme Court declared that the plaintiffs, Parents Involved in Community Schools (PICS), had a valid claim of injury by asserting a interest in not being forced to compete for seats at certain high schools in a system that uses race as a deciding factor in many of its admissions decisions. Purpose The goal of the article is to discuss how conceptions of harm and fairness as articulated in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 privilege the self-interests of White students and families over the educational needs of students of color. Research Design This article is a document analysis. Conclusions By referencing the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954 (Brown I) to buttress its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that programmatic efforts to ensure students of color access to quality learning environments are inherently ominous. The dilemma moving forward for policy makers and scholars concerned with the educational advancement of students of color is not to develop new ways to integrate America's public schools or reconcile the gaps in the Supreme Court's logic, but rather to craft programs and policies for students of color around the human development and workforce needs of the global economy.

scholarly journals Sixty years of the National Food Program in Brazil

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosana Maria NOGUEIRA ◽  
Bruna BARONE ◽  
Thiara Teixeira de BARROS ◽  
Kátia Regina Leoni Silva Lima de Queiroz GUIMARÃES ◽  
Nilo Sérgio Sabbião RODRIGUES ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Material Structure ◽  
School Food ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Social Actors

School meals were introduced in the Brazilian political agenda by a group of scholars known as nutrition scientists' in the 1940s. In 1955, the Campanha de Merenda Escolar, the first official school food program, was stablished, and sixty years after its inception, school food in Brazil stands as a decentralised public policy, providing services to students enrolled in public schools, which involve the Brazilian federal government, twentyseven federative units, and their 5,570 municipalities. Throughout its history, school food has gone through many stages that reflect the social transformations in Brazil: from a campaign to implement school food focused on the problem of malnutrition and the ways to solve it, to the creation of a universal public policy relying on social participation and interface between other modern, democratic, and sustainable policies, establishing a strategy for promoting food and nutrition security, development, and social protection. In this article, the School Food Program is analyzed from the perspective of four basic structures that support it as public policy: the formal structure, consisting of legal milestones that regulated the program; substantive structure, referring to the public and private social actors involved; material structure, regarding the way in which Brazil sponsors the program; and finally, the symbolic structure, consisting of knowledge, values, interests, and rules that legitimatize the policy.

scholarly journals The War of the Words: How Linguistic Differences in Reporting Shape Perceptions of Terrorism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Dunn ◽  
Moriah Moore ◽  
Brian A. Nosek
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Word Usage ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
News Reporting ◽  
Violent Acts ◽  
People’S Attitudes ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Newspaper Articles ◽  
Violent Events

In four studies, we demonstrate that subtle linguistic differences in news reporting are sufficient to influence whether people interpret violent acts as patriotism or terrorism. In Study 1, a content analysis of newspaper articles describing violence in Iraq revealed that words implying destruction and devious intent were typically used in reference to violent actions associated with Iraq and opponents of the U.S., while more benign words were used in reference to the U.S. and its allies. These observed differences in word usage establish schemas that guide perception of violence as terrorism or patriotism, thereby affecting people’s attitudes toward (Study 2) and memory for (Studies 3 and 4) violent events. Implications for the media’s impact on public policy are discussed.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and the academy: opinions and experiences of university-based scientists in the U.S.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Johnson ◽  
Mary K. Feeney ◽  
Heyjie Jung ◽  
Ashlee Frandell ◽  
Mattia Caldarulo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Research Assistant ◽  
Subgroup Differences ◽  
Divergence Of Opinion ◽  
Assistant Professors ◽  
The U.S

AbstractMuch of the available evidence regarding COVID-19 effects on the scientific community in the U.S. is anecdotal and non-representative. We report findings from a based survey of university-based biologists, biochemists, and civil and environmental engineers regarding negative and positive COVID-19 impacts, respondent contributions to addressing the pandemic, and their opinions regarding COVID-19 research policies. The most common negative impact was university closures, cited by 93% of all scientists. Significant subgroup differences emerged, with higher proportions of women, assistant professors, and scientists at institutions located in COVID-19 “hotspot” counties reporting difficulties concentrating on research. Assistant professors additionally reported facing more unanticipated childcare responsibilities. Approximately half of the sample also reported one or more positive COVID-19 impacts, suggesting the importance of developing a better understanding of the complete range of impacts across all fields of science. Regarding COVID-19 relevant public policy, findings suggest divergence of opinion concerning surveillance technologies and the need to alter federal approval processes for new tests and vaccines.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document