Heart work: Indigenous doulas responding to challenges of western systems and revitalizing Indigenous birthing care in Canada

Background In Canada, there has been a significant increase in the training of Indigenous doulas, who provide continuous, culturally appropriate support to Indigenous birthing people during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. The purpose of our project was to interview Indigenous doulas across Canada in order to document how they worked through the logistics of providing doula care and to discern their main challenges and innovations. Population/setting Our paper analyzes interviews conducted with members of five Indigenous doula collectives across Canada, from the provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of the five Indigenous doula collectives across Canada in 2020 as part of the project, “She Walks With Me: Supporting Urban Indigenous Expectant Mothers Through Culturally Based Doulas.” Interview transcripts were approved by participants and subsequently coded by the entire research team to identify key themes. Results Our paper examines two themes that emerged in interviews: the main challenges Indigenous doulas describe confronting when working within western systems, and how they navigate and overcome these obstacles. Specifically, interview participants described tensions with the biomedical approach to maternal healthcare and conflicts with the practice of Indigenous infant apprehension. In response to these challenges, Indigenous doulas are working to develop Indigenous-specific doula training curricula, engaging in collective problem-solving, and advocating for the reformation of a grant program in order to fund more Indigenous doulas. Conclusions Both the biomedical model of maternal healthcare and the crisis of Indigenous infant apprehension renders Canadian hospitals unsafe and uncomfortable spaces for many Indigenous birthing people and their families. Indigenous doulas are continually navigating these challenges and creatively and concertedly working towards the revitalization of Indigenous birthing care. Indigenous doula care is critical to counter systemic, colonial barriers and issues that disproportionately impact Indigenous families, as well as recentering birth as the foundation of Indigenous sovereignty and community health.

Poland as a periphery in Immanuel Wallerstein’s theory

The article presents the issue of peripheries and its reference to Poland’s position in the world-system concept of Immanuel Wallerstein. The article discusses problems related to international security of Poland. It also presents the perception of Poland as a peripheral country and, on the basis of theoretical considerations, argues for the possibility of viewing Poland as a semi-peripheral country. Publication financed under the project implemented in the Research Grant Program of the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland.

Ethics and society review: Ethics reflection as a precondition to research funding

Researchers in areas as diverse as computer science and political science must increasingly navigate the possible risks of their research to society. However, the history of medical experiments on vulnerable individuals influenced many research ethics reviews to focus exclusively on risks to human subjects rather than risks to human society. We describe an Ethics and Society Review board (ESR), which fills this moral gap by facilitating ethical and societal reflection as a requirement to access grant funding: Researchers cannot receive grant funding from participating programs until the researchers complete the ESR process for their proposal. Researchers author an initial statement describing their proposed research’s risks to society, subgroups within society, and globally and commit to mitigation strategies for these risks. An interdisciplinary faculty panel iterates with the researchers to refine these risks and mitigation strategies. We describe a mixed-method evaluation of the ESR over 1 y, in partnership with a large artificial intelligence grant program at our university. Surveys and interviews of researchers who interacted with the ESR found 100% (95% CI: 87 to 100%) were willing to continue submitting future projects to the ESR, and 58% (95% CI: 37 to 77%) felt that it had influenced the design of their research project. The ESR panel most commonly identified issues of harms to minority groups, inclusion of diverse stakeholders in the research plan, dual use, and representation in datasets. These principles, paired with possible mitigation strategies, offer scaffolding for future research designs.

Clientelism Politics of Muslim Politician Who Became People’s Representatives

People’s representatives are elected through general elections to represent the people fighting for the people's interests and aspirations. However, in practice, muslim politician who became people's representatives often represent themselves and their groups rather than represent those who have chosen them. This research was conducted to reveal how muslim politician who became people's representatives' actions the correlation between clientelism politics in managing the budget function. This descriptive qualitative research method collects data through direct observation in the field and in-depth interviews with various informants related to the research. The theory used in this research is political clientelism theory. From the research results, muslim politician who became people's representatives fight for the community's aspirations to escort a grant program to community groups, social assistance, and empowerment. The program is directly related to the winning team and supporters of voters in the previous elections. The program is intended to maintain the people's voting base and the granary in the next election. This is how the people's representative uses the parliament's existence and potential for electoral interests.

A Toolkit for Developing Effective Projects Under the Federal Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program

In November 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, now referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which includes multiple provisions related to conserving fish and wildlife. One of the most exciting elements of this historic legislation is a dedicated $350 million competitive grant program called the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. In order to assist eligible applicants and partners to understand and take advantage of these new funding and policy opportunities, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation’s Corridors & Crossings Program has created “A Toolkit for Developing Effective Projects Under the Federal Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program.” The document provides: An overview of the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program and other fish and wildlife provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, suggestions for how applicants and their partners can engage, best practices, examples, and resources for designing effective wildlife crossing projects in accordance with each of the grant application criterion of the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program.

“You can't read your way out of racism”: creating anti-racist action out of education in an academic library

PurposeUnder the transformational leadership of the University Librarian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries shifted from having an education- and programming-based “diversity committee” to a council of librarians advocating for action, anti-racism and social justice, both within our organization and across campus. As our University Librarian noted, “you cannot read your way out of racism.”Design/methodology/approachWith support from library leadership, the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Council has advanced anti-racism work in the libraries by serving as facilitators for a book discussion series, organizing a 21-day racial equity challenge, supporting staff in integrating anti-racism practices into their daily work through brown bag conversations, and facilitating the development of inclusion-focused performance management goals.FindingsWhat does an anti-racist library look like, and how does our organization envision this future? These questions anchor the IDEA Council's strategies. The libraries have witnessed a positive shift in staff participation: two-thirds of library staff participated in a Racial Equity Institute Groundwater presentation and in a library-wide book discussion series; approximately half the staff committed to our 21-day racial equity challenge. Participants were asked to reflect in conversation and through surveys.Originality/valueThe first wave of a newly established grant program funded eight staff-led projects to advance social justice in the libraries. Additional steps included caucusing by racial identity, staff-wide discussions about racial equity, and a second wave of funding for the grant program. The authors approach this work with cultural humility: seeking to learn from one another, our peers and fellow activists.