Interview with Rebecca Hope Dirksen

Isabel Machado interviews Rebecca Hope Dirksen on After the Dance, the Drums Are Heavy: Carnival, Politics, and Musical Engagement in Haiti (2020). Interview date: Mar 17, 2021 Dr. Rebecca Dirksen is an ethnomusicologist working across the spectrum of musical genres in Haiti and its diaspora. Her research concerns cultural approaches to development, crisis, and disaster; sacred ecologies, diverse environmentalisms, and ecomusicology; and applied/engaged/activist scholarship. She is a professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University Bloomington and a founding member of the Diverse Environmentalisms Research Team (DERT).

Toyin Falola and Akintunde Akinyemi (Eds). Encyclopedia of the Yoruba. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2016. 371pp.

Encyclopedia of the Yoruba is a single-volume encyclopedia that is comprised of 285 entries of short essays written by 188 authors who are predominantly scholars and academic researchers from Africa, Europe and North America. The different word-ranges of the essays vary from 1000 words (for 78 entries) to 750 words (for 88 entries) and 500 words (for 119 entries). Across these entries, the encyclopedia gives a complex, yet detailed, presentation of the Yorùbá, a dominant ethnic group in West Africa and the most prominent African cultural population, identity and presence in the African diaspora including North America, the Caribbean and South America. It presents the Yorùbá with respect to their involvements in, and interactions with, different sociocultural experiences, practices and expressions by “emphasizing the peculiarities, features, and commonalities of the people” (xi). Following an alphabetical ordering, each entry in the encyclopedia is complete on its own as it examines and discusses a subject, subject matter, concept or topic that shares an affiliation with the Yorùbá world in time (the traditional past in all its distant and intricate temporal dimensions and the modern present in all its complex interrelations) and/or space (Yoruba homes across West Africa and the African diaspora. Such concentrations of the entry include persons/personalities, demographics, worldviews and cosmological values and elements, and several material and non-material aspects of the Yorùbá culture and folklore, and their corresponding affiliates. It is important to add that the completeness of the entries is considerably informed by the suitability of the word-ranges used. It is commendable that 358 Ibrahim A. Odugbemi the editors are able to determine the word-range that fits the discourse of every entry and the authors are also able to conform. By writing across the various word-limits, the authors have been able to give adequate information about their subjects of discussion. Each word-limit is moderate enough to convey the basic information on the subject or topic of every entry.

AMPATH Surgical App: Open Appendectomy

Background/Objective: Due to a geographic shortage of surgical providers within Kenya, doctors without surgical training are expected to complete emergency surgical procedures. The Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) surgical team is developing an education module, delivered via mobile phone app and self-made simulators, dedicated to the skills necessary to complete open appendectomy. We hypothesize that our model and curriculum will provide a low-cost method of effectively simulating the open appendectomy. Methods: After developing a step-based curriculum, an initial prototype of a model for the appendectomy was constructed. Expert academic surgeons from Indiana University were identified to test the prototype by performing an open appendectomy on the model. Feedback on both the model and the procedure was obtained via recorded video and REDCap. Results: A total of 8 expert surgeons were consulted on the model, each presented with an updated version of the appendectomy model and procedure based on feedback. Experts provided feedback on the model and each substep of the curriculum. Overall, the curriculum was clear with each substep receiving a median score of at least 82 out of 100 for clarity. While the model received lower scores in utility and “realism, expert feedback was incorporated in an iterative process such that latter models demonstrated net improvement in the realism and utility of several substeps, including “the appendectomy”. Conclusion: A low-cost appendectomy model with corresponding curriculum was developed, and refined with expert feedback, to facilitate this project’s transition to its next stage – testing on medical trainees. Additionally, the model and curriculum will enable the development of an AI algorithm to give the learner real-time feedback as they perform the simulation. Implications: Ultimately, this study may create a platform that increases access to best possible practice and improves outcomes in settings where surgical education is limited.

A Program Evaluation of the Engagement of Participants in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial at Indiana University School of Medicine

Background/Objective: Since the emergence of various COVID-19 vaccines, there have been a significant amount of members of historically marginalized populations that remain unvaccinated. Specifically, Black and Latino/x populations vaccine rates are consistently lower than their white counterparts not just in Indiana, but across the country. The recruitment of the AstraZeneca clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine that was hosted by Indiana University School of Medicine underscored this disparity. The drop off rates for Black and Latino/x participants between being screened for the study to ultimately being enrolled into the study became a cause for concern. The concept of vaccine hesitancy in these communities is a concept worth further exploration in order to determine the best strategies to improve health outcomes as we continue to mitigate the current pandemic. Methods: Interviews with the research assistants of the AstraZeneca clinical trial were conducted in order to identify the major causes of hesitancy and acceptance amongst the individuals that were screened and enrolled into the study. The questions explored the interactions with the participants, specifically for anecdotal evidence of the screened participants that ultimately did and did not participate in the study. Results: Despite the outpouring of Indiana residents that enrolled in the study, many chose not to participate due to unknown potential side effects of the vaccine, access to provider advise, trust, among others. Furthermore, the timeframe of the study was heavily impacted by the availability of the FDA approval of Pfizer’s vaccine, in which many participants chose to drop out for a guaranteed vaccine. Conclusion and Potential Impact: Identifying barriers to vaccine acceptance in marginalized communities will provide vital information for advancing public health efforts to increase vaccination rates. Additionally, implementing these strategies into vaccine clinical trials will allow for more equitable representation, and culturally competent scientific evidence.

Myles Brand: A Leader Deeply Committed to Diversity, Inclusiveness, and Social Justice

Myles Brand: A Leader Deeply Committed to Diversity, Inclusiveness, and Social Justice Myles Brand will probably always best be remembered as the Indiana University president who fired legendary basketball coach Bobby Knight. It is unfortunate since Brand, as a scholar, president of two major universities, and Executive Director of the NCAA, accomplished a great many things on behalf of students and as an enthusiastic proponent of the educational value of intercollegiate athletics and sport more generally. At all times and in everything he did, Brand exhibited as a leader a deep commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social justice. It was especially noticeable and on full display during his time as Executive Director of the NCAA, a position he held from 2002 until his untimely death from cancer in 2009. As this essay illustrates, Brand’s commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social justice was made clear through the academic reform movement he helped initiate and in fights to eliminate Native American mascots and other disparaging images, secure more head coaching positions for Blacks, and maintain original Title IX guidelines that had allowed women increasing opportunities to participate in highly competitive athletics. Although not always successful in these efforts, especially in seeing more Blacks hired as head coaches, Brand was largely effective in leading the effort to implement academic reform measures, rid sport of insulting Native American imagery, and guard against those who were

Book Reviews

Brian J. Peterson, Thomas Sankara: A Revolutionary in Cold War Africa, Bloomington, IN., Indiana University Press, 2021, 304pp, ISBN 0253053765 (pbk)Hermann, J., Hopster, J., Kalf, W. and Klenk, M. (eds.) 2020. Philosophy in the Age of Science? Inquiries into Philosophical Progress, Method, and Societal Relevance, 284pp, ISBN 978-1-5381-4282-0 (hbk)Thaddeus Metz, 2022. A Relational Moral Theory: African Ethics in and Beyond the Continent, Oxford University Press, 272pp, ISBN: 9780198748960 (hbk)